(The Center Square) – Prosecutors played the highlights of dozens of secretly recorded calls and meetings during their closing argument Monday, using the defendants’ own words against them in the Commonwealth Edison bribery case.
“There isn’t an envelope in this world big enough to fit all the money that ComEd paid out,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur told the jury. She said the scheme wasn’t money in envelopes. Instead, the bribes were no-show jobs, lucrative contracts and a seat on the utility’s board of directors, MacArthur said.
Prosecutors charged former state lawmaker and lobbyist Michael McClain, former ComEd Anne Pramaggiore, former ComEd lobbyist John Hooker and former contract lobbyist Jay Doherty, with a multi-year scheme to gain former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s backing for legislation that would benefit the utility’s bottom line.
Prosecutors allege the four defendants gave out $1.3 million in jobs, contracts, and payments in exchange for favorable treatment on legislation in Springfield. The defendants have all pleaded “not guilty” to conspiracy, bribery and willfully falsifying ComEd books and records.
MacArthur spent more than two hours Monday going through weeks of trial evidence during the government’s closing argument. She played the highlights of the secretly recorded calls to show McClain, Pramaggiore, Hooker and Doherty all participated in the scheme.
In a Feb. 20, 2019 phone call, McClain, a former ComEd lobbyist and close associate of Madigan, said he was willing to have a “daddy talk” with the utility’s incoming chief executive, Joe Dominguez.
“My instinct is that I come up to Chicago and I sit down with Dominguez and say, “Now look-it a——, uh if you want to pass this bill, this is what it requires. So, either you’re gonna play in the tier-one game here or you’re gonna keep playing in your tier-two game here so, and if you wanna fire me today that’s fine but, this is like serious business, it’s millions of dollars,” McClain said in the call.
In the same call, McClain said he didn’t trust Dominguez, a former federal prosecutor who was taking over for Pramaggiore after she was promoted to Exelon Utilities.
“I wouldn’t trust Joe,” McClain said. “I would trust Joe to think that this is a quid pro quo and that he’s wired.”
MacArthur said ComEd, which had been on the verge of bankruptcy, reaped benefits from three measures passed by lawmakers in Springfield, where Madigan controlled the Illinois House. The 2011 smart grid measure alone has an estimated benefit to the utility of $750 million through 2030, the prosecutor said.
“Madigan wanted and ComEd gave and got,” MacArthur repeated as a refrain during her closing.
MacArthur also highlighted the timing of many of the requests McClain made on behalf of Madigan. She said the requests came before key votes on pending ComEd legislation in Springfield.
She called out Pramaggiore for lying on the witness stand. MacArthur said Pramaggiore lied when she testified earlier in the trial that she didn’t know about the do-nothing jobs under Doherty’s lobbying contract. The assistant prosecutor said a text message and a 2018 phone call between McClain and Pramaggiore demonstrated that Pramaggiore knew about the arrangement.
Another refrain from MacArthur’s closing was aimed at arguments from defense attorneys who said their clients were engaged in legal lobbying.
“This was not lobbying,” she said. “This was not building goodwill. This was a bribe.”
Defense attorneys are set to begin their closing arguments Monday afternoon.
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 jobs, vendor subcontracts, and payments in a bid to influence Madigan.
Madigan, who resigned after losing the House speakership in January 2021, has been charged with 23 counts of racketeering, bribery, and official misconduct in a separate case that could go to trial in April 2024.
