(The Center Square) – As sentencing proceeds for four people convicted in the ComEd Four trial, former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan plans to appeal his conviction on ten counts of corruption.
Earlier this week, U.S. District Court Judge Manish Shah sentenced former ComEd lobbyist John Hooker to 1.5 years in federal prison and ordered him to pay a $500,000 fine. In May of 2023, a jury convicted Hooker and three others of conspiracy, bribery and falsifying records in connection with a scheme to bribe Madigan.
Sentencing for former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore and longtime Madigan associate, former state lawmaker and lobbyist Michael McClain, D-Quincy, is scheduled to be sentenced at the Everett McKinley Dirksen Courthouse in Chicago next week. Sentencing for former contract lobbyist Jay Doherty is set for Aug. 5.
St. Xavier University Professor David Parker said Hooker’s sentence shows that the justice system is working.
“He’s a convicted felon. He is going to serve jail time, looks like 18 months. Money, $500,000, given his position and all, don’t know about how that’s going to pop him, really, but it is sending a signal. If the sentencing was too light, I think people would lose faith in the system,” Parker told The Center Square.
ComEd agreed to pay $200 million in July 2020 to resolve a criminal investigation into the years-long bribery scheme. As part of a deferred prosecution agreement, ComEd admitted it arranged $1.3 million in jobs, vendor subcontracts and payments to influence Madigan.
State Rep. Paul Jacobs, R-Pomona, said ComEd’s administrative changes have been beneficial but the utility still has a lot of power.
“From down here, let’s close up every coal mine we have. Up there, it’s nuclear. You know, it’s just amazing how much it does seem like they are in bed with a lot of different people,” Jacobs told The Center Square.
Jacobs said the mix of politics, lobbyists and business can easily turn unethical.
“I just hope and pray that it’s not. I’m hoping that some of the Madigan stuff will wear off on people and they’ll just think more about what in the heck they’re doing,” Jacobs said.
This week, Madigan, D-Chicago, asked U.S. District Court Judge John Robert Blakey to let him stay out of prison pending appeal of his conviction on charges of bribery, conspiracy, wire fraud and use of a facility to promote unlawful activity. Four of the 10 counts Madigan was convicted on were related to ComEd.
Prosecutors said the longtime Democratic Party of Illinois leader used his public office to secure jobs for his associates by advancing legislation favorable to the utility.
Madigan’s attorneys repeated their earlier claims of “errors” by the court and insisted that Madigan would not flee Illinois. The former speaker and Democratic Party of Illinois chair is scheduled to begin serving a 7.5 year prison term Oct. 13. Blakey also ordered him to pay a fine of $2.5 million.
Pramaggiore is scheduled to be sentenced on Monday, July 21. McClain’s sentencing is scheduled for Thursday, July 24.
Parker said you can try to minimize crime, but you can’t stop all of it.
“When there’s so much money involved, a lot of people in office are willing to just, I think part of the problem is, kind of turn a blind eye,” Parker said.
Brett Rowland contributed to this story.
