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BGA points to a possible new reform, while unfortunately ignoring a current one

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* Nowhere in this BGA story is it mentioned that state law was recently changed to require almost immediate disclosure when a Statehouse lobbyist hires a non-lobbying consultant. It’s a good reform and I thought it was a strong first step to cleaning up some problems. Former Rep. Ed Acevedo, we just learned with the latest round of indictments, was hired as a consultant to an AT&T lobbyist in order to funnel him some pin money. It was never disclosed before because disclosure wasn’t mandated. It’s mandated now.

That doesn’t mean that what Budzinski or any other lobbyist consultant did was wrong. It’s legal. I was just pointing out that a significant recent state reform was completely ignored in this exposé…

Shortly after she left her state job as a senior adviser to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, longtime political operative Nikki Budzinski collected more than $500,000 in consulting and other fees in 10 months, including more than $80,000 from a Springfield lobbyist Budzinski helped while working for the governor. […]

The lobbyist who paid Budzinski $82,810 after Budzinski left the Pritzker administration is longtime Springfield operative Julie Curry.

A BGA review of state and federal public records shows a cozy relationship between Budzinski and Curry, who frequently reached out when her clients needed assistance, whether it was to set up a meeting with the governor for a client or access for an event at the governor’s mansion.

One expert said Budzinski’s actions after she left the Pritzker administration highlight weaknesses in Illinois’ ethics laws.

State workers are generally barred from accepting compensation as a lobbyist for one year after leaving government work. Since Budzinski was not a registered lobbyist, but rather worked as a consultant to the lobbyist paying her, Illinois’ executive order did not apply to her, records and interviews show.

“The law should also include work for a lobbying firm,” Southern Illinois University law professor and former lieutenant governor Sheila Simon told the BGA.

I’d probably agree with Simon. If you’re gonna ban employees from lobbying, then you should probably extend that to consulting for lobbyists. But most of the activities ascribed to Curry in the article aren’t particularly juicy. They’re just normal things that lobbyists routinely do. And people obviously jumped at the chance to hire Budzinski after she left the administration. She’s been pretty good at almost whatever she’s put her mind to.

Other contracts Budzinski got were from Sixteen Thirty Fund (consultant, $64K), New Venture Fund (consultant, $48K), Climate Jobs National Resource Center (Midwest strategist, $150K), Dewey Square Group (consultant, $40K), Emily’s List (election strategist, $59K), Kilbride for Supreme Court (consultant, $41K), Union Insurance Group (board member, $24K).

It’s perhaps most interesting to me that Budzinski is now campaigning against dark money in politics after having worked for dark money group Sixteen Thirty Fund.

But banging the guilt by association drum can be a hypocritical game, especially considering that the BGA recently hired former Rep. Acevedo’s youngest son.

* By the way, I reminded subscribers about this new disclosure law on Monday in reference to former Rep. Acevedo and complained about the lack of a decent search function for consultants. The folks at the secretary of state’s office have since taught me a little site hack.

If you go to the lobbying info search page, then click the “Consultants Retained By Lobbying Entities” box, then select the year and then ignore the “required” language and just click the “Submit” button without inputting a name, voila, you get the entire list of every consultant hired by lobbying entities.

I’ve converted that page into a pdf for your viewing pleasure. Click here. I didn’t see a whole lot with a cursory scroll, except that Maze Jackson appears to have consulted this year for SafeSpeed, the red light cam company at the heart of some federal probes.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Oct 19, 22 @ 11:35 am

Comments

The information contained in this article is about as shocking as it is to see the BGA release yet another thinly-veiled political hit piece on a Democrat. Which is to say, not at all.

Comment by The Real Downstate Wednesday, Oct 19, 22 @ 11:53 am
It would be cool if the BGA would start actually understanding and monitoring government again, instead of just looking for stories that inspire their wealthy donors to write a check.

Comment by Excitable Boy Wednesday, Oct 19, 22 @ 12:14 pm
==longtime Springfield operative Julie Curry==

Who was also a former Blago aide during about the first half of his first term.

Comment by AcademicUnionStateEmployee Wednesday, Oct 19, 22 @ 12:17 pm
There are significant gaps in this story that the BGA glides over. They note that Curry reached out to Budzinski, who responded that she’d “circle back” and then immediately says that Curry was “soon in touch” with Sol Flores. Say what? Did Budzinski make that connection? Did Curry really not already know Flores? Did Curry also reach out to Flores directly? They’re both pretty active women; what, exactly, did Budzinski do here? The BGA doesn’t say, but they still act like something did.

Comment by Socially DIstant Watcher Wednesday, Oct 19, 22 @ 12:18 pm
===Who was also a former Blago aide during about the first half of his first term.===

And before that was a Rep. from Decatur …

Comment by Anyone Remember Wednesday, Oct 19, 22 @ 12:19 pm
I read the Budzinski story a couple of times to try and figure out what exactly she was being accused of doing wrong. Still not sure but I am sure BGA is again being used by the GOP to launch October surprise hit jobs less than three weeks before the election. Cmon BGA, do better.

Comment by New Day Wednesday, Oct 19, 22 @ 12:21 pm
– And before that was a Rep. from Decatur … –

And before that was the local county treasurer who, if memory serves me correctly, came into that office cleaning up a predecessor’s scandal

Comment by Michelle Flaherty Wednesday, Oct 19, 22 @ 12:23 pm
==try and figure out what exactly she was being accused of doing wrong==

BREAKING NEWS: Consultant Caught Consulting

Comment by The Real Downstate Wednesday, Oct 19, 22 @ 12:24 pm
==“The law should also include work for a lobbying firm,” Southern Illinois University law professor and former lieutenant governor Sheila Simon told the BGA.==

I wonder if Neubauer and Jackson’s interview of Simon concluded with her treating them to a banjo tune.

Comment by AcademicUnionStateEmployee Wednesday, Oct 19, 22 @ 12:25 pm
it’s often the Wild West out there. I’ve been chided as being ridiculously cautious in filings and I just don’t get how people don’t always want to follow rules. If you are confused about filing, you know you can have conversations with ethics officers. they appreciate that.

Comment by Amalia Wednesday, Oct 19, 22 @ 12:43 pm
The BGA shading the truth to help fire up the outrage meter and stoke donations? Shocking.

Comment by TR Wednesday, Oct 19, 22 @ 12:53 pm
==It would be cool if the BGA would start actually understanding and monitoring government again, instead of just looking for stories that inspire their wealthy donors to write a check.==

Here, here. Especially on the understanding bit. There are clear issues in Illinois with government, but the BGA tends just to end up “shining a light” on the fact that they have no idea how government works, and that they have no intention of trying to figure it out or make it better.

Comment by Who else Wednesday, Oct 19, 22 @ 1:04 pm
500k in her first year “consulting” after leaving the Govs office. That’s a pretty good first year.

Comment by Tood Aloo Wednesday, Oct 19, 22 @ 1:11 pm
Speaking of disclosure, yet another BGA piece with no rider at the end that the chairman is an avid anti Democrat who is close with Ken Griffin. Their stuff is parody at this point.

Comment by Sandpounder Wednesday, Oct 19, 22 @ 1:26 pm
“That’s a pretty good year.”

It was an election year, she was one of the top-rated Democratic consultants in the country. Honestly, she should have made millions more.

And that’s the crux: Budzinski was highly successful when she and JB met, she proved it again when they not just defeated Rauner, but crushed him badly. She could have gone straight into lobbying and consulting for Cannabis, gaming, etc and probably made millions starting in January of 2019. She chose public service instead because the new Governor needed her in his corner, that first year, he knew it and so did she as the person on his campaign team with the most Springfield experience and relationships.

There is simply no evidence the work she received was payback for what she did while on state payroll.

She followed the lobbyist laws. She followed the ethics laws. She did work which was not illegal and for which she was fairly compensated. There seems to be nothing else there.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, Oct 19, 22 @ 1:26 pm
– And before that was a Rep. from Decatur … –

And graduated from Highland High School.

Comment by Highland Il Wednesday, Oct 19, 22 @ 1:52 pm
Good catch on the change in the law. Also good job on the website issue.
I thought the BGA article was overall well done. I hope Mr. Jackson was able to give some Journalism student a chance to work with him as he did with the DePaul Journalism students on his last piece on Pritzer’s investments in organizations that did business with the state.
I have no idea what the person who is now running for Congress is worth in the lobbying marketplace. Some folks thought she added value and I don’t have any reason to second guess or doubt their decision.
I do have concerns about the overall philosophy of Pritzker Incorporated and how it is involved in government. I don’t mean to sound naive, but I really do believe that our public employees are the one’s that are primarily the folks who protect our democracy.
The BGA story mentioned that the Congressional hopeful was on a private corporation’s payroll as well as on the state payroll. Our public employees reported to her. I think the problem starts when you have public servants reporting to someone on a private payroll. The story mentioned that a friend represents a medicaid vendor and we know from the previous story by Mr. Jackson and his DePaul interns that vendor received over 20 Billion Dollars in state business and that Pritzker was invested in that corporation.
I understand the critics of the story, but I think we are well served by the BGA in doing the research, spending the time it takes to develop a story like this and raise valid concerns on how the Pritzker wing of the Democratic Party operates.

Comment by Back to the Future Wednesday, Oct 19, 22 @ 2:04 pm
I have no comment on the actual story, just a compliment to whoever picked the pseudonym “Sandpounder”.

Comment by cover Wednesday, Oct 19, 22 @ 2:58 pm
I picked the wrong career…shoulda been a consultant.

Comment by The Young Gov Wednesday, Oct 19, 22 @ 3:20 pm