The plan to get Juan Ochoa appointed to a lucrative position on Commonwealth Edison’s board of directors had been in the works for nearly eight months when then-House Speaker Michael Madigan got a call from his closest confidant saying it was close to a done deal.

“Speaker, Juan Ochoa. You may call him,” Michael McClain, a former lobbyist working as a consultant for the utility, said on the July 17, 2018, call.

After confirming that Anne Pramaggiore, the newly promoted CEO of ComEd parent Exelon Utilities, had given the green light for Ochoa to be notified, Madigan said he’d make the call — but not to Ochoa.

“I’ll probably call Gutiérrez, tell him first,” Madigan said, referring to Ochoa’s chief political backer, then-U.S. Rep. Luis Gutiérrez. “I mean, he’s the reason I would talk to Juan Ochoa.”

The call, played for the jury in the “ComEd Four” bribery trial Thursday, highlighted one of the central allegations in the sprawling case, detailing the behind-the-scenes political machinations of the alleged conspiracy to win Madigan’s influence over ComEd’s legislative agenda.

It also offered the jury a not-so-subtle lesson in how important corporate board appointments often get made in Illinois’ hyper-political environment, where powerful elected officials pull the strings and a “recommendation” can come across more like an order.

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In Ochoa’s case, Madigan’s decision to call Gutiérrez first stemmed from a strange political alliance, beginning when the then-congressman endorsed the speaker in his House district primary race in 2016.

In his long-awaited testimony, Ochoa, a businessman and twice-failed political candidate known for leading the agency that runs Navy Pier and McCormick Place, told the jury Thursday he wasn’t close to the powerful Democratic speaker.

Ochoa said it was Gutiérrez, a powerful Democrat in his own right, who acted as his main advocate in seeking the board seat, arranging a November 2017 meeting with Madigan at the speaker’s ward office to ask for his support.

Ochoa testified his own personal pitch to Madigan was minimal. “I gave a little background of myself, which I think he already knew, and the importance of having Latinos on corporate boards,” he told the jury.

Still, Madigan responded “positively” to the request for his support, Ochoa said, telling him and Gutiérrez that “he would be seeing the CEO of Exelon that week.”

According to the indictment, that meeting kicked off a year-and-a-half effort by Madigan and his associates to get Ochoa on the board, despite internal pushback at ComEd over his lack of qualifications.

In cross-examination, defense attorneys pointed out there was nothing unusual about politicians making board recommendations, and that Ochoa performed his duties as the $78,000-a-year position required.

Attorney Daniel Craig, who represents Pramaggiore, asked Ochoa point-blank if he offered Madigan a bribe to get the speaker’s recommendation for the post, and whether Madigan ever asked for something in return.

“No,” Ochoa replied.

“Do you feel like you did the best you could to represent the Latino community on the ComEd board?” Craig asked.

“Given the circumstances, yes.” Ochoa said.

Charged in the ComEd Four case are Pramaggiore, McClain, ex-ComEd executive and lobbyist John Hooker and former ComEd contact lobbyist Jay Doherty, the ex-president of the City Club civic group.

In addition to the Ochoa scheme, the indictment alleges the four defendants steered $1.3 million in payments from ComEd to Madigan-approved subcontractors who did little or no work in a bid to win the speaker’s influence over the utility’s legislative agenda in Springfield.

The indictment also alleged the defendants schemed to hire a clout-heavy law firm run by political operative Victor Reyes and stack the utility’s summer internship program with candidates sent from Madigan’s 13th Ward.

The four on trial have all pleaded not guilty. Their lawyers have contended the government is trying to turn legal lobbying and job recommendations into a crime.

Madigan and McClain face a separate racketeering indictment that is set for trial next year.

Ochoa had been expected to testify about how his relationship with Madigan grew “toxic” in 2007 after he personally fired a McPier employee who‘d previously served as a Madigan legislative staffer in the General Assembly.

After the employee’s termination, Ochoa hit a brick wall when it came time to negotiate for House approval of legislation to refinance McPier’s high-interest bonds in early 2008. Eventually, Ochoa resigned because he felt the debt refinancing would never pass if he stayed on, according to Ochoa’s statements to investigators.

Prosecutors, however, agreed not to ask Ochoa about his prior dispute with Madigan after McClain’s attorneys argued that allowing the testimony could inflame the jury.

Instead, Ochoa testified only that he decided to put in for the ComEd board seat after Jesse Ruiz stepped down to run for public office, leaving an open seat that Ochoa said many considered to be reserved for a Latino.

He asked Gutiérrez to reach out to Madigan on his behalf, he said, because Gutiérrez was a well-known and influential Hispanic figure on both the local and national stage. Ochoa said that after the meeting with Madigan, he and Gutiérrez also met with then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel and garnered his support.

What followed was nearly a year of delay and red tape, brought on not only by a reorganization of ComEd’s leadership but also issues with Ochoa’s background, according to court testimony and records.

Ochoa testified he next heard from Madigan about the appointment in April 2018. “He told me that I would be seated not in the upcoming board meeting but one, I believe, sometime in August,” he said.

Meanwhile, no one from ComEd had contacted him about the seat, Ochoa said. When Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur asked him if he thought that was unusual, Ochoa responded, “I didn’t give it much thought but it was not common in my experience.

On May 2, 2018, Madigan called McClain to discuss the ongoing delay.

“Yes, so, they’ve got just a little bit of pushback,” McClain said on the call, which was played in court after Marquez was done testifying. “I guess (Ochoa) has had some financial problems in the past and stuff like that.”

“And Mike, a board member gets paid how much?” Madigan asked. When McClain replied it was $78,000 a year, Madigan laughed and said, “Maybe I’ll take the appointment.”

Madigan was adamant, though, that they continue to support Ochoa. “But keep me advised as to how much pushback there is,” he said.

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Two weeks later, Madigan again called McClain to discuss the situation. The speaker said to “go forward with Ochoa” even with his apparent baggage. “If the only complaint about him is that he suffers from bankruptcy twice, so did Harry Truman,” Madigan quipped.

Less than an hour after that conversation, McClain called Pramaggiore to tell her Madigan “would appreciate it if you would keep pressing.”

“OK, got it,” Pramaggiore replied. “I will keep pressing.”

Meanwhile, Pramaggiore was dealing with internal questions at both ComEd and Exelon.

In an August 2018 call played in court Thursday, Pramaggiore sounded anxious when Fidel Marquez, then the senior vice president of ComEd governmental affairs, told her that word was getting around that Ochoa’s appointment was a done deal, even though it hadn’t been officially announced.

She said it could cause legal problems. But Marquez replied that he’d heard it from then-state Sen. Martin Sandoval, a Chicago Democrat who headed the powerful Transportation Committee.

“I said, ‘Who?’” Marquez recounted to Pramaggiore. “I says, ‘I’m not aware of that….’ He goes, ‘Yeah, yeah, … (Ochoa’s) part of that cabal … the Chuy, Luis and somebody-else cabal.”

Pramaggiore then told Marquez that senior Exelon executive William Von Hoene was “going through the roof” over Ochoa’s appointment, particularly about accusations that he had a criminal record. “Which he doesn’t,” Pramaggiore told Marquez.

“I don’t have the luxury of being incensed about it,” Pramaggiore said. “The right thing for the company is to deal with it. … We need to move forward.”

By early the next year, however, the appointment still had not been made. In February 2019, Ochoa called Madigan’s office and left a voice message asking for a meeting with himself and U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García, a powerful Democratic ally who had recently replaced Gutiérrez in Congress and also previously endorsed Madigan.

It wasn’t about the ComEd board seat, Ochoa testified, but to talk about the Latino Leadership Council, a political organization that García, Gutiérrez and he had recently formed, Ochoa said.

That day, Madigan was recorded telling McClain about Ochoa’s cryptic message. Apparently assuming it was about the board seat, Madigan instructed McClain to reach out to him.

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At Madigan’s direction, McClain called Ochoa that afternoon to talk about the situation.

“So I called (Madigan’s) office today to see if (Chuy) and I can go see him,” Ochoa said on the call played in court. “But it actually has more to do with the Latino Leadership Council organization that we formed, we just wanted to brief him on it.”

“Oh, OK, (Madigan) interpreted that you were calling because you were frustrated that this appointment hasn’t been made,” McClain said.

Ochoa said, “Probably I would have brought it up, but that was not the intention.”

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ComEd finally made the appointment official two months later.

Ochoa testified Thursday that after his first board meeting in May 2019, he called McClain to thank him and “ask him if he would extend my thanks to Speaker Madigan.”

“He told me that it was a group effort and that I should whisper into (ComEd CEO) Anne Pramaggiore’s ear because she was very helpful,” Ochoa testified.

On May 14, 2019, Ochoa sent an email to Pramaggiore thanking her for her support and suggested getting together for breakfast or lunch. It was the same day FBI agents raided the homes of McClain, Doherty and several others, the first overt action in the far-reaching case.

Asked if he ever had that meal with Pramaggiore, Ochoa testified, “No.”

The four defendants charged in the ComEd bribery scheme are, from left, consultant Jay Doherty, lobbyist and former ComEd executive John Hooker, retired lobbyist Michael McClain and former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore. (Brian Cassella and Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

[ ‘ComEd Four’ bribery trial: What you need to know ]

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