AG Lisa Madigan: A Blind Eye to Political Corruption in Illinois?
You’ve probably already read or heard about the plea from the
FBI for all citizens to assist in the identification of those involved in political corruption in the State
of Kentucky.
“Federal
crime-fighters started an outreach campaign Friday to recruit Kentuckians to
help uncover government corruption and end the state's "fairly
sordid" history of scandals that rob trust in government, law enforcement
officials said.
“The
FBI's "End Corruption Now" campaign includes an anonymous, toll-free
tip line and an email address to allow people to report suspicions of
wrongdoing by public officials. A billboard campaign in several communities
will publicize the effort.” Youcan read more here:
Although most if not all states are certainly not immune to
corruption on the state level, Kentucky for years has held a notorious pedigree
in this arena. The amount of
illegalities in the judicial, executive, and legislative branches push the
Bluegrass State to the lead in a recent study by the Harvard University’s
Center for Ethics, which finds that Kentucky ‘s state government is one of the
two most corrupt state legislatures in the nation.
No, the second is not Illinois.
“Whereas
the most common measure of corruption uses only federal convictions, the
Harvard study measures corruption based on the perceptions of experts,
surveying hundreds of news and investigative reporters covering state politics.
The reporters ranked the existence of both illegal and legal corruption in the
executive, legislative and judicial branches on a scale of 1 to 5, from not
common at all to extremely common.”
In other words, like the proverbial tree that falls in the
forest when there’s no one around, the decibel levels of any corruption could
be unfortunately muffled by a lack of legal identification, a dearth of
whistleblowers, or even an unwillingness
to prosecute.
And that brings us back to Illinois, and a recent Forbes
article by Adam Andrzejewski, the Chairman of American Transparency and founder
of the transparency website OpenTheBooks.com.
His careful appraisal of Lisa Madigan’s lack of industry in
her Attorney General’s Office reveals no blatant willingness to do just whatever
she is told, but quite the opposite: an unwillingness to perhaps do her job.
From Mr. Andrezejewski’s piece: “Lisa
Madigan – daughter of powerful Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan – first
ran for attorney general in 2002 vowing, “It’s time that Illinois’ highest
legal official takes an active, hands-on role in cleaning up government. And I
will not let them down.”
“Madigan said
she’d even prosecute her father if he were corrupt. It was tough language and a
high promise.
“Our
organization, American Transparency (OpenTheBooks.com) fact checked her campaign promise. After ten
years in office, Lisa Madigan had prosecuted only fourteen public
officials for corruption: half were for DUI, reckless driving, or substance
possession and she lost close to half of those cases. That’s an appalling
record in a state with 7,000 units of government.
“Madigan
switched positions on public crime busting in 2014 saying her office lacked
statutory power. The Chicago Tribune editorial board refused to endorse her for re-election
recognizing the depth of statewide corruption and her reluctance to rein it in.
“Illinois
has a little-known provision of the law called a Quo Warranto application. Once
public malfeasance by an officeholder or unit of government is documented by a
citizen, Illinois law mandates that citizens first request help from the
attorney general. The attorney general reviews the application and then decides
whether or not to enforce state law. By denying the application, the
AG essentially forces the citizen to file a private lawsuit on their own
dime or drop the matter altogether.
“Over the
past two years, nineteen Quo Warranto applications were filed with Attorney
General Lisa Madigan. In all nineteen cases, Madigan denied the application.
You can read a summary of these cases compiled by the noted
downstate good government group, Edgar County Watchdogs.
“Madigan’s
refusal to prosecute public corruption and enforce basic laws makes a mockery
of the concept of public service. Forcing citizens to prosecute the malfeasance
themselves is an unnecessary, undue burden. In the City of Marshall, Warren Le
Fever had to spend $4,426 of his own money to file his own lawsuit to stop the
“out-of-towner” from serving and voting on his city council.
“Madigan’s
reluctance to use public funds to prosecute public corruption imposes a de
facto “corruption tax” on every Illinois citizen. In other words, if ordinary
citizens want to fight corruption, that fight has to be financed from their
personal funds. Madigan imposes this tax in other ways as well.
“Consider
Madigan’s role in the massive scandal continuing to unfold after our
investigation of the College of DuPage (COD). President Dr. Robert Breuder was
forced to go on leave after allegedly mismanaging college funds yet he claimed
a “contract” (i.e. a golden parachute) through 2019. But that claim was
dependent on ‘extensions’ conferred without public board votes.
“But in
fact, our organization, American Transparency, found hard evidence that all
board action since 2009 on Breuder’s contracts, addendums and extensions
violated the Illinois Open Meetings Act (OMA). Because Quo Warranto
applications are personally filed, I asked AG Madigan for help in December
2014. I argued that the contract was invalid because it was never lawfully conferred by the
board.
“This was a
perfect chance for the attorney general to clarify the law and stop millions of
dollars in compensation to one public official at a junior college – a college
serving working class and middle class students.
"Madigan,
however, denied the Quo Warranto request. With this denial, the College of
DuPage (COD) Board of Trustees then voted in January 2015 to give Dr. Breuder a
$763,000 ‘voluntary’ retirement severance package. If Madigan would have
enforced the law this golden parachute would have never been stitched together.
“Inexplicably,
although the attorney general refused to get involved, she now agrees with our
findings. On July 24, 2015, the AG suddenly ruled on a pending ‘request for review’
regarding the 2011 board ‘approval’ of the Breuder contract extension –
after four years of stonewalling.
“She
opined that the COD Board violated the Open Meetings Act.
“This is a
welcome move but Madigan has a long way to go in the fight against public
corruption and the lifting of her “corruption tax” that forces Illinois
taxpayers to pester, badger and coerce her into doing her job.”
And let’s remember the Attorney General rendered her sudden
change of heart after nearly seven months of public complaints, which escalated
from watchdog groups to irked Illinois legislators and continued damning press
releases.
Down the stretch, maybe we can pass New Jersey.
You can read Mr. Andrezejewski’s entire article here.
kul post!
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