Getting There: New Hampshire's 'Move Over Law' renamed Sherrill's Law to honor late trooper, updated with more safeguards
Mar. 19—The driver of a tractor-trailer didn't move over despite several highly visible warnings, and a state trooper died when the truck crushed his cruiser on Interstate 95 .
The driver pleaded guilty to negligent homicide and was sentenced to 12 months in prison. The 19-year veteran state trooper, Staff Sgt. Jesse E. Sherrill, never saw his wife, Nicolle, or sons, Peyton and Quinn, again.
This month, the New Hampshire Senate passed an update to the state's "Move Over Law," naming it Sherrill's Law and adding more protections so incidents like the trooper's deadly overnight construction detail in Portsmouth on Oct. 28, 2021, never happen again.
"This bill is to honor the memory of Staff Sgt. Jesse Sherrill, who gave the ultimate sacrifice to keep us safe," said state Sen. Donovan Fenton, D-Keene, the prime sponsor of SB 273.
The bipartisan bill is awaiting passage in the House and would take effect 60 days after being signed into law.
"His loss is memorable, but his memory lives on not only with those who loved him, but in the work we continue to do to protect the safety of our law enforcement officers," Fenton said.
Sherrill, 44, was born in Exeter in 1977 and lived in Barrington.
At the New Hampshire Traffic Fatality Summit a few weeks ago, Lt. Chris Storm said Sherrill's Law is "near and dear to our hearts in the State Police."
"It's in recognition of Jesse Sherrill and his family and all the work they've done and obviously the tragic loss," Storm said.
What is Sherrill's Law?
The bill would update to the current "Move Over Law," which requires motorists to move over into another lane or slow down when passing a stopped first-responder and obey traffic instructions from first responders, construction and utility workers, and signs and signals on the state's highways.
Sherrill's Law would add a few tweaks to include moving over and giving a wider berth without endangering oncoming traffic for any standing vehicle displaying warning signals or lights, including all cars with their hazard lights on, and taking the same precautions when driving near road flares, traffic cones, caution signs, any people in a roadway, and any warning signs, lights or signals at all, not just from public safety personnel.
"The biggest thing isn't, 'Hey, move over for the police or the fire department.' This bill is to move over for everybody," Storm said at the summit. "So, we're trying to increase that so everybody has to move over, no matter who the person is that pulled over on the side of the highway."
Public safety officials said expanding the law to include all vehicles and increasing awareness will help. Especially because most drivers don't understand their responsibilities or abide by the current law.
Hooksett hearing
Get ready, Hooksett, a $20 million project for Route 3/Route 28, also known as Hooksett Road, is coming your way and it's expected to tear up your main drag from 2027 to 2029.
Now's the time to have your say on a project that calls for widening the road to five lanes and adding sidewalks, medians, wider shoulders and as many as two roundabouts, among other fixes, between Alice Avenue and Whitehall Road.
A public hearing is scheduled for 6-8 p.m. on April 3 at Hooksett Town Hall.
For more information about the plan, visit dot.nh.gov.
I-293 work in Manchester
Nighttime traffic on Interstate 293 in Manchester will be down to one lane in each direction and drivers may encounter brief closures between Exit 5 and Exit 7, starting Monday evening and lasting through May 16, transportation officials said.
Crews will be replacing median guardrails from 9 to 5 p.m. during those dates.
The project is budgeted for $1.4 million.
I-93 lane closures
From April 1 to around Memorial Day, all four lanes of open-road E-ZPass tolls on Interstate93 — two each north and south — will be closed at the Hooksett Toll Plaza.
For an estimated two months, drivers won't be able to fly through the tolls without slowing down. Instead, they'll funnel through the six traditional toll booths on each side of the highway.
dpierce@unionleader.com
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Politico
an hour ago
- Politico
Suspect still being sought in shooting of 2 Minnesota state lawmakers
BROOKLYN PARK, Minnesota— A massive search was stretching into its second day for a man who authorities say posed as a police officer and fatally shot a Democratic state lawmaker in her suburban Minneapolis home, an act Gov. Tim Walz called 'a politically motivated assassination.' Authorities said the suspect also shot and wounded a second lawmaker and was trying to flee the area. Former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were killed in their Brooklyn Park home early Saturday. Sen. John Hoffman, also a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette, were injured at their Champlin address, about 9 miles away. Authorities identified the suspect as 57-year-old Vance Boelter, and the FBI issued a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to his arrest and conviction. They shared a photo taken Saturday of Boelter wearing a tan cowboy hat and asked the public to report sightings. Hundreds of law enforcement officers fanned out in the search for the suspect. Authorities had not given any details on a possible motive as of Saturday night. Boelter is a former political appointee who served on the same state workforce development board as Hoffman, records show, though it was not clear if or how well they knew each other. The attacks prompted warnings to other state elected officials and the cancellation of planned 'No Kings' demonstrations against President Donald Trump, though some went ahead anyway. Authorities said the suspect had 'No Kings' flyers in his car and writings mentioning the names of the victims as well as other lawmakers and officials, though they could not say if he had any other specific targets. A Minnesota official told AP the suspect's writings also contained information targeting prominent lawmakers who have been outspoken in favor of abortion rights. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing. Law enforcement agents recovered several AK-style firearms from the suspect's vehicle, and he was believed to still be armed with a pistol, a person familiar with the matter told AP. The person could not publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity. The shootings happened at a time when political leaders nationwide have been attacked, harassed and intimidated amid deep political divisions. 'We must all, in Minnesota and across the country, stand against all forms of political violence,' said Walz, a Democrat. He also ordered flags to fly at half-staff in Hortman's honor. 'Such horrific violence will not be tolerated in the United States of America. God Bless the great people of Minnesota, a truly great place!' President Donald Trump said in a statement. Police responded to reports of gunfire at the Hoffmans' home shortly after 2 a.m., Champlin police said, and found the couple with multiple gunshot wounds. After seeing who the victims were, police sent officers to proactively check on Hortman's home. There they encountered what appeared to be a police vehicle and a man dressed as an officer at the door, leaving the house. 'When officers confronted him, the individual immediately fired upon the officers who exchanged gunfire, and the suspect retreated back into the home' and escaped on foot, Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said. Multiple bullet holes could be seen in the front door of Hoffman's home. John and Yvette Hoffman each underwent surgery, according to Walz. Hortman, 55, had been the top Democratic leader in the state House since 2017. She led Democrats in a three-week walkout at the beginning of this year's session in a power struggle with Republicans. Under a power sharing agreement, she turned the gavel over to Republican Rep. Lisa Demuth and assumed the title speaker emerita. Hortman used her position as speaker in 2023 to champion expanded protections for abortion rights, including legislation to solidify Minnesota's status as a refuge for patients from restrictive states who travel to the state to seek abortions — and to protect providers who serve them. Walz called her a 'formidable public servant, a fixture and a giant in Minnesota.' Hortman and her husband had two adult children. The initial autopsy reports from the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office gave their cause of death as 'multiple gunshot wounds.' The reports said Melissa Hortman died at the scene while her husband was pronounced dead at the hospital. Hoffman, 60, was first elected in 2012 and was chair of the Senate Human Services Committee, which oversees one of the biggest parts of the state budget. He and his wife have one daughter. Boelter was appointed to the workforce development board in 2016 and then reappointed in 2019 to a four-year term that expired in 2023, state records show. Corporate records show Boelter's wife filed to create a company called Praetorian Guard Security Services LLC with the same Green Isle mailing address listed for the couple. Boelter's wife is listed as president and CEO and he is listed as director of security patrols on the company's website. The website says the company provides armed security for property and events and features a photo of an SUV painted in a two-tone black and silver pattern similar to a police vehicle. Another photo shows a man in black tactical gear with a military-style helmet and a ballistic vest. An online resume says Boelter is a security contractor who has worked in the Middle East and Africa, in addition to past managerial roles at companies in Minnesota. Around 6 a.m., Boelter texted friends to say he had 'made some choices,' the Minnesota Star Tribune reported. In the messages, read to reporters by David Carlson, Boelter did not specify what he had done but said: 'I'm going to be gone for a while. May be dead shortly, so I just want to let you know I love you guys both and I wish it hadn't gone this way. … I'm sorry for all the trouble this has caused.' Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, a Republican from Cold Spring, called the attack 'evil' and said she was 'heartbroken beyond words' by the killings. The shootings are the latest in a series of attacks against lawmakers across parties. In April a suspect set fire to the home of Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, forcing him and his family to flee during the Jewish holiday of Passover. The suspect said he planned to beat Shapiro with a small sledgehammer if he found him, according to court documents. In July 2024, Trump was grazed on the ear by one of a hail of bullets that killed a Trump supporter. Two months later a man with a rifle was discovered near the president's Florida golf course and arrested. Other incidents include a 2022 hammer attack on the husband of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in their San Francisco home and a 2020 plot by anti-government extremists to kidnap Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and start a civil war. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said he asked Capitol Police to 'immediately increase security' for Minnesota Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith. He also asked Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican, to hold a briefing on member security.
Politico
an hour ago
- Politico
Minnesota's slain Democratic leader lived the political divisions in the US every day
MINNEAPOLIS — Americans talk constantly about how their country is split down the middle politically. Melissa Hortman lived that every day as a Minnesota House member. Her unique perspective on politics came from her job as the House's top Democrat and its unusual challenge. She had to defend liberal priorities in a chamber divided 67-67 between Democrats and Republicans while working to see that the even split didn't keep the Legislature from funding state government. She and her husband were shot to death early Saturday in their Minneapolis-area home in what authorities are calling an act of political violence. Another prominent area lawmaker, state Sen. John Hoffman, was shot and wounded, along with his wife, in their home about 15 minutes away. Hortman had served as House speaker for six years when the 2024 elections cost Democrats their slim majority. She led fellow Democrats in boycotting House sessions for almost a month, starting in mid-January, to prevent the GOP from using a temporary vacancy in a Democratic seat to cement control over the chamber, forcing Republicans into sharing power. She wanted to protect state health coverage for adult immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, a liberal policy enacted on her watch as speaker in 2023. But when the only budget deal that she could broker included a GOP bill to cut that coverage, she provided the single Democratic vote in the House, securing its passage so that state government would remain funded for the next two years. 'She battled fiercely, but never let it impact the personal bond that we developed serving as caucus leaders,' GOP House Speaker Lisa Demuth said in a statement. 'I am beyond heartbroken by her loss.' The shootings shocked a state that prides its politics as being 'Minnesota nice,' even despite higher partisan tensions in recent years. To outsiders, Minnesota looks blue. The state hasn't voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1972, and all of its statewide elected officials are Democrats. Yet the Legislature is now almost evenly split, with Democrats clinging to a 34-33 majority in the Senate. Republicans are still frustrated with how Democrats used their slim majorities in both chambers in 2023 and 2024 to roll over them and enact a sweeping liberal agenda. In 2023, Democrats had an ambitious wish list and passed practically everything on it, with Hortman a key player. The measures included expanded abortion and trans rights, paid family and medical leave, universal free school lunches, child care credits and other aid for families. But on Saturday, the mourning for Hortman, Hoffman and their families was bipartisan. Hoffman, 60, is chair of the Senate Human Services Committee, which oversees one of the biggest parts of the state budget. He lives in Champlin, in the northwest part of the Minneapolis area, and owns a consulting firm, and he and his wife, Yvette, had one daughter. He previously was marketing and public relations director for a nonprofit provider of employment services for people with mental illnesses and intellectual and developmental disabilities and supervised a juvenile detention center in Iowa. He was first elected to the Senate in 2012. In 2023, Hoffman supported budget legislation that extended the state MinnesotaCare health program to immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, starting this year. On Monday, he voted against a bill to end that coverage for adults on Jan. 1 — a GOP goal that was a key part of the budget agreement that Hortman helped broker. Last year, Hoffman sponsored a bill designed to prevent courts from blocking people with disabilities from adopting children, and in 2023, he proposed an amendment to the state constitution to create a fund to pay for long-term care by taxing the Social Security benefits of the state's wealthiest residents. Hortman had served as the House Democrats' leader since 2017, and six years as speaker, starting in 2019. Under a power-sharing deal, her title became speaker emerita. She and her husband, Mark, lived in Brooklyn Park, another suburb in the northwest part of the Minneapolis area. They had two adult children. A lawyer, she twice lost races for the House before first winning her seat in 2004. U.S. Sen. and Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar recalled campaigning door to door that year with Hortman, when Klobuchar was the elected chief prosecutor for Hennepin County, which includes Minneapolis. Klobuchar praised Hortman's support for free school lunches, women's rights and clean energy, calling her 'a true public servant to the core.' Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, who attended the University of Minnesota's law school with Hortman, said: 'She was smart, savvy, strategic, kind, funny, brave, and determined.' Hortman became part of the Democrats' legislative leadership team in 2007, then House minority leader in 2017, before Democrats recaptured a House majority in 2019. Her proposals included state emission standards like ones imposed in California and a ban on the sale of products containing mercury. She also proposed studying the feasibility of ending state investments in fossil fuel companies. Demuth, the current Republican House speaker, said Hortman was a nationally recognized expert on energy policy. 'She wasn't only a leader — she was a damn good legislator, and Minnesotans everywhere will suffer because of this loss,' said Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin, a former Minnesota state party chair and a friend of Hortman's.
Chicago Tribune
3 hours ago
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‘A tale of two Mike Madigans': How the ex-Speaker's trial testimony offered his life story but also route to 7 1/2-year sentence
Months before a federal judge sentenced former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan to prison on Friday, the once-mighty state Democratic Party chairman took the witness stand in his corruption trial in an attempt to save himself. The only politician in America to serve 36 years as a House speaker guided jurors through his version of a complex personal and political life where few have gone before. For a high-profile Chicago politician that some called the 'sphinx' because of his secrecy, Madigan's decision to testify demonstrated he could not sit by and let his fate play out without speaking up. On Friday, Madigan found himself in a different posture, pleading for mercy as he asked for more time with a family that included an ailing wife. 'When I look back on my life, being speaker is not what gives me the most pride,' Madigan said. 'I am most proud of being a good husband, a good father and now a good grandfather.' In sentencing Madigan to seven and a half years in federal prison and fining him $2.5 million, U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey made it clear that Madigan's decision to testify at trial had cost him dearly. The judge called some aspects of his testimony about the details of the alleged schemes 'a nauseating display of perjury' that was 'hard to watch.' Blakey said he was struck by what essentially was 'a tale of two different Mike Madigans,' a play on the theme of a Charles Dickens classic, adding that the space between good and evil is 'a line that passes right through the heart of every single person.' 'Hero or villain? Well, I suppose both are true,' the judge said. By many accounts, Madigan was a good family man who often helped people who needed it without expecting anything in return, Blakey said. That made it all the more difficult to reconcile Madigan the politician, convicted in a yearslong bribery scheme to use his public office to boost his private law practice and enrich his closest associates. 'This case is really sad because the defendant is a dedicated public servant, apart from the crimes committed in this case,' Blakey said. 'He's also a good and decent person. He had no reason to commit these crimes, but he chose to do so.' Madigan's surprise decision to take the stand in his own defense provided Illinoisans extensive and personal details about a man who, whether they knew it or not, had shaped much of their lives. During his 50 years as a state lawmaker, Madigan held sway on monumental issues, from the state income taxes Illinoisans pay, to the roads they drive on, to the candidates they get to vote for each election cycle. He even made the House clock stand still long enough to beat a midnight deadline so his beloved White Sox could build the South Side stadium where fans watch the team play. Madigan's version of his life story was curated and highly subjective, of course, but it was a story only he could tell. He portrayed himself as something many in Illinois politics never saw: a sympathetic character whose parents 'never told me that they loved me.' He revealed his own father's struggles with alcohol, how his father slapped him on the head when he came home drunk early one morning and how his father wanted his only son to refrain from excessive drinking. He recounted a whirlwind romance that culminated in marrying a woman with a young daughter who had a contentious relationship with her biological father and would eventually win four terms as attorney general. For decades, Chicagoans knew Madigan as a larger-than-life power player who racked up multiple Democratic victories. But his courtroom comments came as he fought for his own freedom. There were no highlight reels about fighting for workers, securing pork-barrel projects or forging consensus with lawmakers to pass gay marriage and concealed carry laws. Madigan presented himself as a person whose natural inclination was to avoid confrontation, an attempt to explain why he went to co-defendant Michael McClain, a lobbyist, former lawmaker and longtime Madigan confidant, to help hire former precinct captains and aldermen as well as deliver bad news to legislative colleagues. But Madigan's extraordinary four days of testimony, in the end, weren't enough. Federal prosecutors punched back. They argued successfully that the feel-good stories Madigan told opened the door to present more evidence designed to undercut his rosier testimony, including with a tape in which he famously said 'some of these guys have made out like bandits.' After 11 days and 64 hours of deliberations, jurors came back with a split verdict that found Madigan guilty on 10 of 23 criminal charges. Despite Friday's sentencing, Madigan is still expected to battle on appeal to overturn the verdict and rewrite a legacy that now paints him as just another crooked Illinois politician, one who squeezed ComEd to put his cronies into no-work jobs while the fate of the utility's legislative agenda rested in his hands. Ever since the Madigan investigation exploded six years ago, he has argued that he simply made job recommendations for people over the length of his half-century career, considered it a part of his job, and rejected the allegation that he took official action in exchange for a thing of value — insisting he never engaged in an illegal quid pro quo. 'When people ask me for help, if possible,' Madigan testified, 'I try to help them.' When Madigan was born 83 years ago, his father was a cog in the Democratic machine who became a political stalwart as 13th Ward superintendent. Madigan's mother was a homemaker, and his sister was five years younger. He grew up in the Marquette Park area on the city's Southwest Side. 'My father dominated the house,' Madigan said. 'My mother was quiet and reserved.' 'In that house,' Madigan testified, 'the word 'nurturing' didn't exist. My parents never told me that they loved me. They never embraced, never hugged. That was just the condition that existed at the time.' Madigan's parents also were 'very strict' about his schoolwork, particularly after a nun saw he scored better than she expected on his fifth grade exam at St. Adrian, a Catholic grammar school, and told his parents to 'get on my case.' 'And so, as it was in those years, they got out the whips, and they went to work,' Madigan testified. 'So I became a more diligent student.' In Madigan's seventh and eighth grade years, yet another nun urged him to go to St. Ignatius for high school, one of a handful on his father's approved list, and then, after high school, going to the University of Notre Dame became a 'foregone conclusion.' Along the way, Madigan held jobs typical of a family embedded in the Democratic machine, which by 1955 was beginning to be run by Mayor Richard J. Daley. He worked a couple of summers as a junior laborer at a nearby Chicago Park District nursery when he was around 14 or 15, helping to grow trees and bushes for the park system. He then landed a job on a 'dirt truck' under his father's jurisdiction, picking up discarded mattresses and broken refrigerators placed on curbs and scooping dirt piled up by street sweepers and shoveling it into a truck to haul to a dump. Eventually, though, he convinced his father to be reassigned to a garbage truck, a job that came with a 'nightly interrogation' since his father supervised ward services. 'This became difficult,' Madigan testified. 'And my father had been an alcoholic who had quit drinking. He carried an anger problem, short fuse. And so when something went wrong or something went against his wishes, why, there would be a display of anger. And if anybody happened to be in the line of fire, why, it was not a pleasant experience. And in my case, why, it just — it just had me develop a habit where I never wanted to disagree with him, So if I'm in a conversation with him, he's not happy, he's disparaging me, I would just say, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah, yes, sir, yes, sir, yeah, yeah, yeah,' just to get out of the conversation.' The vignette appeared to be aimed at explaining why Madigan habitually gave brief 'yeah' or 'mmhm' answers to questions, such as an attempt to diffuse prosecutors' arguments that his innocuous phrases condoned alleged misdeeds. Madigan also testified his father's alcoholism played into a life lesson once when the young Madigan came home around 2 or 3 a.m. 'greatly under the influence of alcohol.' 'My father greeted me at the door, and I got a good, solid slap right across the side of my face,' Madigan said. Later that morning, Madigan's mother sent him to his father's office for a 'very somber meeting.' 'My father really never talked about drinking until this meeting. … He was very concerned that I might have the same problem that he had,' Madigan explained. 'And he extracted two promises out of me. Number one, never drink on an empty stomach. Make sure you have some food in your stomach before you drink. Number two, never drink before sundown. Never drink before sundown. And so I told him I would abide by that, and I have.' Advice from his father shaped many other parts of Madigan's thinking, from his longtime support of organized labor to making an extraordinary political connection while attending law school at Loyola University. In between his first and second year in law school, he worked as an assistant to the 13th Ward alderman, handling often angry and frustrated constituents with requests that ranged from needing a tree trimmed to getting their garbage picked up on time. 'It left me with a lifetime understanding that people like myself involved in government and politics should strive to be responsive to the citizens of the states, citizens of the nation,' Madigan said. He later worked as a law clerk in the city of Chicago Law Department, a spot right next to the office of Mayor Daley. 'We developed an acquaintance relationship,' Madigan said, adding: 'He knew my father.' When Madigan graduated from law school in 1967, he took his first job as a lawyer in the same city Law Department. He then landed a job as a hearing officer at the Illinois Commerce Commission, which oversees utilities. But he soon learned a lesson in politics when a Republican committeeman started pulled strings. 'I was a Democrat, and I was involved with the local Democratic organizations in the 13th Ward,' Madigan testified. 'That organization issued a newsletter, and I wrote a column for the Young Democrats. The newsletter fell into the hands of the local Republican ward committeeman, who also happened to be the Republican Cook County chairman.' But instead of getting fired immediately, as the GOP official wanted, the ICC chairman gave Madigan time to find another job. He landed back in the city law department, once again as part of the Daley administration. Madigan's political career would soon rise. He won a vote among precinct committeemen in 1969 to replace the 13th Ward's Democratic committeeman, who had died. He won election as a delegate to the state's constitutional convention, which crafted the 1970 Illinois Constitution, which is still in place today. One of his fellow delegates was Richard M. Daley, Hizzoner's son and a future Chicago mayor himself. Thanks to Democratic Party slating, Madigan soon won his House seat for the first time in 1970, and he spent his first term 'not active,' but rather 'just observing and attempting to learn.' After Madigan's father died, the new lawmaker befriended a gregarious veteran, Rep. E.J. 'Zeke' Giorgi, a Rockford Democrat who excelled in retail politics. 'My personality was very strident,' Madigan said of his early days as a lawmaker, 'and I didn't do well interacting with the other representatives.' Giorgi's 'personality was completely different than mine,' said Madigan, an understatement to anyone who knew the secretive Madigan and the always-talkative Giorgi. 'He was open, outgoing, did very well at relating to other people, understanding other people, and being able to work cooperatively with them. So he gave me an education as to how I should change my methods and how I should conduct myself differently than I had when I first arrived.' Madigan said the most important lesson he learned from Giorgi was that 'it's really important to strive to know and understand other people. You know, it's one thing to have your own ideas. But in life, but in particular in a legislative body, it's really important that you understand that everybody comes there with their own ideas. They're entitled to support positions that they support, and everybody should be given due respect.' Madigan told jurors he 'developed a lifetime friendship' with Giorgi, who is known as the father of the Illinois lottery and the House champion of riverboat gambling. It became clear in Madigan's testimony that experiences with his father and with Giorgi influenced how he handled the speakership. While establishing himself in Springfield during the mid-1970s, Madigan also met a woman who would become his wife, Shirley, a former flight attendant from Oregon, who worked at a Chicago law office where he would stop to discuss politics with a friend. 'It was a real quick romance,' Madigan said, 'and we got married, and we developed a family of three immediately because she had a daughter from a prior marriage who was about 10 or 11 years old at the time.' Madigan embraced the dual role of being a husband to Shirley and also a father to her daughter, Lisa, as they settled into the 13th Ward's West Lawn neighborhood. 'Shirley had gone through a very difficult divorce, a very contentious relationship with her first husband,' Madigan said. 'And my view was that … I would treat Lisa as my daughter, that I was not the biological father, but I had married Shirley. And, you know, I understood at the get-go that this was a — this is a dual package here. And so I just took on the parental responsibilities.' Madigan testified about Lisa's 'contentious relationship with her biological father' and the time he heard her crying while talking on the phone. 'I took the phone out of her hands, and her biological father was on the phone shouting at her,' Madigan said. 'And the language was so vile that I don't want to repeat it, but he was using the 'F' word as part of his expression.' Madigan testified he told Lisa that she never again had to see or talk to her biological father. Madigan said he received numerous threatening letters but avoided a physical confrontation with him, a point the Madigan team used to support the argument that he was non-confrontational on thorny matters. A Tribune review of courtroom transcripts revealed Madigan's deep reach into his background drew significant questions from Judge Blakey outside of the earshot of the jury and the courtroom audience. Blakey, in a private sidebar with lawyers outside of jurors' earshot, wondered about the relevance of Madigan testifying about 'some emotional incident' from decades ago. Ultimately, though, Blakey allowed Madigan's team to use the story to demonstrate the longtime speaker's 'approach toward confrontation or how he interacts with people and how he responds, certainly those things are relevant.' But Blakey gave a warning: 'That's not a blank check to bring in every possible experience.' The Madigan family grew as he and Shirley had three additional children, Nicole, Tiffany and Andrew, all of whom are now adults. Madigan adopted Lisa. Over the years, Lisa Madigan drew the most political interest. A former state senator who became Illinois' attorney general in 2003, she looked on track to be the first woman to be governor of Illinois. But that expectation took an abrupt turn in July 2013 when she sent a blast email that shook the state's political landscape. Despite raising money at a faster clip than incumbent Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, she said she would not challenge him. Why? 'I feel strongly that the state would not be well served by having a governor and speaker of the House from the same family and have never planned to run for governor if that would be the case. With speaker Madigan planning to continue in office, I will not run for governor.' Ever since, many have pondered what would have happened if the speaker had stepped aside at that point. Instead, Lisa Madigan ran for reelection as attorney general, completed her fourth term and joined a private law firm. In her final days as attorney general, she would swear in her father to the speakership during a festive ceremony in 2019. 'Congratulations,' she said. 'You're the speaker again.' That would be Mike Madigan's last term as speaker before his own caucus ousted him two years later as the federal investigation began to close in. The Madigan & Getzendanner law firm also took center stage in the courtroom as prosecutors sought to tie Madigan's public actions to his attempts to land business for a practice that focused on winning property tax appeals. Prosecutors used testimony from disgraced former 25th Ward Ald. Danny Solis — who chaired the City Council's zoning committee — to buttress allegations about Madigan making deals with Solis to help score real estate business for the law firm. The straitlaced Madigan testified he had no idea until news broke in January 2019 that the feds had ensnared Solis in a sordid mix of city business, campaign contributions, bribery, sex, prostitutes and Viagra pills. Federal authorities flipped Solis, who helped take down Madigan and 14th Ward Ald. Ed Burke, who spent a record 54 years on the City Council and went to prison for racketeering, bribery and extortion. One pivotal moment in the Madigan trial was a 2018 recording in which Solis told Madigan that developers the speaker wanted in his law firm's portfolio, as Solis explained, to 'understand how this works, you know, the quid pro quo, the quid pro quo.' On the phone, Madigan's reaction sounded potentially like a subtle acknowledgement. But Madigan told jurors Solis' comments caused a 'great deal of surprise and concern.' 'I decided that I wanted to have a face-to-face meeting with Mr. Solis to give me an opportunity to tell him that I would not be involved in a quid pro quo,' Madigan said. A few days later, Madigan testified that he spoke to Solis, who 'genuinely appeared to recognize that he had made a serious mistake.' In that particular allegation, one involving Madigan's alleged pressure on developers of a West Loop high-rise to give him business, the jurors acquitted him of four counts. In all, the former speaker was convicted on Feb. 12 on 10 of the 23 corruption counts he faced. Jurors deadlocked on the marquee racketeering conspiracy charge that Madigan and co-defendant Michael McClain, a ComEd lobbyist, ran the ex-speaker's government and political operations like a criminal enterprise. Jurors could not reach a consensus on any charges against McClain, who stands convicted in the separate 'ComEd Four' case. But the jury convicted Madigan on a series of allegations tied to his talking about getting Solis, a key government mole who testified at length during the trial, appointed to a cushy paid position on a state board during the same conversations in which Solis promised to help Madigan acquire business for Madigan's law firm. As he wrapped up his days of denials, Madigan's testimony provided one more glimpse into what he now was thinking: 'One of my regrets is that I ever had any time spent with Danny Solis.' Prosecutors won pivotal rulings late in the trial to present key evidence to counter the Madigan team's position that he simply sought to help people find jobs. Blakey allowed jurors to see a video of Madigan's 2009 oral history interview with the University of Illinois Chicago about how he used to handle patronage when it was legal during the 1960s and 1970s heyday of the first Mayor Daley's Democratic machine. The video showed Madigan explaining how he taught people who wanted government jobs to sell Democratic candidates to voters like a door-to-door encyclopedia salesman. 'They wanted a job in the patronage system,' Madigan said. 'I would tell them, 'Yes, we can put you in a job. But you're going to work for the Democratic Party.' ' Madigan attorney Todd Pugh argued putting the recording into the trial would open a 'Pandora's box,' given that anti-patronage laws had changed the hiring landscape. Lead prosecutor Amarjeet Bhachu countered the 'reason the Pandora's box is there is because' Madigan's own direct testimony involved an 'unnecessary inquiry into what Mr. Madigan had done for 50 years.' Blakey followed up on his prior warnings: 'At multiple times, and whether it's a Pandora's box or whatever, whatever kind of box, it was … opened up on the direct testimony of the defendant.' Prosecutors also convinced Blakey to allow the infamous 'bandits' recording of Madigan and McClain talking about longtime labor leader Dennis Gannon getting a $150,000-a-year ComEd consulting contract. 'Some of these guys have made out like bandits, Mike,' Madigan told McClain as they both chuckled. Madigan's team argued the comment should have been barred because Gannon's position was not included in the charges against the ex-speaker. But Bhachu maintained it was fair because Madigan portrayed his motivation for a half-century of job recommendations as being 'solely for altruistic purposes, to help constituents.' In his own testimony, Madigan said the 'bandits' conversation with McClain had nothing at all to do with the no-work ComEd subcontractors at issue in the case. Instead, Madigan testified, they were talking about lobbyists in Springfield who would get paid big money to work six months out of the year. Prosecutors dismissed the counts against Madigan in which the jury deadlocked. Madigan is expected to appeal the sentence and request to remain free pending the outcome. The jury also deadlocked on six counts against McClain. He was convicted two years ago in the far-reaching 'ComEd Four' trial, an outgrowth of the Madigan investigation. McClain and three others also found guilty in that case are scheduled for sentencings later this summer. The government previously dropped a single count of bribery against Solis despite his own checkered history. Solis keeps his six-figure City Council pension, and Madigan's $158,000 annual pension was suspended immediately upon his conviction. In his remarks near the end of Friday's three-and-a-half-hour sentencing hearing, the judge found himself musing about Illinois' sordid history of corruption, saying he was not trying to sentence 'a social problem' but instead the single defendant who was before him in the courtroom. He also reflected on the measure of a man, acknowledging how difficult it is for politicians to achieve the level of integrity of someone like President Abraham Lincoln. 'It's really hard to be Honest Abe right?' Blakey said. 'He's a unicorn in our American history. Being great is hard. But being honest is not. Being honest is actually very easy. It's hard to commit crimes. It takes effort.' The fact that Madigan was a 'man of his word,' as he testified and as many who wrote letters of support agreed on, 'cuts both ways,' Blakey said, since he also 'kept his word with his co-conspirators and co-schemers.' In the end, Blakey said, the forces that landed Madigan in his courtroom were perplexing. 'He had no reason to do the things that he did in this case, and the fact that he is a good man and chose to do it is mystifying,' Blakey said. 'But he did it.'
