Chicago City Wire

Amanda Schnitker Sayers, a juror in the recently adjourned ComEd Four bribery trial, said former House Speaker Michael Madigan is responsible for the corruption to which ComEd employees and those connected to them succumbed.

"We're tired of political corruption,” Sayers said after the verdict, according to The Center Square. "We're hoping this is a first step."  

Sayers said it was Madigan who "did cause this all to happen.” 

"We all agreed that lobbying is necessary ... this is not lobbying,” Sayers added in response to the defense attorney's argument that the four defendants were legally lobbying.

Former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore and former ComEd lobbyist John Hooker, along with Madigan associate Michael McClain and lobbyist Jay Doherty, who previously ran the City Club of Chicago, were convicted of scheming to pay $1.3 million to Madigan-connected people and companies. As part of the scheme, ComEd provided jobs – some of which were no-show – and contracts to those with connections to Madigan who at the time controlled the Illinois Democratic Party and had wielded power as the state’s most powerful politician as the longest-serving state House Speaker in the nation. 

ComEd, the state’s largest utility, engaged in the scheme to influence Madigan in order to get preferential treatment in the state House. ComEd paid a $200 million fine in July 2020 and admitted to the scheme.

Sentencing has not been decided yet for the four defendants. However, each faces fines as high as $5 million and a maximum of 20 years in jail.

The 81-year-old Madigan was in power as House Speaker from 1983 to 1995 and then from 1997 to 2021. He was an Illinois House member from 1971 to 2021 before stepping down amid the scandal. He is charged in a separate filing of 23 counts of public corruption related to the ComEd scandal and is facing a single count of public corruption from a similar scheme with AT&T. Madigan will go on trial in April 2024. 

Despite being investigated, Madigan reportedly participated in the 2022 election campaign. Additionally, he transferred the last $10 million from his campaign budget to his defense fund.