Oof
Thursday, Sep 24, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* That’s gonna leave a mark…
Illinois Times [yesterday] sued Gov. Bruce Rauner after Attorney General Lisa Madigan ruled that the governor must turn over his appointment calendar in response to the paper’s request made under the state Freedom of Information Act.
The newspaper asked for Rauner’s appointment calendar last spring after the governor walked out of a Holocaust remembrance ceremony. The newspaper’s request came after the governor’s press office ignored an emailed query asking where the governor had gone while a Holocaust survivor spoke at the annual ceremony held at the Old State Capitol.
Rauner gave the newspaper a redacted version of his appointment calendar showing that he had attended a meeting in the governor’s office while the ceremony continued. The governor redacted the names of the person, or people, with whom he met. The newspaper subsequently appealed to the attorney general, who ruled that Rauner must disclose the names of the people who attend meetings memorialized in his appointment calendar, which is prepared by public employees on public time using public equipment.
Rauner had claimed that the calendar was maintained for the governor’s convenience, but the attorney general determined that the calendar is the public’s business.
“(T)his office’s review of the redacted entries indicates that they all appear to pertain to the business of the state, rather than the personal affairs or private business interests of the governor,” Michael J. Luke, counsel to Madigan, wrote in the 18-page decision issued Tuesday. “Because the governor’s calendar was prepared and is maintained by the governor’s office and pertains to public business, it is a public record of the governor’s office for purposes of the Illinois FOIA.”
Governors leave events early all the time, but he kinda walked right into that one, so to speak.
The AG’s opinion is here. The IT’s lawsuit is here.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:37 am:
Maybe we will get to see Rahm’s as well now.
And when did the AG remove her online database of AO’s? Or is it being hosted elsewhere? It no longer appears to be available, oddly.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:41 am:
===Maybe we will get to see Rahm’s as well now.===
Huh?
He’s been making those available for quite a while now.
===And when did the AG remove her online database of AO’s?===
Um, what? You ever hear of the Google?
http://www.ag.state.il.us/opinions/
What’s your dealio, anon?
- Ottawa - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:43 am:
Gov. Rauner is tone-deaf.
- Tournaround Agenda - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:45 am:
Gov. Transparency at work, everyone.
- Honeybear - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:54 am:
Well it looks like a steep learning curve and you’re right, it’s gonna leave a mark if he left to meet with anyone other than someone publically worth walking out on a holocaust survivor. Maybe he was meeting with Goldberg, he’s a veteran you know. So that would be cool.
- Norseman - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:55 am:
Mark this up as another lawsuit toward meeting RNUG’s prediction that Rauner will be the most litigated administration.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 9:57 am:
The reference to Rahm’s schedules was related to this - http://m.chicagoreader.com/chicago/mayor-emanuel-meetings-records-secret-transparency-schedule/Content?oid=16349482
And as for the AG’s Advisory Opinions, that is not the same as what used to be made available. Previously, all Advisory Opinions issued by Public Access Counselors were available on the site, hundreds of them. They were very helpful resources. Now, those have all been scrubbed and only a handful of opinions are available each year. For example, now there are only 2 opinions available from all of 2014, and none from the PAC office.
- Austin Blvd - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:15 am:
But I am Bruce Rauner.
- Leagle - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:15 am:
Anonymous @9:57, no. There are 16 binding PAC opinions from 2014 on the AG’s website.
http://foia.ilattorneygeneral.net/bindingopinions.aspx
- downstate commissioner - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:18 am:
If he hadn’t gone, would not have been such a big deal- but walking out?
- VanillaMan - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:20 am:
…the calendar is the public’s business…
Why would anyone in a gubernatorial administration not know this?
What’s next? “The dog ate my homework?”
Who are these people and why do they think they know how to run anything? Their shortcomings are so blatantly obvious.
- 360 Degree TurnAround - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:21 am:
Maybe he left the event to meet with all the corporations and businesses he’s helped bring to Illinois since being elected. That could be why it is redacted…because he hasn’t brought any new business to Illinois. And before anyone says we need reforms first, he is the Governor and should be promoting Illinois NOW.
- PublicServant - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:21 am:
Wouldn’t making your calendar available without redaction contribute to fixing the failed status quo, and more rapidly turn around Springfield, and bring back Illinois more quickly? Or, am I misapplying those slogans?
- Juvenal - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:22 am:
What is it that Oswego Willy is always saying?
Team Rauner is only as good as his Legislative Affairs and Communications staff?
Both should have told him he wasn’t walking out of that ceremony unless the Old State Capitol was on fire.
- DuPage - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:24 am:
Kind of disrespectful to walk out while the Holocaust survivor was speaking. The decent thing to do would have been to stay and send word he would be late to the meeting. Or if he really had to leave he should have conveyed his explanation and apologies to the speaker.
- Joe Biden Was Here - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:28 am:
Stay classy, Governor
- Precinct Captain - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:29 am:
Shake ‘em up baby!
- Wordslinger - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:30 am:
That’s terrible staff work to have the boss walk out of a Holocaust memorial. The schedule shouldn’t have been that tight in that circumstance.
But Rauner should have been smart enough not to do so. Geez, you didn’t think people would notice?
- Honeybear - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:31 am:
360, I bet it’s privatizers that he met with. Big corporations he could use the “bring them to Illinois” excuse. Revealing privatizers would tip his hand. IPI or Tribune folks would be hard to justify as well.
- Austin Blvd - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:31 am:
DuPage-
But he is Bruce Rauner.
- Frenchie Mendoza - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:33 am:
The interesting thought experiment is, of course, to wonder what kind of meeting could you *not* be late for when a Holocaust survivor is speaking?
That’s the first question.
The second question — and one that perhaps has an easier answer — is what kind of person equates a meeting — any meeting — to be more important than a Holocaust survivor speaking?
The third — and final, for me at least — is to wonder when Godwin’s Law will be fully invoked in this discussion.
- 10th ward - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:34 am:
@downstate commissioner–EXACTLY, which is why he is hiding with who he met with. Not that I suspect its something sordid or weird, but lets say it’s his wife or even a staffer…the question remains-”Why couldn’t you wait?”. I can’t think of anyone THAT important that he had to leave that ceremony.
- Austin Blvd - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:34 am:
Honeybear, past governors have had important meetings with higher ups with zero consequences, no media reports, etc.
This governor simply wants to make his own rules.
He is, after all, Bruce Rauner.
- Nick Name - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:42 am:
Wait a minute, he walked out of a Holocaust remembrance ceremony? While a Holocaust survivor was speaking? What the bloody h#ll?
- Team Sleep - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:47 am:
Given actions like the one he pulled when walking out of said ceremony, this is further proof that perhaps Governor Rauner should’ve hired at least a few staffers whose previous jobs weren’t being sycophants for their bosses. Sometimes your boss isn’t the most important person in the meeting or at the event. That goes for other officials, but Governor Rauner has the brightest spotlight on him.
- 360 Degree TurnAround - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 10:58 am:
Team Sleep, I agree with you. But when you are wealthy in our country, you are the most important. The question people should be asking is why does Rauner think he is worth so much more than everyone else? What did he do?
- Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 11:48 am:
“I’m not leavin’ this ceremony for anyone… Wait, who? It’s Trump? He’s lookin’ for a Midwestern Union-bustin’ runnin’ mate now that Scottie’s finished? I’m so outta here!!”
- Union Man - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 12:00 pm:
Maybe he had to go to the bathroom.
- Juvenal - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 12:21 pm:
@Union Man:
The redacted schedule shows he was meeting with someone in the Governor’s Office.
The Governor’s Office just refuses to release the public document showing whom he was meeting with.
- Tournaround Agenda - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 12:41 pm:
“Gov. Rauner left the Holocaust ceremony to meet with survivors of another modern tragedy - unfair share paying state employees.”
- Nobody - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 12:52 pm:
The funniest part that no one is mentioning:
Step 1: The AG rules against the Gov.
Step 2: Illinois Times sues the Gov.
Step 3: Who represents the Gov? …the AG!
No conflict of interest there at all.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 12:54 pm:
===Who represents the Gov? …the AG! ===
We’ll see if that actually winds up being the case.
- Nobody - Thursday, Sep 24, 15 @ 12:57 pm:
Well, the AG also makes the decision to allow outside counsel in litigation. They don’t seem to be in a charitable mood these days.