Former Madigan political director details push by speaker’s office for
key ComEd bill
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[March 25, 2023]
By HANNAH MEISEL
Capitol News Illinois
hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com
 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 Illinois. But it also had many
critics, including those who said the law was essentially a state-funded
bailout for Exelon, the energy generation company that was also the
parent company of electric utility Commonwealth Edison.
The controversial law’s passage through the General Assembly in late
2016 is one of the core tenants of federal prosecutors’ theory that
three ex-lobbyists and the former CEO of ComEd were behind a yearslong
bribery scheme aimed at currying favor with Madigan. The foursome –
lobbyists Mike McClain, John Hooker and Jay Doherty, as well as ex-CEO
Anne Pramaggiore – were indicted in Nov. 2020 on nearly two dozen counts
of bribery and racketeering. Prosecutors allege they arranged jobs and
contracts within ComEd for Madigan’s political allies in exchange for
help with the utility’s legislative priorities in Springfield.
And on Thursday the jury got a peek inside Madigan’s office at the time,
via four hours of testimony from Madigan’s former political director,
along with recordings of wiretapped phone calls and emails among top
staffers for the speaker.
Now a contract lobbyist in Springfield for Washington, D.C.-based firm
Cornerstone Government Affairs, Will Cousineau had previously spent
nearly 18 years in Madigan’s orbit. He worked his way up from a district
office staffer in the late 1990s to political director for the state’s
Democratic party and finally a senior advisor to Madigan until mid-2017.
Six months before his departure, Cousineau had been an integral part of
the strategy behind passing FEJA. On Thursday – under an immunity
agreement with prosecutors – he recounted for the jury the final stretch
before lawmakers voted on the bill.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur showed Cousineau an email he
received from another top staffer in Madigan’s office on the first day
of the General Assembly’s annual fall veto session in mid-November 2016.
The email concerned third-term state Rep. Michelle Mussman, of suburban
Schaumburg, whose district was considered “swingy,” as Cousineau
testified, making her vulnerable to a Republican opponent. Mussman,
along with other mostly suburban and downstate members of the House
Democratic Caucus, was often referred to as being “on the target list,”
meaning Madigan’s staffers kept a close watch on their legislative
positions in order to protect them from votes the speaker and his team
considered politically risky.
“Mussman is the vice-chair of the energy committee and the Exelon/ComEd
bill is posted for tomorrow,” fellow staffer Craig Willert wrote in his
email to Cousineau. “I don’t know if we plan to vote on it, but should
we sub off Mussman?”
Cousineau confirmed to MacArthur that Mussman ended up getting
temporarily removed from the House Energy Committee during the panel’s
vote on FEJA. Cousineau testified that was a common strategic move by
Madigan’s office – either because they knew a certain committee member
didn’t support a bill important to the speaker, or to protect members
from having to take a politically risky vote.
In this case, Cousineau said part of the speaker’s office’s political
calculation on FEJA also had to do with a third factor: Gov. Bruce
Rauner. At that point, Madigan had been battling with the one-term
Republican governor for nearly two years, and Illinois was locked in the
middle of an extended impasse, resulting in the state going without a
budget for 736 days.
“We were conscious of making sure House Democrats didn’t look like we
were standing in the way of something Gov. Rauner wanted,” Cousineau
said of FEJA. “We had been battling [with the governor for a number of
years but] this is something we strategically decided we wanted to look
like we were being cooperative with the governor.”
Right before lawmakers returned to Springfield post-Thanksgiving,
Cousineau and two other top staffers in Madigan’s office received an
email from McClain, ComEd’s top contract lobbyist – and a very close
friend of the speaker.
“As usual we are losing some members for next week,” McClain wrote,
listing four House members who were scheduled to be gone by the end of
the three-day session. “If it is appropriate and you feel comfortable
tendering the other names that may not be in Springfield…I would
appreciate it.”
Cousineau replied with an additional name of a House member whose
attendance was up in the air.
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The Dirksen Federal Courthouse is
pictured in Chicago. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Hannah Meisel)
On Thursday, Cousineau testified that he didn’t believe FEJA had the
votes to pass, and he had a phone conversation with Madigan telling him
so. He then advised the speaker that his office needed to directly
engage with caucus members who were on the fence about voting for the
bill.
“I don’t remember the exact words, but essentially after some back and
forth (Madigan) asked me to go and work the bill,” Cousineau testified,
adding that he believed McClain had been with the speaker at the time of
the call.
MacArthur asked Cousineau who it was that “House members understood the
real message to be coming from?”
“They knew I worked for the speaker,” Cousineau replied, confirming
members would’ve known he and his fellow top staffers were working at
his direction.
In the end, FEJA passed with 63 votes in the House – three more than the
minimum threshold needed – and had a mix of Democrat and Republican
support. After passage in the Senate, the bill went to Rauner, who
signed it less than a week later.
On cross-examination, McClain’s attorney took issue with MacArthur’s
insinuations during her line of questioning about the call where
Cousineau was directed to “work the bill.”
“So in this big dramatic call, essentially what happened was the speaker
asked you to do your job, just as you’d done many times before,” McClain
attorney Patrick Cotter said. “It wasn’t drama, it was Tuesday. It was
just another day at work for you.”
Cousineau confirmed, with a small qualifier.
“Yes,” he said. “I mean, this was a big vote but there were plenty of
big votes.”
MacArthur had also questioned Consineau about why McClain – a private
lobbyist who wasn’t employed by the speaker’s office – had been included
as a member of the strategic group that met regularly about FEJA in 2015
and 2016.
Cousineau replied that he believed McClain was included in those emails,
meetings and calls because he was both a representative for ComEd and
because he’d been a trusted friend and advisor to Madigan for decades.
MacArthur also played for the jury a recording of a wiretapped call from
McClain’s cell phone in late 2018. In that call, the speaker and his
three top staffers had been strategizing around committee chair
assignments and leadership roles within the House Democratic Caucus
before the start of the new General Assembly in January 2019.
Also included in that call were McClain, Cousineau and Madigan’s former
chief counsel, who had left the speaker’s office earlier that year to
lobby. By this time, Cousineau had been a private lobbyist for nearly a
year and a half.
In another tape played for the jury from a wiretapped call in April
2018, McClain asked Cousineau how he was finding “the dark side,” a term
he used frequently to refer to lobbying, particularly if the lobbyist
had left government service.
Counsineau replied that it was “stressful, but in a different way,”
adding that years of campaign work had been “good training.”
“As long as we remember who our real client is – ” McClain said.
“Oh, yeah,” Cousineau interjected.
“It’s not easy, but it mollifies it,” McClain continued.
Asked who McClain was referring to in that call, Cousineau confirmed the
“real client” was Madigan. The jury had heard in previous recordings and
seen in previous letters that McClain had often referred to the speaker
as his “real client.”
On cross-examination, McClain’s attorney attempted to contextualize the
recording for the jury, questioning Cousineau about a key tenet of
lobbying work: relationships.
“You didn’t need to do anything unlawful or wrong to have a good
relationship with Speaker Madigan because you already had a relationship
with him based on your 18 years,” Cotter said.
Cousineau affirmed Cotter’s assertion, having already agreed with the
attorney that having a good relationship with “the most powerful person
in the General Assembly,” as Cotter put it, was critical to the success
of any lobbyist working on major bills.
“And Mike McClain had 40 years of friendship,” Cotter said, pausing his
line of questioning for effect.
The trial continues at 10 a.m. Monday.
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