Four individuals who have been tied to a bribery scheme involving company ComEd and Michael Madigan appeared in Federal Court on Wednesday. Michael McClain, Anne Pramaggiore, John Hooker, and Jay Doherty all plead not guilty on Wednesday to bribery.

Thanks to a 50-page indictment handed down in late November the four are being accused of devising and executing a plan that provided money, contracts, do-nothing jobs, and legal work for friends of Speaker of the House Michael Madigan. The indictment says that this was done in order to gain favor with the Speaker to pass legislation that helped ComEd. 

Representative Avery Bourne says that Speaker Madigan needs to testify under oath or resign his position.

Representative Bourne says she is pleasantly surprised to see more people breaking from support of Speaker Madigan. Multiple Democrats have said they are in support of Speaker Madigan resigning. 

More than 100 emails have been made public that showed a pattern of misconduct. Michael McClain referred to the Speaker by name only once, the rest of the time he was referred to as “our friend.” Click HERE to view all of the emails. 

Madigan has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged. McClain, Pramaggiore, Hooker, and Doherty each face up to a 20-year prison sentence. A status hearing is set for February 16th with pre-trial motions set for March 3rd.