Mike Madigan’s ComEd windfall – Crain’s

The company at the center of an expanding federal probe into Springfield lobbying went to unusual lengths to financially ingratiate itself with a key Springfield player, Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan.

Political insiders and official state disclosure records indicate that Exelon Corp. and its Commonwealth Edison subsidiary for at least the last five years hosted a major autumn Chicago fund-raiser for the speaker, who doubles as chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party. The events were a “command performance” for ComEd lobbyists, executives, suppliers and others, as one participant put it.

The take: $100,000 or more annually—enough to, say, flood two or three House districts with mailers in the last month of an election campaign, and certainly a nice financial base to build upon.