Grundy Reporter

A trial for Tim Mapes, the former chief of staff to former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan who resigned in February 2021 after being implicated in a bribery scheme, will begin with jury selection that started Aug. 7.

“As we see another trial play out in Chicago for a person who was entrusted with the interests of the people of Illinois, we still have not seen significant changes to our ethics laws that have long permitted this culture of corruption in Springfield to thrive," Rep. Jackie Haas said regarding the trial in a press release. "Despite this embarrassing parade of legislators being indicted or imprisoned since 2019, we lag behind other states in enacting meaningful ethics reforms. We need transparent, open and clear ethics reform that includes input and guidance from the public. This should be a bipartisan issue; Illinois’ reputation is not beyond saving.”

In May 2021, Mapes pleaded not guilty to charges of perjury as he was accused of lying to a grand jury, according to a May 28 report by WGN9. He was granted immunity to testify in front of a grand jury but is now accused of lying about a bribery scheme involving ComEd.

Capitol News Illinois reported that Mapes resigned as Madigan’s chief of staff in 2018 and detailed an incident in 2018 that showed Mapes was still involved in things that went on in Madigan’s circle.

“Despite Madigan having publicly cut ties with Mapes, the disgraced political operative was still privy to what was going on inside the longtime speaker’s inner circle, according to wiretapped phone conversations captured by federal agents in 2018 and 2019. Those recordings were captured on the cell phone of Mike McClain, Madigan’s close friend and confidant who’d for decades also been a fixture in the Democratic power structure that controlled the General Assembly," Capitol News Illinois reported. "In an early July 2018 call, McClain told Mapes about a dinner he and the speaker had recently in a loud restaurant. Mapes joked that McClain should’ve told the establishment’s management, 'I’m Mike McClain, I’m the right-hand guy to Mike Madigan.' McClain quipped back, 'I’m the right-hand guy of Tim Mapes.'"

In June, The Center Square reported on Mapes’ attempt to keep his immunity deal out of the perjury trial. The publication wrote that Mapes and his team called the immunity deal “irrelevant and prejudicial."

“Kness said that like an arrest record, 'an immunity agreement can create the inference that the witness did something illegal in the past and is likely to do something illegal again.' However, the judge [U.S. District Judge John Kness] said the motion didn't pass the test. 'Balancing that relevance against the immunity agreement’s potential prejudicial effect, the Court finds that any potential prejudice is insufficient to justify striking the challenged material from the Indictment,' the judge wrote in the order,” The Center Square reported.

ABC7 reported that the Mapes trial is expected to last three weeks but may not take that long, as attorneys indicated there wouldn't be as many witnesses as originally planned. Jury selection continued on Aug. 8.