The crumbling of House Speaker Michael Madigan’s inner circle amid one ethics scandal after another is the most serious threat to the longest-serving state House Speaker’s power, according to a longtime observer.
Madigan’s longtime chief of staff was fired [last] week. A leading ally in the House was demoted. Another is retiring. And there are calls for independent investigations into the speaker’s office from within his own caucus. […]
University of Illinois at Springfield politics professor emeritus Kent Redfield has been following Illinois politics since 1975. […]
“This is a much more serious threat to the Speaker’s power and his longevity than anytime in my memory,” Redfield said.
* The Question: On a scale of one to five, with five being the most threatening, how would you rate this #MeToo threat to Madigan’s power and longevity? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
Today, Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti joined Scott Slocum on WJOL to discuss the success of passing a budget, increased K-12 education funding, and the Pritzker-Blagojevich TV ads the campaign is running.
For me, the biggest plus in the budget was in education. As you know I’m an inner city kid and I failed the first grade and education was always big for me. Here with this budget, the governor added $350 million in new K-12 spending for fiscal year 2019. Now that’s a $1.4 billion increase in spending since 2015. And a huge reversal from the reductions that we’ve seen in years past. That’s a very positive takeaway. And again the fact that all parties were able to come together to reach this budget that is all very positive.
…Well as you know we just released one of those FBI wire tap tapes where JB Pritzker and Rod Blagojevich are joking around about a seat that President Barack Obama left open. Talking about Reverend Wright occupying that seat and they were laughing about it. You know to them, you know and to Rod Blagojevich he’s shown no remorse for his crime. And he says that he’s in jail for just practicing politics and that may be practicing politics to Blago and JB Pritzker. But to Bruce Rauner and I, practicing politics means showing up to work every day and serving the people of our state.
…You compare JB Pritzker to Bruce Rauner, they are hundreds of millions of miles apart. With JB Pritzker, you have a person that tears out his toilets in his neighboring mansion so that he won’t have to pay as much in property taxes. That’s problematic. With JB Pritzker you have a person that says that on day one he’d eliminate that scholarship program that Bruce Rauner has put in place to help those kids in underserved communities. That speaks to his core. You know and then you compare him to Bruce Rauner. He came in not collecting pay for the work he’s been doing. He believes in the greatness of our state because he wants our children to grow here and stay here and find jobs here. That’s what Bruce Rauner has been all about since day one. And you’ve seen it with the budget. He believes in growth. Not taxing our way out of our problems but rather growing our way out.
Emphasis added because I thought it was a particularly sharp line.
* An e-mail sent to House Democrats today by Jessica Basham, Speaker Madigan’s new chief of staff…
Subject: Announcement: New hirings and other coming changes re: personnel policies and practices
Dear Members:
I’ve begun a series of conversations with members of our caucus and with staff to discuss our efforts to change the culture in the Capitol, and the role we all play in this process. I have already spoken with many of you, and the rest of you can expect my call soon. I appreciate the feedback I’ve already received, and I look forward to continuing these conversations going forward to solicit and consider new ideas.
Based on these conversations, the Speaker and I are immediately beginning a search to hire a human resources director and an equal employment opportunity/affirmative action officer to (i) promote a fair, equitable, and unbiased work environment for the 200 employees of the Speaker’s office, (ii) advise supervisors, and (iii) oversee investigations related to discrimination and harassment.
In addition to these new positions, we are considering numerous additional steps to change the culture in the Capitol, including:
• Conducting performance reviews on all current directors and supervisors, which will include input from staff.
• Requiring all directors and supervisors, including the chief of staff, to participate in new management training programs this summer.
• Meeting with staff members within the Speaker’s office to solicit suggestions for changes to personnel policies and manuals. These policies and manuals will subsequently be updated, based on the feedback received.
• Creating a confidential process for employees to anonymously register complaints or make suggestions.
• Researching the availability of additional harassment prevention training which all staff would undergo on a continuing basis.
• Reviewing and revamping the organizational structure of the House Democratic Staff and Speaker’s office, in order to incorporate suggestions from staff and members and bring transparency to the roles and functions of staff.
I hope you will make your thoughts part of this conversation. I’m seeking your input on new steps we can take, better policies we can enact, and any other ways we can create a fairer, equitable environment for all. Please call or email me whenever you have thoughts you’d like to share.
As I’ve already told many of you, I’m looking for your suggestions and guidance as I acclimate to my new role. I believe our caucus is stronger because we are having this discussion, and I thank you in advance for sharing your ideas.
Sincerely,
Jessica
Conducting performance reviews on all current directors and supervisors will help her weed some folks out.
* The lack of a a human resources office was one of the chief complaints by Sherri Garrett…
I wish I would’ve had someone that I could have trusted and to whom I could’ve said, ‘Hey. This happened to me. Is this supposed to happen?’
If there had been a true professional human resources team, they could have said ‘No’ and perhaps we could have nipped it in the bud right then and there.
A victims’ rights activist who was the first to publicly name a state legislator for alleged abuse of power has now filed a complaint against a slew of other state lawmakers who are also lawyers, claiming misconduct, malfeasance and other violations of professional standards.
Denise Rotheimer said Monday she filed a complaint with Illinois’ Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission against several high-ranking lawmakers, including state Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, and House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago. Rotheimer also filed complaints against lawmakers who are attorneys on the Legislative Ethics Commission and against the special legislative inspector general. The ARDC was established by the Illinois Supreme Court to “promote and protect the integrity of the legal profession.” The Illinois Supreme Court has the authority to disbar attorneys.
The complaints stem from the nearly three year vacancy for the legislative inspector general position. The inspector general is responsible for investigating allegations of lawmaker wrongdoing. While the post was vacant, complaints forwarded to the office sat untouched.
“Hopefully the ARDC having respect for the profession will see that those who have licenses to practice in the state are held to the laws and whether or not they become lawmakers are not immune to breaking those laws,” Rotheimer said.
A check of the ARDC’s website at 10:22 this morning shows no complaints filed. But it hasn’t been updated since Friday.
…Adding… Rotheimer sent me the receipt she received after filing her request for an investigation. Click here.
Today, the Rauner campaign is launching a new digital ad titled “Who Knew?”
When pressed about why he was caught on FBI wiretaps with disgraced ex-Governor Rod Blagojevich just six days before Blagojevich was arrested, JB Pritzker responded “nobody knew the FBI was investigating the man … who knew, you know, that he was actually doing things that were against the interests of the people.”
Everyone knew. The campaign’s new digital ad highlights years of headlines that make it clear the FBI had Blagojevich in their sights.
An Air Force veteran and former resident of the Quincy veterans home who was a guest of Gov. Rauner at his State of the State speech has died.
Ivan Jackson was one of two residents Rauner invited to his Jan. 31 speech at the Capitol. Jackson and the governor met when Rauner spent a week at the state-run veterans home to meet with staff, learn about operations and spend time with residents.
Soon after the speech, Jackson was diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease, one of three new cases at the Quincy home.
“U.S. Air Force veteran Ivan Jackson was a man of rare quality,” Rauner tweeted Monday. “Husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, his service will be remembered, his memory cherished … forever. Rest in honor, my friend.”
Rauner’s administration said it had no evidence Jackson’s death was caused by Legionnaires’, and the coroner in St. Louis County, Missouri, where he died, wasn’t immediately available. But Jackson’s daughter said Legionnaires’ likely was a contributing factor along with other serious underlying illnesses.
“I can’t tell you that it was a reason he passed, but I can tell you it didn’t help in his ongoing health issues,” Allyson Springer told WBEZ Monday afternoon. […]
Springer said her father was hospitalized with pneumonia on February 9, less than two weeks after Rauner feted Jackson at his State of the State address. Rauner met the veteran during a weeklong stay at the facility in January, a visit designed to show the home was safe.
After being admitted to the hospital, Springer said her father had a heart attack. A few days later, the family learned he had tested positive for Legionnaires’. After his heart attack, Springer said Jackson suffered a stroke.
Prior to his illness, she said he had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and was outfitted with both a pacemaker and defibrillator.
…Adding… Pritzker campaign with a related angle…
Weeks before the budget crisis began, Bruce Rauner announced the cuts his impending crisis would force on state programs, including halting construction of the Chicago Veterans’ Home.
The 195-bed facility was originally slated to open in mid-2016, but now it’s been delayed by over three years. Rauner also suspended capital projects, delayed payments to state vendors, and suspended funding for addiction and bullying prevention, firefighter training, immigrant integration services, and welcoming centers.
“Critical programs that help Illinoisans build better lives became casualties of Bruce Rauner’s failed leadership months into him being sworn in,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “This failed governor halted construction on a Veterans’ home in Chicago — and then fatally mismanaged one in Quincy — in a desperate and cruel attempt to force his political agenda on our state.”
She’s taken down one of Mike Madigan’s longtime political operatives, questioned the powerful House speaker’s actions in a federal lawsuit that also alleged retaliation, and for months criticized the Southwest Side Democrat’s handling of sexual harassment claims.
And now political consultant Alaina Hampton is interested in taking a look at her “dream job:” the suddenly vacant post of executive director for the Democratic Party of Illinois, which Madigan controls.
In a dizzying and swift fall — and the closest the #MeToo movement has inched to Madigan — Tim Mapes last week announced his resignation as executive director of the party, chief-of-staff to Madigan and clerk of the Illinois House just hours after Sherri Garrett, a longtime speaker’s office employee, went public with what she called “harassment” and “bullying” allegations. […]
“Running DPI [the Democratic Party of Illinois] has been a dream of mine throughout my entire career,” Hampton told the Sun-Times.
* Meanwhile, Rep. Litesa Wallace (D-Rockford) told me she’s interested in Mapes’ party job as well. And a MoveOn petition has 466 signatures backing Sen. Daniel Biss’ former running mate’s hopes…
In the wake of the resignation of Tim Mapes as Executive Director of the Democratic Party of Illinois, we need a replacement who not only has strong executive skills, but who has “experienced firsthand the pervasive culture of unchecked sexual harassment that disempowers and silences women, especially women of color.”
We need someone who has lived and worked for years knowing that the “Consequences for sexual harassment are few and far between in Springfield. But the political consequences for speaking out are almost guaranteed.”* Having someone who has experienced both the harassment and the retribution for speaking out would be ideal.
We need someone who can unite the disparate wings of the party. Someone who inspires. Someone who reflects our commitment to a strong statewide party and a better future for all.
We know that person is Representative Litesa Wallace. We urge you to select Rep. Wallace to be the next Executive Director of the Democratic Party of Illinois.
