Cross-examination of former ComEd executive Fidel Marquez has resumed at the bribery and racketeering trial of former Illinois House Speaker and Democratic Party of Illinois Chairman Michael Madigan.
Patrick Cotter, defense attorney for codefendant Michael McClain, began cross-examining Marquez Tuesday. Cross-examination by Madigan’s defense team is expected to follow sometime Wednesday.
Marquez agreed to cooperate with government investigators and pleaded guilty to bribery in 2020. Prosecutors have introduced numerous recordings of Marquez’s conversations with McClain and with various ComEd executives and lobbyists.
Cotter introduced an email from Marquez to McClain, in which Marquez wrote that a job candidate really needed to try for the position and “can’t go in thinking this is guaranteed.”
“He really has to sell himself,” Marquez wrote.
Marquez agreed with Cotter’s statement that the job was not guaranteed to the candidate, even though McClain had likely recommended the candidate on Madigan’s behalf.
Cotter also asked about a conversation between Marquez and McClain about ComEd subcontractors hired by lobbyist Jay Doherty. The subcontractors served as campaign workers in Madigan’s 13th Ward Democratic Organization. Marquez and McClain suggested that it was up to Doherty to prove whether the subcontractors were doing any work. McClain offered to meet with then-ComEd CEO Joe Dominguez about the Doherty contract, but Marquez wrote that it was “company process” and might be “inappropriate” for McClain to meet with Dominguez.
Doherty was convicted along with McClain, former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore and former ComEd lobbyist John Hooker in the ComEd Four trial last year.
Judge John Robert Blakey advised attorneys in the courtroom Wednesday morning that one juror was running late after missing her train. The jury was seated at 9:30 a.m.
Before the jury was seated, prosecutor Diane MacArthur said the government expects to call former Chicago Alderman Daniel Solis sometime next week. Solis represented Chicago’s 25th ward from 1996 to 2019. He began cooperating with federal prosecutors in 2014.
Government attorneys allege that Solis agreed to help steer business to Madigan’s law firm, Madigan and Getzendanner, which specializes in challenging property tax bills for its clients. In exchange, prosecutors claim “Madigan agreed to assist, in his official capacity as Speaker of the House of Representatives, in advising and inducing the Governor of the State of Illinois to appoint Alderman A to a State board that would pay Alderman A compensation of at least approximately $93,926 a year upon Alderman A’s retirement from the City Council.”
Brett Rowland contributed to this story.
