One of Chicago’s leading female business executives is out as senior executive vice president and CEO of Exelon Utilities as the company’s connection to an ongoing public corruption probe appears to be deepening.
Exelon Corp. announced after the close of trading Tuesday that Anne Pramaggiore is being replaced by a utility executive who heads the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company, an Exelon-owned firm.
The utility’s statement makes no mention of a connection between Pramaggiore and the sprawling federal investigation into Democratic state Sen. Martin Sandoval and the utility’s lobbying activities in Illinois.
But Exelon, its subsidiary, ComEd, and four unnamed Exelon officials were identified in a federal search warrant released last week by Senate President John Cullerton’s office that was used to access Sandoval’s statehouse office in a Sept. 24 FBI raid.
Federal agents were looking for information in Sandoval’s office related to “any of those businesses or individuals, including but not limited to rate increases,” according to the search warrant that was released after WBEZ sued Cullerton’s office.
Earlier, Cullerton’s office released a heavily-redacted search warrant in which references to Exelon and ComEd were blacked out.
The move by Cullerton’s office to release an unredacted warrant closely followed an Exelon filing with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission revealing the utility had received a second federal subpoena on Oct. 4 for “any communications with certain individuals and entities, including Illinois State Senator Martin Sandoval.”
Sandoval has not been charged criminally, and Pramaggiore has not been implicated in any wrongdoing.
The senator’s daughter, Angie Sandoval, is a longtime employee of ComEd, according to her LinkedIn online networking profile.
Last spring, ComEd disclosed that the U.S. attorney’s office had asked it to turn over “information concerning lobbying activities in the state of Illinois.”
WBEZ and the BGA first reported in July that investigators also had searched the home of former Chicago Ald. Michael Zalewski, as the feds looked into alleged efforts to get work for Zalewski at ComEd.
Three sources familiar with the federal probe said it centers at least partly on interactions between Zalewski, Illinois House Speaker and Democratic Party Chairman Michael Madigan, and Michael McClain, a longtime ComEd lobbyist and Madigan confidant.
Exelon’s recent SEC filing also revealed the company in late June formed an internal committee to oversee compliance with its initial subpoena and any further developments emerging from the U.S. attorney’s office.
Exelon’s announcement Tuesday indicated Pramaggiore is being replaced by Calvin G. Butler Jr., CEO of the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company, on an interim basis. Butler’s appointment is effective immediately.
Dave McKinney covers state politics and government for WBEZ.
