“I was not facing sexual harassment charges,” Lang said testily.
“It was very clear to me that there had been a decision made by the speaker that I was not going to move up in the ranks, and the reputation I had built over 32 years was not going to avail me to much progress in my career,” Lang said Thursday during government questioning.ĭuring cross-examination, McClain attorney Pat Cotter said it was understandable that Madigan wouldn’t want “someone in leadership who was at that point facing a second sexual harassment claim.”īut Lang declined to acknowledge he was facing harassment claims at the time, employing the line “just because someone says there was an allegation does not make it true.” He especially chafed at Cotter’s later use of the word “charges.” In federal court Thursday, Lang testified that after McClain’s call and a subsequent meeting with Madigan, he understood that he’d never achieve his ultimate ambition in his legislative career: rising from third-most senior leader in the House to deputy majority leader and eventually House speaker. “And I mean, you can understand my position, right? I have to sit and think…do I appoint him to the leadership or not?” Harassment claims “You know, I think the guy’s going to be a continuing problem, that’s my expectation,” Madigan said of Lang. They included a call where his directives from Madigan were confirmed by the speaker himself. Government lawyers played several other recordings of calls from McClain’s cell phone that they had wiretapped in 20.
#Find your comed voicey trial#
“Agent,” as used by McClain, is exactly how federal prosecutors want the jury to think of the defendant in the trial where he and three others stand accused of bribing Madigan with jobs and contracts for the speaker’s political allies in exchange for legislation favorable – and lucrative – to ComEd. All have pleaded not guilty. “I’m an agent of somebody that cares deeply about you, who thinks that you really oughta move on.” “So this is no longer me talking,” McClain said in that Nov. More: One year after Madigan’s indictment, former speaker’s allies prepare for trial
What’s more, Madigan wanted Lang to resign from office to become a lobbyist. Lang came out of the experience mostly unscathed, hoping for a quick comeback after giving up his House leadership position – a face-saving move he expected to be only temporary.īut McClain called Lang with some bad news: Another woman was threatening to come forward with harassment allegations if Lang was reinstated to a leadership position.
Lang had already been publicly accused of harassment and bullying in May of that year, although the allegations proved thin. And a few months later, Madigan was forced to axe his longtime chief of staff over his alleged harassment of subordinates. McClain was delivering a message from House Speaker Michael Madigan, who was worried Lang was becoming a liability to his Democratic caucus – a liability the now-former speaker would rather not deal with after the year he’d already had.Įarlier in 2018, a former campaign staffer publicly accused Madigan of failing to address her complaints of sexual harassment by her colleague in the speaker’s political organization. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, received a phone call from Mike McClain, who had spent decades lobbying for electric utility Commonwealth Edison after 10 years in the General Assembly. ĬHICAGO – In fall 2018, longtime former State Rep. Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, heads into the Governor's office for a leaders meeting at the Illinois State Capitol, Tuesday, May 17, 2016, in Springfield, Ill.
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