Last member of so-called ComEd Four sentenced in Mike Madigan-linked bribery case

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The last member of the so-called ComEd Four was sentenced Tuesday to spend one year and one day in prison.

Former City Club President Jay Doherty is the final defendant convicted in a bribery scheme linked to ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.

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He and three others were found guilty of conspiring to influence Madigan to benefit ComEd.

Prosecutors wanted 15 months for Doherty.

His attorneys asked for no prison time.

In addition to the prison sentence, Doherty received a six-month term of supervised release after incarceration.

He did not receive a fine.

He's due to surrender Sept. 30.

Judge Manish Shah ignored Doherty's personal plea and apology to the court, saying "You knew full well what this arrangement with Mr. Madigan was about."

A former lobbyist, Doherty was found, through his company, to have provided the pass-through for Madigan associates to be paid over $1 million during an eight-year period. But the men, by Doherty's own admission during a conversation he did not know was being recorded, didn't do any work for ComEd at all.

In one call, former ComEd executive Fidel Marquez was heard saying, "Do they do anything? Or what do they do? What do you have them doing?"

Doherty responded, "Not much is the answer to your question."

Doherty then added, ComEd should continue the arrangement because "That's, that, I guess, can be answered in Springfield with Madigan. And to keep, to keep Mike Madigan happy, I think it's worth it."

In court Tuesday, Doherty cut a remorseful figure, while not fully acknowledging his role in the bribery scheme.

"I am deeply ashamed that I have been associated with that type of corruption in any way. I have no one to blame but me. I am heartily sorry," he said.

Doherty's sentencing brings to a close the six-year saga that has been the ComEd trial.

Doherty's co-defendants, Michael McClain, former ComEd lobbyist John Hooker and former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, got between 18 and 24 months behind bars.

Sentencing for the so-called ComEd four was delayed. It was first delayed because of a Supreme Court decision that ultimately led to several bribery counts being dismissed, then due to the original judge's death.

Madigan was sentenced to seven and a half years in federal prison and a $2.5 million fine in his own corruption trial.