Michael Madigan, 83, the former Speaker of the Illinois House, was sentenced June 13 to seven-and-half years in federal prison after his conviction on racketeering, bribery and conspiracy charges in February involving funding for the state’s utility grid and the biggest electrical utility in the state, CommonWealth Edison. 

Madigan, a Democrat, controlled the Speaker’s gavel for all but two years when Republicans briefly held the Illinois House between 1983 and 2021 when he stepped down from his southwest Chicago seat after being indicted. 

In doing so, prosecutors said Madigan contributed to a culture of corruption that ultimately resulted in recordings being made by the Federal Bureau of Investigation of associates of his asking for favors in exchange for legislation involving ComEd and others, which made it to the House floor for a vote.

“At the very pinnacle of power in state government, defendant Michael Madigan exploited his power to enrich himself and his associates,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Streicker said at the sentencing hearing. “He now stands convicted of 10 crimes, including some of the most serious that a public official can commit.”

Streicker said that governors came and went during those 36 years, but Madigan always stayed. Wielding power based on moving legislation forward included a 2016 rate hike,  Madigan’s longtime confidant Michael McClain allegedly told then-ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore in a May 18 recorded call that, “We got — we’ve gotta kill it, period,” in reference to a bill that would have modernized the Illinois energy grid to allow more renewable energy sources to be used in it but would not have benefitted ComEd. Both Pramaggiore and McClain were separately convicted of racketeering conspiracy. 

Federal District Judge John Blakey said the sentencing guidelines for Madigan’s crimes recommended a sentence of 105 years in prison which he considered preposterous. Federal prosecutors asked the judge for 12-and-a-half years. Blakey was not, however, sympathetic to the arguments of Madigan, who spoke just before sentencing and asked that he be allowed to remain free to care for his elderly wife, 

Addressing Madigan just before handing down his sentence, Blakey described Madigan’s testimony on his own behalf at trial, as “a nauseating display of perjury and evasion. You lied, sir. You lied. You did not have to. You had a right to sit there and exercise your right to silence but you took the stand and you took the law into your own hands.” Blakey also fined Madigan $2.5 million as part of his sentence.

Madigan is required to report to federal prison authorities on Oct. 13. While Madigan’s conviction was the highest profile case involving ComEd’s political activities resulting in the utility, a division of Exelon Corp., agreeing to a deferred prosecution and its own $200-million fine, it is not the end of federal prosecutors’ pursuit of the conspiracy. Pramaggiore, McClain and the rest of the ComEd Four still have yet to be sentenced. Four of their nine charges were tossed out by a Supreme Court ruling but the most serious criminal conspiracy charge withstood appellate review.

U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Andrew Boutros said in a statement that the Madigan sentence sends “a clear message that the criminal conduct by former Speaker [Michael] Madigan was unacceptable. Corruption at the highest level of the state legislature tears at the fabric of a vital governing body,” .