Another Illinois corruption saga unfolds as former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore awaits sentencing for her role in a brazen bribery scheme, as Just the News reports. On Monday, a decision made inside the Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago will provide her fate. This is yet another chapter in the state’s long history of political misconduct.
Pramaggiore, convicted alongside three others in May 2023 for conspiracy, bribery, and falsifying records, orchestrated a scheme to influence former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. The plot involved funneling $1.3 million in jobs and payments to curry favor with the powerful Democrat. It’s a classic case of cronyism run amok.
From 2012 to 2018, Pramaggiore led ComEd, climbing to senior executive vice president and CEO of Exelon Utilities in 2018. Her rise was meteoric, but her fall was swift. When whispers of a federal probe surfaced in 2019, she resigned from both Exelon and her prestigious chairmanship at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
The feds didn’t let this slide -- ComEd paid a hefty $200 million in 2020 to settle a criminal investigation. The utility admitted its role in arranging cushy deals to sway Madigan, a political titan in Illinois. This wasn’t just a handshake; it was a calculated betrayal of public trust.
Prosecutors aren’t playing soft, pushing for a nearly six-year prison sentence for Pramaggiore and a $1.75 million fine. They argue she was the mastermind, not a bystander, in this corrupt enterprise. Her defense of “plausible deniability” crumbled under scrutiny, as juries saw through the corporate smoke and mirrors.
“She was the CEO,” said St. Xavier University professor David Parker to The Center Square. He scoffed at her claims of ignorance, noting the jury rejected her excuse that subcontractors shielded her from the scheme’s dirt. Corporate ladders don’t absolve accountability -- especially not in federal court.
Last Monday, Judge Manish Shah threw the book at John Hooker, another defendant in the so-called ComEd Four, sentencing him to 1.5 years and a $500,000 fine. Hooker’s punishment sets the stage for Pramaggiore’s reckoning, with the court signaling zero tolerance for such schemes. Illinois’ political swamp keeps draining, one conviction at a time.
Michael Madigan, the scheme’s linchpin, faced his judgment in February, when a jury nailed him on 10 counts, including bribery and wire fraud. On June 13, Judge John Robert Blakey sentenced him to 7.5 years and a $2.5 million fine. His upcoming prison stint on October 13 looms, though his lawyers are scrambling for an appeal.
Madigan’s fall is a stark reminder: power doesn’t shield you from justice. The former speaker’s web of influence, once ironclad, unraveled under federal scrutiny. Illinois voters deserve better than backroom deals masquerading as governance.
Michael McClain, a former Madigan ally and lobbyist, faces sentencing on Thursday, July 24, in the ComEd Four case. Meanwhile, Jay Doherty, a contract lobbyist, will learn his fate on Aug. 5. The courts are working overtime to clean up this mess.
University of Illinois Chicago professor emeritus Dick Simpson told The Center Square, “I think what is most important is that they be sentenced.” He’s right -- justice must be visible to deter future corruption. But in Illinois, where over 2,200 public officials have faced federal prison since 1976, one wonders if the lesson ever sticks.
Simpson added that the sentences should “signal to others not to do the same thing.” Wishful thinking, perhaps, in a state where political horse-trading feels like a tradition. Still, these convictions chip away at the culture of entitlement that’s plagued Illinois for decades.
Pramaggiore’s sentencing could set a precedent for corporate executives cozying up to politicians. The progressive playbook often paints these schemes as “business as usual,” but conservatives see it for what it is: corruption dressed in corporate suits. Accountability isn’t optional -- it’s mandatory.
The ComEd Four’s convictions expose the rot of unchecked power, where utility giants and political bosses collude to fleece taxpayers. Pramaggiore’s claim of being “too far removed” didn’t fool the jury, and it shouldn’t fool anyone else. Leadership means owning the consequences, not dodging them.
As Illinois watches Pramaggiore’s sentencing, the message is clear: no one is above the law. The state’s history of corruption is a stain conservatives haven’t kept clean. It’s time to end the cycle of scandal and start valuing integrity over influence.
