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Federal prosecutors say a former top lobbyist for ComEd should be sentenced to more than 4 \u00bd years in prison for his role in a conspiracy designed to illegally sway former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan<\/a> \u2014 and for lying on the witness stand.<\/p>\n The recommendation for John Hooker, 76, comes more than two years after he and three others were convicted for their roles<\/a> in the lengthy scheme, for which Madigan faces his own 7 \u00bd-year prison sentence.<\/p>\n Now Hooker and three others face sentencing in the weeks to come. Hooker is set to go first, on July 14. Monday\u2019s recommendation is the first indication of how the feds want U.S. District Judge Manish Shah to rule in the case.<\/p>\n \u201cMembers of the business community in Illinois need to receive the simple, undiluted, and unequivocal message that if they engage in fraud or corruption, they will be sent to prison for a long period of time,\u201d prosecutors wrote.<\/p>\n Hooker\u2019s defense attorneys asked Shah to give Hooker probation instead, calling his conviction \u201cthe antithesis to an otherwise praiseworthy life filled with repeated and continuous good deeds, selflessness, and ethical conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n Convicted at trial along with Hooker in May 2023 were longtime Madigan confidant Michael McClain, former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore and onetime City Club President Jay Doherty. Madigan was convicted<\/a> in a separate trial in February.<\/p>\n Jurors in both cases heard that five Madigan allies were paid $1.3 million by ComEd over eight years so that Madigan would look more favorably at the utility\u2019s legislation in Springfield.<\/p>\n Sentencing hearings for Hooker and his co-defendants were long delayed by machinations at the U.S. Supreme Court. <\/b>The high court\u2019s ruling in a separate corruption case<\/a> eventually prompted Shah to toss a series of bribery counts in the ComEd case. That left the four defendants each convicted of conspiracy and four counts of falsifying books and records.<\/p>\n In a 52-page court memo Monday, prosecutors insisted that Hooker lied to the jury when he took the witness stand at trial. Madigan also testified at trial, and U.S. District Judge John Blakey agreed with prosecutors that the former speaker lied<\/a>.<\/p>\n Prosecutors now say Hooker lied when he denied any involvement in the scheme aimed at Madigan, when he said he arranged for Madigan\u2019s allies to be paid through Doherty\u2019s consulting firm so he could avoid additional responsibilities, and when he said he cared about the \u201cvalue\u201d Madigan\u2019s allies brought to ComEd.<\/p>\n The feds also say Hooker lied by claiming McClain was \u201cjust joshing around\u201d on a secret FBI recording when he said, \u201cWe had to hire these guys because Mike Madigan came to us.\u201d Hooker replied, \u201cThat\u2019s as simple as it is.\u201d<\/p>\n The memo from Hooker\u2019s attorneys claimed that the former lobbyist is \u201cdeeply saddened by the negative impact that this case has had on the lobbying industry,\u201d and that he gained nothing from the crime.<\/p>\n But prosecutors said Hooker\u2019s \u201cown conduct\u201d caused that negative impact on the lobbying industry, and they say that about 60% of Hooker\u2019s compensation at ComEd until March 2012 \u201cwas based on ComEd\u2019s and Exelon\u2019s performance.\u201d<\/p>\n Finally, prosecutors pointed to Madigan\u2019s 7 \u00bd year prison sentence in making their recommendation for Hooker, as well as the 2 \u00bd year prison sentence handed last year to Madigan\u2019s former chief of staff, Tim Mapes.<\/p>\n