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Did the Tribune make an oopsie?

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Illinois

* One of the allegations leveled in the Tribune’s Mike Madigan investigation last week was that Madigan pushed legislation on behalf of two law firm clients…

In 2003, Madigan sponsored legislation sending $3.5 million in state money to the city of Chicago for “all costs associated with road, water, sewer and lighting improvements on 76th Street and South Kostner Avenue.”

That legislative language directed money to a privately owned stretch of pavement that leads to the properties of two Madigan clients in his Southwest Side district.

Madigan’s response in the story…

Madigan’s written statement said he sponsored the road improvement at the request of a nearby condominium building, which he described as the principal beneficiary of the project.

“That’s just not true,” said Daphne Brownlee, president of the Ford City Condominium Association. “We became aware of it for the first time when it was being done and we were very surprised.”

Brownlee, who said she was on the condo board at the time of the roadwork, also challenged Madigan’s statement that her complex was the primary beneficiary, because its main entrance is on another road.

But late last week, Madigan’s press secretary issued a statement. All emphasis is in the original…

The problem for the Tribune, however, is that they talked to the wrong condo association. The Tribune reporters spoke to the Ford City Condominium Association. But the condo association that requested the roadwork was the “Courtyard in Ford City Condominium Association,” a nearby complex located on 76th Street—the street that was the beneficiary of the roadwork. Thus, the Tribune did not prove the Speaker’s assertion false; it missed the boat altogether while leading its readers to believe that it had caught the Speaker in a contradiction.

What is most pathetic about the Tribune’s reporting is that Ms. Brownlee told the Tribune reporters that they had the wrong condo association, but they did nothing to correct the error. She explained that her condo complex was not even located on 76th Street and would not benefit from that roadwork. One might expect a reporter to take these statements as evidence that he was not talking to the correct source. Instead, he took the statements as evidence that his thesis was correct, and the Speaker was wrong:

Brownlee … also challenged Madigan’s statement that her complex was the primary beneficiary, because its main entrance is on another road.

Did it ever occur to the Tribune reporters, upon learning that Ms. Brownlee’s condo complex was not even located near the roadwork, that maybe they were speaking with the wrong association? Why did they ignore Ms. Brownlee’s warning to them on this point? And why didn’t they simply return to the Speaker, with whom they had an open dialogue, and provide him the opportunity to clarify matters? One phone call, and the issue could have been cleared up.

Instead, the Tribune published a piece on this Ford City road project that might have made for nice “gotcha” journalism but which, unfortunately, was completely false and misleading. This leaves only one question:

Will the Tribune admit its mistake and issue a retraction?

Oops.

The full Madigan statement is here. The letter written by Ms. Brownlee can be read by clicking here.

* Meanwhile, Rod Blagojevich praised the Tribune in a press release…

Gov. Rod Blagojevich [Sunday] praised the Chicago Tribune for its expose on Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and the apparent conflicts of interest between his job as a powerful polician and the clients he represents in his law practice.

“If this isn’t corrupt I don’t know what is,” said the former governor on his WLS radio show this afternoon. “Finally the Chicago Tribune has done something about this.”

“I hate to tell you I told you so I told you so,” said the former governor the show.

Blagojevich says he doubts Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Michael Madigan’s daughter, will do an investigation.

“Madigan & Getzendanner has become a go-to firm in Chicago’s lucrative field of commercial property tax appeals,” Chicago Tribune, the paper wrote. “In 2008 it represented 45 of the 150 most valuable downtown buildings, based on values set by the last complete city reassessment in 2006, according to public records. That’s more than twice what the closest rival represented.”

“Hey Mike Madigan why don’t you call me on this show,” Blagojevich said on the radio. “Why don’t you disclose who your clients are. We have a right to know.”

Madigan never called.

But others did. The lines lit up.

“If Madigan has his way he’s gonna make Illinois his personal feifdom,” said Jerry from University of Illinois.

As governor, Blagojevich rewrote HB824 which called for lawmakers to disclose their clients. The bill died after that.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Jan 25, 10 @ 10:01 am

Comments

The Trib obviously invested a lot of time into Madigan, and felt they had to come up with something. Even without the goof, which is pretty bad, it’s all small potatoes.

They did a big Pulitzer-push expose on a legislator trying to get an access road in his district? Stop the presses.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Jan 25, 10 @ 10:10 am
How do others feel about the Trib’s billboard campaign where they try to position the paper as the advocate for the little guy?

Wouldn’t it seem more credible if they discussed stories they broke that resulted in policy changes?

But it’s easier to talk about being a watchdog in theory than to point to what the Trib has accomplished in the real world as a watchdog.

Comment by Carl Nyberg Monday, Jan 25, 10 @ 10:17 am
Doesn’t surprise me in the least. The Trib makes a huge mistake with their “investigation” - to go along with their really poor reporting that they have become known for since the Zellster took over.

Now for the Rod formerly known as Governor: WGN radio reported that his book has sold a grand total of 3,000 copies. pathetic.

Comment by should've known Monday, Jan 25, 10 @ 10:19 am
“If this isn’t corrupt I don’t know what is,” said the former governor…

“If this isn’t chicken, I don’t know what is,” said the Donner Party.

“If this isn’t Kool-Aid, I don’t know what it is”, said the Reverend Jim Jones.

“

Comment by VanillaMan Monday, Jan 25, 10 @ 10:30 am
Rich, do you know how many installments there will be to this trib series? Chase and Kidwell are hitmen who have less interest in the facts than with controversy. These guys don’t stop.

Comment by anon Monday, Jan 25, 10 @ 10:40 am
VM, LOL

Comment by RobRoy Monday, Jan 25, 10 @ 10:40 am
So Madigan is saying that there is one example the Tribune reported of Madigan clients receiving benefits from Madigan-sponsored legislation that is wrong. Oh, that makes everything better!

Again, a child can understand the conflict of interest of being the most powerful man in Illinois moonlighting in a job where his clients can benefit from his work. You either recuse yourself from such bills, which in Madigan’s position is near-impossible, or you quit the moonlighting job and put your assets in a blind trust. If the salary of the job is too low for that and you can’t live with the money you’ll make in the private sector after leaving, then quit.

Comment by lake county democrat Monday, Jan 25, 10 @ 10:58 am
Pretty pathetic journalism. I never liked Madigan until he was the only one I remember going after Blagojevich. Where’s the Tribune’s story on that? Chase and Kidwell should be working for a small town newspaper, not a major media outlet like Chicago. What a major goof up.

Comment by anon Monday, Jan 25, 10 @ 11:04 am
Why doesn’t the GA just make it so that IL legislators have to disclose their income taxes. Pols at the federal level have to, and it would make sense for issues like this.

Comment by Bring Back Boone's Monday, Jan 25, 10 @ 11:12 am
Rich:
To be fair(and balanced) the Trib said Friday that they talked to both condo assocs, but could not explain why the chose to quote the wrong one or why they asked the spokesperson for the wrong assoc. how to find the right assoc.

BTW Lake Co Dem: correcting the fact error seemed worthwhile. These very strained attempts to create the appearence of a conflict all missed the mark.

Comment by Steve Brown Monday, Jan 25, 10 @ 11:14 am
===Pols at the federal level have to===

No, they don’t.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Jan 25, 10 @ 11:15 am
Don’t Congressmen have to disclose their income taxes?

Comment by Bring Back Boone's Monday, Jan 25, 10 @ 11:42 am
No.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Jan 25, 10 @ 11:42 am
chase and kidwell spent a good part of their careers going after blago and others close to him. why is anybody surprised that they have gone after the speaker? everybody ate it up when they were ripping blago bacause they wanted to belive it all. but when they do a hit on the speaker, people recoil as if these guys made upo the whole thing. they did to the speaker what they did to blago. they took a few facts, combined them with misstatements, and wrote a story in the paper. it looks like they may be getting under the speakers skin a bit, though.

Comment by Anon Monday, Jan 25, 10 @ 11:44 am
Steve — agreed, it’s never a problem correcting a factual error and that’s not to let the Trib reporters off the hook. I’m just rejecting the argument that “the forest” is all just “small potatoes.” It’s simply wrong, whether or not it’s legal, for the speaker to be involved with any legislation that benefits his private clients.

Comment by lake county democrat Monday, Jan 25, 10 @ 11:59 am
How long will it be before Anita Alvarez:

Subpeona’s:
their college transcripts,
grade reports,
homework assignments,
conduct records,
student housing and food service account records,
Pi Delta Epsilon membership applications and records,
Sigma Delta Chi membership applications, meeting attendance records, agendas and minutes.

Then when she finishes with their academic backgrounds, she will move on to:

their Tribune expense account records, performance reviews
compensation history
personal and business travel itineraries
personal bank records, and
state and federal tax filings.

Thereafter she will no dobt send some of her crack investigators out to interview:

their neighbors,
their postal delivery person,
clergy where they worship,
principals and teachers at their children’s schools.

Then she will have them pull:

physical and mental health medical history,
prescription pharmaceutical records,
their public library book usage records,
magazine subscription records,
association memberships,
Blockbuster and NetFlix video rental account records.

Comment by Quinn T. Sential Monday, Jan 25, 10 @ 1:24 pm
The Tribune clearly made reporting errors, and it is nearly as clear that they will not find any significant wrong-doing that will stick to Madigan. Unfortunately none of that addresses the real problem, which is that one person wields almost all of the power in Springfield. What happened to even a semi-earnest attempt at representative democracy?

Comment by fed up with chicago dems Monday, Jan 25, 10 @ 2:28 pm