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* Some background is here. From the Tribune…
Ruiz charged that at a forum with the Chicago Sun-Times this month, Raoul had defended taking the tobacco industry money by saying he’d had the contributions approved by the attorney general’s office. Raoul repeatedly disputed having said that.
“You cannot tell me what I said,” Raoul shouted at one point.
“I heard you,” said Ruiz.
“You are a serial liar,” Raoul replied.
* Transcript…
Jesse Ruiz: Did the attorney general’s office advise you that it was OK or not OK? You said at the Sun-Times, you told the Sun-Times editorial board to their faces that the office of attorney general told you it was OK.
Kwame Raoul: That was not what I said.
Jesse Ruiz: That is what you said.
Kwame Raoul: Jesse, you cannot tell me what I said!
Jesse Ruiz: I heard you, that’s why I can tell you…
Kwame Raoul: You are a serial liar!
* Tina Sfondeles transcribed the actual exchange at the CS-T editorial board meeting…
Aaron Goldstein: “Senator, if you were the attorney general, would you continue with the lawsuit against the tobacco companies?”
Raoul: “I talked to the attorney general. The attorney general does not control that lawsuit.”
Goldstein: “But you have oversight. You have oversight as attorney general. Would you remove yourself from it?”
Raoul: “The attorney general does not control that lawsuit. I checked with the donor and I checked with the attorney general’s office. They are a signatory to the settlement. The settlement is done. What happened is that …[ interrupted by others] Let me finish.”
Ruiz: “That is not true.”
Raoul: “First of all let me start with the fact that I am not for sale.”
Sharon Fairley: “No, because you’ve already been bought.”
…Adding… From the Ruiz campaign…
As reported by Crain’s Chicago business,
Levin’s Top Tobacco is one of the parties to the national pact that Madigan enforces and oversees here in Illinois. Madigan’s office confirms that it has opposed Top Tobacco in a series of arbitrations—one pending—in which it is seeking tens of millions of dollars from that company and others in a dispute over payments to the state from the tobacco settlement.
Kwame Raoul’s assertion to the Sun-Times’ editorial board that his donor has no pending action in front of the AG’s office is simply incorrect.
In addition, the Sun-Times article quotes Kwame as saying, “I checked with the donor, and I checked with the attorney general’s office.” Yet in front of the Tribune editorial board, Kwame denied that he consulted the attorney general’s office. That flatly contradicts Kwame’s earlier statement.
In the tale of the tapes, this one goes to Team Ruiz.
They’re twisting words.
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 1:46 pm
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Is this Raoul’s first contested race? Because he seems totally distracted.
Comment by Ravenswood Right Winger Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 1:56 pm
And to loose it by shouting…
Comment by anon Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 2:05 pm
the attorney general’s race and the gubernatorial elections seem to boiling up at the same time.
Comment by pskila Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 2:05 pm
No wonder Pat Quinn couldn’t stop smiling at the Trib meeting. Goldstein, Ruiz, and Fairley all pile onto Raoul while Rotering and Drury quibble over things happening in Highland Park.
Also, I would dispute that Ruiz is wrong here. Raoul said he checked with the donor and with the AG office regarding a conflict of interest, and Raoul claimed at the Sun Times that it was a non-issue after checking with them. Sounds like what Ruiz said to me.
Comment by TopHatMonocle Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 2:47 pm
If you don’t want Pat Quinn, you need to support Kwame.
Comment by Tom Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 2:54 pm
Tom: Spot On…. Quinn has name rec and a staedy line of bee s, oh and the #1 ballot spot. Go Kwame Go
Comment by theCardinal Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 2:56 pm
Not a ton of voters pay attention to these forums, but donors and potential donors do, and will be interesting to see how Raoul and Quinn do on the “A-1” front over the next couple weeks.
Comment by DarkHorse Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 3:01 pm
=If you don’t want Pat Quinn, you need to support Kwame.=
I was under the impression that Rotering was exceeding expectations in fundraising and polling.
Comment by m Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 3:11 pm
If you don’t want Kwame Raoul, you need to support Quinn.
Comment by State worker Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 3:11 pm
“If you don’t want Pat Quinn, you need to support Kwame.”
If you want to lose to Erika Harrold, support either of these two. Kwame is an ethical train wreck. Pat will be an albatross around everyone’s neck. If you want to win, vote for someone else.
Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 3:18 pm
- m -
Maybe fundraising, but not polling.
Comment by Anon Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 3:23 pm
Everyone but Senator Raoul distanced themselves from Speaker Madigan and Joe Berrios because they can apparently see which way the wind is blowing.
Senator Raoul does not have the temperament or the judgement to be the top law enforcement officer in Illinois.
Comment by Lucky Pierre Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 3:43 pm
If you know for certain something is a lie, for a fact, and it can be verified independently; calling someone a liar is a strong tool.
Comment by A guy Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 3:56 pm
=Also, I would dispute that Ruiz is wrong here. Raoul said he checked with the donor and with the AG office regarding a conflict of interest, and Raoul claimed at the Sun Times that it was a non-issue after checking with them. Sounds like what Ruiz said to me.=
Raoul’s statement is that he checked with the donor and the AG’s office as to whether there is a pending lawsuit between the donor and AG. They both said no, and that’s all Raoul said. That’s different than what Ruiz accused him of at the Tribune forum. And Ruiz’s characterization citing the Crain’s report is incorrect on this, as well. As the article they cited to states, the Illinois portion of the arbitration that is pending has been completed.
Comment by Anon324 Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 4:06 pm
===the top law enforcement officer in Illinois===
The Governor is the top law enforcement officer in Illinois. Period.
The AG is like our civil attorney, handling consumer and public interest laws and defending the state itself. The AG, by statute, does NOT prosecute criminals except in the rarest of circumstances. We have 102 States Attorneys who prosecute crimes.
The ignorance about this office makes my head hurt.
Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 4:33 pm
Anon324,
I’m afraid you didn’t read the article very clearly. It doesn’t say the Illinois portion is completed. It just says Illinois was first and the arbitration now continues with other states. It says quite clearly, “A similar dispute currently is being arbitrated.” So you seem to be having the same reading problems Kwame does. And yea, he took 100,000 from a tobacco mogul with a case pending with the AG.
“A similar dispute CURRENTLY is being arbitrated between Illinois and roughly 25 companies including Top Tobacco, the spokeswoman continued. “We were the first state to put on our case. The arbitration now continues with other states presenting their cases. We do not anticipate a ruling for about a year.”
Comment by Chicago Cynic Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 4:40 pm
Chicago Cynic,
This isn’t particularly difficult to comprehend. The statement is “We were the first state to put on our case. The arbitration now continues with other states presenting their cases. We do not anticipate a ruling for about a year.” The word “were” is a past-tense verb, indicating something has already taken place. Therefore, the statement indicates Illinois has already presented its case to the arbitrator, and they have nothing left to do on the matter other than wait for the other states to present their cases and for the arbitrator to make a ruling. What, in the article, indicates Illinois still has work to do on this case?
Is Raoul’s answer lawyerspeak? Probably. But newsflash: the AG is a lawyer.
Comment by Anon324 Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 4:55 pm
Anon324,
The case is still pending. It is irrelevant whether evidence is still being presented. You don’t accept donations from someone with a pending matter before the office. This is a bright line and one Lisa Madigan has held her entire 16 years as attorney general. Furthermore, since Don Levin’s tobacco companies have had other disputes before and will likely do so again as long as the AG administers the tobacco settlement (which will go on for decades), there will be future cases. Again, this is a bright line apparent to all but Kwame.
It’s also worth noting, that those same companies were also received special treatment in legislation that Kwame sponsored as Maze Jackson pointed out in his scathing post here (https://capitolfax.com/2017/12/21/raoul-pressed-again-on-tobacco-contributions/).
Comment by Chicago Cynic Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 5:18 pm
=== Raoul: “First of all let me start with the fact that I am not for sale.” ===
Conflict of interest or no, Sen. Raoul was a late convert to the State ban on indoor smoking in public places. I heard him argue against it circa 2006.
Comment by anon2 Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 5:25 pm
Kwame Raoul has come a long way, baby. By election time, I have no doubt Raoul will get lucky and this whole tobacco controversy will have blown over. I would walk a mile to vote for Raoul.
Comment by City Zen Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 5:27 pm
Anon324 — You’re wrong. This case is still pending. And please note that the AG’s office said this was one of a series of actions against this tobacco mogul, and there are many more likely in the pipeline.
Here’s how it works:
In 1999, the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG), which under the MSA is
responsible for coordinating and facilitating its implementation and enforcement on behalf of the
attorneys general of the Settling States, formed the Tobacco Enforcement Committee, the
Enforcement Working Group, which consists of attorney general office staff working on tobacco
issues, and the Tobacco Project, which is comprised of staff attorneys within NAAG who
support state enforcement efforts. (The NAAG Tobacco Project is now known as the NAAG
Center for Tobacco and Public Health.)
Enforcement typically begins when a state attorney general office or NAAG observes a potential violation of the MSA, or a member of the public or a public organization complains about a Participating Manufacturer’s marketing practices to a state attorney general or NAAG.
Once a violation has been noted or a complaint has been filed, the process proceeds as follows:
• A state or NAAG asks a company for information about the practice in question. If the
practice is deemed a potential violation, it is referred to the Enforcement Committee.
• The Enforcement Committee generally then sends a letter to the company stating the
violation and asking for a specified action or response. Letters may be followed by
discussion and may also include negotiating a formal, written settlement agreement.
• If discussion fails, the Enforcement Committee decides whether to recommend
enforcement actions by states, which then decide whether or not to initiate such actions.
• A state must give a thirty-day notice to sue to enforce the MSA.Ten days’ notice is
required to enforce the Consent Decree (the settlement contained in a court order).
The Attorneys General have several remedies for addressing MSA violations, including litigation. If the plaintiff state prevails, it can seek injunctive relief or monetary remedies.
A couple of points to note here, Anon324 (if that is your name):
The Illinois AG may have presented its case as part of this multistate action, but that doesn’t mean it’s done. If the arbitrator rules in favor of the states, then the Illinois AG office will work to decide how much the tobacco company has to pay in fines. And depending on how long this arbitration takes, with all these states involved, the new Attorney General will likely be in office before that decision (which directly affects Levin’s bank account) is made.
Also, this is not a “one and done” situation. These are ongoing issues. So when this arbitration is complete, there will be more. I am not predicting the future here; these have been annual events, and I think the AG’s office is currently litigating the 2009 cases, or something like that.
To give you an idea of how long these cases take to move through the courts, take a look at this news release, published in 2013, trumpeting a victory in arbitration over something that happened in 2003. The panel of arbitrators in its ruling also concluded “Illinois had a strong enforcement environment” that was “very thorough” and “exceeded that of almost every other” state considered by the panel. That pretty much shows that ongoing enforcement is part of the AG’s core responsibilities. http://www.ag.state.il.us/pressroom/2013_09/20130912.html
Here’s some background information on how all of this works: http://www.publichealthlawcenter.org/sites/default/files/resources/tclc-fs-msa-overview-2015.pdf
As California AG Becerra notes: “The (AG’s) Tobacco Litigation and Enforcement Section holds the tobacco industry accountable for strict compliance with the MSA’s marketing restrictions and payment obligations. In addition, the Tobacco Section enforces a number of state laws and programs that regulate the promotion and sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products in the state, including the state’s Tobacco Directory and Reserve Fund Statute.” https://oag.ca.gov/tobacco/litigation
New York AG Schneiderman stresses the continuing nature of this settlement oversight: “Enforcement focuses on guaranteeing that the tobacco companies are not violating the prohibitions against advertising and/or marketing directed to young people, brand-name advertising, merchandising and sponsorships, and false and misleading advertising as well as ensuring compliance with the tobacco companies’ monetary obligations under the MSA and New York’s related laws.”
https://ag.ny.gov/bureau/tobacco-compliance-and-enforcement
And a look at our very own AG’s website shows that tobacco manufacturers and distributors have to file quarterly affidavits to show that they are following all the rules. http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/tobacco/manufacturerinfo.html
If you need any further information on how the Attorney General works to protect Illinois children from unscrupulous tobacco marketing, please let me know. We take these issues very seriously, so we do a lot of homework.
Comment by Soccermom Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 5:28 pm
And for the TL:DR crowd: Levin’s case is still active and pending, and the AG’s office is, and will remain, on the other side from Kwame’s donor. It’s a clear conflict of interest, and he should never have taken the money.
So here’s a newsflash backatcha: Kwame may be a lawyer, but he clearly lacks any understanding of basic legal conflicts issues.
Here’s an interesting article on the topic. https://www.americanbar.org/newsletter/publications/gp_solo_magazine_home/gp_solo_magazine_index/conflictsofinterest.html
Comment by Soccermom Thursday, Jan 25, 18 @ 5:47 pm
47th Ward @ 4:33 pm- “The AG, by statute, does NOT prosecute criminals except in the rarest of circumstances.”
That’s why public corruption flourishes in Illinois by design. When motorcyclist Bill Damhoff was killed by Whiteside County sheriff’s deputy Jeffrey Wunderlich in 2016, special prosecutor Thomas J. Brown from the Appellate Prosecutor’s office was appointed to the case. Yet Wunderlich has not been charged with manslaughter, and is back on patrol. In stagnant one-party rule counties like Whiteside, good old boy corruption can extend even to state offices.
“We have 102 States Attorneys who prosecute crimes.”
That statement is nonsense. If local State’s Attorneys were capable of prosecuting local officials, C.P.D. detective Jon Burge would have been convicted thirty years ago, when Richard M. Daley was the Cook County State’s Attorney. Almost every time that a state or local official or a cop is convicted in Illinois, it’s the U.S. Attorney that gets it done. Kwame is not impartial and is not suitable to bring equal justice under law to the citizens of Illinois.
Comment by Anonymous Friday, Jan 26, 18 @ 2:18 pm
Chicago Cynic and Soccermom,
That gets to the point of my rhetorical question. Did Raoul engage in lawyerspeak in maintaining there is no pending lawsuit (please note: he said lawsuit, not action; there is a difference) between the AG and the donor? Yes. Should that surprise anyone given the nature of the AG job? No.
He’s entirely right to say “that’s not what I said.” His statement may have been misleading, but it wasn’t wrong.
Comment by Anon324 Friday, Jan 26, 18 @ 2:39 pm