Madigan announced Friday that his political organization had retained an “independent counsel” in Kelly Smith-Haley, of Fox Swibel Levin & Carroll, LLP.
Smith-Haley “will provide independent review of allegations, conduct investigations, and provide recommendations for updating policies and procedures, including clear rules for conduct and penalties for violations,” Madigan wrote in a letter to Democratic lawmakers. […]
Smith-Haley’s two brothers, Mike Smith and Bill Smith, both work at Cornerstone Government Affairs - a public relations and lobbying firm that hired another top Madigan aide, Will Cousineau, eight months ago. […]
Smith-Haley confirmed Tuesday that her brothers work with Cousineau, though she said she has “no ties to Cornerstone” and has met Cousineau “briefly” but “never spoken with him in a one-on-one setting.”
“This is exactly what I do for all my clients,” the employment attorney said, adding, “I would not have taken the assignment if I was not going to be independent.”
Madigan’s longtime attorney Mike Kasper asked Smith-Haley, with assistance from others at her firm, to serve in that role after two high-ranking operatives in the speaker’s inner circle were dismissed over misconduct allegations within a week.
Smith-Haley said she and Kasper know each other because their daughters attend school together, but she has never done any work for him before.
“Our firm has been brought on to help the client look at previous investigations to see if it was handled in accordance with their policies and if not what needs to change,” Smith-Haley said in an exclusive interview Wednesday - conducted just after Kasper and Smith-Haley met. […]
J.B. Pritzker, who has received much of the party’s official backing, has also for the first time shared criticism of Madigan’s handling of the situation, saying, “The people investigating Speaker Madigan’s operation should have no political or other ties to the speaker.”
* The Sun-Times puts all that into context for this week’s news…
A lawyer hired by Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan last year to investigate allegations of sexual harassment within his political organization — including those leveled against longtime political aide Kevin Quinn — is the sister of two lobbyists who reportedly paid Quinn $2,000 earlier this year.
Kelly Smith-Haley was retained by Madigan in February 2018 to “receive and investigate harassment allegations” regarding the speaker’s political staff, according to a Feb. 16, 2018 letter Madigan sent to the House Democratic caucus and to staffers. […]
Smith-Haley’s brothers, Mike Smith and Bill Smith, both work at Cornerstone Government Affairs, a public relations and lobbying firm. Bill Smith is a senior consultant, and Mike Smith is a principal and director at the Washington-based firm, which also operates in Chicago. The Chicago Tribune on Wednesday reported Quinn received two checks for $1,000 each from Cornerstone Government Affairs in January, four months before his home was raided by federal agents. It’s not clear what authorities were seeking in the raid.
Among Cornerstone’s clients is ComEd, which has acknowledged being served with a federal grand jury subpoena seeking lobbyist records. The utility’s large stable of lobbyists include many with close ties to Madigan.
It’s like living in a small town. Everybody knows everybody.
It’s a small town, son
And we all support the team
*** UPDATE 1 *** ILGOP…
“It’s hard to believe that Speaker Madigan had no knowledge of $10,000 worth of payments from his close allies to his disgraced former employee, Kevin Quinn after Madigan had dismissed Quinn for sexual harassment. Yes or no, did Speaker Madigan have any knowledge of these payments? Why were his close allies paying Quinn after his dismissal?” - Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Joe Hackler
*** UPDATE 2 *** NRCC…
In case you missed it, the Chicago Tribune is detailing the shady financial dealings of four ComEd lobbyists who are under federal investigation for providing payments to an ousted Illinois political operative.
What else do these corrupt lobbyists have in common? They’ve all donatedthousands to Socialist Loser* Betsy Dirksen Londrigan’s congressional campaign! Betsy even appears to be close friends with one of the men under investigation.
Betsy is the first to decry corporate PAC money (even though she’s accepted hundreds of thousands from the DCCC), but will happily take money from corrupt Chicago lobbyists? Yikes!
NRCC Comment: “Socialist Loser* Betsy Dirksen Londrigan is a hypocrite and she can’t have it both ways. Betsy should return every penny from the DCCC and corrupt Chicago lobbyists, or come clean to voters about who is really funding her socialist campaign.” – NRCC Spokeswoman Carly Atchison
*(U.S. House Election Results 2018, The New York Times, January 28, 2019).
*** UPDATE 3 *** Ouch…
To the Democratic Women’s Caucus:
I have now been waiting for a year & a half for you to support me publicly, or even address me by name in a statement. Where are you? What is your stance? We all want to know.
