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Another interesting twist in the lawsuit against Speaker Madigan

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Illinois

* As you know, Speaker Madigan’s attorneys want to depose Blair Hull as part of their defense against a federal lawsuit filed by Jason Gonzales, Madigan’s 2016 Democratic primary opponent. Hull wants to limit the scope and length of his deposition. Madigan’s lawyers have agreed to some limits (seven hours instead of the two demanded by Hull), but not others. Their argument…

As discussed in Defendants’ Response to Plaintiff’s Motion to Quash, Blair Hull’s involvement in the facts of this case is not minimal: 1) Mr. Hull established and funded a Super PAC “exclusively dedicated to defeating Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan,” which subsequently raised and spent significant sums of money (nearly $1,000,000) to defeat Mr. Madigan in the 2016 primary; 2) Mr. Hull and Illinois United for Change produced campaign materials to support Plaintiff’s 2016 primary campaign; 3) in the weeks prior the primary election, Mr. Hull was in communication about Plaintiff’s campaign with Governor Bruce Rauner through his executive assistant, Holly Griff; 4) Mr. Hull has paid for Plaintiff’s legal bills in this lawsuit ; and 5) Plaintiff has continued to keep Mr. Hull apprised of the status of this lawsuit and has characterized it as an opportunity to find “dirt” on Mr. Madigan.

Wait. Hull was in contact with Rauner?

* I’ve redacted the contact information. Click on the third pic if you have trouble reading it, but the first one is the most important…

—–

So, Hull reached out to Rauner about Gonzales and Ken Dunkin, eh?

I asked the governor’s campaign for a response a couple of hours ago. I’ll let you know if they say anything.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Aug 28, 18 @ 12:54 pm

Comments

How does it feel being a toady for the deep state, Rich? /s

Comment by PublicServant Tuesday, Aug 28, 18 @ 1:04 pm
Rauner recruited Jason Gonzalez

Comment by Real Tuesday, Aug 28, 18 @ 1:07 pm
The thing about Raunerism…

The distain Raunerism has for Madigan, as a political identifier, the surprise is that someone took it upon themselves to write down these attempts to pool against Madigan.

It would’ve just been easier to…

Fix the FY2015 budget
Pass a FY2016 budget
Have trade labor peace (and first responder Labor too)

Rauner could’ve brought Madigan into the fold against AF-Scammy, made budget cuts, maybe even got a tax cut over a 3-year period…

But…

Decatur. Destruction. Demonizing.

In short, Raunerism.

Hull is a Raunerite if only for his own distain for all things Madigan… sealed Hull marital documents notwithstanding…

The angry uber-rich and settling scores… Hull, Rauner… even Uihlein…

It’s not the surprise of the correspondence… it’s the amateurish messaging recording the interaction.

There’s a reason pros in politics behave and habitually act as they do. See above to the why.

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 28, 18 @ 1:09 pm
PoliticFact might want to reconsider rating Madigan’s claim false.

https://www.politifact.com/illinois/statements/2016/aug/17/michael-madigan/madigan-claim-gonzales-campaign-fund-mostly-false/

Comment by frogger Tuesday, Aug 28, 18 @ 1:11 pm
Things like this is why I am suspicious of some of the #Metoo alterations against Madigan’s inner circle. You would think Rauner would be all over that stuff but it’s like he is holding back so as not to make it obvious if he indeed has something to do with any of it.

Comment by Real Tuesday, Aug 28, 18 @ 1:22 pm
I thought our governor didn’t do emails lol

Comment by hey wait a minute Tuesday, Aug 28, 18 @ 1:22 pm
Things like this is why I am suspicious of some of the #Metoo allegations against Madigan’s inner circle. You would think Rauner would be all over that stuff but it’s like he is holding back so as not to make it obvious if he indeed has something to do with any of it.

Comment by Real Tuesday, Aug 28, 18 @ 1:23 pm
“a biological piece about Jason Gonzalez” YIKES!

Comment by Grand Avenue Tuesday, Aug 28, 18 @ 1:24 pm
spkr first-in the jackpot with unclean hands though (suit’s merits) in this argument against Gonzalez’ fundage

Comment by RaunerBought Tuesday, Aug 28, 18 @ 1:25 pm
==The team has been working tirelessly despite continued intimidation==

To Blair’s credit, he didn’t say “Our team” /s

Comment by Jocko Tuesday, Aug 28, 18 @ 1:29 pm
The phone call from Hull to Rauner referencing Ken Dunkin was placed 1/29/16. On 2/1/16 Illinois Opportunity Project transferred $500,000 into Dunkin’s political account. Interesting

Comment by frogger Tuesday, Aug 28, 18 @ 1:33 pm
This could have just been Blair reaching out to Rauner looking for support for his candidate. I have not heard nor seen any indication Rauner was involved.

Comment by allknowingmasterofracoondom Tuesday, Aug 28, 18 @ 1:35 pm
This could have just been Blair reaching out to Rauner looking for support for his candidate. I have not heard nor seen any indication Rauner was involved

-And I’m sure if Rauner was involved he would not make that information easily accessible.

Comment by Real Tuesday, Aug 28, 18 @ 1:39 pm
It is just politics.. I never doubted that Gonzales was not doing this primary race on his own.. When Jason and his attorney opened the door to the sewer, they should have expected this pushback..

Comment by Not Rich Tuesday, Aug 28, 18 @ 1:56 pm
===I have not heard nor seen any indication Rauner was involved.===

It’d be fun to ask him that. Under oath. Which is why Madigan’s lawyers requested a deposition of Rauner, which was denied. In light of this info, I’m surprised they aren’t appealing that decision.

Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, Aug 28, 18 @ 1:56 pm
– a biological piece on Jason that has been running on cable…–

Which piece was it? Or were different pieces used depending on the cable channel?

Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Aug 28, 18 @ 1:57 pm
=The phone call from Hull to Rauner referencing Ken Dunkin was placed 1/29/16. On 2/1/16 Illinois Opportunity Project transferred $500,000 into Dunkin’s political account. Interesting=

Feels like a PAC coordinating with a campaign. That isn’t the same as evidence, but should warrant an investigation.

I am sure Erika Harold would be all over that.

=Mr. Hull was in communication about Plaintiff’s campaign with Governor Bruce Rauner through his executive assistant, Holly Griff;=

Hold the blanking phone (exclamation point) . That sounds like…dare I say it…meddlin’ in the other party’s election (gasp) otherwise known as shenanigans.

Comment by JS Mill Tuesday, Aug 28, 18 @ 2:02 pm
So how did Tillman rasmusin and the rest of ipi crew get out of testifying?

Comment by Curious Tuesday, Aug 28, 18 @ 2:51 pm
Forty-two years after “All the President’s Men” and power-brokers are still surprised when somebody decides to “follow the money.”

– MrJM

Comment by @misterjayem Tuesday, Aug 28, 18 @ 2:53 pm
Rich,

The filing asks for just 3 hours to conduct the dep (so only one more than Hull would agree to), not 7.

Also interesting to me is the attorney at hinshaw & culbertson on this appears to be the husband of heather wier vaught.

I can’t stand MJM but this is such a frivolous lawsuit and it’s more disgusting knowing Jason Gonzales is just a proxy for Blair Hull.

Reminds me of how Peter Thiel used Hulk Hogan as a proxy to bankrupt Gawker.com.

This practice of rich dudes with axes to grind essentially buying the legal standing of potentially wronged plaintiffs to go after enemies is a perversion of justice.

Comment by hisgirlfriday Tuesday, Aug 28, 18 @ 3:13 pm
Doesn’t sound like business…sounds personal!

Comment by d.p.gumby Tuesday, Aug 28, 18 @ 3:21 pm
===you don’t think Madigan qualifies?===

Hmm.

You feel Madigan is in the Pritzker/Rauner/Hull stratosphere?

You’d have to make a case for that.

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 28, 18 @ 3:56 pm
$500,000 aint chump change.

Comment by DeseDemDose Tuesday, Aug 28, 18 @ 9:09 pm
If Rauner recruited and supported a candidate to beat Madigan, don’t you think that with all of his resources that he could have found someone without a criminal record and who was actually from the district?

Comment by Think Tuesday, Aug 28, 18 @ 10:04 pm