Prairie State Wire

Federal prosecutors say Commonwealth Edison has agreed to pay a $200 million fine for its role in illegally steering “jobs, contracts and payments to people connected to Public Official A,” who is referenced in the U.S. Attorney's office statement as Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. 

The prosecutors' lengthy investigation into allegations of misconduct by the utility company resulted in a deferred prosecution agreement in which ComEd must also comply with regulations for three years to have the bribery charge dropped, according to WBEZ.

Madigan, a Chicago Democrat, has been in the state House since 1971 and has served as speaker for all but a two-year period since 1983. While he has been named in the documents, he has not been charged.

The company’s hiring practices were under investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Chicago, particularly whether the organization hired contractors with political ties to influence government actions, including rate increases for electricity.

The agreement released on July 17 comes less than a year after WBEZ first reported the background of the probe and connections to the speaker.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker urged Madigan to leave office if the charges are proved.

"This is very upsetting," Pritzker said Friday in Waukegan. "When I think about the possibility of people committing these kinds of wrongdoings, I think people who are in public service need to live up to the integrity of the job they’re asked to do. If it turns out these things are true, he’s going to have to resign."

The statement of allegations from the U.S. Attorney's office outlines the alleged bribery scheme.

“ComEd arranged for various associates of Public Official A, including Public Official A’s political allies and individuals who performed work for Public Official A, to obtain jobs, vendor subcontracts, and monetary payments associated with those jobs and subcontracts at ComEd, even in instances where certain political allies and workers performed little or no work that they were purportedly hired to perform at ComEd,” the statement reads.

The allegations in the document refer to Madigan’s associates and to the speaker himself.

"Corruption is a continued problem in Illinois," U.S. Attorney John Lausch said at a news conference after the agreement was announced. He refused to name Madigan, even though the document clearly identified Public Official A as the speaker of the House for the State of Illinois. 

While Lausch said the investigation is ongoing, Madigan's office denied involvement in any wrongdoing and pledged cooperation into the inquiry. 

“The speaker has never helped someone find a job with the expectation that the person would not be asked to perform work by their employer, nor did he ever expect to provide anything to a prospective employer if it should choose to hire a person he recommended,” a Madigan spokeswoman wrote. “He has never made a legislative decision with improper motives and has engaged in no wrongdoing here. Any claim to the contrary is unfounded. This morning, the speaker accepted subpoenas related to his various offices for documents, asking for, among other things, documents related to possible job recommendations. He will cooperate and respond to those requests for documents, which he believes will clearly demonstrate that he has done nothing criminal or improper.”