Perhaps the worst thing to happen to journalism over the years is its simplistic over-reliance on the mere “appearance of impropriety” to justify big, splashy stories.
No actual wrongdoing need ever be found, just something that might look a bit fishy to a reporter’s overly suspicious eyes.
It’s one of the nation’s most antidemocratic trends because it’s solely based on the foundation that everybody is corrupt. There’s no need to “prove” anything, just one or two distant connections is enough to justify destroying somebody’s reputation - which didn’t deserve protection anyway because everybody is so evil.
The most extreme local examples of this troublesome mindset appeared in the Chicago Tribune over the summer. The paper ran two front-page stories about alleged political interference in the teacher certification process.
One of the more egregious examples the reporters used to justify their hype was a legislative constituent who had contributed just a few hundred dollars over the years and then came up with a pretty darned good idea, pitched it to his state Representative, who passed it along to a fellow member. The bill was overwhelmingly approved and signed into law. Only someone who’d never been close to a legislative process for the past 200 years would deem that sequence of events corrupt, but deliberate ignorance is what drives this entire appearance of impropriety movement.
And that brings us to Dave McKinney, who resigned last week as the Statehouse Bureau Chief for the Chicago Sun-Times.
McKinney married political consultant Ann Liston in April. Months before, however, McKinney, Liston and her business partner Eric Adelstein constructed a super-strong “firewall” between Liston and Illinois politics. Adelstein formed a new company to handle all Illinois accounts and Liston would not participate in those campaigns nor receive any compensation. The Sun-Times signed off in January.
By all rights, that should’ve been the end of it. The Rauner campaign knew about McKinney’s marriage and never once complained, especially when McKinney was repeatedly and thoroughly gutting Gov. Pat Quinn over his botched 2010 anti-violence initiative.
Rauner’s campaign waited until October to play the “appearance of impropriety” card against McKinney when the Sun-Times ran a big story about how two people swore in affidavits that Rauner had issued threats against a top female executive at one of his investment firm’s companies.
After failing to derail the piece, the Rauner campaign launched an attack on McKinney, who was just one of the story’s three authors.
Rauner’s campaign falsely charged that Liston was directly involved with, and directly profiting from, anti-Rauner efforts in Illinois. McKinney should never have been put on the story, they claimed, even though two other reporters were involved, both from the local NBC TV affiliate, and the paper’s editors had thoroughly vetted and approved the piece.
Instead of just telling the Rauner people to go suck an egg, McKinney’s bosses sidelined the reporter for the better part of the week. Rauner had successfully used the “appearance of impropriety” attack against one of the state’s top political reporters just three weeks before an election. McKinney hired famed former federal prosecutor Patrick Collins, and was quickly taken off his informal suspension.
But the paper balked at putting McKinney back on his own beat. He was offered other positions at the paper, which he considered demotions. And then his editors initially refused to put his byline on a follow-up piece to the Rauner threat story. Appearances, ‘ya know. McKinney quit.
But the Sun-Times has its own “appearance of impropriety” problems. Rauner owned ten percent of the paper until last year. A published report claims Rauner purchased 900,000 shares of a once struggling business controlled by the chairman of the Sun-Times’ parent company.
Even worse, the paper’s publisher called the Rauner campaign’s allegations against McKinney, “spurious,” as well as “inaccurate and defamatory.” Yet that same publisher reversed his almost three year-old policy of never endorsing candidates and approved an enthusiastic endorsement of Rauner around the very same time, leading many to ask why he would back someone for the state’s top job after the candidate had “defamed” the guy who would be covering Rauner in Springfield if he’s elected.
One would hope that journalists and their editors would learn from this debacle. The appearance of impropriety is always in the eye of the beholder. It’s absolutely impossible to defend against if someone is willing to suspend all disbelief and push that angle hard enough.
But this mindset is just too deeply embedded to be abandoned so easily, even after it unjustly derailed a good man’s career.
* Carol Marin: The job of reporters is to report: Though the Rauner campaign claimed the court found Christine Kirk’s lawsuit frivolous and unfounded, that’s simply not true. The judge dismissed the case on technical legal grounds and never weighed in — pro or con — on the truthfulness of the threat allegations. However, in a ferociously close election, a “scorched earth” philosophy is not unusual inside a campaign. And so the Rauner team went over our heads to our bosses at NBC5 and the Sun-Times and, in a last-ditch effort to kill the story, claimed that Dave’s wife, Democratic political strategist Ann Liston, was actively engaged in anti-Rauner efforts. It wasn’t true. Sun-Times management knew it. And so did NBC5. And together they published our joint report on television and in print.
* Rauner Denies Newspaper Accusations: Calling the matter an “internal” issue at the newspaper, Rauner said he had nothing to do with any of it other than routine complaints and comments which he characterized as part of the give-and-take of any campaign and media organization. “I don’t want to get in the middle of that,” he said Thursday in Bloomington. “I’ve had nothing to do with it.”
* Editorial: The Rauner, Sun-Times dust-up
* Editorial: Campaign takes a strange twist
Opinion: Sun-Times Squanders Trust Right When City, State Need it Most
- VM - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:03 am:
“There’s no need to “prove” anything, just one or two distant connections is enough to justify destroying somebody’s reputation - which didn’t deserve protection anyway because everybody is so evil.”
Just because it bears repeating.
- Wordslinger - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:03 am:
Once again, Rauner claims he ” had nothing to do with it.”
It’s amazing how this guy can continually prosper and get his way when he’s a mere spectator in his life.
- Jaded - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:06 am:
==It’s amazing how this guy can continually prosper and get his way when he’s a mere spectator in his life. ==
I guess some guys are just lucky that way.
- Skeptic - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:07 am:
“I guess some guys are just lucky that way.” Bruce Rauner is actually Forest Gump??
- Concerned - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:07 am:
He has been successful at everything he does.
Failures belong to others.
What a nice way to go through life.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:11 am:
It’s tragically comical that Mr. Kirk thins he’s the boss of the paper. Jim Kirk is the last to know.
Fredo had more control over the brothels he ran for the Family, than Jim Kirk has of the Chicago Sun-Times…
Jim Kirk …can handle things! He’s smart! Not like everybody says… like dumb… He’s smart and he wants respect! It’s his paper!
…until Tom Hagen, or a buffer…tells him it’s not.
- West Sider - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:13 am:
*The Unbearable Lightness of Bruce Rauner*
- MrJM - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:14 am:
So shell companies and corporate schemes are good enough to shield Bruce Rauner from the actions and consequences of companies that made him billions of dollars, but no business arrangement could ever shield Dave McKinney from an “appearance of impropriety” from which he stands to earn nothing?
Idiocy.
– MrJM
- Concerned - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:16 am:
MrJM, your post @ 10:14 is brilliant!
- Amalia - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:16 am:
Money can buy you claims that you have clean hands, but it cannot actually buy you clean hands, Mr. Rauner. everyone knows better. you have no shame.
- Grandson of Man - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:16 am:
Again, how is it that Rauner seems to know nothing and is not involved when bad things happen regarding his businesses and his campaign? Is this what would happen if he becomes governor, not knowing about bad things that happen in his administration or with employees under him?
I read this article over the weekend. No journalist should have to endure what McKinney went through over an apparently false charge of conflict of interest. It’s good to see that someone formed a petition to protest the Sun-Times owner.
Also, Marin and McKinney stand by their reporting of the female executive threat story.
- Anonymous - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:17 am:
Defamation is fine until you feel the backcut of the blade…
- lake county democrat - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:18 am:
“It’s amazing how this guy can continually prosper and get his way when he’s a mere spectator in life” - because Mike Madigan never says he had “nothing to do with it” Oh wait, he doesn’t - he lets his mouthpiece Steve Brown say it for him.
Look, the Rauner/Sun-Times incident is transparently awful and a genuine reason for people to be outraged. But to some here, the alleged outrage amounts to crocadile tears. The folks who react to institutionalized corruption with a shrug and a yawn feign outrage that a private newspaper took these actions. No first amendment rights are in question, nobody unemployed was blocked from a government job, no questions of justice (e.g., judges taking contributions from the lawyers who appear before them - legally!) were raised, etc. etc.
- Soccermom - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:22 am:
I was thinking about this a lot over the weekend. And I realized — I don’t know one single good thing about Rauner. Not one. I know that his current wife speaks highly of him. I know that he grew up privileged and got much richer as an adult. I know that he boasts about his success. But I do not know one single thing about him that would make me admire him as a person.
Is that a campaign failure, or a character failure? Don’t know — and I’m afraid that, at this point, I don’t care.
- Gathersno - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:23 am:
Not only sad, but scary!
- circularfiringsquad - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:25 am:
Well we had 2 papers nearly recant their endorsements of Mitt. Maybe someone else will actually do it. To pretend this is just an internal Sun Times issue is beyond belief. Mitt is trying to be the guy who controls the Illinois State Police and the IL Dept. of Revenue(your tax returns). If anyone think his behavior in the effort to hose McKinney is acceptable then vote away. If you have not lost your mind and find words like Nixon & Plumbers popping into the conversation then think long hard about wanting this guy and his check grabbers in charge of anything.
- Ducky LaMoore - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:26 am:
I was watching The Toy the other night… and this Jackie Gleason line particularly struck me…
“The truth has nothing to do with reality. You have to deal with reality. In reality, any one of these people, with a little persuasion, will say what I want them to say, because I am reality.”
- Phil King - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:26 am:
Hasn’t the Quinn campaign repeatedly used the appearance of impropriety against Rauner (Cayman Islands, linking every wrong doing at every business he ever invested in to him personally, openly lying about his positions)? And haven’t those attacks been repeated ad nauseam by the media? Why mention only one side and not the other?
This appears improper to me.
- And I Approved This Message - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:28 am:
Billionaire Bully Bruce Rauner.
If this is his management style, and there seems to be mounting evidence that it is (along with endless deniability) we are in for a troubling four years if he wins.
I’m with Soccermom.
- walker - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:29 am:
===”Mr. Rauner, everyone knows better, you have no shame.”===
And that is the crux of the matter.
I had high hopes for Rauner’s skills early on, but he has shown no evidence of taking personal responsibility, or of having a moral core.
That is dangerous in a government leadership position.
Not saying we know him well. But it was on him to demonstrate his character strengths, and he has failed to do so.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:29 am:
Bruce Rauner has run as an empty vessel, letting voters’ hopes and dreams and the campaign’s messages and misdirections “define” Rauner.
It was never Bruce’s intent, or the Cheese Wiz Boys to ever make Bruce …real.
A wooden marionette? Hmm.
If we don’t know the real Bruce Rauner except in :30 or :60 second commercials, the Rauner Crew won already.
=== Don’t know — and I’m afraid that, at this point, I don’t care.===
Mission accomplished as far as they are concerned. That’s how sad it is.
- walker - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:31 am:
Soccermom: Agreed. Of course you said it better.
- Demoralized - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:36 am:
Between this episode and the Mautino issue, I’d hope that even the Rauner supporters would pause and evaluate the character of their candidate. There is no defense of either episode.
- Belle - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:38 am:
Soccermom sums it up. For some people it’s easier to like someone you don’t know since you cannot see the bad side.
- Whatever - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:38 am:
Rauner is the Sgt. Schultz of this election: “I know nothing! I see nothing! I hear nothing!”
- Thunder Fred - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:38 am:
If every 4 years you have to demonize someone in your mind in order to make voting for Pat Quinn palatable than so be it. That’s your process. Remember when Rod did the same thing to Judy. How scary is she?
- 19th ward guy - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:40 am:
Hate him all you want,but this race is slowly but steadily trending towards a good night for Rauner. He went positive first and his “endorsement” commerical legitimizes his candidacy. Yeah, I know, endorsements don’t matter—-unless you get almost all of them. Nobody, and I mean nobody cares about the Sun Times mess.
- Demoralized - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:41 am:
==Nobody, and I mean nobody cares about the Sun Times mess.==
I guess there are a bunch of nobody’s on here then
- Demoralized - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:42 am:
==Hate him all you want==
I don’t hate him. I don’t know the guy. But I do question that character of somebody who will steamroll people who get in their way even if you have to lie and defame somebody in the process.
- A guy... - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:49 am:
There are a lot of very good reporters at the Sun Times. Among them are a few great ones. They’ve established their greatness and have the hardware to show it. Dave was certainly in the upper echelon of that group. Actually, he still is. The response to Rich’s very well written article is certainly what I anticipated.
Here’s what I wish. I wish Dave stayed. It wasn’t impossible. There would have been another day and another fight; there always is. He’s been through a lot with everyone else in the print journo biz and the Sun Times in particular. Mr. Tyree led a group to keep Chicago a two paper town. He appealed to something other that a “great investment” in doing so. The paper had it’s opportunity to reinvent itself in a digital age because some “rich guys” were sold on the idea that it was good for a lot of reasons.
As I’ve said before, Dave is a first class guy and a first class reporter. Even that category has editorial tussles and hassles regularly. Reluctantly Dave felt he needed to die on this hill. I respect his commitment to his principles. For 20 years he’s put his nose to the grindstone and churned out the good, the bad and the ugly in the name of journalism. I’m pretty sure he’ll be doing that again soon, somewhere. I wish it was where he already was. I already miss him there. It was said “a martyr is willing to die for his cause while a hero is willing to live for it”. I wish Dave was willing to hang on. He felt he couldn’t.
He’s not the first to face this, nor will he be the last. He is the most current. I wish he wasn’t.
- Frenchie Mendoza - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:51 am:
What no one is writing about is where this “empty vessel” campaign is leading: the presidency. He’s thugging his way forward in order to run for president. This is not about being governor.
In that way, Rauner is very, very much like early Blagojevich. The state post is an annoying but necessary stepping stone for the ultimate goal.
It’s obvious — especially at this point in the campaign. And frightening.
- Grandson of Man - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:52 am:
“steadily trending towards a good night for Rauner”
Perhaps, but this new poll with the largest sample size of likely voters yet shows Quinn up by 4.
http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/polls/cbs-nyt-yougov-21050
- A guy... - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:55 am:
While I remain smitten with Soccer Mom, I disagree with her today. Not a surprise to anyone I’m sure. She has not witnesses anything good about this person. I suspect she wouldn’t put herself in the position to see the better side of this particular man. There’s plenty good. If he’s fortunate to win, you’ll see more of it. The fear is part of this stage of the election cycle. Despite anyone’s natural desire for youth…I wouldn’t want to relive the last 8 years in Illinois. There’s plenty of good in Pat Quinn. But there’s little to no real leadership and ability to run government there.
Sorry mom for the disagree. I’ll wash more dishes.
- Black Ivy - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:56 am:
Rich, the McKinney marriage and subsequent termination from the Chicago Sun-Times is last week’s news. Continually highlighting it a week before mid-term elections simply serves to undermine Rauner. Again, journalists must take care to focus on reporting the news lest they become the story themselves. Just wondering why you and Chicago media are not spending equal time in highlighting the ongoing investigation of the Neigborhood Recovery Iniiative funds or the federal court’s recent appointnment of an IDOT hiring monitor. I’m seeking fairness and equity in covering both candidates, nothing more, nothing less.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:57 am:
===Here’s what I wish. I wish Dave stayed. It wasn’t impossible.===
Once you honesty, integrity, ethics, and morals are questioned and you are put in time-out because someone doesn’t like you doing you job responsibly, aren’t you just staying for the money, answering where you stand on all four points?
I guess when you find it easy voting against your better self, working at a place that thinks your values don’t matter gets easier(?)
- MrJM - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 11:02 am:
“There’s plenty good.”
Citation needed.
– MrJM
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 11:04 am:
===I suspect she wouldn’t put herself in the position to see the better side of this particular man.===
When someone questions honesty, integrity, ethics or morals, you question them right back. That’s the Rauner way.
===There’s plenty good.===
Example?
===If he’s fortunate to win, you’ll see more of it.===
If you can’t point to it now, trying to sell me he WILL do good… that won’t fly. That is where voting against your better self is seen most clearly; “I can’t point to good, can’t show good, but I kinda haveta believe there will BE good…because..,
===The fear is part of this stage of the election cycle. Despite anyone’s natural desire for youth…I wouldn’t want to relive the last 8 years in Illinois.===
…the fear is how you get people to look past what they know is true, and vote against their better selves, with nothing better to offer.
- Jocko - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 11:04 am:
Other than Rod, I can’t recall another candidate whose actions directly contradict their words.
I’m sure their are candidates out there who have come from humble beginnings, have had unbridled success, and decide to run out of altruism…just not Bruce.
- MrJM - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 11:05 am:
Reminder: If you don’t like the way Rich runs his blog, you can always start your own. https://www.blogger.com/home
– MrJM
- A guy... - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 11:12 am:
=== Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 10:57 am:
===Here’s what I wish. I wish Dave stayed. It wasn’t impossible.===
Once you honesty, integrity, ethics, and morals are questioned and you are put in time-out because someone doesn’t like you doing you job responsibly, aren’t you just staying for the money, answering where you stand on all four points?===
You have no idea how often the honesty, integrity, ethics and morals of a reporter are questioned- in house and externally. He did what he felt he needed to do. His colleagues respect him, but don’t think for a moment that they all agree with him taking shots at the Banner they write under. It was a highly charged atmosphere to say the least. My comment remains: I wish he stayed.
MrJM,
Have you not seen a single good thing about Rauner. Not one thing that deserves any respect or praise? I don’t think you’d have to look that hard, but, you would have to look. His charitable efforts have been targeted in a way to help society for a long, long time before he ever thought of running for elective office. I’m not here to convince you or make special lists for you. You’re beyond that now. It looks like somewhere near half the population of our state is still open to the conversation. I’ll spend my time there.
- A guy... - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 11:16 am:
===MrJM - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 11:05 am:
Reminder: If you don’t like the way Rich runs his blog, you can always start your own. https://www.blogger.com/home===
I’m sorry. Did someone suggest this? I doubt he’d prefer only having a forum where everyone agrees and never have a different point of view to consider. Perhaps you would, but I don’t think so.
- Anonymous - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 11:18 am:
I predict that there will be more staff members resigning from the Sun-Times. Why would respected and talented journalists want to be associated with a tainted brand?
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 11:21 am:
- A Guy… -,
Fredo Kirk put McKinney on ice.
That happens often? When? How often?
How often are reporters “sat” when their questioned on their honesty, integrity, ethics and mores are merely …questioned?
Questioned.
And Fredo Kirk backed McKinney, as he sat McKinney.
That’s the real dope there. No spin, no interpretation, the straight dope; Fredo stood up for McKinney, as he sat McKinney.
===don’t think for a moment that they all agree with him taking shots at the Banner they write under.===
Except for that petition journalists and simple folk alike signed…other than that.
Look, blindly defending Rauner is your schtick. I get it. At some point, it’s either schtick, or lemming behavior, or a campaign operative doing damage control.
This was never Dave McKinney’s doing.
- lake county democrat - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 11:23 am:
Following up on A Guy, it’s pretty striking the disconnect between what appears to be the majority of commenters here and the various editorial boards (Sun-Times excepted). I think that’s because here we discuss details more than the over-arching issue: this election isn’t about Rauner’s platform or character, it’s about whether we want one-party rule to continue or not. Nobody expects the GOP is going to capture a chamber of the legislature, let alone both. So if Rauner wins it means there will have to be cooperation. If Rauner loses you more or less know what’s coming (absent a huge reversal by the Illinois Supreme Court) - Quinn has been forthright about that. The contention that Rauner treats people with significantly less contempt than Madigan (the real leader of Illinois and the one empowered by the current Dem control) is both dubious and not that important.
- Wordslinger - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 11:27 am:
Gee A Guy, tell us more about what McKinneys colleagues think. I assume you mean the ones that wrote the open letter to ownership last week.
Crazy how people can speak for themselves.
You sure do paint yourself as a great pal of McKinney. With friends like you…
You have so much advice for McKinney. Any sage words for Ferro and Rauner. Or are you cool with them?s
- MrJM - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 11:27 am:
My apologies. I’d forgotten about the $250,000 that Bruce Rauner gave Walter Payton College Prep after he pulled strings to get his daughter into that school. http://www.suntimes.com/news/watchdogs/24839723-452/gov-hopeful-bruce-rauner-gave-payton-250k-after-pulling-strings-to-get-daughter-into-elite.html#.VE5xfo-FvFY
I regret the error.
– MrJM
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 11:27 am:
- ThatGirl -,
Usually a campaign that tries a brick through their own window, they stretched ones questioning what is being covered, and want the subject changed off their own issues.
To you comment,
While what happened at Pastor Brooks’ church is tragically sad, you personally making it “the brick through the window” gag in your own personal commentary of the campaign…that ain’t helping Pastor Brooks, the situation, the politics, the argument, or the reality of what happened, and how it relates to Dave McKinney.
But, good try.
- A guy... - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 11:29 am:
===Wordslinger - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 11:27 am:
Gee A Guy, tell us more about what McKinneys colleagues think. I assume you mean the ones that wrote the open letter to ownership last week.
Crazy how people can speak for themselves.
You sure do paint yourself as a great pal of McKinney. With friends like you…
You have so much advice for McKinney. Any sage words for Ferro and Rauner. Or are you cool with them?s====
List their individual names here Slinger. Rich Miller signed it. Now, add those names after his.
I’ll wait.
- whetstone - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 11:32 am:
What’s weird to me is that the Sun-Times ran the story, defended McKinney, and still sidelined him. It seems like a half-measure that blew up in their faces.
- A guy... - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 11:38 am:
===You have so much advice for McKinney====
No Slinger, I don’t. I said I wish he stayed. That’s not advice. The ST has run the reaction stories for a few days now. If I had my druthers (I don’t) I’d wished Dave stayed and Carol left. He’s genuine.
- Wordslinger - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 11:44 am:
A Guy, what’s your point. - the Sun- Times newsroom staff didn’t produce the letter?
Well, who would know better than you what they’re really thinking.
We’re you born with the gift to read minds, or have you just developed it over the years?
What’s fascinating is that thoughts you constantly attribute to others always match your own. What are the odds?
- VM - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 11:45 am:
@Black Ivy:
== “Just wondering why you and Chicago media are not spending equal time in highlighting the ongoing investigation of the Neigborhood Recovery Iniiative funds or the federal court’s recent appointnment of an IDOT hiring monitor.” ==
Well, I think the reason Rich isn’t covering NRI now is because we learned a lot about it in the LAC hearings. Mainly, we learned it was (in the words of a Republican member of the committee) a mismanaged program, but not corrupt.
Rich has covered the IDOT monitor and has written a bit about hiring practices under the Quinn administration. The news got out. It’s a bit overshadowed by the news Rauner creates on his own (by, e.g., pressuring the Sun Times to sideline a reporter), but I think most readers of this blog know that a monitor was appointed.
- Anonymous - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 11:54 am:
Grand son of man. Oh yah Internet poll thats about as reliable as Mark Trestman calling plays and being a HC.
- Anon PR Guy In Chicago - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 11:54 am:
While Kirk is a very hard working guy, he’s the wrong guy for the job of editor and publisher. The paper on him is that he’s always looking to please his superiors which explains his ascent. He does what he’s asked. Not the profile you want for the top job at a paper when it comes to news issues. I have no problem with what Rauner’s campaign tried to do. But, it should have been shoved back at them. Putting McKinney or any reporter on leave for simply reporting the facts is b.s. The fact that Kirk couldn’t see it, tried to sell the newspaper as being under fire as justification and was so weak as to capitulate to pressure and actually contemplate moving arguably the best Springfield political reporter to another job is stunningly incompetent.
- Motambe - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 11:54 am:
Sadly, wrapping fish in the Sun-Times has become an insult to the fish.
- Walter Mitty - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 12:03 pm:
This article was terrific… Now I am interested in this story and the “objective” reporter to go away. When you publish your resignation in a public way, with your wife doing what she does, with a week to go, realizes..The firewalls in the news room may not be the only one down. There isn’t anyone here that finds what his wife does and this public outing not a great way for revenge? She is a strategist! Geez…
- Cheswick - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 12:03 pm:
This ain’t over.
- Cheswick - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 12:05 pm:
What revenge? On Bruce Rauner? On the Sun-Times? Revenge for the Sun-Times totally blowing off the trust if their readers?
- Loop Lady - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 12:08 pm:
The stupidity of the electorate never ceases to amaze me.
Consider this: the state being run by Bruce, Madigan and Rahm…the moneyed and privileged class where it doesn’t matter if there is a D or R behind your name.
Why would any Union member or middle class voter choose a candidate that will work against their own self interest in such a concerted and strategic manner?
- Soccermom - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 12:12 pm:
A guy —
Look — I am keenly aware of Governor Quinn’s, um, failures to reach and exceed the platonic ideal of governance. But I could give you a list of five or 10 good things about him without breaking a sweat.
I have been paying very close attention to this race. And I have yet to hear anything new and good about Rauner. He’s had plenty of opportunity to make me change my mind about PQ, and instead all he’s done is talk about shaking up Springfield.
I guess it could be worse — he could use “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” as his theme song. But that would be just another reminder to those of us who still suffer skin-crawling when we hear “A Little Less Conversation…”
I care a lot about fiscal policy — and Rauner’s “budget plan” was worse than disingenous; it was lazy. That ad claiming that PQ, Madigan and Cullerton are all the same guy - dude, have you ever met any of them? And the Etch-a-Sketch approach to the primary and the general was just insulting.
It makes Soccerdad mad when I say this, but in a just world I would be a Republican. I’m a fiscal hawk and I believe in the nimbleness and ultimate precision of the private sector (with appropriate regulations, of course.) When we went to Governor Pinchot’s home in Pennsylvania, I nearly wept to see how much the GOP has devolved over the years. I think there could be a real place for a moderate Republican in Illinois politics, if the ILGOP could stop whining and start organizing.
I was always going to vote for Quinn. That’s a certainty. Bruce Rauner has done NOTHING to make me hesitate for a nanosecond. And that’s on him, not me.
- Ginhouse Tommy - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 12:16 pm:
Bruce Rauner adn his people should have put a cork in it and kept quiet. This further arouses suspicion of the man’s character and methods and now he has the media on high alert. Even if he wins it appears that the political reporters at the State House are not going to trust him. Bad, bad start.
- Cheryl44 - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 12:33 pm:
this election isn’t about Rauner’s platform or character,
Yes it is.
- Demoralized - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 12:37 pm:
@Walter:
I sure hope you were being snarky. Because if you weren’t that was one of the dopier conspiracy theories on this incident I’ve heard.
- Demoralized - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 12:40 pm:
==Bruce Rauner has done NOTHING to make me hesitate for a nanosecond. And that’s on him, not me.==
That’s pretty much the way I feel. I’ve been waiting on Rauner to give me a reason to vote for him. He has failed. And since I’m not the kind of guy to vote for somebody since he isn’t the other guy, that leaves me with: (a) vote for Quinn; (b) vote for Grimm; (c) don’t vote. I’m choosing (a), not because I like it but because I believe it’s the best option I have given my choices. Rauner blew it with me when he wasn’t able to come up with any sort of coherent budget plan. I’m not talking details. I’m talking a rough outline. He swung and missed on that. Big time. I suppose he still has time to convince me. I’m not holding my breath though.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 12:40 pm:
Why it wouldn’t it surprise me in the next few days, when character is discussed, a person comes forward and says…
“I know Rauner personally. He lugs a trainload of garbage behind him that could fertilize Wrigley Field. Why, I wouldn’t buy an apple from the guy, and I consider him a good, close personal friend.”
“Good Morning, Illinois!”
- A guy... - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 12:44 pm:
S-Mom, you make plenty of sense as you frequently do. I too could say many nice things about Pat Quinn without breaking a sweat. I just couldn’t say anything nice about his ability to govern this state. For the past couple months, the election has taken over the news cycles from the critical state of pensions in this state. On 11/5, we’ll be back to talking about a very broken system. A system I believe you might be relying on to be there. You’ve gotten Pat’s best shot. Now, we’ll be looking for what? His second best shot?
I think it’s horribly cynical to view the manner in which the Dem party has used it’s mostly unfettered power to operate this state. It’s even criminal often.
I’m not trying to sell you on Rauner. That ship sailed long ago. Almost from the beginning really. What I find almost incredulous is how a “chorus” has developed here. That’s not the sign of wonderful independent thinking.
You are an exception. Concurring, but almost always in a thought provoking way. I’m still smitten. By your mind. Tell Soccerdad hello. He’s alright.
- Soccermom - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 1:04 pm:
Here’s a good thing about PQ’s governance — he’s made the required pension payment every year.
Here’s another thing that we don’t hear much about — PQ has slowly but surely been clearing up the backlog of requests for pardons and expungements, after Rod’s shameful refusal to do his duty because he feared a “Willie Horton” moment.
Those are real accomplishments, and they were done at a real political cost.
I don’t know anything about Rauner that would lead me to believe that he is willing to make tough political decisions.
Governing is hard. Real hard.
- A guy... - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 1:29 pm:
===Wordslinger - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 11:44 am:
A Guy, what’s your point. - the Sun- Times newsroom staff didn’t produce the letter?
Well, who would know better than you what they’re really thinking.===
I’d have to look back more carefully Sling. Was it the Writer’s Guild or the Newsroom? I don’t remember and you’re the one who wants to know, so go fish.
I do have very close friends who work there Sling by virtue of my job. That’s why I know everyone sympathized with Dave (remember, some aren’t as close to him since he’s not worked in the ST offices here for a long time), but not everyone, was thrilled to hear him strike the banner in the same breath he mentioned Pulitzer Prize winners. There are several hard nose reporters there. I read one on SM state he doused himself with lighter fluid and then lit a match. I don’t agree with that, but that particular reporter felt that way and shared it with a pretty wide circle of people.
So my point is: the folks wanted to support their colleague, but like me, many wish he stayed.
- A guy... - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 1:34 pm:
===Governing is hard. Real hard.===
Yes ma’am it is. I’m sorry to say in our current Governor’s case…it’s simply too hard.
- Wordslinger - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 1:45 pm:
A Guy, why is it so hard for you to make your own points without clutching the security blanket of other people?
- Demoralized - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 2:11 pm:
==So my point is: the folks wanted to support their colleague, but like me, many wish he stayed.==
Would you have stayed? I’m not sure I’d want to work at place if I were treated the way he was treated. If they did it once they could do it again. How are you supposed to be a reporter if you have to always be looking over your shoulder to see if they are going to throw you under a bus because you wrote something unflattering about a politician and that politician threw a temper tantrum?
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 2:20 pm:
===… many wish he stayed.===
Perspective?
Kirk supported McKinney. Kirk subsequently sat McKinney.
That aim supporting. Who is going to work at a place you get backed 100%, while getting sat down for what your alleged boss believes is a crock?
- ? of my day - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 2:47 pm:
Would a human who’s company price gouged sick babies medication really care about sidelining a reporter? Once you do that for $ what won’t you do?
The quote below maybe true, but I don’t believe it, and really, if false demands the editor/a reporter/secretary, someone, tell the public the truth about this fiasco. What does he know about what’s “internal” at the suntimes? Did he make a “complaint” or “comment” to the boss? I’m sorry after his Clinton wordsmithing on the payton prep, what did you do Bruce?
Calling the matter an “internal” issue at the newspaper, Rauner said he had nothing to do with any of it other than routine complaints and comments which he characterized as part of the give-and-take of any campaign and media organization. “I don’t want to get in the middle of that,” he said Thursday in Bloomington. “I’ve had nothing to do with it.”
- Fed up - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 2:57 pm:
Walker wrote —
I had high hopes for Rauner’s skills early on, but he has shown no evidence of taking personal responsibility, or of having a moral core
That is dangerous in a government leadership position.
—
Are you calling Rauner the next Obama?
- Fed up - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 3:03 pm:
Doesn’t the article insinuate wrongdoing based upon the appearance of impropriety?
I have yet to see proof, to borrow the language of the article, that Rauner’s former ties had anything to do with the Sun-Times actions.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 3:13 pm:
===Doesn’t the article insinuate wrongdoing based upon the appearance of impropriety? ===
Yes. Deliberately. It’s called irony.
- Ginhouse Tommy - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 3:21 pm:
In the end Rauner should have just let it go. It wasn’t worth the trouble especially someone who obviously is held in such high regard among his peers. His actions caused some unrepairable damage that will effect him in the future. I guess he never learned to pick his battles.
- Fed up - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 3:45 pm:
Irony refers to the difference between the apparent/literal meaning and the intended (conveyed) meaning. Irony, apparently, isn’t the correct word in this situation–unless the article is attempting to show that insinuation isn’t, perhaps, “undemocratic” and destructive.
- Not OW - Monday, Oct 27, 14 @ 3:56 pm:
==Why would respected and talented journalists want to be associated with a tainted brand==
Because they need to eat, and in case you haven’t noticed, jobs are hard to come by these days in the newspaper business. That’s what makes what McKinney did all the more admirable.
This wasn’t a penny ante deal. Carried to its logical conclusion, the ST was telling McKinney that he couldn’t cover politics or government anywhere so long as it involved Democrats or Republicans. It amounted, really, to ending his career. That’s no exaggeration. Sure, any journalist has to let slimy stuff slide sometimes when it happens in house, but this was different, and anyone who pretends otherwise doesn’t know spit about the news business or McKinney.