CHICAGO – Before jurors in former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s trial departed the Dirksen Federal Courthouse for a two-week break on Thursday, they heard glowing testimony from the ex-speaker’s former chief legal counsel – who also happens to be a sitting judge. Madigan’s attorneys called 1st District Appellate Court Justice David Ellis to the witness stand about 90 minutes before the trial adjourned and spent most of that time letting Ellis praise the former speaker’s leadership style. Ellis described how, as chief lawyer in the speaker’s office, he was assigned deep dives into legislation that “would directly impact consumers” – including energy-related bills. “We weren’t going to let people get ripped off by big business,” Ellis said of the general directive he got when negotiating such proposals. “Just don’t let consumers get screwed, basically.” And that was true for a 2011 bill Ellis negotiated with electric utility Commonwealth Edison, he testified. “I don’t mean this as insulting, but I don’t trust ComEd to write anything that isn’t in their best interest,” Ellis said. The feds allege the 2011 “Smart Grid” law was the first of several legislative efforts ComEd pushed – and in one case opposed – with the powerful speaker’s backing as the result of bribes in the form of jobs and contracts for Madigan allies. Ellis had begun negotiating the bill in early 2011 and it passed the General Assembly on a bipartisan vote in May of that year, followed by a veto from then-Gov. Pat Quinn, a Democrat. But prosecutors argue lawmakers overrode the veto only after ComEd granted a no-work contract to a Madigan ally and hired a Democratic fundraiser’s law firm under pressure from ComEd lobbyist and Madigan confidant Mike McClain. McClain was already convicted along with three other former ComEd lobbyists and executives of bribing the ex-speaker in a separate trial last year and is Madigan’s co-defendant in the current trial.