CHICAGO — Federal prosecutors are recommending nearly six years in prison for ex-Springfield lobbyist Mike McClain, the longtime friend and advisor of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
McClain was the marquee defendant in the 2023 “ComEd Four” trial, which ended in across-the-board bribery convictions for former lobbyists and executives of electric utility Commonwealth Edison. The four were found guilty orchestrating a yearslong bribery scheme targeted at Madigan, in which the powerful speaker’s allies got jobs and contracts at ComEd while the utility pushed for favorable legislation in Springfield.
For more than two years, McClain and his co-defendants have been awaiting sentencing, delayed by concerns of possible impact from a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the death of the judge who oversaw the ComEd Four case, and Madigan’s own lengthy trial, in which McClain was also a defendant.
But after a jury in February delivered a split verdict in Madigan’s case, including deadlocking on all six corruption counts McClain was also charged with, sentencing hearings for the ComEd Four were scheduled for July. And on Thursday, prosecutors asked a federal judge to give McClain 70 months — nearly six years — in prison.
“McClain’s plan was illegal to its core,” prosecutors wrote in their 48-page sentencing memo Thursday. “In securing benefits for both Madigan and ComEd, McClain corrupted the legislative process and the internal control processes of a large, regulated utility.”
The feds also pointed to “McClain’s repeated overstepping of legal lines,” which they characterized as “stunning” and “egregious” — especially when it came to the $1.3 million ComEd paid out in contracts to a handful of Madigan allies who did little to no work for the company. Prosecutors referred to the no-work contractors as the former speaker’s “cronies” and accused McClain of knowing the contracts were a quid pro quo.
But in a competing filing Thursday, McClain’s attorneys asked for probation for the ex-lobbyist, citing his health and warning that a long sentence could mean he’d “die alone in prison.” His lawyers also reiterated their longtime argument that McClain’s efforts to get jobs and contracts for those in Madigan’s orbit was merely “legal and constitutionally protected lobbying.”
“Simply put, over almost a decade, Mr. McClain passed along and advocated for a handful of job recommendations from Madigan because of Madigan’s position both as an influential member of the General Assembly and, in no small measure, because Madigan was Mr. McClain’s old and close friend,” McClain’s attorneys wrote.
Madigan last month was sentenced to 90 months in prison and a $2.5 million fine for his guilty convictions, the majority of which stemmed from the same ComEd scheme.
Starting in 2011, ComEd notched several big legislative wins in Springfield, turning the tide of Madigan’s longtime opposition to bills pushed by utility companies. The General Assembly’s actions were worth millions of dollars to ComEd and its parent company Exelon.
During trial, McClain and his other co-defendants pointed to ComEd’s sophisticated — and expensive — multi-year lobbying strategy as the reason for the company’s luck changing in Springfield. But jurors sided with prosecutors’ theory that the company effectively bribed Madigan, showering the powerful speaker with a “stream of benefits” in the form of jobs and contracts, which greased the wheels of the legislative process.
In their filing, the feds characterized McClain as “politically savvy,” glossing through his decades in Springfield, which included 10 years as a Democratic member of the Illinois House, where he first met Madigan in the early 1970s.
“McClain’s tight connection with Madigan translated into McClain, without hesitation, making demand after demand of ComEd to fulfill Madigan’s directives, for which, in return, McClain expected ComEd would get the legislation it wanted,” prosecutors wrote. “McClain dealt with both Madigan and ComEd with eyes wide open and with full knowledge of the mutually beneficial, and wholly illegal, arrangement he helped to bestow on each of them.”
In addition to the no-work contractors, the alleged scheme also included ComEd’s multi-year contract with a law firm co-owned by Democratic fundraiser and Madigan ally Victor Reyes. Madigan also pushed for the appointment of Juan Ochoa to ComEd’s board, and prosecutors outlined several other jobs and internships at the utility that originated from Madigan.
But McClain’s attorneys insisted McClain simply took “into account” the fact that Madigan was an influential public official and treated his requests with more attention than those “from a less influential official.”
“That, too, is not only legal and rational lobbying but is true of any request for a favor anyone gets from anyone: the more important the relationship, the more effort will be spent to try to accommodate the request,” McClain’s lawyers wrote.
Though U.S. District Judge Manish Shah granted a partial retrial in March after throwing out some bribery counts, prosecutors instead asked to forge ahead with sentencing.
The feds earlier this week also recommended a 70-month sentence for former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, who testified in her own defense at trial. And last week, prosecutors asked that former ComEd exec John Hooker be sentenced to 56 months in prison. Both instead asked for probation. Sentencing recommendations have not yet been filed for ComEd lobbyist Jay Doherty, whose Aug. 5 hearing will be the last of the ComEd Four.
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