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The line between campaigning and governing (Part 2)

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Illinois

* As we discussed yesterday, Jack Lavin’s personal e-mails show that the former state chief operating officer discussed the governor’s botched anti-violence initiative with the governor’s campaign team at least a handful of times.

Sen. Bill Brady, who lost to Quinn in 2010 and sits on the Legislative Audit Commission, had this to say at the time…

“I don’t think there’s been any question in anyone’s mind that the Quinn administration, his governmental staff and his political staff, used government resources to please certain constituencies that they hoped would increase the voter turnout and suppress the voter turnout for us prior to the election,”

That story was initially posted online shortly before 2 o’clock yesterday afternoon.

* Shortly afterward, at 2:18 pm, I received this e-mail from the Illinois Republican Party…

Moments ago, Barbara Shaw misled the Illinois Legislative Audit Commission. The Chicago Sun-Times reports Shaw saying:

“…the governor’s office never told us who to give the money to, what communities to go in, what agencies should get that money…”

Shaw’s statement is demonstrably false. Take a look:

The South Suburbs Were Added To NRI At The Direction Of The Governor’s Office. “After target communities for NRI were determined, the south suburbs requested to the Governor’s Office that its area be included in the Initiative. The Governor’s Office agreed and three townships were added.” (“Performance Audit State Moneys Provided To The Illinois Violence Prevention Authority For The Neighborhood Recovery Initiative,” Illinois Auditor General, 2/14, p. 13)

Hermosa Was Added To NRI In The Third Year At The Direction Of The Governor’s Office. “In a series of meetings in the fall and early winter of 2012, the same ICJIA staff met with Deputy Chief of Staff Toni Irving about the NRI program and other topics. At some of these meetings, a Governor’s staff member, George Letavish was present. During these meeting DCS Irving showed ICJIA staff various iterations of drafts of budgets for the NRI program identifying the amount of funding to go to each of the NRI lead agencies and amounts to be distributed by the lead agencies to subcontracting provider agencies. Hermosa was included on the list of communities to be funded in all iterations of the draft budget.” (ICJIA Response To Auditor Questions, 10/22/13)

* Check out the timestamp on this post in our ScribbleLive feed yesterday afternoon…

Yep. Just four minutes later, and about a half an hour after a member of the Legislative Audit Commission blasted Quinn for mixing government and politics in a gubernatorial campaign, the exact same question pushed by the IL GOP was brought up in a state legislative hearing by a GOP member of the commission.

I’m certain it was just a happy coincidence, though.

* By the way, Shaw had an explanation ready…

Shaw responded that the south suburbs were added “as a region,” but the governor had no influence over which groups would get the grants and how much each would receive. The governor decided that x amount would be sent to Chicago and x in the southern suburbs, but that’s it.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 10:09 am

Comments

The Illinois GOP “Governing by Press Release at its best” and if they keep it up, they’ll have another 4 years to further hone their skills at it.

Comment by train111 Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 10:15 am
The Rauner GOP apparatus, the ILGOP is now Rauner’s, paid for by Rauner, is orchestrating the narrative of the committee questioning and the public voice of what’s going on(?)

I’m sure it’s baloney. I’m sure it’s false.

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 10:19 am
Adding… if the legislature would have done their job properly, they would have allocated the money, not the gov. But they punted.

Comment by Ducky LaMoore Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 10:19 am
I thought that IL GOP statement was unfair when I saw it yesterday — because Shaw went on clarify in detail what she was referring to in her statement, and how it was true.

Comment by walker Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 10:21 am
Can Sen. Brady explain how NRI led to voter suppression?

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 10:23 am
And on that note…I reiterate, so far this is turning into what all have suspected a GOP witch hunt. I have yet to hear anything that even comes close to corruption.

Maybe a DEM can start to make the argument that Rauner and the millions of dollars he has funneled to the GOP – including legislators – is the real reason these hearings are taking place.

Rauner and his $$$ is corrupting the system worse than it already is…Would make good theater which is all that this is turning out to be. Just saying…

Comment by Just saying... Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 10:23 am
And that’s just about as coordinated as the Illinois Republican Party ever gets.

Good job, guys!

– MrJM

Comment by MrJM Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 10:24 am
Ok. Let me get this straight. The Republicans are throwing a fit because there was discussions with campaign staff about NRI; that there were politics involved. And what do they do? The Republicans on the LAC take direction from the Illinois Republican Party (which last I check has some dealings in campaigning) in what questions to ask at the LAC hearing.

My head hurts.

Comment by Demoralized Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 10:24 am
And, Rauner had nothing to do with pulling votes off the pension bill, either. Looking forward to our feckless, useless media, sans Rich Miller of course, reporting this in a “balanced” way that leaves the casual reader poorly informed about how badly the GOP got blown out on their witch hunt.

Comment by Willie Stark Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 10:29 am
OW, I am quite impresssed. The ILGOP typically can’t chew gum and walk down the street. The ability to organize the ILGOP demonstrates signficant amount of leadership in and of itself.

So, combining two posts, if Quinn had nothing to do with this, how exactly can he spin it as his effort to step up for the AA community. Either you did it and you own it, or you had nothing to do with it?

Comment by the Patriot Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 10:30 am
Rep. Sandack clearly demonstrating that Quinn will listen to and try to respond to issues important to his base of voters. I find it ironic that it was national Republican operatives - trying to damage Obama and Emanuel - who elevated the Chicago murder crisis that required Quinn to respond to the crisis via NRI.

Comment by Jimmy Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 10:31 am
This investigation needs to be expanded…over the course of his tenure as Governor, it turns out that the Quinn administration has directed money to be spent all over the state! Parks, roads, schools, you name it, and all in Illinois where people might vote for him. Not a dime spent in Indiana, Ohio, Alaska, or anywhere else lacking crucial Illinois voters. And, worse yet, he often shows up to give speeches and cut ribbons and announce that precious state funds have been spent. The man has no shame.

Comment by Pot calling kettle Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 10:31 am
===OW, I am quite impresssed. The ILGOP typically can’t chew gum and walk down the street. The ability to organize the ILGOP demonstrates signficant amount of leadership in and of itself.===

My point is the Rauner campaign is driving the bus. That is political, so if the political is driving the bus here, to the governmental, where is the line for My Party.

The audit itself is just so damaging, so going down something to be seen as a political witch hunt, and seeing politics and governmental going hand in hand, going down the political angle seems disingenuous.

Or am I missing something?

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 10:47 am
==- wordslinger - Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 10:23 am:==

Woah, woah, woah, you’re demanding evidence to backup fallacious and thinly-veiled racist claims? Brady don’t need no stinkin’ evidence!

Comment by Precinct Captain Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 10:48 am
By what method is Sen. Brady suggesting Gov. Quinn or the Quinn campaign suppressed turnout of voters?

Comment by Carl Nyberg Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 10:51 am
The particular challenge that NRI presents to the Quinn campaign is that there are only two conclusions that can be reasonably reached. The program is either a consequence of corruption or plagued by incompetent management. Either of these make legitimate lines of attack. Obviously corruption is a bigger deal, but the fallback narrative of “well-intended but incompetently administered program” isn’t very helpful either.

Comment by Illannoyed Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 10:52 am
Republicans have a long history of considering legal votes by Blacks and Latinos as suspect or fraudulent.

The problem is not that too many Blacks vote but that too many Republicans are stone-cold racists.

Comment by Carl Nyberg Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 10:53 am
There is $54,500,000 in borrowed state money that ended up being wasted due to mismanagement, corruption, greed and bad government, supervised by Governor Quinn. Yet, when an investigation is called to investigate what happened to our money, we read partisan cat-calls, and insults towards the investigators!

What ever happened to administrative accountability? What ever happened to our state so that we get rousing defense of the administration responsible for losing every dollar of our money? How corrupt has our politics gotten that it seems more important to defend the mismanaged and the incompetent who were exposed as playing politics funded with tax dollars?

We are out $54,500,000. The people deserve answers from the stooges who blew it. Who the hell applauds for this level of government incompetence? How low does our politics go when we forget the damage done and twist ourselves into political support for the folks responsible for the damage?

This is one of the reasons we end up with gubernatorial felons. This is why we don’t solve problems. Like Keystone Cops we don’t catch the ones with the loot. Worse, it seems half the Cops root for them.

We’re out $54,500,000 and it seems all I read here is folks too partisan to care about that anymore.

Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 11:09 am
As an aside- the NRI “hearings” didn’t even make page one of the Decatur Herald and Review. They have been all over Quinn on this issue (and all in for Rauner from early in the primary season). For them to not spin it enough to help their man Rauner and to give it such little coverage is hard to imagine.

Unless they couldn’t figure a way to make yesterday’s circus help Rauner? Maybe today’s show will give them Something else to make it front page worthy. Still surprised it wasn’t played up with a bold headline this morning

Comment by Roadiepig Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 11:15 am
vanillaman- all $54 million was wasted? None of it did any good to help stem the violence?

Be careful using absolutes. It takes away from the points you are trying to make with others.

Comment by Roadiepig Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 11:18 am
===We’re out $54,500,000 and it seems all I read here is folks too partisan to care about that anymore.===

- VanillaMan -, I guess you missed a the questions in the campaign email, campaign and government mixing, and dates of emails…

During all that, I don’t recall Sandack worried about the. $54 million at that time. Sounded more like “who” and campaign, not finding the monies.

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 11:22 am
Roadiepig–The Herald’s sister paper the Bloomington Pantagraph has it on Page One just below the masthead. But, then, both senators Brady and Barickman are from here.

The article quotes Sen Manar stating that areas in Decatur and other places outside of Chicago also might have benefited from NRI.

Comment by Nearly Normal Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 11:23 am
VM — How much was “wasted”? How was it “wasted”? The moralizing around here is starting to make me throw up in my mouth a little bit.

Comment by Try-4-Truth Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 11:24 am
The ILGOP is just fishing for headlines. They know that 99% of voters will not drill down, and “QUINN AIDE DENIAL PROVEN FALSE” is all they will see. If the media is going to give it, they are going to take it.

Comment by Percival Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 11:24 am
‘How much was “wasted”? How was it “wasted”?’

Duh. All of it. Spent on/by black people.

/bittersarcasm

– MrJM

Comment by MrJM Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 11:29 am
VMan, where was the money ‘borrowed’ from?

What happened to your windy vote-buying theory? Now it’s all about competence?

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 11:29 am
Anybody else troubled that the Auditor General is playing a part in this hearing? I’m having trouble with his independence thing-both sides of the isle. A legislative auditor at a legislative audit commission hearing deriding an LAC member. Doesn’t seem right.

Comment by Soccertease Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 11:37 am
@Soccertease:

The Auditor General participates at all LAC hearings. It’s his audits that are the subject of LAC hearings. This isn’t special to this hearing.

Comment by Demoralized Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 11:42 am
Yes, and I’m CERTAIN that no member of, say, Edgar’s staff EVER did that; especially in 1995 when their Illinois Agenda was being implemented.

Perhaps Sen. Brady could care to confirm for us that no political related conversations about which part of the program would please which core GOP group? He was around then.

Give me a break. Unbelievable. Don’t throw stones in glass houses, Senator!

Comment by low level Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 11:44 am
The only one to suppress voter turnout for Brady was Brady, by taking far right positions, ignoring Cook County, and by generally running a terrible campaign.

Brady needs to learn about personal responsibility. He needs to stop blaming others for the results of his own actions.

Comment by Gooner Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 11:45 am
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE “Pot Calling Kettle”’s comment. Spot on!

Comment by Both Sides Now Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 11:52 am
==the Rauner campaign is driving the bus==

my point is the only thing consistently worse than the democrats in IL has been republicans.

I think Rauner’s downfall has been he did not go in harder from day 1 to overtly try to pick up more seats. Madigan has monoplized the state by controlling elections and Rauner should have used his money.

I wish we weren’t debating some bs program that everyone knows was only intended to get democrat votes. That is no secret, crime probably not???

I wish these two would talk about what they intend to do to keep another 500 people from dying the first 12 months of their term as governor. Frankly, I’ll give the 50mil to cut that number in half.

Comment by the Patriot Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 11:55 am
@ Demoralized-I understand that. Just saying a legislative auditor can’t be independent. Independent would be outside state government (I.e., a public accounting firm).

Comment by Soccertease Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 11:56 am
- Nearly Normal - Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 11:23 am:

Makes sense the the Panagraph would make it front page due to Brady and Brickman. The Manar quote also was in the article. Still surprised they couldn’t make it front page for their readers here.

Comment by Roadiepig Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 11:58 am
=== wish we weren’t debating some bs program that everyone knows was only intended to get democrat votes.===

Calling them “democrat votes” is exactly he why My Party loses.

“Democrat” - we have to be better than the Dopey labeled talking points that are used as excuses, and spoken in a derogatory manner.

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 12:11 pm
The NRI debocle proves that the line between State governance and politics was and continues to be breacehd by Governor Quinn’s administration. #yep #whatbillbradysaid

Comment by Black Ivy Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 12:29 pm
==legislative auditor can’t be independent==

He’s the state auditor. And I’ve never heard anybody say that the Auditor General’s office doesn’t conduct itself in an independent manner. That’s why the Auditor General is appointed for a 10 year term.

Comment by Demoralized Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 1:02 pm
==line between State governance and politics==

And what line would that be? There is no line between elected officials governing and politics.

Grow. Up.

Comment by Demoralized Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 1:03 pm
So where did these unicorn emails come from? Who withheld them previously and why?

Comment by Wow Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 1:15 pm
===Who withheld them previously and why? ===

Oh, please. They were personal e-mails, which was beyond the audit’s scope. So, they were subpoenaed.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 1:24 pm
– Just saying a legislative auditor can’t be independent. Independent would be outside state government (I.e., a public accounting firm).–

Do yourself a favor and read this and other audits, then tell me that office is not independent.

The best lessons in the nuts-and-bolts of state government are auditor general reports. That crew knows its stuff and gives you an honest shake.

Once again, this audit came out last February. The LAC should have been on it then and doing their job.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 2:06 pm
Just to add to word’s point, most auditor general audits are conducted by private accounting firms under contract to the OAG.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 3:50 pm
Besides what everybody else said about the Auditor General’s office, I’m confused how Holland “deriding” an LAC member means he’s not independent. Wouldn’t that prove his independence?

Comment by MyTwoCents Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 5:40 pm
===Anybody else troubled that the Auditor General is playing a part in this hearing?===

He’s an elected constitutional officer. He’s part of that committee.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 5:46 pm
Rich, he’s not elected. He’s appointed, right? Am I missing something?

Comment by Soccertease Thursday, Oct 9, 14 @ 8:33 pm