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ComEd Four trial reflection roundup
Monday, May 8, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Here you go…
* WBEZ | The ComEd jury foreman says Madigan is a dangerous force in Illinois politics: Through seven weeks on the jury, Goldenberg grew to understand Madigan’s “manipulative” way of wielding power and wringing bribes from one of the state’s biggest employers in exchange for favorable treatment of company legislation. She said Madigan, who was first elected speaker in 1983 and in power until the federal probe involving ComEd led to his ouster in 2021, was “crafty” and embodied a “dangerous force … that we don’t want to have repeated, in my opinion, within the government.” * WBEZ | What ComEd trial guilty verdicts could mean for Michael Madigan and Illinois politics: Lobbyists rarely face sanctions from the state. Annual reports from the secretary of state’s inspector general’s office documented eight complaints in 2019 for “improper lobbying activity,” eight in 2020 and six in 2021. Most wound up being resolved without fines or other sanctions. The exception was a 2021 sexual harassment case involving a lobbyist for Exelon, ComEd’s corporate parent. In that case, which didn’t come up in the ComEd trial, the state Executive Ethics Commission imposed $6,000 in fines against the lobbyist and suspended his lobbyist registration. Those steps came after he had been fired by Exelon. * Daily Herald | ComEd convictions send message to Springfield, but are Democratic leaders listening?: So, here we are again. In a state where, by one count, more than 2,100 Illinois public officials have gone to federal prison, four private citizens appear headed for that fate, apparently for determining that in order to get what you want from this state’s government, you play what Mike McClain, a contract lobbyist for ComEd and one of the four defendants convicted, called in a wiretapped conversation a “tier one” game of bribery and favors. * SJ-R | Following ‘Com-Ed’ trial, lobbying and ethics reform the talk of the Capitol: Chances of reform before the session adjournment were slim at best Reform for Illinois executive director Alisa Kaplan told The State Journal-Register on Friday. The 2021 omnibus bill was “woefully inadequate,” she said, with special attention given towards the “revolving door” pattern where former legislators return to the Capitol as lobbyists within a short window of time. * Tribune | Following ‘ComEd Four’ convictions, US Rep. Sean Casten calls for Michael Madigan to resign remaining Democratic post: “Mr. Madigan will have his day in court, but the corruption has come too close to his office for him to claim ignorance. Public service is a sacred trust. For the good of our democracy and the Democratic Party, he should step down at once,” Casten said in a statement. * Sun-Times | Judge sets sentencing dates for ComEd conspirators: On Friday, a federal judge set McClain’s sentencing for Jan. 11, making him the first of the ComEd defendants to be sentenced. Pramaggiore’s sentencing is set for Jan. 16, Hooker’s Jan. 25 and Doherty’s Jan. 30. * Tribune | Sentencing hearings set for January for ‘ComEd Four’ in scheme to bribe Madigan: Typically, federal defendants are required to report to prison within a couple of months of being sentenced, but McClain’s attorneys could ask Leinenweber to extend that date so he won’t have to prepare for his second trial from behind bars.
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- Piatt County Soccer - Monday, May 8, 23 @ 10:10 am:
January?? Is the court that backed up? It can’t take that long to do a presentencing report??
- Lucky Pierre - Monday, May 8, 23 @ 10:23 am:
So Com Ed verdict is a wake up call for Corporate executives in Illinois but apparently not for the Governor and the legislature, because the prospects for ethics reform before the end of session are “slim at best”?
Not much has changed except the slogan “but Madigan”
- Donnie Elgin - Monday, May 8, 23 @ 10:48 am:
“Sarah Goldenberg didn’t know much about former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan…She said Madigan…was “crafty” and embodied a “dangerous force”
Seeing a random juror of peers, come to this conclusion is unfortunate but necessary. Reaffirms the idea that there can be equal justice for all. Even though he was not on trial in this case, this common everyday citizen came up with a very clear picture of the real MJM.
- Friendly Bob Adams - Monday, May 8, 23 @ 10:58 am:
Amid the calls for ethics reforms, I’m wondering what sort of reforms would have prevented the ComEd 4 from doing what they chose to do. I can’t think of any.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, May 8, 23 @ 11:17 am:
===Governor===
What exactly are you saying?
Didn’t Rauner sign the legislation?
To the post,
These could be very long sentences for folks who, maybe, still are coming to terms with what they felt could be skirted ethical lapses, now felonious actions.
What will be learned is simply, it’s time for the old ways to finally die, never to resurrect
- DuPage Saint - Monday, May 8, 23 @ 11:24 am:
I know hope springs eternal and all the defendants will probably appeal but if my sentencing report will not be done till January I might consider turning myself in now to gets son credits to get out. Why prolong the inevitable
- rtov - Monday, May 8, 23 @ 11:38 am:
Without knowing much about the Madigan case, at first glance, I imagine the extended date for sentencing is to allow the defendants a chance to earn lighter sentences through cooperating with the prosecution during any trial held against Madigan.
- Demoralized - Monday, May 8, 23 @ 1:20 pm:
==because the prospects for ethics reform==
There’s not an ethics reform in the world that would have prevented this. You really think Mike Madigan would have been deterred? I suppose ethics reforms might make people feel better and feel like they accomplished something but if anyone thinks it would have done anything to prevent this they are fooling themselves.
- Rich Miller - Monday, May 8, 23 @ 1:24 pm:
===You really think Mike Madigan would have been deterred? ===
He would’ve blocked the reforms. lol
- Payback - Monday, May 8, 23 @ 3:11 pm:
“…I’m wondering what sort of reforms would have prevented the ComEd 4 from doing what they chose to do.” “Ethics reforms” are different from prosecution and prison time. The federal government has been taking out the garbage here since Al Capone was prosecuted. That’s why we are known worldwide for crime and political corruption. It’s never been addressed adequately by state laws.
Meanwhile, a New York state District Attorney, which is like a county State’s Attorney here, is prosecuting a former President. See the difference?