Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Madigan lawyers try to prove Gonzales conspiracy

Posted in:

Illinois

Madigan’s attorneys on Friday filed exhibits in U.S. District Court to show that Blair Hull — a millionaire investor who made a failed Democratic run for the U.S. Senate — emailed Rauner’s assistant to provide an update on [Jason] Gonzales’ 2016 campaign [against Madigan]. Hull helped create the PAC Illinois United for Change, which in 2016 helped to fund ads and mailers that either helped Gonzales or criticized Madigan.

Madigan’s team is seeking to show why Hull and Rauner should be deposed in the case, and to try to link that back to one of their defense strategies: trying to show that Gonzales was a “closet Republican.”

Gonzales’ team is hoping to prove that Madigan put up two “sham” candidates with Latino names to try to split the Hispanic vote in the March 2016 Democratic primary. Madigan beat Gonzales 65.2 percent to 27.1 percent. The other two candidates received a combined 7.8 percent.

Madigan attorneys also included an August 2016 email from Illinois Policy Institute head John Tillman — sent to Rauner’s assistant, his “body man” at the time and Illinois first lady Diana Rauner — which in length includes information about the anti-Madigan documentary “Madigan: Power, Privilege, Politics.” Gonzales was listed as a “potential expert” to be featured in the documentary and ultimately did appear in it.

That e-mail was addressed to “Bruce.” And the documents filed by Madigan’s attorneys appear to indicate that Hull bankrolled Gonzales’ suit against Madigan…

If this lawsuit is being supported or paid for by political opponents of Defendants, that fact calls into question Plaintiff’s credibility as a witness and as an alleged member of the Democratic Party.

They’re claiming that they believe Gonzales was a plant, and therefore the party was in its rights to do whatever it could to beat him.

MJM’s lawyers also claim that months after the primary Hull was still expressing interest in video taken of Gonzales during the primary, suggesting that there might be a link between Hull and the Illinois Policy Institute’s Madigan “documentary.” Click here to read the filing for yourself. Lots of interesting stuff in there.

* Tillman’s e-mail to “Bruce” includes a bit of PR strategizing for the Madigan documentary. “We will also use a number of other tactics to reach individuals outside of our digital community,” Tillman wrote, including..

• Syndicated columns: We are developing a series of columns that highlight Madigan’s control of legislative and political processes and the ways in which he and his political allies are enriching themselves off of Illinois’ property-tax scheme. These columns will be distributed via our Illinois News Network to approximately 15 media outlets across the state with a unique circulation of nearly 200,000 readers.

• Earned media: We will leverage our relationship with media to undermine Madigan’s narrative as a “defender of the middle class” and paint him as an obstructionist.

• Radio: We will develop radio segments based on our articles and columns on Madigan. These segments will air on our Illinois Rising radio show on AM 560 and will be syndicated through our Illinois Radio Network, which reaches more than 300,000 unique listeners.

I can’t help but wonder how newspaper publishers and radio station owners feel now about being so deliberately duped.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 10:05 am

Comments

Nobody, political parties or media, did sufficient due diligence …

Comment by RNUG Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 10:11 am
===I can’t help but wonder how newspaper publishers and radio station owners feel now about being so deliberately duped.===

It’s free content. What do they care? If they had any concern about giving their readers/listeners reliable news they wouldn’t accept that material in the first place. But as we all know, hiring your own reporters is expensive and in the modern economy, few want to pay for quality journalism.

Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 10:12 am
” can’t help but wonder how newspaper publishers and radio station owners feel now about being so deliberately duped”

Duped or paid” No one ever reported if the papers that carried the “film” were paid or not. Mostly Shaw papers.

BTW wasn’t curious this stuff ran after a headline declarin’ Gonzo was for JB?

Comment by Annonin' Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 10:19 am
==I can’t help but wonder how newspaper publishers and radio station owners feel now about being so deliberately duped.==

As long as it contributes to the “Madigan=Bad” version of events, they’re totally fine with it. The type of people who buy Illinois radio stations and newspapers these days don’t do it because they’re overly concerned with distributing nuance and facts to their listeners/readership

Comment by Lester Holt’s Mustache Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 10:19 am
what’s the odds that there is also a direct line from Mr. Hull to Rep Cassidy and the #metoo attacks on the House Dems??

Comment by Not Rich Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 10:20 am
Mainstream media is loosing market share due to social media. Therefore, they are less profitable and consequently they have had to reduce staff. They seem to be looking for the quick and easy stories that feed emotions. Madigan has been the brunt of millions in Rauner ads designed to deflect the blame to scary Mike. Pretty sure the overworked and underpaid media folks will keep piling on tried and true scapegoat Madigan.

Comment by Liberal Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 10:25 am
===what’s the odds that===

Zero.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 10:26 am
Careful Capt Fax there could be more dupin’ going on

Comment by Annonin' Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 10:34 am
Is a federal judge really intending to decide and rule on who “real Democrats” are in state elections?

On what basis? Other than the filing requirements, what else is there.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 10:40 am
== Is a federal judge really intending to decide and rule on who “real Democrats” are in state elections? ==

That’s the question everyone should be asking. I can’t believe a federal judge is entertaining this nonsense.

A total waste of time and resources to provide a soap opera to the political class.

Comment by Roman Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 10:51 am
Rauner’s own vertical integration imploded when, as a white male, Bruce hired Diana Rickert after Diana dismissed the Superstars.

I’d like to say what Rauner/IPI/Proft we’re doing with things like manipulating media, creating their own media realities, or propping up candidates like Gonzo with both earned media and created media wasn’t… seen…

Boy, I’d like to say that….

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 10:53 am
=== I can’t believe a federal judge is entertaining this nonsense===

There’s precedent on this topic.

Cal. Democratic Party v. Jones, 530 U.S. 567, 575 (2000) (“In no area is the political association’s right to exclude more important than in the process of selecting its nominee.”); Duke v. Cleland, 954 F.2d 1526, 1532 (11th Cir. 1992) (“[T]he Party’s constitutionally protected right [to association] encompasses its decision to exclude [David] Duke as a candidate on the Republican Primary ballot because Duke’s political beliefs are inconsistent with those of the Republican Party.”).

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 10:56 am
At this point case boils down to one question - whether there was an agreement the “sham candidates” would step down if they won and let Madigan take the seat. If Gonzales’ lawyers can’t prove that, there’s no way to win the case. There’s really no reason anyone besides the candidates need to be deposed. The judge seems to be giving Gonzales lawyers every opportunity to prove their case.

Comment by slippery Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 10:56 am
My goodness- isn’t that what Madigan is doing with his third party Governor candidate he finessed with the help of his Union pals?

Comment by Sue Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 11:01 am
Wait…how were media outlets duped?

Isn’t a research organization sharing research with media kinda the whole point? You think every candidate and company in IL doesn’t have a media strategy?

Comment by Phil King Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 11:17 am
Rich, the Duke case is saying that the party is able to exclude candidates from the ballot based on Duke’s inconsistent views with the party.

Gonzales is arguing that Madigan, the Democratic party, whoever else, violated his constitutional rights by including other people on the ballot who met all other legal conditions for being on the ballot.

But as slippery notes, there’s not really evidence to suggest that these “sham” candidates would not have run in the general if they had won the primary. State law would have prohibited Mike Madigan from being on the ballot had he lost. And I’m sure these candidates weren’t expecting to win. But is McCann now? Was Ives when she first got in? Where is a judge going to draw a line on questioning the intentions of why someone has gotten on that ballot? And if they do, how is that not a violation of their first amendment rights?

Comment by Juice Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 11:22 am
Phil, if IPI is a “research organization,” I’m Jesus of Nazareth.

Comment by Precinct Captain Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 11:27 am
I’ll do Judge Kennelly and the entire Northern District of Illinois a favor and conduct this trial in a few sentences:

Knowing he could not be beat by a Republican opponent in an overwhelmingly Democratic district, opponents of Mike Madigan (including many Republicans) recruited and funded Jason Gonzales to run against him in the Dem primary. That prompted Madigan’s political operation to place two sham candidates on the Dem ballot in order to ensure opposition to him was divided. Both practices are unseemly and dishonest, but neither is illegal. Madigan won by a large margin, so neither the Republican money or the sham candidates had any practical effect on the outcome. Case closed.

Now the judge can get back to handling the backlog of cases that has Metropolitan Correctional Center in the South Loop packed with criminal defendants awaiting trial.

Comment by Roman Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 11:40 am
==Isn’t a research organization ==

Lol. IPI is a research organization? Speaking of being duped . . .

Comment by Demoralized Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 11:50 am
When I checked my voter registration online the other day, it does not id me as either a D or a R. However, those parties will use which ballot I pulled in the primary to ID me as such. So(honest question), how does each party decide who is actually a D or an R when deciding which candidates to back? How far back does ” loyalty” need to go to be a true Blue or Red?

Comment by Anon221 Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 12:21 pm
To Juice’s point those two cases are distinguishable and don’t speak to the issue at hand.

In both cases the petitioners argued that the voter’s first Amendment right was violated because they were deprived of the right to vote FOR something. In this case Gonzalez was on the ballot and people had a chance to vote for him. Just because other candidates were also on the ballot doesn’t mean that voters were deprived of a chance to vote for Gonzalez. I don’t see the caselaw being on point for this.

Comment by Boone's is Back Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 12:27 pm
What is the end game for Gonzales? Do over the primary race?

Comment by Da Big Bad Wolf Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 12:36 pm
== My goodness- isn’t that what Madigan is doing with his third party Governor candidate he finessed with the help of his Union pals? ==

Lest you forget, Sam floated a trial balloon about running in 2014. When Rauner tried to take Sam out in 2016, it was pretty much a given that Sam would run for Gov in 2018. The only twist is Same decided to do it as an independent.

Comment by RNUG Monday, Aug 20, 18 @ 2:38 pm
==Lest you forget, Sam floated a trial balloon about running in 2014. When Rauner tried to take Sam out in 2016, it was pretty much a given that Sam would run for Gov in 2018.==
I sometimes wonder if McCann didn’t get cold feet, and run in the primary, if he would be the Republican nominee.

Comment by Da Big Bad Wolf Tuesday, Aug 21, 18 @ 6:27 am