Ex-ComEd lawyer testifies request to put Juan Ochoa on utility’s board came from Michael Madigan

The former general counsel for Commonwealth Edison testified Wednesday that he helped allies of then-House Speaker Michael Madigan hunt down jobs in law firms and at the utility itself, including a coveted position on the company’s board of directors.

In one of the central allegations in the government’s case, Tom O’Neill, ComEd’s former chief lawyer, testified that Madigan wanted former McPier chief Juan Ochoa to get placed in a rare vacant seat on the company’s board in late 2017 and that CEO Anne Pramaggiore was behind the move because Ochoa’s resume came from Madigan.

“I did discuss that I had some concerns about someone (recommended by) the speaker’s office being on the ComEd board,” O’Neill said of a conversation with Pramaggiore where he cited “optics” and the possibility that an ally of the speaker would have access to exclusive company information that could go before the board.

“She wanted to go forward,” O’Neill said of Pramaggiore’s reaction. “She thought it was important.”

Ochoa was the only name considered for the position, O’Neill said. The post paid about $78,000 a year.

On cross-examination, O’Neill was pressed on his knowledge of Ochoa’s backers, including whether he was being pushed by other Chicago Democratic heavyweights besides Madigan.

“Mr. Ochoa was not an associate of Michael Madigan, was he?” Pramaggiore’s attorney, Scott Lassar, asked at one point. “He was an associate of (Jesus) ‘Chuy’ Garcia and Luis Gutierrez, wasn’t he?”

O’Neill said he believed Madigan and Ochoa were once allies who had had a falling out, but was unclear on his relationship with Gutierrez, the former longtime U.S. representative, and Garcia, who replaced him in Congress in 2019. “I don’t think I knew that at the time,” he said.

Lassar also asked whether Ochoa was actually recommended to ComEd by then-Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

“I learned that later on, yes,” O’Neill replied.

The Tribune has previously reported that Ochoa’s appointment came about due to a strange political alliance between Madigan and Gutierrez, who was one of the city’s most powerful Hispanic politicians.

Ochoa, who has not been charged, is expected to testify about his efforts to get on the board later in the trial, and the jury is expected to hear secretly recorded conversations where Madigan, Pramaggiore and the speaker’s longtime friend and confidant, Michael McClain, all weigh in on the effort.

O’Neill, whose testimony began Tuesday, provided the jury in the “ComEd Four” trial the first links between a benefit the utility giant allegedly gave Madigan, a Chicago Democrat, and the work the speaker’s office’s did to shepherd legislation ComEd desperately wanted through the Illinois House chamber.

But lawyers for the defendants pointed out repeatedly on cross-examination that O’Neill and his colleagues at ComEd fought hard for each bill that was passed, pursuing multipronged strategies that included negotiating with the speaker’s team, rallying rank-and-file legislators, and garnering support from labor unions, environmental groups and other stakeholders.

“Did Mike McClain ever tell you that Speaker Madigan was guaranteed to support ComEd’s legislation?” McClain’s attorney, Patrick Cotter, asked at one point. O’Neill responded no.

“Do you think that the reason you were able to get access to meetings with the speaker’s staff was because Mike McClain was managing that relationship pretty darn well?” Cotter asked.

“I would say so, yes,” O’Neill said.

Along with Pramaggiore, the defendants in the sweeping bribery case are McClain, a longtime ComEd contract lobbyist; John Hooker, a longtime ComEd lobbyist; and Jay Doherty, a ComEd lobbyist and previous chief of the City Club of Chicago.

The indictment alleged ComEd poured $1.3 million into payments funneled to ghost “subcontractors” who were actually Madigan’s cronies, put the Madigan-backed Ochoa on the ComEd board, and gave coveted internships to families in his 13th Ward, all part of an elaborate scheme to keep the speaker happy and help the utility’s legislative agenda in Springfield.

The charges alleged ComEd also agreed to hire a law firm led by Victor Reyes, a longtime Democratic political operative and key ally of the speaker.

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.

Madigan and McClain, meanwhile, are facing separate racketeering charges alleging an array of corrupt schemes, including the bribery plot by ComEd.

O’Neill testified Wednesday that the spot on the ComEd board opened up when the previous board member, Jesse Ruiz, ran for attorney general, and there was a discussion as to whether he had been promised he could return to the board if he was unsuccessful in the race.

Ruiz eventually lost. But the focus stayed on choosing Ochoa, with full discussions about his association with Madigan and other issues that came up during a “due diligence” background check, O’Neill said.

Among the issues: The “bad press” Ochoa received regarding Rod Blagojevich, the former governor who had appointed Ochoa to the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, or McPier, O’Neill said. Blagojevich was later convicted of unrelated acts of corruption, sentenced to 14 years in prison and released early under a commutation by President Donald Trump.

The background check also turned up Ochoa’s failure to keep up with mortgage payments on a property in Berwyn, resulting in foreclosure, and a lawsuit Ochoa filed claiming harassment by opponents in a political campaign, O’Neill said. Even so, O’Neill said he did not think Ochoa should be disqualified from consideration for the board.

Like Ruiz, Ochoa was a Hispanic candidate and ComEd had an interest in promoting diversity, O’Neill said.

But O’Neill left little doubt that the key reason for backing Ochoa was Pramaggiore’s desire to please Madigan, whose help in steering legislation through Springfield was beneficial to ComEd.

“I was concerned about the optics,” O’Neill said.

Many months went by before Ochoa was finally appointed after a high-level meeting he had with Pramaggiore and Chris Crane, a ranking member of both ComEd and Exelon who ultimately made the decision to appoint Ochoa in 2019.

“We talked about the Madigan connection, and Anne was for that,” O’Neill said.

Ochoa is expected to testify later in the trial that he believed Gutierrez was owed a political favor by Madigan because the congressman had endorsed the speaker in the previous election,

The Tribune has reported that Gutierrez and Ochoa met personally with Madigan to push the idea, as well as with Mayor Emanuel. Copies of Emanuel’s official calendars from the time, released to the Tribune via an open records request, show that Emanuel met with Ochoa and Gutierrez at City Hall on Nov. 17, 2017.

Also in the loop on the Ochoa appointment push was Garcia, a close associate of Gutierrez and Ochoa who’d recently worked out a mutually beneficial political alliance with Madigan.

On Feb. 19, 2019, Madigan was recorded telling McClain that Ochoa had left a message at his office that morning asking if he and Garcia could have a meeting with the speaker, according to court records.

“OK, so you see there’s a request from Ochoa, and Ochoa being Ochoa, the message reads, ‘Ochoa and Congressman Garcia,’” Madigan told McClain, according to prosecutors. “So I called Chuy, and Chuy really didn’t know anything about it. … But Chuy knew there was some delay in the appointment of Ochoa.”

García, whose mention in the phone calls was first reported by the Tribune in January, is not accused of wrongdoing, and he has denied he played any role in Ochoa’s ultimate appointment.

Earlier in his testimony on Wednesday, O’Neill told the jury more about the pressure Pramaggiore and McClain put on him to give Reyes’ law firm higher hourly rates and a guaranteed number of billable hours following repeated requests from McClain, who acted on the speaker’s behalf.

Through a series of pointed emails, McClain, who was unusually involved in fine details of the Reyes contract with ComEd, showed a heightened interest around the time O’Neill was negotiating with Madigan’s office and other stakeholders on major utility legislation in 2016.

By early May 2016, McClain was still sending relentless emails to ComEd executives asking why the Reyes contract had not been finalized. One email had the subject line “Victor Reyes Law Firm?!” with no following text. The next day, McClain resent the same email with one comment: “?”

On direct examination, O’Neill said he felt pressure from McClain to renew Reyes Kurson’s contract.

“Couldn’t you have said no?” asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Streicker.

“There are fights you pick and fights you don’t. … I thought it was something we could handle,” O’Neill answered.

On cross-examination, Lassar and Cotter both zeroed in on whether O’Neill felt that the hiring of Reyes’ firm was a bribe.

When Cotter asked if O’Neill had “a corrupt intent” when he hired the firm, prosecutors objected and O’Neill did not answer. Cotter then asked, “Did you hire Reyes to bribe Michael Madigan?”

“I did not,” O’Neill answered.

O’Neill also acknowledged that he eventually did cut the number of guaranteed hours to Reyes’ firm.

Earlier in his testimony, O’Neill walked through a series of other matters pushed by McClain on behalf of Madigan. Prosecutors had him describe emails from McClain urging O’Neill and his staff to find legal work for then-state Rep. Arthur Turner II, a recent law school graduate, and set up interviews for him at various law firms.

One of the more politically intriguing disclosures on Wednesday was when O’Neill testified Pramaggiore was pushing to give an executive-level job to Will Cousineau, who had served as the political director on Madigan’s government staff.

O’Neill acknowledged during cross-examination that ComEd took a pass on him because he was asking for too much money. Eventually, Cousineau landed a job with a Washington-based firm with a large list of lobbying clients in Springfield, including ComEd.

The Tribune previously reported Cousineau was among a group of utility lobbyists that McClain gathered together to give at least $31,000 in contracts to 13th Ward lieutenant Kevin Quinn after he was ousted by Madigan in a sexual harassment scandal. Quinn is the brother of Madigan’s hand-picked 13th Ward Ald. Marty Quinn.

On cross-examination, Cotter pointed out that McClain gave ComEd lots of names of job seekers on Madigan’s behalf over the years, and that many were given no work, including the speaker’s own son-in-law, Jordan Matyas.

“You felt comfortable saying no to Mike McClain on some of these job referrals?” Cotter asked.

O’Neill agreed.

Near the end of O’Neill’s testimony, which stretched nearly 11 hours over two days, O’Neill was asked by Doherty’s attorney, Gabrielle Sansonetti, whether he had any agreements with the government in exchange for his testimony.

O’Neill said in a stern voice he had no agreement and never wanted one.

“Because you didn’t do anything wrong?” Sansonetti asked.

“That’s correct,” O’Neill said.

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com