The “ComEd Four” bribery trial focused Thursday morning on the way the utility allegedly used friendly lobbyists to funnel money to allies of former Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan by calling them subcontractors and handing out checks for allegedly little or no work.
The maneuvers served as a prelude to testimony former McPier chief Juan Ochoa, who is expected to take the witness stand Thursday afternoon. According to prosecutors, Ochoa was muscled into a vacant seat on ComEd’s board of directors by Madigan and the utility’s onetime CEO Anne Pramaggiore.
In morning testimony, a series of ComEd and Exelon employees repeatedly told federal jurors that the subcontractors were not be named on the contracts of the lobbyists who funneled them the cash.
The defendants in the case are Pramaggiore, former ComEd contract lobbyist Michael McClain, ex-ComEd executive and lobbyist John Hooker, and former ComEd contact lobbyist Jay Doherty, the ex-president of the City Club civic group.
[ ‘ComEd Four’ bribery trial: What you need to know ]
The lobbyists who took on the alleged ghost subcontractors referred by Madigan included Doherty, McClain, former state Rep. John Bradley, a Marion Democrat once on Madigan’s leadership team; Shaw Decremer, a Madigan-staffer-turned lobbyist; and the Roosevelt Group, a firm run by political operative Victor Reyes, who held a close political alliance with Madigan.
Defense lawyers sought to play down the prosecutors’ portrayal that the subcontracting was an attempt to hide the payments to Madigan allies, noting other lobbyists, including Hooker, had hired subcontractors in the course of their careers.
The subcontractors shuffled among the various lobbyists included former Cook County Recorder of Deeds Ed Moody, a longtime precinct captain in Madigan’s 13th Ward; former 13th Ward Ald. Frank Olivo, Ray Nice, a 13th Ward precinct captain and former state Rep. Eddie Acevedo, D-Chicago.
Prosecutors also sought to show the close political alliance between Pramaggiore and Madigan by noting they were hosts of an event at the Field Museum in a room near Sue, the museum’s famed Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton and given access to a scientist to answer questions.
The foundation they sponsored was affiliated with a junket Madigan and Pramaggiore took with other officials to Turkey.
Ochoa, meanwhile, is expected to testify about his effort to be appointed to the ComEd board, one of the central allegations in the sprawling bribes-for-favors case.
According to the indictment, Madigan participated in a two-year effort to get Ochoa, his onetime political nemesis, appointed to a lucrative position on Commonwealth Edison’s board, part of a larger scheme by the utility to harness the Democratic speaker’s influence in Springfield.
Aside from the ramifications in the ComEd Four trial, the episode also offers a fascinating look at how the unending struggle over the reins of political power in Illinois can create some odd alliances.
[ ‘ComEd Four’ trial: Evidence seen and heard by the jury ]
In addition to the Ochoa scheme, the indictment alleges the four defendants steered $1.3 million in payments from ComEd to Madigan-approved subcontractors with Doherty’s consulting firm who did little or no work in a bid to win the speaker’s influence over the utility’s legislative agenda in Springfield.
The indictment also alleged the defendants schemed to hire a clout-heavy law firm run by Reyes and stack the utility’s summer internship program with candidates sent from Madigan’s 13th Ward.
The four on trial have all pleaded not guilty. Their lawyers have contended the government is trying to turn legal lobbying into a crime.
Madigan and McClain face a separate racketeering indictment that is set for trial next year.
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