Ethics, schmethics
Monday, Oct 6, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Tribune points out the glaring loophole in Illinois “revolving door” prohibition. The prohbition doesn’t work because waivers are too easy to get…
Last week, tollway chief Brian McPartlin announced that he was leaving to become a vice president of McDonough Associates, an engineering and architectural firm that has received more than $30 million in tollway contracts while McPartlin was in charge. He’s asking the state ethics commission for a waiver of the one-year rule, and he’ll almost certainly get it.
Per tollway rules, McPartlin played no role in the McDonough contracts, an agency spokeswoman says. And that’s likely good enough to satisfy the toothless law. Since 2005, 14 applications for waivers have been filed; only one was denied.
In seven of those cases, the ethics commission determined the applicant wasn’t substantially involved in a contract or regulatory decision that directly affected a prospective employer. That’s a pretty squishy requirement, especially when applied to agency chiefs, who are running the show regardless of who makes the day-to-day decisions. Does your boss need to be in the room to influence your decision-making? Probably not. Does that mean he’s not a player? Ha. […]
Granting waivers to employees who can demonstrate they have no conflict of interest sounds fair, in principle. But the law’s wording is so loose that it applies to only the most egregious conflicts, which is not to say that McPartlin’s situation is among them. But if Illinois is serious about stopping the revolving door, it needs to be more realistic about what constitutes a conflict of interest, and less generous about granting waivers. A prohibition doesn’t mean much if you can get a waiver simply by asking for one. [emphasis added]
Exactly.
* Speaking of ethics, the AP takes a nuanced approach to Barack Obama’s claims that he shepherded an earlier ethics bill through the GA…
“When I was in Illinois, I passed the toughest ethics reform in 25 years there, despite the opposition of Democrats and Republicans,” the Democratic presidential candidate told a New Hampshire audience last month.
In fact, Obama was part of an ensemble that negotiated the legislation and built support for it. And the ethics bill passed by lopsided margins of 52-4 in the Senate and 102-3 in the House, although its riskier moments came earlier during those behind-the-scene negotiations that Obama was heavily involved in.
As always with ethics bills, the behind-the-scenes negotiations are the most important part.
* The sticking point on this particular bill was the state’s practice of allowing politicians to convert all of their campaign funds to personal use. The old bulls, who controlled the process, made it clear that they wouldn’t move any bill that contained that language. So, they were essentially bought off with a “grandfather clause” that allowed the old-timers to keep their cash…
The grandfather clause allowed Illinois politicians to continue making personal use of a combined $15 million, an Associated Press analysis showed. Obama was eligible to convert just $14,000 to personal use and chose not to do so.
Obama’s campaign says the loophole was vital to the bill’s success. “Making the law apply retroactively was a poison pill that … would have killed the bill,” said spokesman Justin DeJong.
That’s true. Many old-timers didn’t see a need for an ethics bill at all, let alone one stripped “their money” from their pocketbooks.
Still, critics are right that the bill wasn’t exactly the be-all-end-all that Obama proclaims.
- Wake up everyone - Monday, Oct 6, 08 @ 10:52 am:
The Executive Director of the Illinois Tollway historically has had alot of horsepower when it comes to swaying contracts.
McPartlin was no different and he raised it to new levels.
Where’s the media and the investigations regarding this?
- wordslinger - Monday, Oct 6, 08 @ 10:52 am:
The tollway chief didn’t have anything to do with the awarding of contracts? Why would anyone believe that?
- Anon - Monday, Oct 6, 08 @ 10:56 am:
I am sure he has a background in engineering, road construction, sales or marketing NOTTTTTTT.
- You Go Boy - Monday, Oct 6, 08 @ 11:02 am:
As our 16th President said, “You can’t fool all the people all the time…”, it is equally true you can fool enough of them to become President. If you go on the basis that no matter who you vote for you’ll likely feel like a fool in time, then your level of frustration will be managable.
- VanillaMan - Monday, Oct 6, 08 @ 12:28 pm:
When your resume is as thin as Obama’s, you gotta make what little you’ve accomplish and stretch that t r u t h as far as you can go!
To his fans, Obama’s intentions are always good enough for them. When he gives then an excuse to grant him a waiver, they fawningly oblige.
There is no ethics when waivers can be granted to circumvent them.
- Can't Use My Nickname - Monday, Oct 6, 08 @ 12:29 pm:
If I remember correctly, the previous Secretary of the Dept. of Transportation received the same type of waiver.
- Larry "Bud" Mellman - Monday, Oct 6, 08 @ 1:30 pm:
If McPartlin wasn’t involved in the awarding of multi-million dollar contracts at the Tollway- then what exactly did he do?
Oversee the disruption in toll violation program that led to a 14 month lag in enforcement and violation notices being sent?
Oversee the Tollway Oases program in which the developer was allowed to “skip” rent payments for over two years?
Make good on Blagojevich’s promise to sell the Tollway HQ before tolls were raised?
Wow, he seems like a busy guy.
- Six Degrees of Separation - Monday, Oct 6, 08 @ 1:33 pm:
I see two sides to the revolving door issue. One the one hand, if someone happens to work for the government and decides to switch employers, can the government restrict their ability to be hired? It is a restraint of commerce and “pursuit of happiness” issue that would likely be found unconstitutional if drawn too tightly. There are some attorneys who think even IL’s weak revolving door law would be overturned if anyone challenged it on constitutional grounds; maybe the waiver process has kept it a non-issue til now.
On the other hand, it sure does look bad when several of IL’s department heads leave their jobs one week and wind up in a 6-figure job at one of their former consulting firms the next week.
- Just My Opinion - Monday, Oct 6, 08 @ 1:41 pm:
There will never be a “be-all-end-all” ethics bill in Illinois. Our politicians are not very smart as politicians but they are real crafty at conniving.
- Tollway Joe - Monday, Oct 6, 08 @ 1:41 pm:
Seems McPartlin and McDonough go way back. Here’s something from the State Board of Elections website:
McDonough, James
Occupation: President
Employer: McDonough & Associates 1501 N. State Parkway
#21D
Chicago, IL 60610 $1,500.00
10/22/2002 Individual Contribution
Friends of Brian McPartlin
Contributor — Tollway Contractor — Employer
what a great circle!
- Jim Strong aka Stormy - Monday, Oct 6, 08 @ 4:55 pm:
Sorry folks, Brian McPartlin has been one of the bright lights in the Blagojevich administration and had he been chief of staff things might have been different. He oversaw giant expansion and rehab projects successfully and developed efficient and helpful employees. Moreover, he was one of the few executives always available with clarity and honest responses to the media.
- wordslinger - Monday, Oct 6, 08 @ 5:38 pm:
Is this the Jim Strong who used to write for the Trib and then became a hired gun?
What rehab projects? Are you talking about the oasis projects? Are you ready to give them a clean bill of health at this point? Tony’s talking, you know?
To the original question, you’re cool under the ethic laws exception that the head of the tollway had nothing to do with contracts awarded by the tollway? In reality, are you confident he had nothing to do with the awarding of contracts?
Based on your statement, what went wrong in the Blago Administration and how what would the tollway guy have done to make it different?
- Arthur Andersen - Monday, Oct 6, 08 @ 9:14 pm:
right on, word. Being called a “bright light in the Blago ‘administration’” is about like being called “great Grenada military strategist.”
Maybe McPartlin was the one that had the swell idea to rip up all the tollways to jam in the temporary Open Road Toll booths before the last election, causing more FUBARed traffic, or the fabulous “Open Road Tolling-Rod Blagojevich, Governor” signs at $15 grand apiece.
Just think, folks, this kind of brainpower could be running our federal government in a matter of months.