Is the apology enough?
Thursday, Sep 18, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* There are worse scandals in the world, but it doesn’t excuse this behavior…
Before Tammy Duckworth, the state’s director of Veterans Affairs, headlined a campaign event Wednesday for a north suburban congressional candidate, she scheduled a day off from work to avoid violating a state law prohibiting government employees from politicking on the public’s dime. […]
But when Duckworth drove up to the event for Democrat Dan Seals in a state-owned white Dodge van, she violated another law banning the use of state property or resources for political purposes. By the time the event was over, the van had been moved out of sight of the Wheeling AMVETS Post 66 building, where reporters gathered to hear her endorse Seals.
That was a stupid thing to do, and her spokesperson told reporters later that it was a mistake…
“She will reimburse the state for the use of the state vehicle, and will not make this mistake again,” said Jessica Woodward, a Veterans Affairs spokeswoman.
But that didn’t stop Seals’ opponent, GOP Rep. Mark Kirk, from pouncing…
“It is worrying to see a Blagojevich staffer showing up in a state of Illinois car, when it appears to be a direct violation of the law,” said Kirk, a four-term incumbent who represents the North Shore’s 10th District.
What’s more worrying for me is that the Blagojevich administration has been accused in the past of ignoring or deliberately violating veterans hiring preference laws in order to hire political hacks. We haven’t heard much about that since Duckworth, a decorated war veteran and former congressional candidate, started working for the administration.
But, really, she should’ve known better.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 10:57 am:
Wow. What a boneheaded move. You mean to tell me that, in the very least, Ms. Duckworth couldn’t have coerced an assistant to drive her in the staffer’s personal vehicle? What a joke.
- Team America - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 10:57 am:
I’m happy to pounce, too. This gives Kirk a great angle to paste Seals with the Blagojevich label, which has been a bit hard to do so far, except in a very generic sense. Considering that Seals is basically a Schakowsky plant from out of the District, and gets much of his support from Chicago and elsewhere, Seals was already seen as a bit of a carpetbagger. Kirk now has a fertile field for tying Seals in with the Blago-Springfield Dem circus, which plays pretty poorly up in the independent 10th Dist.
- Black Ivy - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 10:59 am:
Tammy Duckworth’s character would lead me to believe this was an honest mistake, but a violation of state ethics laws nevertheless. I believe that she deserves a simple reprimand and should make restitution to the state (which she plans to do). After that, much ado about nothing in my opinion…
- BandCamp - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 11:00 am:
Ok. Wow. And you think this is the first time she or any other state employee does it? She got caught.
What bothers me is when I worked at a state agency that had a fleet of vans and “people” who could be told what to do, there was an instance of scandalous use of van to drive to a yard sale, purchase a large piece of furniture, then come back with those “people” (who happen to all dress in the same color) to move the personal item of furniture.
First hand knowledge here, not playing the runor card here.
And here’s why the person wasn’t reported. Fear of losing employment.
Not saying it is an epidemic, but some people who work for the state have an ego problem with their positions at some of the agencies.
To me, this is a glimpse of the problem with Illinois government: we all know it goes on but do nothing about it.
- Ken - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 11:05 am:
Shccked! Just Shocked someone in the Blagojevich administation would do something unethical.
Good thing Duckworth didn’t get elected to congress, with this kind of judgment.
- VanillaMan - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 11:08 am:
That’s not the kind of news Seals was looking for.
It was a little thing, but reminds voters why they were right to give their votes to Kirk and why they shouldn’t change their minds.
- Hickory - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 11:09 am:
Why do we provide her with a vehicle? Just reimburese her with the Federal standard mileage rate. If a special purpose vehicle isn’t needed for the position a personal vehicle should be used and then they don’t need to worry about breaking any law.
- Hearing Voices - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 11:14 am:
Ms. Duckworth has given a lot for us, an heck of a lot more than I have. I think we could give her the benefit of the doubt on this error. She is not a part of the problem with this administration.
I hope you are right about veterans preferances not being overlooked as much now. However, where I work, there are still alot of temp. employees being brought in, and they sure aren’t Vets.
- Washingtoonian - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 11:27 am:
After the failed gas stunt, it appears Dan Seals cannot organize a one-car funeral.
- Pat Collins - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 11:29 am:
this sort of silliness gives reform a bad name. There ought to be some “floor” under which it doesnt count.
And don’t ask me about the evils of sending email from the wrong computer!
UGH
- George H.W. Bush - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 11:29 am:
You mean Kuczka decided to take a serious issue and instead focus on Tammy Duckworth’s car? I’m so surprised.
- Wumpus - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 12:16 pm:
GHWBush, I thought ethics were a serious issue. Well, not to the speaker/Sen Pres or gov, but to many here ethics are important. It is not about a car, but about ethics!
- Phineas J. Whoopee - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 12:17 pm:
It appears Ms. Duckworth never attended Political Hack 101, which includes instructions on where to park government vehicles when attending political functions. Her inexperience is showing.
It was the head of the Chicago Park District Tim Mitchel who solved the personal use car problem while working for the City. I believe they just pay their employees to use their own cars which don’t have M plates.
C’mon Tammy, wake up.
- Phineas J. Whoopee - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 12:23 pm:
By the way, in the City of Chicago’s cut throat environment, this would be grounds for firing. I would suggest that the Governor fire her to show he believes in ethics and then appoint her U. S. Senator to show he believes in redemption.
- Illinois Eddie - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 12:31 pm:
Kirk was one of Bush’s point persons who helped get us into the Iraq War. Kirk is also in the reserves — and someone who I do not recall ever volunteering to serve in Iraq.
Kirk taking a shot at Duckworth over this strikes me as smarmy.
- bored now - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 12:41 pm:
i can’t believe how frightened kirk is. there is not another congress critter in the country that would have attacked a veteran like this. unbelievable…
- Skeeter - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 12:41 pm:
Considering the service Tammy Duckworth provided this country, I for one am fine with her using a state vehicle whenever she wants.
- Squideshi - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 12:42 pm:
If they excuse Duckworth, they then need to excuse everyone else who makes similar mistakes; and at that point, what’s the purpose of the law?
- 10th Indy - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 12:45 pm:
Kirk still serves in the Navy reserves and previously served in Irag and Bosnia. He was also endorsed a few days ago by the VFW.
Duckworth endorsing Dan Seals - who has never served in any capacity strikes me as partisan - and using the state car to do itstrikes me as illegal.
- bored now - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 12:47 pm:
it’s not really a question of duckworth’s character — she admits she made a mistake. but mark kirk, who coozied up to donald rumsfeld — costing this country money (it’s a major reason why we are in this economic crisis) — and george bush, can’t be bothered. while the 10th may be independent, mark kirk certainly isn’t. he’s a dyed-in-the-wool republican through and through, a reliable vote for the discredited neo-cons. it would be disastrous if he wasn’t so lightly regarded by those on the hill…
- steve schnorf - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 12:52 pm:
Tempest in a teapot. If she does it again, that would be a story. Moreover, she may be a state officer (I’m just not willing to take the time to check), in which case she gets no vacation time, sick time, personal days, etc.
- shore - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 1:15 pm:
For a state party telling the rest of the country that it can clean up Washington, it’s doing a pretty misreble job of showing its constituents that it can do it here.
The RNC should have planted a communications/research team here the day Obama won and started to going to town on these kinds of things. A clear missed opportunity.
- VanillaMan - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 2:10 pm:
==there is not another congress critter in the country that would have attacked a veteran like this. unbelievable… ==
You obviously haven’t been following the attacks against McCain by the Democrats, then.
- VanillaMan - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 2:14 pm:
==it’s not really a question of duckworth’s character …==
But then you make it a question of Kirk’s character? What? I thought Duckworth was driving the van? Was Donald Rumsfeld? You delusions are interferring with your postings!
- wordslinger - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 2:14 pm:
Pretty dumb, but small. Lot bigger stories out there.
- Tea Time - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 2:29 pm:
Hey, Schnorf. You went to plenty of political events while you worked for Edgar and Ryan. Did you take a state-owned vehicle to those events? Did you allow your staff to do so? Or did you drill it into your staffs’ heads that they better not do so? You know, taking charge of the issue, leading by example.
I will gladly give up some personal time, vacation time etc to make the kind of money Blago’s directors make. They also do not have to punch a time clock. And fundraisers are not government business.
BTW - Anybody see the article about the salary increases at Tollway? Makes legislators very jealous. Yep, for that money they can have all my time.
- bored now - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 2:42 pm:
do you really want to get into a discussion of kirk’s character?
duckworth *was* driving the van (well, she admits to being in it). and she owned up to it! that’s what democrats do. they admit when they made a mistake. that’s honorable.
let me know when mark kirk apologizes for his eight years of incredibly poor judgment and ineffectual representation of the 10th. i fell out of my seat laughing when i saw that he was trying to claim credit for stopping bp from polluting lake michigan! yes, he is that stupid! i don’t doubt for a minute that kirk believes that he “stopped” bp from polluting lake michigan. he really is that stupid…
- fed up - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 3:37 pm:
Typical machine politics. Use the state city and county rescources to protect and expand your control. Madigan was shown to be doing this with state workers a few years ago and nothing ever came of it. God knows Lisa will not investigate another Dem.
- fed up - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 3:41 pm:
Bored Knowduckworth *was* driving the van (well, she admits to being in it). and she owned up to it! that’s what democrats do. they admit when they made a mistake. that’s honorable.
I seem to recall bill Clinto saying oral sex isnt sex. Rep Jefferson from La a dem has been indicted. Dan Rostinkowski still claims he did nothing wrong. Ask Rep Henderson about his grants to make believe organizations and he said nothing was done wrong. Daley still says Sorich and friends did nothing wrong. DEMS are just as big of liars as repubs. and in ILL they are much bigger liars.
- Louis G. Atsaves - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 4:22 pm:
It was dumb and stupid for Duckworth to take a state vehicle to that event. It was even dumber to then have the state van moved to a location out of sight when it was spotted.
Better for her to say during the event, “sorry folks, I made a mistake, it won’t happen again”, instead of compounding it by having the vehicle moved.
Any more stunts like this one and Kirk will win in a landslide. Seals just cannot seem to get his act together. Makes you wonder why the DCCC is throwing money at his direction. Who is Seals’ next featured guest? Charlie Rangel?
- NIEVA - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 5:19 pm:
If I pulled up to a fund raiser in a snow plow that I drive for the state they would fire me in a second!! We all take ethics training and I’m sure she does to.
- bored now - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 6:54 pm:
sorry, fed up, i recall clinton admit to making a mistake. i won’t try to parse his legalistic crap; i merely focused on his admission of wrong doing. i know jefferson has been indicted (3 years ago, iirc); has he been convicted yet? obviously, you are following that and i am not.
having been a republican activist up until bush lied and invaded iraq, let me assure you that republicans are much bigger liars. it’s actually republican doctrine (lying to the public). mark kirk’s defense of invading iraq, and his alliance with rumsfeld while he destroyed our military force and readiness, are mere hallmarks of kirk’s incompetence. he’s an idiot. if the voters in the 10th want an ineffectual congressman, then he’s their guy…
- Sal Says: - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 7:51 pm:
Hmmmm. It’s always just a ‘mistake’ when they get exposed [caught], isn’t it?
- Jumping to Conclusions - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 7:55 pm:
I have to question the premise of the news story–a political use of a vehicle? Really?
Did she put a Seals bumper sticker on the vehicle? Did she put Seals magnetic signs on the sides of the van? Did she enter it in a parade and let a candidate ride in the van and wave at a crowd? Did a candidate pass out literature from the van? If so, any of these would be a political use of a vehicle.
Anything else is a personal, not political, use of a vehicle. Perfectly acceptable, especially if it is her personally assigned vehicle (being a handicapped accessible vehicle, I would be surprised if it was not, unless IDVA has another wheelchair bound employee). If the use was de minimus, no reimbursement is necessary. If the use is not de minimus, then reimbursement is perfectly legal.
I don’t think any lawbreaking went on here.
- steve schnorf - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 8:16 pm:
TT, glass houses is one of the many reasons I don’t throw stones.
- plutocrat03 - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 9:44 pm:
partisan, partisan, partisan.
- I see what you did there - Thursday, Sep 18, 08 @ 9:48 pm:
In Schnorf’s CMS, if you are caught misusing a state vehicle, it is grounds for discipline up to and including firing. At least losing your state vehicle driving rights, which can end your career anyway in a job that requires lots of road trips.
When you travel, you don’t take the state car after hours to bars, strip joints, or other unsavory places, and you don’t borrow it to pick up a heavy load across town. If you want to go to one of those places and you are on an overnight trip, you park the state vehicle at the hotel and you cab it from the hotel and pay for it yourself. Wanna move a load, uhauls in town are only $25.
As a director, She should know this. I want to give her a break because I like and respect her and her service, and she seems more competent than many Blago appointees (blind pigs, acorns, etc) and I don’t know if she needs special controls to drive or not. That last factor may influence what’s around and available that she can use.
But usually I think most agency directors get driven everywhere, it makes sense that they are too important to waste time parking and stuff, so an aide usually handles that. So I’m willing to accept that the aide screwed up and forgot the van was verboten in this case, after using it to drive her all over the place on state business the rest of the day.
Under that scenario, it’s actually noble of Duckworth to take the rap for the aide’s mistake. Unless she just ordered the aide to break protocol when it’s inconvenient.
Tortured logic? Maybe. I’m not prepared to unleash the same amount of bile for Tammy that I am for the Presidential candidate’s negative campaigning and lies. If she publicly apologizes and publicly pays the money back, she’s off the hook as far as I care. Most other voters too, I reckon.
- Frank Sobotka - Friday, Sep 19, 08 @ 1:53 am:
The real question for me is whether or not the van is handicap accessible. The fact that she took the day of shows her intent. If she was ’stranded’ with that vehicle, and she couldn’t get her personal vehicle easily, this deserves to be forgotten.
- bored now - Friday, Sep 19, 08 @ 6:34 am:
Jumping to Conclusions, mark kirk is so scared that he will use any excuse to criticize dan seals and turn attention away from his own ineffectiveness. he’s a putz that way. i don’t think this is the first time he’s thrown a veteran under the bus to save his hide, and i doubt it will be the last. he’s a putz that way.
- Team America - Friday, Sep 19, 08 @ 8:39 am:
Even the News-Sun feels sorry for Dan Seals. From today’s edition:
DART
If you’re a Democrat, you must be feeling sorry for the Dan Seals campaign about now. The Democrat this summer held a campaign event offering cheap gas at a Lincolnshire gas station to spotlight high gas prices. It sort of backfired after traffic turned Route 21 into gridlock. He was presented with a $2,000 bill by police. Then on Wednesday, Seals brings Illinois Veterans Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth to a campaign event in Wheeling to gripe about Congressman Mark Kirk’s record on veterans issues. She arrives in a state-owned van, which violated a law against using state property for political purposes. Duckworth told The Associated Press she’ll reimburse the state for using the van. But, still, these folks should know better. Meanwhile, Republican Kirk is telling anyone who’ll listen that he is maintaining a comfortable 22-point lead over Seals and even outpolling Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in the 10th District.