After six weeks of testimony, the “ComEd Four” bribery trial involving an alleged scheme to bribe House Speaker Michael Madigan is nearing an end.
Before the jury came in Wednesday, attorneys for the defense told U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber they expect to be done with witnesses later in the day. Prosecutors may have a short rebuttal, but both sides said they would be ready for what could be an extensive jury instruction conference on Thursday.If that schedule holds, Leinenweber said he would send the jury home for a long weekend, with closing arguments in the case beginning Monday.
In a series of final questions, Jacobson asked Hooker over and over whether he thought they were illegally influencing Madigan by hiring lobbying subcontractors he’d recommended.Each time, Hooker shook his head and said firmly, “No.”In his questioning of Hooker, Cotter took it a step further, suggesting the entire premise of the prosecution -- that Madigan would put his thumb on the scale for ComEd because they hired some of his people -- was ludicrous.
Each time, Hooker said the subcontractor arrangement with Doherty had created “goodwill” with Madigan because they were able to “respond to a recommendation” from the speaker. He also made sure to say the subcontractors “added value to the company,” and that the arrangement was good for him because he “didn’t have to manage” them.
Throughout his climb at the utility, Hooker said he was constantly confronted by racist attitudes, including when he was first sent to City Hall in the 1980s as a company liaison, where some of the Black aldermen viewed him as an Uncle Tom. Asked if he went on a trip to Turkey with Madigan and Pramaggiore that has come up in previous testimony, Hooker quipped, “No, I’m not really a world traveler. The only turkey I deal with is at Thanksgiving.”Former ComEd executive John Hooker, left, a defendant charged in the ComEd bribery scheme, leaves the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse on April 12, 2023, in Chicago.
“I decided I was going to work with everybody,” he said. “I was going to meet everybody, tell ‘em who I was and where I was from and build a relationship.”
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