Commonwealth Edison
CHICAGO – In 2006, electric utility Commonwealth Edison was riding out the last year of a decadelong state-mandated rate freeze, which had put the company in “dire” financial straits. In a period when corporate profits climbed at record rates, ComEd was an outlier. And as the utility stared down the possibility of state lawmakers extending…
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CHICAGO – The Illinois Commerce Commission on Thursday curtailed proposed rate hikes and rejected grid plans from two major electric utilities, mirroring a series of bombshell decisions rendered last month that cut increases for Illinois’ four largest gas utilities. The ICC rejected the pair of plans from Commonwealth Edison and Ameren Illinois that were…
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CHICAGO – Attorneys for both the defendants and the government made the same appeal to a federal jury Tuesday before it was left to deliberate the fate of four former Commonwealth Edison officials accused of bribery. “Use your common sense,” U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu said while wrapping up the government’s final rebuttal in the trial’s…
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CHICAGO — When Juan Ochoa was appointed to the board of Commonwealth Edison in April 2019, it was after a year and a half of delays and behind-the-scenes wrangling on his behalf by some of the most powerful people in Illinois politics and Chicago’s business community. But four years later, the emails and calls on…
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While the prosecution’s case against the Com Ed 4’s alleged bribery of former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan is still underway, witness testimony shows how the control Madigan exercised over the legislative process made him a ripe target and warped the system. What is more, the structures Madigan used to make himself the most powerful…
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CHICAGO – It was sunny and approaching 75 degrees when FBI agents arrived at the Quincy home of Mike McClain on a Tuesday in May 2019. McClain, a close friend of longtime Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, had a habit of printing out emails and keeping hand-written notes. That made the agents’ job a bit…
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CHICAGO — About an hour before sunrise on a mid-January morning in 2019, two FBI agents arrived at the home of Fidel Marquez’s mother, where the longtime executive of Commonwealth Edison had been staying. The agents played a series of recordings of wiretapped phone calls for Marquez, featuring Marquez himself. When other people in the…
Read Full Article CHICAGO – In the weeks following then-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s forced ouster of his longtime chief of staff following allegations of sexual harassment, a high-ranking Commonwealth Edison official was considering how to help the disgraced Madigan ally. Tim Mapes had served as Madigan’s chief of staff for more than 25 years and further solidified…
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CHICAGO – As was the case with many big legislative efforts in Springfield, former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan’s staff was deeply involved in negotiations over what would become the Future Energy Jobs Act in 2015 and 2016. FEJA had many backers in environmental circles and organized labor – two key constituencies for Democrats in…
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CHICAGO – In fall 2018, longtime former State Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, received a phone call from Mike McClain, who had spent decades lobbying for electric utility Commonwealth Edison after 10 years in the General Assembly. McClain was delivering a message from House Speaker Michael Madigan, who was worried Lang was becoming a liability to…
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SPRINGFIELD — One year ago today, former House Speaker Michael Madigan – for decades the most powerful figure in Illinois politics – was indicted on 22 counts of racketeering, bribery, wire fraud and extortion. The anniversary comes roughly two years after Madigan’s fellow Democrats forced him to cede the title of longest-serving speaker of any legislature in…
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