24 Comments - Ravenswood Right Winger - Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 1:56 pm: Is this Raoul’s first contested race? Because he seems totally distracted. - anon - Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 2:05 pm: And to loose it by shouting… - pskila - Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 2:05 pm: the attorney general’s race and the gubernatorial elections seem to boiling up at the same time. - TopHatMonocle - Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 2:47 pm: No wonder Pat Quinn couldn’t stop smiling at the Trib meeting. Goldstein, Ruiz, and Fairley all pile onto Raoul while Rotering and Drury quibble over things happening in Highland Park. Also, I would dispute that Ruiz is wrong here. Raoul said he checked with the donor and with the AG office regarding a conflict of interest, and Raoul claimed at the Sun Times that it was a non-issue after checking with them. Sounds like what Ruiz said to me. - Tom - Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 2:54 pm: If you don’t want Pat Quinn, you need to support Kwame. - theCardinal - Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 2:56 pm: Tom: Spot On…. Quinn has name rec and a staedy line of bee s, oh and the #1 ballot spot. Go Kwame Go - DarkHorse - Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 3:01 pm: Not a ton of voters pay attention to these forums, but donors and potential donors do, and will be interesting to see how Raoul and Quinn do on the “A-1” front over the next couple weeks. - m - Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 3:11 pm: =If you don’t want Pat Quinn, you need to support Kwame.= I was under the impression that Rotering was exceeding expectations in fundraising and polling. - State worker - Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 3:11 pm: If you don’t want Kwame Raoul, you need to support Quinn. - Anonymous - Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 3:18 pm: “If you don’t want Pat Quinn, you need to support Kwame.” If you want to lose to Erika Harrold, support either of these two. Kwame is an ethical train wreck. Pat will be an albatross around everyone’s neck. If you want to win, vote for someone else. - Anon - Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 3:23 pm: - m - Maybe fundraising, but not polling. - Lucky Pierre - Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 3:43 pm: Everyone but Senator Raoul distanced themselves from Speaker Madigan and Joe Berrios because they can apparently see which way the wind is blowing. Senator Raoul does not have the temperament or the judgement to be the top law enforcement officer in Illinois. - A guy - Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 3:56 pm: If you know for certain something is a lie, for a fact, and it can be verified independently; calling someone a liar is a strong tool. - Anon324 - Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 4:06 pm: =Also, I would dispute that Ruiz is wrong here. Raoul said he checked with the donor and with the AG office regarding a conflict of interest, and Raoul claimed at the Sun Times that it was a non-issue after checking with them. Sounds like what Ruiz said to me.= Raoul’s statement is that he checked with the donor and the AG’s office as to whether there is a pending lawsuit between the donor and AG. They both said no, and that’s all Raoul said. That’s different than what Ruiz accused him of at the Tribune forum. And Ruiz’s characterization citing the Crain’s report is incorrect on this, as well. As the article they cited to states, the Illinois portion of the arbitration that is pending has been completed. - 47th Ward - Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 4:33 pm: ===the top law enforcement officer in Illinois=== The Governor is the top law enforcement officer in Illinois. Period. The AG is like our civil attorney, handling consumer and public interest laws and defending the state itself. The AG, by statute, does NOT prosecute criminals except in the rarest of circumstances. We have 102 States Attorneys who prosecute crimes. The ignorance about this office makes my head hurt. - Chicago Cynic - Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 4:40 pm: Anon324, I’m afraid you didn’t read the article very clearly. It doesn’t say the Illinois portion is completed. It just says Illinois was first and the arbitration now continues with other states. It says quite clearly, “A similar dispute currently is being arbitrated.” So you seem to be having the same reading problems Kwame does. And yea, he took 100,000 from a tobacco mogul with a case pending with the AG. “A similar dispute CURRENTLY is being arbitrated between Illinois and roughly 25 companies including Top Tobacco, the spokeswoman continued. “We were the first state to put on our case. The arbitration now continues with other states presenting their cases. We do not anticipate a ruling for about a year.” - Anon324 - Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 4:55 pm: Chicago Cynic, This isn’t particularly difficult to comprehend. The statement is “We were the first state to put on our case. The arbitration now continues with other states presenting their cases. We do not anticipate a ruling for about a year.” The word “were” is a past-tense verb, indicating something has already taken place. Therefore, the statement indicates Illinois has already presented its case to the arbitrator, and they have nothing left to do on the matter other than wait for the other states to present their cases and for the arbitrator to make a ruling. What, in the article, indicates Illinois still has work to do on this case? Is Raoul’s answer lawyerspeak? Probably. But newsflash: the AG is a lawyer. - Chicago Cynic - Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 5:18 pm: Anon324, The case is still pending. It is irrelevant whether evidence is still being presented. You don’t accept donations from someone with a pending matter before the office. This is a bright line and one Lisa Madigan has held her entire 16 years as attorney general. Furthermore, since Don Levin’s tobacco companies have had other disputes before and will likely do so again as long as the AG administers the tobacco settlement (which will go on for decades), there will be future cases. Again, this is a bright line apparent to all but Kwame. It’s also worth noting, that those same companies were also received special treatment in legislation that Kwame sponsored as Maze Jackson pointed out in his scathing post here (https://capitolfax.com/2017/12/21/raoul-pressed-again-on-tobacco-contributions/). - anon2 - Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 5:25 pm: === Raoul: “First of all let me start with the fact that I am not for sale.” === Conflict of interest or no, Sen. Raoul was a late convert to the State ban on indoor smoking in public places. I heard him argue against it circa 2006. - City Zen - Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 5:27 pm: Kwame Raoul has come a long way, baby. By election time, I have no doubt Raoul will get lucky and this whole tobacco controversy will have blown over. I would walk a mile to vote for Raoul. - Soccermom - Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 5:28 pm: Anon324 — You’re wrong. This case is still pending. And please note that the AG’s office said this was one of a series of actions against this tobacco mogul, and there are many more likely in the pipeline. Here’s how it works: In 1999, the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG), which under the MSA is responsible for coordinating and facilitating its implementation and enforcement on behalf of the attorneys general of the Settling States, formed the Tobacco Enforcement Committee, the Enforcement Working Group, which consists of attorney general office staff working on tobacco issues, and the Tobacco Project, which is comprised of staff attorneys within NAAG who support state enforcement efforts. (The NAAG Tobacco Project is now known as the NAAG Center for Tobacco and Public Health.) Enforcement typically begins when a state attorney general office or NAAG observes a potential violation of the MSA, or a member of the public or a public organization complains about a Participating Manufacturer’s marketing practices to a state attorney general or NAAG. Once a violation has been noted or a complaint has been filed, the process proceeds as follows: • A state or NAAG asks a company for information about the practice in question. If the practice is deemed a potential violation, it is referred to the Enforcement Committee. • The Enforcement Committee generally then sends a letter to the company stating the violation and asking for a specified action or response. Letters may be followed by discussion and may also include negotiating a formal, written settlement agreement. • If discussion fails, the Enforcement Committee decides whether to recommend enforcement actions by states, which then decide whether or not to initiate such actions. • A state must give a thirty-day notice to sue to enforce the MSA.Ten days’ notice is required to enforce the Consent Decree (the settlement contained in a court order). The Attorneys General have several remedies for addressing MSA violations, including litigation. If the plaintiff state prevails, it can seek injunctive relief or monetary remedies. A couple of points to note here, Anon324 (if that is your name): The Illinois AG may have presented its case as part of this multistate action, but that doesn’t mean it’s done. If the arbitrator rules in favor of the states, then the Illinois AG office will work to decide how much the tobacco company has to pay in fines. And depending on how long this arbitration takes, with all these states involved, the new Attorney General will likely be in office before that decision (which directly affects Levin’s bank account) is made. Also, this is not a “one and done” situation. These are ongoing issues. So when this arbitration is complete, there will be more. I am not predicting the future here; these have been annual events, and I think the AG’s office is currently litigating the 2009 cases, or something like that. To give you an idea of how long these cases take to move through the courts, take a look at this news release, published in 2013, trumpeting a victory in arbitration over something that happened in 2003. The panel of arbitrators in its ruling also concluded “Illinois had a strong enforcement environment” that was “very thorough” and “exceeded that of almost every other” state considered by the panel. That pretty much shows that ongoing enforcement is part of the AG’s core responsibilities. http://www.ag.state.il.us/pressroom/2013_09/20130912.html Here’s some background information on how all of this works: http://www.publichealthlawcenter.org/sites/default/files/resources/tclc-fs-msa-overview-2015.pdf As California AG Becerra notes: “The (AG’s) Tobacco Litigation and Enforcement Section holds the tobacco industry accountable for strict compliance with the MSA’s marketing restrictions and payment obligations. In addition, the Tobacco Section enforces a number of state laws and programs that regulate the promotion and sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products in the state, including the state’s Tobacco Directory and Reserve Fund Statute.” https://oag.ca.gov/tobacco/litigation New York AG Schneiderman stresses the continuing nature of this settlement oversight: “Enforcement focuses on guaranteeing that the tobacco companies are not violating the prohibitions against advertising and/or marketing directed to young people, brand-name advertising, merchandising and sponsorships, and false and misleading advertising as well as ensuring compliance with the tobacco companies’ monetary obligations under the MSA and New York’s related laws.” https://ag.ny.gov/bureau/tobacco-compliance-and-enforcement And a look at our very own AG’s website shows that tobacco manufacturers and distributors have to file quarterly affidavits to show that they are following all the rules. http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/tobacco/manufacturerinfo.html If you need any further information on how the Attorney General works to protect Illinois children from unscrupulous tobacco marketing, please let me know. We take these issues very seriously, so we do a lot of homework. - Soccermom - Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 5:47 pm: And for the TL:DR crowd: Levin’s case is still active and pending, and the AG’s office is, and will remain, on the other side from Kwame’s donor. It’s a clear conflict of interest, and he should never have taken the money. So here’s a newsflash backatcha: Kwame may be a lawyer, but he clearly lacks any understanding of basic legal conflicts issues. Here’s an interesting article on the topic. https://www.americanbar.org/newsletter/publications/gp_solo_magazine_home/gp_solo_magazine_index/conflictsofinterest.html - Anonymous - Friday, Jan 26, 18 @ 2:18 pm: 47th Ward @ 4:33 pm- “The AG, by statute, does NOT prosecute criminals except in the rarest of circumstances.” That’s why public corruption flourishes in Illinois by design. When motorcyclist Bill Damhoff was killed by Whiteside County sheriff’s deputy Jeffrey Wunderlich in 2016, special prosecutor Thomas J. Brown from the Appellate Prosecutor’s office was appointed to the case. Yet Wunderlich has not been charged with manslaughter, and is back on patrol. In stagnant one-party rule counties like Whiteside, good old boy corruption can extend even to state offices. “We have 102 States Attorneys who prosecute crimes.” That statement is nonsense. If local State’s Attorneys were capable of prosecuting local officials, C.P.D. detective Jon Burge would have been convicted thirty years ago, when Richard M. Daley was the Cook County State’s Attorney. Almost every time that a state or local official or a cop is convicted in Illinois, it’s the U.S. Attorney that gets it done. Kwame is not impartial and is not suitable to bring equal justice under law to the citizens of Illinois. - Anon324 - Friday, Jan 26, 18 @ 2:39 pm: Chicago Cynic and Soccermom, That gets to the point of my rhetorical question. Did Raoul engage in lawyerspeak in maintaining there is no pending lawsuit (please note: he said lawsuit, not action; there is a difference) between the AG and the donor? Yes. Should that surprise anyone given the nature of the AG job? No. He’s entirely right to say “that’s not what I said.” His statement may have been misleading, but it wasn’t wrong. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.