Mary Dixon: It’s a new watershed moment in Illinois’ long history of corruption. Four former executives and lobbyists at ComEd were convicted on every count they faced related to a wide-ranging bribery scheme. ComEd is currently an underwriter on WBEZ. Jurors yesterday found them guilty of bribing former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan with jobs and contracts for his political friends in exchange for favorable legislation in Springfield. WBEZ’s Dave McKinney recaps the scene that unfolded at the Dirksen Federal Building in downtown Chicago.

Dave McKinney: Madigan wasn’t the one on trial these past seven weeks. But he might as well have been based on the slam-dunk verdict that a jury delivered yesterday against ComEd’s former CEO Anne Pramaggiore and three others. The jury found all four defendants guilty on all counts for conspiring together in a bribery scheme and falsifying ComEd’s business records. Amanda Schnitker Sayers is a Logan Square veterinarian who served on the seven-woman, five-man jury that took nearly five days to reach its verdicts. She said the jury had no doubts that the defendants bribed Madigan, but she put the real blame squarely on the ex-speaker. And he’ll have to answer to that in his own racketeering and bribery trial next year.

Amanda Schnitker Sayers: Our perception was that he really did cause this all to happen. If it wouldn’t have been for him, then these people would not have been in the position that they would need to commit crimes in the first place.

Dave McKinney: One of Madigan’s lawyers, Sheldon Zenner, declined comment last night  when asked about the verdicts. But to a one, jurors didn’t buy the argument from defense lawyers that what Pramaggiore and former ComEd lobbyists Michael McClain, John Hooker and Jay Doherty were doing was legal lobbying.

Amanda Schnitker Sayers: All of us agree lobbying is necessary for our legislators to be educated. This is not lobbying. 

Dave McKinney: Prosecutors built their case around the valuable no-work contracts ComEd willingly doled out at Madigan’s request to his precinct captains and political friends. Jurors concluded it was the political grease, the bribes that the power company needed to win over the ex-speaker and score win after win on legislation in Springfield. After the verdicts, acting U.S. Attorney Morris Pasqual said he hopes the case sends a message to Springfield.

Morris Pasqual: We, meaning the feds, have been prosecuting public corruption for a long time and it seems like a lot of people are slow getting the message. Hopefully, the convictions in this case, the guilty verdicts, will bring that message home clearer so people perhaps will think twice before they start down that path.

Dave McKinney: In the courtroom, U.S. district judge Harry Leinenweber delivered the the late-afternoon verdicts. The legal shoes dropped one by one. First is was McClain, guilty on all counts, then Pramaggiore, then Hooker. And finally, Doherty. The four co-defendants sat stoically at their defense tables. But afterwards, tears flowed in the hallway outside the courtroom where McClain’s wife and family gathered. Pramaggiore and her husband ducked into a conference room and weren't seen leaving the Dirksen Federal Building until Tuesday night. Hours earlier, her lawyer, Scott Lassar, went before a crush of cameras to react to the big legal wins for an office he once headed as U.S. attorney.

Scott Lassar: We are disappointed with the verdict, and we will appeal.

Dave McKinney: The verdicts are consistent with the feds’ exceptionally high batting average in cases taken to trial. And juror Schnitker Sayers says getting involved in this case in the way she and other jurors did left them wanting to see the conclusion to this chapter in Illinois' corruption lore. She says the jury exchanged contact information and plans to meet up again next year at the federal court building to watch at least one day of Madigan’s own trial. Dave McKinney, WBEZ News.

WBEZ transcripts are generated by an automatic speech recognition service. We do our best to edit for misspellings and typos, but mistakes do come through.