Former ComEd exec ‘dropped and did’ for Madigan, corruption trial reveals

(The Center Square) – A former ComEd executive has detailed how he and others at the utility company dropped what they were doing to please former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.

Cooperating government witness Fidel Marquez continued direct testimony Thursday at the corruption trial of Madigan and co-defendant Michael McClain. Defense attorneys' cross-examination of Marquez is expected to begin next Tuesday.

Marquez said he began cooperating with the government when FBI agents approached him at his mother's house in January 2019. Marquez pleaded guilty to bribery in 2020.

At the Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago on Thursday, Marquez described an incident in 2012 when he dropped what he was doing to get power restored when Tiffany Madigan, then-Speaker Madigan's daughter, experienced an outage. In a follow-up email, McClain wrote that "Fidel dropped and did" to get Tiffany Madigan's power restored. Marquez said that this was not something that was done for typical ComEd customers, but he confirmed that he acted quickly because of the speaker's request.

Prosecutors introduced an email from McClain to Marquez that was sent in November 2014. In his message, McClain wrote that he was greatly troubled that he did not get a timely response from one of his earlier emails to Marquez. McClain wrote that his "friend" expected a quick and favorable response. Marquez testified that the "friend" was a reference to Madigan.

Marquez and McClain discussed the potential of hiring former Madigan chief of staff Tim Mapes, who was dismissed from the speaker's office in 2018 after he was accused of sexual harassment. Marquez talked about Mapes with former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, who did not think the utility could hire Mapes directly but suggested, "There's something out there." Pramaggiore was no longer ComEd CEO at the time, but she implied that she would ask a ComEd human resources executive if Mapes might be employable. Marquez opined that he did not think Mapes was employable at the time.

Mapes was found guilty last year of lying to federal investigators. He reported to prison in June for a 2.5-year sentence

Marquez testified that ComEd operated a paid summer internship program, which was designed to give ComEd the ability to evaluate college students and keep an eye on them for permanent employment. Marquez said the program included as many as 100 to 150 students between 2012 and 2018.

The internships were merit-based, but there were exceptions for candidates identified by Chicago's 13th Ward, Marquez said. While serving as speaker of the Illinois House and chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois, Madigan also chaired the 13th Ward Democratic Organization.

Marquez said the exceptions were seen as a favor for Madigan. He said the 13th Ward candidates filled as many as 10 of the 100 to 150 internship slots.

McClain sent the 13th Ward candidates' resumes to Marquez for evaluation. Marquez said the 13th Ward candidates did not have to meet the grade-point-average requirements or other merit-based expectations.

Marquez said 13th Ward high school students were given summer internships even though high school students were not typically admitted to the program.

McClain also sent a request for a summer job requested for "a person" in a letter from Madigan. The request was for a high school student in Hinsdale, Illinois, which is outside of Madigan's district and the 13th Ward. McClain wrote that the student "would not be able to contribute much, if anything, but that is still the ask."

Several of the other applicants had worked in the 13th Ward office for Madigan and Alderman Marty Quinn.

Marquez said the application process for paid summer internships coincided with the Illinois General Assembly's spring legislative session, including 2016 when the Future Energy Jobs Act was being considered.

In one email presented by the government as evidence, McClain asked Marquez to "work his magic" to gain approval for 13th Ward internship applicants.

In another email, McClain asked Marquez to accept an internship candidate with a 1.1 grade-point average, even though Marquez wrote, "I don't think our standards are that low."

When McClain read that the student's GPA was 1.1, he responded in an email, "Holy Mackerel! Even mine was higher than that."

Marquez also testified about job candidates that McClain, at Madigan's request, had asked ComEd to hire. Marquez said he agreed to take one candidate into his organization even though the candidate "bombed" an initial interview.

Marquez wore a recording device to a meeting with McClain and recently named ComEd CEO Joe Dominguez on March 5, 2019. During the recorded conversation, McClain explained how ComEd would hire people chosen by Madigan in the days when the utility company still used workers to read meters.

"I don't know if it's his view of ComEd from even the '70s, when he got to name people to be meter readers, right?" McClain said during the meeting.

Marquez explained how McClain pushed him to hire a job candidate named Kathy Laski, even though Laski had declined five opportunities for an interview. Prosecutors introduced emails from McClain in which he continued to push for Laski on behalf of Madigan. After several exchanges involving several high-level executives at ComEd, McClain emailed Marquez to say that Laski was "over the top excited" about a job offer from ComEd.

ComEd later hired Laski as an assistant project manager in its training department. Kathy Laski's husband, Jim Laski, is a former Chicago city clerk and alderman. Jim Laski pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in 2006 for his involvement in the city's Hired Trucks scandal. He served 11 months in prison.

Earlier Thursday, Marquez discussed ComEd board candidate Juan Ochoa.

Former ComEd Senior Vice President and general counsel Tom O'Neill testified last month that Madigan recommended Ochoa for a position on ComEd's board of directors in 2017. At the time, Ochoa was CEO of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, also known as McPier in Chicago.

McPier owns Navy Pier, the McCormick Place convention center and the McCormick Square campus, which includes Wintrust Arena. McPier was created by the Illinois General Assembly.

O'Neill testified that he expressed reservations about Ochoa to then-ComEd CEO Pramaggiore.

Marquez testified that several people in Chicago's Latino community expressed negative opinions of Ochoa. Marquez said he shared those opinions with Pramaggiore.

Ochoa was appointed to the ComEd board in 2019.

Pramaggiore, McClain, ComEd lobbyist John Hooker and contract lobbyist Jay Doherty were convicted of conspiracy, bribery and falsifying records in the ComEd Four trial last year.

Previously, ComEd agreed to pay $200 million in July 2020 to resolve a criminal investigation into the years-long bribery scheme. As part of a deferred prosecution agreement, ComEd admitted it arranged jobs, vendor subcontracts and payments in a bid to influence Madigan.

Much of the evidence presented by government prosecutors during Marquez' time in the witness box this week was also presented in the ComEd Four case.

Madigan and McClain are facing 23 counts of bribery, racketeering and official misconduct in connection with a scheme federal prosecutors called the "Madigan Enterprise." The government alleges that Madigan and McClain used Madigan's public office to secure little- to do-nothing jobs for their associates by advancing legislation favorable to ComEd.

United States of America v. Madigan et al is scheduled to resume Tuesday, Nov. 12, at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago.

The court will not be in session Friday, and the courthouse will be closed on Monday for the Veterans Day holiday.

During the jury's Thursday afternoon break, Judge John Robert Blakey asked attorneys to spend time over the long weekend revisiting their estimates for the length of the trial. The judge told attorneys that his math indicated that the trial would last 13 weeks instead of 11 as jurors had been told. Blakey said he was not rushing anybody, but he felt it was important to advise the jury if the trial would last longer than initially expected.

Brett Rowland contributed to this story.