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 Federal prosecutors charged a former top official for Illinois’
largest utility company with bribery conspiracy Sept. 4, alleging he
orchestrated a scheme to pay allies of House Speaker Mike Madigan in exchange
for the speaker’s support in Springfield.
Fidel Marquez served as vice president of governmental affairs for Commonwealth
Edison from 2012 to 2019.
The feds’ four-page criminal information against Marquez lays out allegations of
his involvement in a conspiracy to give Madigan’s associates “jobs, contracts,
and monetary payments … even in instances where such associates performed little
or no work” in order to influence the speaker’s official actions in Springfield.
Charges via criminal information – as opposed to a grand jury indictment –
indicate Marquez is likely to plead guilty.
In July, federal prosecutors announced ComEd had been charged with a years-long
bribery scheme that sought to “influence and reward” Madigan by arranging for
$1.3 million in jobs, contracts and payments to his political cronies. At the
same time, Madigan’s office was served with a grand jury subpoena seeking
information on hiring and lobbying at AT&T, Walgreens and Rush University
Medical Center.
Many of the payments were allegedly arranged by former ComEd lobbyist and
longtime Madigan confidant Michael McClain. Prosecutors detailed in the deferred
prosecution agreement with the utility giant that a consultant told a ComEd
executive he believed McClain spoke to Madigan about the payments, saying they
served to “keep [Madigan] happy [and] I think it’s worth it, because you’d hear
otherwise.” The Chicago Tribune has identified that executive as Marquez.
ComEd executives did hear otherwise on at least one occasion, prosecutors
allege.
The deferred prosecution agreement also detailed how ComEd retained a
particular, unnamed law firm in 2011 in an attempt to sway the speaker. When
that firm’s contract came up for renewal in 2016, an attorney from the firm
complained to McClain that ComEd was seeking to reduce their hours to 850 per
year. McClain then wrote to ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore to remind her “how
valuable” the firm was to “our Friend.”
“I know the drill, and so do you. If you do not get involve (sic) and resolve
this issue of 850 hours for his law firm per year then he will go to our
Friend,” McClain continued. “[Madigan] will call me, and then I will call you …
is this a drill we must go through?”
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The CEO responded: “Sorry. No one informed me. I am
on this.”
Madigan was not charged as part of the case, but
was identified in court documents as “Public Official A.” As part of
the deal, ComEd agreed to pay a $200 million fine, admit to seeking
Madigan’s help in passing legislation worth more than $150 million
to the company and continue to cooperate with the ongoing federal
investigation into public corruption.
Illinois House Republicans recently invoked a little-known rule to
convene a special committee to investigate the speaker’s involvement
with ComEd. That bipartisan committee is scheduled to convene for
the first time in Springfield Sept. 10. Madigan called that
investigation a “political stunt,” and denied he did anything wrong
or for the wrong reasons.
Lawmakers from both parties and from across the state – including
10 state House and Senate Democrats – have called for Madigan to
resign his positions as House speaker and chairman of the Democratic
Party of Illinois. But Gov. J.B. Pritzker has refused to call for
his immediate resignation.
Pritzker is relying on support from Madigan’s political army to
convince voters to pass a progressive tax constitutional amendment
on Nov. 3. But experts believe the speaker’s scandal could tank its
chances, with voters reluctant to grant broad new taxing authority
to state leaders perceived as corrupt.
“Not just the general circumstances with COVID, but also the
burgeoning bribery allegations implicating Madigan and ComEd means
the people’s trust in state government is at a pretty low ebb,” said
University of Illinois at Chicago political science Prof. Dick
Simpson.
“Because it requires an affirmative vote, you’re asking people to
say, ‘Yeah, I trust the state and I want them to have more money.’”
Madigan is the fifth key backer of Pritzker’s progressive tax to
face federal corruption scrutiny, some for tax evasion. Pritzker
himself is under federal investigation for a $331,000 property tax
dodge on his Gold Coast mansion.
After betraying the public’s trust and avoiding their own taxes, it
takes a special arrogance to ask voters Nov. 3 to trust state
lawmakers with greater authority to say who should be taxed how
much, including retirees.
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