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Noland is first reform commissioner to speak out about failings; And Cullerton’s lobbying examined

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* John Patterson at the Daily Herald has a must-read retrospective today about what went wrong last year with the Illinois Reform Commission. Go read the whole thing, but this excerpt is quite important. Former GOP state Sen. Duane Noland was a member of Patrick Collins’ hand-picked Illinois Reform Commission. He was the only former legislator on the commission and has now become the first commission member to openly criticize the way the IRC handled last year’s push for reforms…

[Noland] said many of his commission colleagues had no idea what awaited at the Capitol and when advised what was coming chose not to engage the system even if it meant their proposals might falter.

“I tried to talk about ways we could be more effective,” Noland said in a recent interview. “But they wanted to be independent and above the fray.”

Noland said his advice was “hit singles and advance runners,” but the feeling of the commission was they’d been assembled “to hit a home run.”

The problem, he said, is those who swing for the fences often strike out.

“I sensed real quickly - it’s getting ugly and our people don’t know how to engage the process,” Noland said. “I could just see it, we were grinding to a halt.”

While that may look to many of my readers like common sense advice, engaging the system and coming up with reasonable compromises was obviously seen as somehow dirty by the commission.

Patterson’s article revolves around the controversy over Collins’ and the commission’s apparent overreaction to what looked like a fairly benign meeting between one commission member and the spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan. Former Republican Gov. Jim Edgar added his own two cents…

Edgar said negotiations are part of the process, the earlier they begin the better the outcome, and, while some things shouldn’t be sacrificed, wiggle room is needed. He said Collins should have reached out to legislative leaders.

“I can’t believe … that everything there was chiseled in stone,” Edgar said of the reform report. “And if it is, then you’re going to have a tough time.”

Again, go read the whole thing.

* Meanwhile, the Sun-Times has a report about how Northwestern University allegedly managed to keep a lucrative county traffic school contract. A cousin of Mayor Daley was involved. And so was Senate President John Cullerton. The Sun-Times provided his full explanation…

Like most members of the General Assembly, Cullerton serves as a part time state senator while continuing his professional career. As a partner with Thompson Coburn LLP, he continues to practice in law in areas of zoning, licensing, assessments, nonprofit law and other matters that come before Cook County and City of Chicago. The City of Chicago and Cook County lobbyist registration ordinances broadly define the term what constitutes “lobbying,” including traditional legal services. Out of an abundance of caution to ensure compliance with these ordinances, Cullerton has registered as a lobbyist for the traditional legal services he provides to clients with matters before the City of Chicago and Cook County.

The [National Safety Council] asked Cullerton for representation in the traffic safety school bid. Later the NSC issued a Request for Proposal for general representation on all legal work across the U.S. After submitting a proposal, competing with other law firms for the work, and a series of interviews, Thompson Coburn (the largest firm in St. Louis with offices in Washington D.C., Chicago and Belleville) was awarded the representation.

* Related…

* New law cuffs commissioners’ campaign cash

* Now is no time to water down FOIA law

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 9:03 am

Comments

–Noland said his advice was “hit singles and advance runners,” but the feeling of the commission was they’d been assembled “to hit a home run.”–

The problem, he said, is those who swing for the fences often strike out.–

Quinn should have appointed Ozzie to chair the commission. That’s his brand of ball.

He would have been a lot more effective — and entertaining — than Collins.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 9:15 am
How were these people seeing themselves? Superior to the average General Assembly legislator? Virgin queens? White-smock-wearing professors studying fungus? Messiahs?

Their pride went before their fall.

Civil service is not for prissy types. You have to deal with real, stinky, toothless, drunk, angry, emotional people. (Then there are the voters.) The issues you often deal with are just as emotional and crazy. You want to pass legislation? Then you got to embarrass yourself sometime. Want reform? Get prepared to be strip searched.

That’s life in a democracy. If you can’t handle it, then become a professor who writes about governmental reforms and how government ought to function. And stay away from reality or you will get your Mortarboard knocked off by the Mudthrowers.

Lousy commission.

Comment by VanillaMan Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 9:26 am
Given how “5th grader obvious” the corruption of the Madigan-controlled legislatur is, I sympathize with Collins. Rich, just what were they supposed to compromise on? One-man, one-vote? Allowing Madigan unlimited money to spend on dummy candidates and other ways to maintain his grip? It’s interesting that the article mentioned Pate Philip — yeah, a guy the Sun-Times reported used the N-word, and similar slurs agaist Jews and Catholics, there’s some good faith compromising ahead.

The problem isn’t Collins or lack of cooperation with legislators, it’s an electorate who doesn’t care about corruption unless it kills a bunch of little kids in a firey car accident.

Comment by lake county democrat Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 9:31 am
–Their pride went before their fall–

Vanilla Man: you rendered my intended comment as something short of, well, piffle.

Comment by David Ormsby Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 9:36 am
David, it’s from the Book of Proverbs, dude.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 9:43 am
These stories just reaffirm how bad springfield is. Midst of a recession and the clowns down there in the circus are worried about getting side lobbying contracts and doing everything in their power to subvert laws to get them to behave better.

If we had a state gop or senate and house leaders it would be great to see them run campaigns against the democrat legislators up here who enable this garbage and pass themselves off as “independents”.

Comment by shore Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 10:03 am
lake county is largely onto the problem of reforming IL state gov’t.

The commission may have been a little clumsy in their approach to legislative leaders, but the main problem is that the old guard and insiders ARE NOT interested in real reform.

The fact is that even though IL is broke and in terrible shape, inside power brokers like Madigan and his Republican counter parts are satisfied with the status quo.

The voters, what do they matter? They don’t know and can’t follow what is going on. Hell they elected Scott Lee Cohen, they elected Blago twice.
Most voters don’t even have a clue who their state reps or state senators are. And who are the state reps and senators? All too often they are hacks and yes men who do what leadership tells them. Leadership, the guys who don’t want real reform, welcome back to where we started.

Comment by jaded voter Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 10:05 am
Reform, with few exceptions historically, is a mirage created by the bums who make it necessary
to discuss in the first place. Just like most “security measures” are to give the appearance of security. Posts up, but 12 feet away anyone could breach the perimeter. We’re taken for fools, and rightly so.

Comment by You Go Boy Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 11:50 am
I give Collins credit for going down to Springfield and making waves and trying to set a new standard. Anyone ywho can get under the skin of the powers that be down there while at least introducing a new agenda to discuss is doing ak in my book.

Comment by Skeptical Cynic Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 11:52 am
Whether the goal was getting under the skin or accomplishing anything they were for the most part beginners at either.

My goodness how we miss the Duane Nolands of the world in the GA.

Comment by steve schnorf Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 12:00 pm
Where is the press? They should explain the need to reduce the overwhelming power of money in politics [at all levels]. The press should hammer daily those like Madigan and Cullerton who sit on or undermine reform efforts. A constant exploration of Madigan and Co. activities could wear them down. This is the job of the press. Why are they so negligent?

Comment by jaded voter Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 12:16 pm
Wordslinger, eh, dude, it was a tip of the hat to its astute use in this context.

Comment by David Ormsby Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 12:21 pm
lake county, I just can’t figure out if the corruption is so 5th grade obvious why no one bothers to prosecute it; they sure prosecute a lot of other corruption today. So are you saying that Madigan owns the feds, they are protecting him?

No, what I think you are doing is what a lot of other “reformers” do: you are using “things I don’t like” and “corruption” as synonymous. They aren’t.

Comment by steve schnorf Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 1:17 pm
lol, Steve. Good point.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 1:18 pm
Many things elected officials can do are perfectly legal yet reprehensible. It is obvious that they way much of our state business is done is corrupt. Few officials are still stupid enough to take cash in envelopes. The misdeeds are more sophisticated and often technically within the letter of bad laws.

Comment by jaded voter Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 1:47 pm
I don’t think there’s anything 5th grade obvious about any of this but it does seem like there is a faulty syllogism lurking in this debate. “They” are not prosecuting x, y or z corruption (whomever “they” may be) so therefore that means there is no corruption or need for reform? That’s kinda goofy.

Comment by Indeedy Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 1:58 pm
Every so often the Tribune has a scale of good to bad
on the sports pages, a kind of visual joking, but
actually on the spot, evaluation of public figures
on recent activities.

you’d have to do it in chunks for easy comparison, but one could do an eval of statewides and chamber leaders, State Senators, Members of Congress (House and Senate), on this one issue, perhaps via key votes, some measures borrowed from
Canary’s group. and, just like with the Trib, there is a top
figure, and a bottom figure to match. maybe something like
Paul Simon at the top, and GRod at the bottom as a measure
of how to evaluate. bonus….funny photos/drawings of
all figures involved.

The problem is the system, not a commission and their inability to navigate. Like slugs under a rock, exposing those who operate in the system is a must. and many of them must go.

Comment by Amalia Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 2:24 pm
jaded, “reprehensible” is also in the eye of the beholder; once again, “things I don’t like”.

Comment by steve schnorf Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 2:48 pm
So Jaded reads a story about reform in the media and then wonders why the media isn’t doing a better job on reform?

Comment by Michelle Flaherty Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 4:11 pm
steve s.

At some point we have to make judgements. I believe IL state gov’t is in terrible shape because of substantial mismanagement, incompetence, arrogance, and fraud on the part of Republican and Democratic leadership in Springfield. Our political system is broken or perhaps “fixed” as Dan Proft suggested.

We could form much better gov’t if the press and citizens were both more engaged in the political process demanding better service, value and accountability. The fact that the press and citizens don’t pay much attention allows corrupt political power brokers to milk this state into bankruptcy. These are “things I don’t like.”

Democratic gov’t is messy. People will disagree about how to best solve the state’s problems or how to allocate limited resources. But fair minded people of all political persuasions should agree that corruption hurts everyone except insiders. Corruption is like pornography, you know it when you see it.

[Of course I assume the majority of people are reasonable and fair-minded. If this is not the case, there is little hope.]

Comment by jaded voter Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 4:18 pm
Miss Flaherty,

The press needs to do far more. Hit and miss won’t cut it. Keeping the citizenry informed is a full time job. Political affairs need continual deep coverage, not spotty and superficial which is the norm.

An uninformed public is a danger to itself. The results are everywhere: Gorge Ryan, 2 terms for Blago, Scott Lee Cohen and a host of unremarkable deadbeats that fill so many seats at all levels of gov’t.

Comment by jaded voter Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 4:33 pm
Jaded,
The Tribune pulled out all the stops heading into Blago’s re-election. Donors, appointments, Patti’s real estate, federal subpoenas. Reporters would show up at events and start yelling “what about the subpoenas” at Blagojevich when he refused to answer questions. In the end it didn’t matter, voters bought his ads and he was re-elected. The media’s probing of Ryan heading into 1998 was effectively cut off when the U.S. Attorney in charge said Ryan wasn’t a target. It’s hard to report about the feds building a corruption case when the top fed says he isn’t.

Comment by Michelle Flaherty Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 5:05 pm
Michelle F,

Just because the Feds said that ‘they’ were not investigating [that’s a story in itself] doesn’t mean that the Tribune couldn’t follow the smell coming from G. Ryan’s Sect of St office—there was plenty of chatter. The press is supposed to be an independent check on gov’t. But then again the Trib endorsed G Ryan.

I know the Trib did stories on Blago’s problems in 2006, but go back and read how many stories said “such and such may tarnish his reformer image”. The ‘reformer’ nonsense was pure drivel handed out by Blago about himself and the Trib should have called it the crap it was. The Trib should have hounded this clown when he was running against Paul Vallas in 2002.[an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure] They let his empty, ridiculous “reformer” platitudes and his money carry the day. We all suffered as a result.

Being a good paper that serves the citizenry is hard work. If Bruce Dolt and other at the Trib are not up to it they should hand over the reigns to journalist who are.

ps: The distorting power of money in electoral politics should be a constant story. Blago was the greatest fundraiser we have seen. The press should also stop the practice of ignoring or dismissing political challengers who are not wealthy. Let candidate rise or fall on the merit of their character and ideas not their money or access to money.

Comment by jaded voter Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 5:38 pm
jv, its fine with me if you say life is full of s__t you don’t like. Its full of stuff I don’t like either, though our lists may not look alike.

However, this is a representative democracy. The people holding office and running things didn’t seize office in a midnight coup, we have elections every two years, most are regularly re-elected, so I think the citizens must not agree with either of us.

Anyway, that’s still different than official corruption. The US Attorney’s office lately doesn’t seem to be cutting anyone much slack on anything serious, so I argue than Madigan (and most of the others) aren’t corrupt, you just don’t like the way they do things. That’s your absolute right, so support a candidate, circulate a petition, make a contribution, walk a precinct, work a phone bank, etc.

Comment by steve schnorf Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 5:49 pm
steve s,

I agree with your prescriptions at the bottom of your comments. I do those things and encourage others to do so as well. We need an active citizenry. People need to go beyond complaining and get up off the couch.

We need voters to be better informed. Voters need to do some work looking at candidates beyond commercials which are of little help in discerning who to vote for. Voters need the press to do a better job of showing us who the candidates really are.

We need to reduce the massive power of money in politics and reduce the tremendous advantages of incumbency. Structurally many elections are not competitive. US Congress returns incumbents at something like 97%. I don’t think it is because all those congressmen are doing such great jobs.

Mike Madigan and other off his ilk are crafty characters who seem to excel at navigating the edge of the letter of the law. I can respect his abilities. The press should follow him closely and put some heat on him. Alot of his doings may not look so good to the public in the light of day.

Comment by jaded voter Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 6:08 pm
Schnorf–
Most people with normal lives don’t have time to get involved in politics in the manner you sugggest. They are too busy working. And even if they did, don’t you think that Mike Madigan and his army of paid government and political staff, lobbyists, etc…wield much more influence than the army of volunteers you describe?

Comment by Skeptical Cynic Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 7:51 pm
sc, then most people with normal lives shouldn’t bitch about how things turn out

Comment by steve schnorf Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 8:02 pm
So the choice is work to put food on the table and shoes on my kids feet or engage in a futile effort to walk precincts in the 13th Ward to oust Mike Madigan?
How about we try to establish a culture of service among elected officials. And if we can’t do that, we put in place mechanisms to guard against self-interest like fairly drawn districts and reasonable constribution limits that apply to everyone.

Comment by Skeptical Cynic Tuesday, Mar 2, 10 @ 9:24 am