According to a Friday press release from the Department of Justice, AT&T Illinois will pay $23 million after admitting to making payments to the former Speaker of the House. The company will have to set up a compliance and ethics program that the government will receive reports on, as well as cooperating with the government's investigation into the allegations. The government won't prosecute the company if it keeps its end of the bargain.
The DOJ says that AT&T paid $22,500 to one of Madigan's allies. AT&T employees tried to make it look like the ally had been hired for a specific purpose, but they weren't. The president of AT&T Illinois was aware of the deal and signed off on it being done covertly through the firm. As long as the company had scratched their backs, that's how it would be.
AT&T Illinois was trying to get a bill that would let it off the hook for providing phone service to everyone in the state passed. The state house and senate voted to overturn the governor's veto.
AT&T holds itself and its contractors to the highest ethical standards, according to an AT&T spokesman. We want to make sure that this doesn't happen again. You would hope that wouldn't be the case given the hefty compliance program it signed with the government.
AT&T, along with other carriers and internet service providers, spend millions of dollars in donations and lobbying to try and get the government to pass laws that benefit them. Don't try to buy votes via a shady deal, all that's above board.
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