Defense begins cross of prosecutors' key witness in 'ComEd 4' trial

[March 30, 2023]  By Glenn Minnis | The Center Square contributor

(The Center Square) – Defense attorney Scott Lassar opened his cross-examination of prosecution star witness Fidel Marquez on Wednesday in the second week of the “ComEd Four” corruption trial by directly asking him if he had ever witnessed alleged plot ringleader Mike Madigan directly pass or block legislation on the utility giant’s behalf.

Marquez, a former senior vice president at ComEd, has pleaded guilty in connection with a pay for play scheme and is cooperating with the government in the high-stakes trial where longtime Madigan confidant Michael McClain, former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, ex ComEd lobbyist John Hooker and former City Club of Chicago head Jay Doherty are all accused of playing central roles in a scheme to funnel jobs, cash and other perks to known associates of the then-House speaker in exchange for him advancing legislation the company perceived to be in its interests.

Madigan and McClain are also set to go to trial in the spring of 2024 on a slew of corruption-related charges that include the ComEd bribery scheme. All four of the defendants in the current trial have pleaded not guilty, as has Madigan.

All told this week, Marquez has spent well over a half-day on the stand during his three appearances at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse, highlighting for jurors during his testimony several meetings and conversations he secretly recorded with defendants where they openly conversed about the scheme in question.

Representing Pramaggiore, Lassar wasted little time trying to unravel the prosecutors' case.

“In seven years, you never saw any evidence that Speaker Madigan ever did anything to help get a ComEd bill passed, right?” Lassar asked.

“Um, I disagree with that,” Marquez answered, before later conceding that there was “no guarantee” that Madigan was going to help pass ComEd bills, even though they still sought to keep him pleased because “not doing it would cause us to be negatively looked on by.”

Not long after that back and forth exchange, Lassar quizzed Marquez about how he felt after FBI agents banged on the door of his mother’s home early one morning to confront him with wiretapped recordings they had where his voice could be heard.

Former ComED lobbyist John Hooker; Michael McClain, a long time Madigan confidante; former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore; and Jay Doherty, a lobbyist and consultant who once served as chief of the City Club of Chicago.

“They scared the daylights out of you, didn’t they?” Lassar asked, prompting Marquez to admit “I was scared,” before Lassar added “and you hoped you wouldn’t be prosecuted?”

As part of the scheme, all four of the defendants are charged with steering at least $1.3 million in payments from ComEd to Madigan-approved subcontractors.

During their cross-examination, defense attorneys sought to expand on their counter-claim that what prosecutors have stamped as wrongdoing was really nothing more than day-to-day machinations in the world of political lobbying, arguing that no evidence exists to support the theory Madigan actually ever did anything to directly aid in ComEd in exchange for payouts.

From the moment Marquez took the stand, the defense sought to color him as an opportunist who only agreed to work with the government in order to save himself, adding that they think he was being coached by the government on what to say about all the recordings he captured.

As part of Wednesday’s daylong testimony, jurors were also shown a steady stream of emails purported to be penned by Madigan laying out his persistent demands for jobs and contracts for those close to him, among them the wife of disgraced former City Clerk Jim Laski and the daughters of former Cook County Democratic Chairman Joe Berrios, who also served as county assessor.

Later in the day, prosecutors teed up another recording that captured McClain pressing Pramaggiore about finding a job for Tim Mapes, Madigan’s longtime chief of staff who had been unceremoniously fired after a widening sexual harassment claim against him came to light.

"I keep thinking about how we can be helpful to [Mapes]," Pramaggiore said, adding "it’s hard to do anything directly."