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Feds subpoena AT&T as part of investigation into Speaker Madigan and lobbying

Telephone giant AT&T has been subpoenaed by federal prosecutors amid a widening criminal probe encircling House Speaker Michael Madigan’s political operation, a source with knowledge of the investigation told the Chicago Tribune.

The subpoena, delivered earlier this year by the U.S. attorney’s office, is part of an inquiry into whether companies improperly used a stable of consultants with ties to the longtime House speaker as they pushed for legislation in Springfield.

The revelation comes after prosecutors asked Madigan’s office last Friday for “any and all documents and communications” concerning AT&T, including contracts and correspondence related to the hiring of anyone to provide consulting or lobbying services to the public utility, according to a subpoena the Tribune obtained.

In a statement, the company said only that, in general, it cooperates with any requests from law enforcement.

“Like all companies, from time to time we are required by law to provide information to government and law enforcement agencies,” the statement read. “As always, we cooperate with their fact gathering process.”

Records show that AT&T has used several of the same former Madigan staffers and ex-Democratic state representatives as Commonwealth Edison, which was accused in federal charges unveiled last Friday of orchestrating a “years-long bribery scheme” involving jobs, contracts and payments to Madigan allies in exchange for favorable action in the state Capitol.

Among those who have lobbied for both ComEd and AT&T are Tom Cullen, who served as Madigan’s political director and was considered part of the speaker’s “inner circle”; former Madigan legal counsel Heather Wier Vaught; and onetime Madigan staffers Liz Brown-Reeves and D’Javan Conway, state lobbying records show.

Also on both companies’ lobbying teams: former Democratic state Reps. Kevin McCarthy and James Brosnahan, both of whom represented areas close to Madigan’s Southwest Side base.

Meanwhile, AT&T Illinois President Eileen Mitchell was a top Madigan staff member during the 1990s before joining AT&T in 2003 as a vice president of external affairs. She also worked briefly as chief of staff to then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

AT&T and its employees have given heavily to Madigan’s campaign coffers, racking up more than a quarter of a million dollars in donations to three separate funds the speaker controls since 2016 alone, state election records show.

The subpoena issued to Madigan’s office late last week showed investigators were interested in a wide range of information, including dealings with Walgreens and Rush University Medical Center, records related to Madigan’s political organization and private property tax appeals law firm, as well as former state lawmakers and current or former Chicago aldermen.

In announcing the case against ComEd, U.S. Attorney John Lausch said his office was not finished, while not addressing Madigan specifically.

“Our investigation is ongoing” Lausch said. “It’s vibrant, and it will continue.”

Madigan previously has denied being a target of the investigation. A spokeswoman said last Friday that Madigan “has never made a legislative decision with improper motives” and had engaged in no wrongdoing.

Prosecutors said the ComEd scheme began around 2011 — when key regulatory matters were before the Illinois House that Madigan controls — and continued through last year.

Prosecutors said ComEd attempted to “influence and reward” Madigan by providing financial benefits to some close to him, often through Mike McClain, a key confidant and adviser at the center of the probe. Madigan, the nation’s longest-serving speaker who also is the Illinois Democratic Party chairman, has not been charged.

McClain, a retired longtime ComEd lobbyist, kept a “magic lobbyist list” of favored firms that he claimed the speaker helped maintain, WBEZ reported in November, citing an unnamed source. McClain also had a list of key fundraisers for House Democrats that he called “The Most Trusted of the Trusted” and frequently referred to the speaker as “Himself,” the Tribune has reported.

This week, the Tribune attempted to contact more than a dozen former Madigan aides and speaker-allied lawmakers who were hired by AT&T to lobby the state, but nearly all of them could not be reached or declined to comment.

Brown-Reeves said she was on Madigan’s legislative staff for eight years, and records show she registered as a lobbyist in 2009. She began lobbying for AT&T in 2019, records show.

Asked if Madigan helped her land AT&T as a client, Brown-Reeves said, “I don’t think so.” She also said she did not ask Madigan for help. “It’s not traditional for people to ask Speaker Madigan for help,” she said.

Asked if she knew why prosecutors might be interested in AT&T and its relationship with Madigan, she added, “I have no idea.”

Perhaps the most significant AT&T-related law to be approved in the past five years was a deregulation measure that gave the company permission to stop maintaining traditional copper-wire landlines, as the company had been required to do for decades.

At the time, AT&T said maintaining landlines was a costly mandate that was no longer necessary, given the proliferation of cellphone technology and internet-based phone services.

Although then-Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed the bill, the General Assembly overrode him in a lopsided vote in July 2017, giving the phone company the approval in 20 of the 21 states where it is the legacy phone carrier. California was the holdout at the time, and the Federal Communications Commission has yet to give its required permission to disconnect the lines.

The legislation passed in Springfield despite the opposition of the Citizens Utility Board, the Illinois chapter of the AARP and Illinois Public Interest Research Group.

They proved to be no match for AT&T’s phalanx of bipartisan lobbyists, which included at least a dozen former Madigan aides and onetime House Democratic lawmakers, state records show.

“It always felt like a fait accompli,” said Abe Scarr, director of Illinois PIRG. “They just had the whole thing bottled up. There was no stopping them.

“They are old-school, and they know how to pull the levers of power,” Scarr added. Nevertheless, Scarr said he has no direct knowledge of any improper behavior and his agency has not been contacted by federal authorities on the matter.

Jim Chilsen, a spokesman for the Citizens Utility Board, issued a statement indicating his organization doesn’t know if there was anything improper about the lobbying effort on behalf of the landline disconnection bill.

AT&T has long been involved in the state’s political process, whether through efforts to influence lawmaking or by making contributions to influence campaigns.

Of more than $2.2 million contributed by AT&T and its employees from the start of 2016 until mid-July, more than $263,000, or nearly 12%, went to three Madigan-controlled campaign funds. No other politician’s committees received as much, state election board records show.

Also mentioned in last week’s federal subpoena to Madigan’s office was Walgreens. Like AT&T, Walgreens is a giant company that has long had an interest in the state’s political process, but the company has not been quite as generous with its political contributions. From the start of 2016 until mid-July, it had contributed nearly $853,000 to political campaigns. Madigan’s three primary campaign committees got $56,000, or about 6.7% of the total.

Like ComEd, Walgreens’ lobbyist lineup at one point had a link to Madigan in the form of McClain, a close associate of the speaker whom prosecutors have looked at in connection with the ComEd scheme. McClain is listed in state records as a lobbyist for the company for a decade ending in 2016.

Walgreens spokesman Phil Caruso said the company declined to comment after the Tribune asked a series of questions about whether federal authorities had contacted the Deerfield-based international company.

Walgreens also has advocated on regulatory issues in recent years.

Pharmacies, including Walgreens, lobbied heavily against a bill that sought a number of safety measures following the “Dangerous Doses” investigation, which the Tribune began publishing in late 2016.

That push resulted in a task force, which continues to meet. Legislation also was enacted to limit pharmacists and pharmacy techs to 12-hour shifts, instituted additional training requirements and reconstituted the task force. That took effect at the start of this year.

As for ComEd, the Illinois Commerce Commission has asked the company to appear at a hearing next week to discuss ethics reforms. McClain, its longtime retired lobbyist, could be a topic of discussion.

Federal agents raided McClain’s home in Quincy in May 2019, and the Tribune exclusively reported in November that authorities secretly recorded McClain’s phone calls. In the court filing laying out the ComEd allegations, federal prosecutors appeared to have included quotes from those recordings.

Referring to the speaker as Public Official A and McClain as Individual A, prosecutors alleged the two “sought to obtain from ComEd jobs, vendor subcontracts, and monetary payments associated with those jobs and subcontracts for various associates of Public Official A.” McClain has not been charged.

Those included precinct workers and other associates, the filing states, and prosecutors alleged the total they received was $1.32 million.

In all, prosecutors put a value of at least $150 million on the legislative benefits ComEd received. The federal documents in particular noted the 2011 passage of the Energy Infrastructure and Modernization Act, which “helped improve ComEd’s financial stability” by establishing rate guidelines and a smart grid overhaul.