Chicago City Wire

Chicago Republican Party Chairman Stephen Boulton is predicting a conviction for Michael Madigan on public corruption charges following the convictions of the ComEd Four for engaging in a Madigan-centric bribery scheme. 

“Having been an attorney opposing Michael Madigan in federal civil court for years (and still doing so in one case), I gained a lot of insight on his political machine and its shadier operations - though plainly not as much as the FBI did,” Boutlon said on Facebook. “I predicted with great confidence that the 'ComEd Four' would all be convicted in their Chicago federal court trial. 

Boulton also mentioned in his post that the ComEd Four had "been found guilty by the jury on all counts (nine different counts of conspiracy, bribery and falsification of records), including a past president of Commonwealth Edison, Chicago's electric utility.” 

“I stand on my prediction that Michael Madigan will eventually be convicted of crime,” Boulton said.“They all will be facing substantial jail terms.” 

Boulton’s comments come after 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 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 to get preferential treatment in the state House. ComEd paid a $200 million fine in July 2020 and admitted to the scheme.

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 under investigation, Madigan reportedly took part in the 2022 election campaign. Additionally, he transferred the last $10 million from his campaign budget to his defense fund.

The criticism of corruption against state Democrats comes just after former State Sen. Tom Cullerton was spotted working in Springfield as a lobbyist after serving jail time for taking such a no-show position for the Teamsters.