Watching this trial reminds me of the Congressional hearings on steroid baseball use. For a while, everyone was in awe of the talents of Sosa, McGwire and Bonds until it was placed front and center that they weren’t exceptional, they were just cheaters.
I think the same holds true here. For at least two decades pundit and pols alike talked about how Madigan and his team played 3D chess while everyone else played checkers. In reality, they weren’t as nearly smart or strategic as people thought, they were just really good at cheating.
They blackmailed the state’s largest utility to bankroll their campaign field team and then blackmailed them some more to fund their entire political operation on the backs of rate hikes for consumers. It wasn’t smart, wasn’t strategic, it was just blunt force blackmail to cheat the system.
And, sadly, no one at Com Ed among all those talented executives ever thought to say “no” or “we shouldn’t be doing this”. They had to know that paying phony lobbyists was illegal.
- Dirksen - Thursday, Mar 30, 23 @ 9:37 am:
Watching this trial reminds me of the Congressional hearings on steroid baseball use. For a while, everyone was in awe of the talents of Sosa, McGwire and Bonds until it was placed front and center that they weren’t exceptional, they were just cheaters.
I think the same holds true here. For at least two decades pundit and pols alike talked about how Madigan and his team played 3D chess while everyone else played checkers. In reality, they weren’t as nearly smart or strategic as people thought, they were just really good at cheating.
They blackmailed the state’s largest utility to bankroll their campaign field team and then blackmailed them some more to fund their entire political operation on the backs of rate hikes for consumers. It wasn’t smart, wasn’t strategic, it was just blunt force blackmail to cheat the system.
- low level - Thursday, Mar 30, 23 @ 12:42 pm:
^^ it definitely has taken the shiny gloss off them
- Itsthelaw - Thursday, Mar 30, 23 @ 9:32 pm:
And, sadly, no one at Com Ed among all those talented executives ever thought to say “no” or “we shouldn’t be doing this”. They had to know that paying phony lobbyists was illegal.