Former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore is expected to face cross-examination in the “ComEd Four” bribery trial Tuesday after taking the witness stand earlier this week and flatly denying any participation in an alleged scheme to bribe then-House Speaker Michael Madigan.
In her roughly six hours of direct testimony, which began Thursday, Pramaggiore said she had no idea the company she headed from 2012 to 2018 had been paying lobbying “subcontractors” out of her own budget — let alone that they were former elected officials and precinct captains with strong ties to Madigan, then the most powerful politician in the state.
She said the jobs given to 13th Ward acolytes were just the typical recommendations that came from an array of elected officials, both Democrats and Republicans. The placement of former McPier boss Juan Ochoa on the utility’s board was standard politics, she said, as was the hiring of summer interns recommended by the speaker’s ward office.
None of it had anything to do with any illegal scheme, she said.
“No, we weren’t bribing Speaker Madigan,” Pramaggiore said bluntly at one point Monday.
Prosecutors will get the chance to cross-examine Pramaggiore on Tuesday. Last week, prosecutors revealed for the first time that Pramaggiore sat down for what’s known as a “proffer” session with the U.S. attorney’s office in September 2019, leading to a 33-page FBI report of her statements.
[ ‘ComEd Four’ bribery trial: What you need to know ]
Proffer sessions are typically part of an initial exploration of potential cooperation, and her statements from the session cannot be used to prosecute her. But the judge ruled that if Pramaggiore testifies inconsistently with her proffer, prosecutors can use what she said to try to impeach her on the witness stand.
Charged along with Pramaggiore are Michael McClain, a former lobbyist and Madigan’s trusted confidant; Jay Doherty, a former ComEd contract lobbyist and ex-president of the City Club, and John Hooker, a longtime ComEd lobbyist.
The indictment alleged the scheme included steering $1.3 million in payments from ComEd to Madigan-approved subcontractors, appointing Ochoa to the utility’s board of directors, hiring a clout heavy law firm headed by political operative Victor Reyes, and stacking the utility’s summer internship program with candidates sent from the 13th Ward.
All four have pleaded not guilty. Their lawyers have contended the government is trying to turn legal lobbying and job recommendations into a crime.
Madigan and McClain face a separate racketeering indictment that is set for trial next year.
[ ‘ComEd Four’ trial: Evidence seen and heard by the jury ]
The heart of the government’s case is the dozens of wiretapped phone calls and secret video recordings of meetings that have been played for the jury over the past five weeks.
In Pramaggiore’s direct testimony Monday, her attorney, Scott Lassar, took her through one of the more damaging recordings on which she told McClain, “You take good care of me, and so does our friend, and I will do the best that I can to, to take care of you.”
It’s a comment prosecutors have held up as real-time evidence of a scheme to bribe the powerful Democratic speaker, complete with a coded reference to Madigan and seemingly imbued with pay-to-play politics.
But Pramaggiore testified her comments in that September 2018 call have a totally innocent explanation.
Asked why she said Madigan took “good care” of her, Pramaggiore said she wasn’t talking about it in “the legislative sense,” but perhaps about when the speaker had helped find her son volunteer work years earlier.
She also said that by referencing Madigan as “our friend” she was just trying to placate McClain.
“Mike reveres the speaker, and I would often mention him in our conversations in order to enhance our relationship,” Pramaggiore told the jury.
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A theater major from Dayton, Ohio, who earned a law degree and rose to become one of Chicago’s top female executives, Pramaggiore is hoping to convince the jury she is the highly ethical and honest leader described by her long lineup of character witnesses, not the person on FBI wiretaps who seemed at ease with participating in an Illinois’ notoriously rough-and-tumble political system.
Under questioning from Lassar, Pramaggiore remained largely poised and conversational, often answering questions with long explanations about her role in winning the legislative victories she says saved ComEd from a period of declining revenues, crumbling infrastructure.
Jurors, however, will have to weigh Pramaggiore’s statements on the witness stand against what she said in the covert recordings, when she repeatedly pushed for things that Madigan wanted, sometimes even against the wishes of other top executives at ComEd or its parent company, Exelon Utilities.
At the end of her direct examination Monday, Lassar asked whether Pramaggiore was “careful” about her relationship with Madigan.
“Yes I was,” she replied. “You have to be careful about the appearance of impropriety and your relationships with all public officials. I just think you need to be cognizant of that.”
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
rlong@chicagotribune.com
