‘ComEd Four’ trial: Evidence seen and heard by the jury
The “ComEd Four” trial recordings have given jurors — and the public — the ultimate insider glimpse into how the famously reclusive former House Speaker Michael Madigan conducted his business.
The more than 100 secretly recorded phone calls and meetings, which were gleaned from wiretaps and confidential informants over the course of more than a year, form the backbone of the case, one of the most highly watched political trials in Illinois for years.
The recordings played in court so far show how closely Madigan worked with longtime confidant Michael McClain, a former ComEd contract lobbyist on everything from political strategy to major legislation important to the speaker.
They also portrayed in colorful relief Madigan and McClain playing hardball, plotting the forced resignation of a longtime ally and talking about delivering “body blows” to Madigan’s counterpart in the Senate over a perceived political slight.
Along with McClain, 75, the other members of the “ComEd Four” are former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, 64; ex-ComEd lobbyist John Hooker, 73, and Jay Doherty, 69, a lobbyist and consultant who formerly led the City Club of Chicago. McClain and Madigan are charged in a separate corruption case that is tied to the ComEd scandal.
The indictment alleged the “ComEd Four” schemed to shower Madigan allies with jobs, contracts, internships and legal work to woo the now-indicted ex-speaker into looking favorably at ComEd’s Springfield agenda.
The defendants’ attorneys contend that the so-called scheme was nothing more than legal lobbying, part of the state’s high-stakes, often-messy politics where myriad interest groups and stakeholders compete for access to lawmakers.
Day 3: Michael Madigan’s voice heard for first time on recordings played at ‘ComEd Four’ trial
Despite nearly four decades at the helm of Illinois politics, ex-House Speaker Michael Madigan’s voice was rarely heard publicly, outside of an occasional news conference or speech on the House floor.
But Madigan’s voice echoed through a Chicago federal courtroom on March 16 as prosecutors played a series of undercover recordings showing how the then-powerful speaker muscled out one of his longtime allies, Lou Lang, to stave off a potentially new sexual harassment scandal.
Day 4: State representative testifies at ‘ComEd Four’ trial that Speaker Michael Madigan ruled caucus ‘through fear and intimidation’
Former Illinois Senate President John Cullerton’s name surfaced in recorded conversations between former House Speaker Michael Madigan and his longtime confidant, Michael McClain, talking about a 2018 political dispute that had brewed largely out of the public eye.
Madigan complained about a political ad critical of him and tied to Senate Democrats that Cullerton led in 2018, saying that the attacks should be aimed at President Donald Trump and other Republicans rather than the speaker, who doubled as chair of the Democratic Party of Illinois.
In a secretly recorded telephone call in July 2018, McClain opened by saying bluntly, “Sorry about that stupid Cullerton move.” After Madigan asked, “What’s your take on what I should do?” McClain suggested letting him and other allies of the speaker hammer Cullerton with “body blows.”
McClain told Madigan on the recording that the longtime lobbyist had sent Cullerton a text expressing displeasure and that sooner or later Cullerton had to be told it is “(expletive) inappropriate.”
Day 7: In ‘ComEd Four’ trial, Michael Madigan’s ex-political director says arm-twisting on speaker’s orders helped pass ComEd legislation
Prosecutors also played a wiretapped call between Will Cousineau, a lobbyist and longtime political director on Madigan’s Democratic staff, and Michael McClain, a ComEd contract lobbyist and one of Madigan’s longtime confidants, from 2018, shortly after Cousineau had left the speaker’s office for his role in lobbying, which included working on ComEd issues.
“How’s the dark side?” McClain asked on the call.
“It’s stressful in a different way,” Cousineau replied.
“As long as we remember who our real client is,” McClain said, “it’s not easy but it mollifies it.”
Day 8: Then-ComEd CEO gushes about Michael Madigan, longtime confidant on secretly recorded call played for jury
Prosecutors played a May 2018 recording between retired lobbyist Michael McClain and former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore. in which he informed her the speaker wanted her to keep pressing to get former McPier boss Juan Ochoa appointed to the ComEd board and Mike Zalewski on a contract.
“OK got it. I will keep pressing,” Pramaggiore said.
McClain told Pramaggiore on the call that when he talked to Madigan about Ochoa’s potential financial problems, the speaker’s response was that “Harry Truman filed for bankruptcy” too.
Pramaggiore laughed. “It is classic him! I love it. And he would know that, you know?” she said.
Day 9: ‘Don’t put anything in writing’: Jurors see undercover videos of Michael Madigan associates in ‘ComEd Four’ trial
Shortly after being confronted by FBI agents in 2019 and deciding to cooperate in an ongoing bribery probe, then-ComEd Senior Vice President Fidel Marquez secretly videotaped a lunch meeting in Springfield with one of House Speaker Michael Madigan’s most trusted confidants.
The FBI had instructed Marquez to ask Madigan’s associate, Michael McClain, what he should tell ComEd’s new CEO about their scheme to funnel payments to a roster of Madigan-approved allies through a consulting company owned by Jay Doherty, a longtime ComEd contract lobbyist.
Other potentially damaging videos played in court included a conversation where Doherty acknowledged to Marquez that the Madigan guys he’d been paying as subcontractors did nothing for him on a day-to-day basis but “keep their mouth shut.”
Another video played in court showed a meeting at Marquez’s ComEd office on Feb. 13, 2019, where Doherty explained the origins of the scheme to slip the cadre of Madigan-backed subcontractors onto his own lobbying contract with ComEd.
Jurors also listened to a recorded call between Marquez and former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore from Feb. 16, 2019, that contained candid conversation after she left ComEd to become CEO of Exelon Utilities, including how she wanted Marquez to avoid seeing the subcontractor issue blow up while ComEd still had legislation pending in Springfield.
Day 10: ‘They scared the daylights out of you, didn’t they?’ Cross-examination underway for star witness in ‘ComEd Four’ trial
Prosecutors played a recording where then-House Speaker Michael Madigan’s longtime confidant, Michael McClain quizzed former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore about finding a job for Tim Mapes.
Madigan dumped Mapes from his three roles as chief of staff, House clerk and executive director of the Democratic Party of Illinois in June 2018 when a clerk working for Mapes accused him of sexual harassment, bullying and creating an uncomfortable atmosphere.
Marquez and Pramaggiore were later captured in another recording discussing whether Mapes was employable at ComEd or Exelon.
“I keep thinking about how we can be helpful to (Mapes),” Pramaggiore said. “It’s hard to do anything directly.”
Day 11: ‘ComEd Four’ defense tries to turn Madigan ‘fear and intimidation’ testimony on its head
The shockingly abrupt end to House Speaker Michael Madigan’s nearly four-decade reign over Illinois politics was only two years away when a trio of key players in the ongoing “ComEd Four” trial gathered in early 2019 for a secretly recorded conference call.
Unaware of the bribery investigation swirling around them, Anne Pramaggiore and Michael McClain were planning a bright future in Madigan’s good graces. First, though, they had to hash out a problem: Who was going to be their new point person to maintain the cozy relationship with Madigan and keep the legislative wins coming?
“We’re in a conundrum,” McClain, the former ComEd lobbyist and longtime Madigan confidant, said on the Feb. 22, 2019, call, which was played in the courtroom last week.
They were joined on the call by senior ComEd executive Fidel Marquez, who went along with the strategy session as he had many times in his seven years managing the utility’s legislative affairs team.
Day 12: Jury hears recordings laying out role of Madigan’s confidant as go-between for utility
Prosecutors in the “ComEd Four” trial played more than a dozen wiretapped calls showing in vivid detail how lobbyist Michael McClain served as the key go-between for the utility and House Speaker Michael Madigan, handling everything from mundane hiring requests to high-level strategy for major energy legislation.
On one call from 2018, McClain boasted he’d been doing “assignments” for Madigan for 25 years and his name hardly ever appeared in the newspaper.
“I’m pretty discreet,” McClain said on the call.
The recordings, which were played back-to-back without a witness on the stand and ran for more than an hour, featured a who’s who of Madigan’s most trusted associates, including 13th Ward Ald. Marty Quinn, former state Rep. John Bradley, former top staffer Shaw Decremer, as well as the speaker’s son, Andrew.
“There is no one right now that I can actually tell our friend that this is our lead (person), and that when you call, that guy will snap to and know what to do and get back to you,” McClain told co-defendants Anne Pramaggiore, ComEd’s former CEO, and lobbyist John Hooker, on one call.
Madigan also seemed to want to know, asking McClain on two separate calls played for the jury who was going to “drive the bus” on a bill being pushed by ComEd affiliate Exelon Generation.
Day 13: Jurors in ‘ComEd Four’ bribery trial shown ‘Magic Lobbying List’ of Michael Madigan allies
On a Tuesday afternoon in May 2019, teams of FBI agents fanned out across Chicago and downstate Illinois to execute a series of raids on some of then-House Speaker Michael Madigan’s top associates.
It was a pivotal moment in the ComEd bribery investigation that would shake Illinois politics to its core, with agents seizing hundreds of pieces of evidence, including laptops, cellphones, ledgers, emails and business records.
But one unusual item, found during the search of the Quincy home of Michael McClain, a retired ComEd lobbyist and Madigan’s closest confidant, stood out.
Stuffed in a tote bag in the back of McClain’s silver Toyota Avalon was a handwritten “Magic Lobbying List,” with the names of former Madigan staffers, associates and allies, who’d gone on to lucrative lobbying careers, scrawled on stationery from a boutique hotel in Chicago.
The list was shown for the first time Tuesday in the ongoing trial of the “ComEd Four,” where McClain and three former ComEd executives and lobbyists are accused of conspiring to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars to various Madigan-connected “subcontractors” in exchange for the powerful Democrat’s influence over legislation the utility wanted passed, or blocked, in Springfield.
Day 14: Jurors in ‘ComEd Four’ trial see evidence from FBI raid on City Club and Jay Doherty’s condo
Jurors in the “ComEd Four” bribery trial saw a parade of FBI agents testify Wednesday about raids on the City Club and the home of its longtime president, Jay Doherty, scooping up emails, invoices, text messages and voicemails tied to the far-reaching bribes-for-favors case.
The voicemails gave jurors their first opportunity to hear the voice of Ed Moody, the former Cook County official and longtime precinct captain in former House Speaker Michael Madigan’s 13th Ward fiefdom.
Day 15: Former McPier leader Juan Ochoa testifies at ‘ComEd Four’ trial about his path to utility’s board
The plan to get Juan Ochoa appointed to a lucrative position on Commonwealth Edison’s board of directors had been in the works for nearly eight months when then-House Speaker Michael Madigan got a call from his closest confidant saying it was close to a done deal.
“Speaker, Juan Ochoa. You may call him,” Michael McClain, a former lobbyist working as a consultant for the utility, said on the July 17, 2018, call.
On May 2, 2018, Madigan called McClain to discuss the problem.
“Yes, so, they’ve got just a little bit of push back,” McClain said on the call, which was played in court after Marquez was done testifying. “I guess (Ochoa) has had some financial problems in the past and stuff like that.”
In February 2019, Ochoa called Madigan’s office and left a voice message asking for a meeting with himself and U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, a powerful Democratic ally who had recently replaced Gutierrez in Congress.
It wasn’t about the ComEd board seat, Ochoa testified, but to talk about the Latino Leadership Council, a political organization that Garcia, Gutierrez and he had recently formed, Ochoa said.
That day, Madigan was recorded telling McClain about Ochoa’s cryptic message. Assuming it was about the board seat, Madigan instructed McClain to reach out to him.
On Feb. 19, 2019, at Madigan’s direction, McClain called Ochoa to talk about the situation and Ochoa’s mysterious request for a meeting with García.
Day 16: Longtime Madigan precinct captain Ed Moody takes stand in ‘ComEd Four’ bribery trial, says speaker set him up with lobbying deal
A legendary precinct captain for former House Speaker Michael Madigan told jurors in the “ComEd Four” bribery trial Tuesday that the speaker got him a $45,000-a-year contract with one of the utility’s top lobbyists but made it clear the deal would disappear if he stopped working on campaigns.
Edward Moody, for years one of Madigan’s top door-knockers, recounted without hesitation the Democratic speaker’s warning when he told Moody about the arrangement: “I control that contract and if you stop doing political work, you’ll lose that contract.”
Day 17: Former top counsel to Michael Madigan takes witness stand at ‘ComEd Four’ trial after prosecution rests
David Ellis, a successful novelist and former top counsel to powerful House Speaker Michael Madigan, was called by attorneys for Anne Pramaggiore, the former CEO of Commonwealth Edison, who is charged along with three others with cooking up a plan to coax the speaker into supporting the giant utility’s legislative agenda.
Day 18: Ex-ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore takes stand in own defense, says Speaker Madigan cared most about ‘staying speaker’
In a highly anticipated moment, former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore took the stand in the “ComEd Four” bribery trial, where she and three associates are accused of bribing powerful Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan to advance the utility giant’s legislative agenda in Springfield.
Day 19: As ‘ComEd Four’ shifts to defense, FBI wiretaps could prove hard to overcome
As the “ComEd Four” trial shifts to the defense phase, one thing has become clear.
The prosecution’s best testimony hasn’t come from the cooperators who lined up to testify about ComEd’s efforts to stay in Democrat Michael Madigan’s good graces.
In one recorded call before Marquez began cooperating, he told Pramaggiore said that he’d been having dinner with then-state Sen. Iris Martinez when the subject of Democrat J.B. Pritzker’s campaign for governor came up.
“Iris starts going off about Pritzker and how there are people who were Blagojevich cronies,” Marquez told Pramaggiore on the August 2018 call, referring to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, “and now they’re coming back out of the woodwork and they’re trying to get in with the Pritzker camp, like, and she goes, ‘Like that mother (expletive) Juan Ochoa.”
“Oh no,” Pramaggiore said, laughing. “Ugh. Oh my God.”
