Dupage Policy Journal

Jeanne Ives, a former state representative and gubernatorial candidate, is asking for a rebate from ComEd after the ComEd Four public corruption convictions. 

“Hey, ComEd! I want my money back for the Madigan goons you paid with ratepayer money to do nothing! And I want interest on it too,” Ives said on Facebook.

Ives' comments come as ComEd has sought steep increases in utility rates. 

“We are facing large increases in our utility rates. Did you know Illinois’ utility giants opened 2023 with a vengeance – against consumers,” Buffalo Grove resident David Besser said, Lake County Gazette reported. “In the first two weeks of January, we were inundated by rate hikes – five in total – including proposals for record-breaking increases for heating and electric costs.” 

He also mentioned that “ComEd is seeking a record-breaking $1.5 billion rate hike over four years.”

The interest in ComEd’s rate hikes comes after former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore and former ComEd lobbyist John Hooker along with Madigan’s right-hand man Michael McClain, and lobbyist Jay Doherty, who previously ran the City Club of Chicago, were convicted of scheming to pay $1.3 million to Madigan-connected people and companies. As part of the scheme, ComEd provided jobs – some of which were no show – and contracts to those with connections to Madigan who at the time controlled the Democratic Party and had wielded power as the state’s most powerful politician as the longest-serving state House Speaker in the nation. ComEd, the state’s largest utility, engaged in the scheme to influence Madigan to get preferential treatment in the state House. ComEd paid a $200 million fine in July 2020 and admitted to the scheme.

The sentences have not been decided yet for the ComEd four. However, each faces fines as high as $5 million and a maximum of 20 years imprisonment while Madigan will go on trial in April.

The 81-year-old Madigan was in power as House Speaker from 1983 to 1995 and then from 1997 to 2021. He was an Illinois House member from 1971 to 2021 before stepping down amid the scandal. He is charged in a separate filing of 23 counts of public corruption related to the ComEd scandal and is facing a single count of public corruption from a similar scheme with AT&T. Despite being investigated, Madigan reportedly participated in the 2022 election campaign. Additionally, he transferred the last $10 million from his campaign budget to his defense fund.

Ives is the co-founder of Breakthrough Ideas, a "policy advocacy and education network that advances the causes of peace, prosperity, and freedom by highlighting the virtue of taxpayer-centric and liberty-focused policies and how they benefit all community members."