Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Adventures in reporting

Posted in:

Illinois

* Amanda Vinicky made a valiant effort to fact check Gov. Bruce Rauner’s claim that he had reached out to Speaker Madigan’s staff to try and set a one-on-one meeting, but hadn’t heard back…

“I really don’t have a way … I don’t have any information on that claim so I don’t really have any comment one way or another on that so,” [Madigan spokesman Steve Brown] said in response.

Okay then. The Speaker’s spokesman — one of his right-hand-men - doesn’t know whether the governor has called Madigan’s office to ask for a meeting. Or if he’s just made the offer through the press. […]

“Well is it maybe time? Would it be prudent for the Speaker and governor to get together and talk about about a path forward?” I asked Brown.

He responded: “I have no thoughts on that.” […]

I pressed Brown to check with Madigan’s secretary, scheduler or administrative assistant.

“I don’t think I’ll have an opportunity to get information about that claim. So that’s really all I have to say about that. So do you have another topic you wanted to go through?” he said.

Um, OK.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 10:20 am

Comments

They have no involvement in that campaign!

Comment by Concerned Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 10:22 am
Really? Not exactly rocket science. Does he not have a cell phone either?

Comment by burbanite Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 10:25 am
Maybe Chuck Goudie can track down the Speaker and get some answers, since his team is clearly obfuscating.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 10:25 am
This is extremely odd, but I’m going with an optimistic point of view today since it’s Wednesday. Madigan is not attacking Rauner who might have screwed up big time and this might be an olive branch. I personally think Rauner needs to take a bag of Madigan’s favorite apple and meet with each other every single day until something gets worked out between them. The stakes are high and Illinois can not wait to get it’s act together.

Comment by Ahoy! Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 10:26 am
@- burbanite

You must be new. No, Madigan does not have a cell phone.

Comment by How Ironic Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 10:26 am
Oh, brother. Next time just say you’ll look in to it.

Comment by Curious Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 10:26 am
Once again, to quote The Three Stooges:

“I couldn’t say yes, but I wouldn’t say no.”
“Would you say ‘maybe’?”
“I might!”

Comment by Streator Curmudgeon Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 10:27 am
Maybe Brown is trying very hard not to call the governor a liar.

Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 10:27 am
I’d imagine the obfuscation from CK would be the same. ala how Rauner “called” the speaker after his own election.

Comment by wolf Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 10:30 am
How Ironic, I meant Brown, hence the either.

Comment by burbanite Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 10:31 am
Now that the election is over what is the excuse for not meeting with the governor or calling the GA back into session. The Speaker did not attend the last leaders meeting last year, will not answer the Governors call and refuses to compromise.

The Senate President will not call his pension bill for a vote which would demonstrate a commitment to helping reform Springfield.

Every citizen of Illinois should be ashamed of our government it is a disgrace.

Comment by Lucky Pierre Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 10:32 am
Few things at play(?)

Brown not giving Rauner anything

Brown not accusing Rauner of anything.

Brown not allowing Amanda to dictate the when or where there may be a meeting.

Brown allowing the Rauner Crew to figure out their own house, get it in order, and then try this whole thing again.

Great try by Amanda thou…

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 10:32 am
Okay, so IF the Governor honestly just wanted to meet with the Speaker to discuss a path forward, does he really believe that the next step should be to issue a press release that he tried to set up a meeting.

Seriously, I’m somewhat of a political newbie and even I know that this is not how it is done (if, in fact, the purpose of requesting a meeting is to actually make progress - which it obviously is not).

Comment by morgan Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 10:33 am
The Governor made a claim that cannot be fact checked.

So he shouldn’t have made the claim. Failing to be able to prove what he said is his problem.

What’s next from Rauner? A claim that he was beamed up into a UFO commanded by Madigan?

At what point do we stop fact checking a governor who views facts like pretty colored bubbles floating in the air to admire and enjoy?

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 10:36 am
Vinicky is a good reporter, but I think the took the bait on this one. Rauner wants to continue to appear reasonable while holding the state hostage, and this is another attempt at that.

It seems like the first question in an article like this should be directed towards Rauner’s staff: Who reached out to Speaker Madigan and when?

But Madigan et al should have known questions about this were coming, and the best response is no comment?

Comment by Century Club Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 10:36 am
Madigan and the spokesman he controls…

Comment by South of Sherman Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 10:38 am
If the Governor were to call the Speaker and offer to meet to discuss the budget, and only the budget - no TA or other strings attached, that meeting would get scheduled pronto. Problem is the Governor is unable to bring himself to that point. Until then…

Comment by Dance Band on the Titanic Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 10:39 am
===It seems like the first question in an article like this should be directed towards Rauner’s staff: Who reached out to Speaker Madigan and when?===

I asked that very question and never received an answer.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 10:41 am
Somewhere on the southside, a burner phone in a trash can is ringing and showing “office of the Illinois Governor” on the caller ID

Comment by Michelle Flaherty Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 10:41 am
The governor and his superstars have learned nothing. You don’t communicate with the speaker through the press. You don’t characterize his the speakers negotiating style with comments in the press. At this point, the only way to get things moving would be to have Durkin and Radogno meet with Madigan and cullerton privately. Then take a deal to the governor.

Comment by Langhorne Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 10:42 am
Rauner blew it.
Now, Madigan might be blowing it.

Rauner has relentlessly insulted Madigan. It has been a continuous stream of insults and accusations delivered to the electorate audience with millions of dollars, and a governor’s pulpit. Everyone I know is insulted by Rauner’s duplicitous behavior.

Madigan is taking these attacks personally. I don’t blame him but he needs to sacrifice his ego and get over it.

Rauner needs to act like a statesman and publicly show some respect to Madigan.

Madigan needs to come out of his cave, accept the public apology from Rauner, and figure out how to get that darn school district off my property tax bill!

It is the Easter season. Green shoots are everywhere.

Comment by cdog Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 10:43 am
How exactly does one “formerly” go about the business of scheduling a meeting with the Speaker?

Comment by A guy Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 10:46 am
Two thoughts:

1) The bitterness is palpable.

2) I’m so happy Rauner phone call fact-checking is a thing now.

You learn in j-school “if you’re mother says she loves you, check it out.”

When Bruce says he “made a call”…

Comment by Politix Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 10:50 am
The search for a statesman in Illinois continues without success. Te time for MJM to show he cares about the future of Illinois is now. He won the elections. Be the bigger man. Move towards Rauner on fair maps and get a budget deal.

The Springfield Democrats are way out on a limb with their opposition to fair maps. Unlike the union issues, the people don’t agree with the Dems on this. Lets remember, under the Dem map, of the 9 South/Southwest district drawn for majority Latino, 5 will be held by non-Latinos next January (Burke, Zalewski, MJM, Landek & Mah) Hows that protection the interests of the Latinos.

Leadership requires compromise. While I don’t support Rauner’s positions, I fear more the total collapse of the social safety net and our Public University system. Nixon went to China. Madigan should go for Fair Maps

Comment by Altgeld's Ghost Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 10:51 am
Rauner probably texted Madigan, who emailed back.

Or something.

Comment by JoanP Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 10:51 am
===How exactly does one “formerly” go about the business of scheduling a meeting with the Speaker?===

Don’t go out of your way by blatently lying about calling the Speaker, talking to the Speaker… Don’t go out of your way trashing the Speaker, bad-mouthing the Soeaker to any and all TV camera or microphone you can… Don’t call the Speaker “corrupt” or the “problem” at every one of your defeats…

That’s a great place to start.

Then again, a trustworthy Edgar took 4 months to get a meeting, to a lyin’ Rauner might never, ever, EVER, get a one on one, lol.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 10:52 am
===- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 10:41 am

===It seems like the first question in an article like this should be directed towards Rauner’s staff: Who reached out to Speaker Madigan and when?===

I asked that very question and never received an answer.===

——————–

I thought about calling out the Rauner Press Shop and Legislstive Shop yesterday…

Then they can’t “figure out” who called the Speaker?

They both, frankly, are so inept the Keystone Kops mock them.

As an aside, any “Who” questions should maybe be addressed to Representative Ron Sandack.

Rep. Sandack is the master of finding out “Who”…

Food for thought.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 10:56 am
==I asked that very question and never received an answer.==

Yet, there’s no evidence that Vinicky did - she just wanted an excuse to get Madigan’s people on the record about a meeting. Even though as a seasoned professional, she could probably come up with 15 reasons why the Governor’s offer was disingenuous.

And now the “I have no thoughts on a meeting with the Governor” quote will be the story of the day.

Comment by Century Club Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 10:59 am
For the love of Pete, someone do something NOW! People and lives are being damaged.

Comment by Higher Ed Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 11:00 am
Isn’t it a shame that a reporter would even need to question the Governor’s honesty in making a call to the Speaker?
And secondly, the position of State Representative is a part-time job, while the Governor’s job is as a full-time executive.
Thirdly, Rauner’s primary election antics must’ve plum wore Madigan down.
Time for a little spring break, for goodness’ sake.
What’s Rauner done with his full-time position that’s been so beneficial for Illinoisans as of late?

Comment by Austin Blvd Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 11:01 am
Dear governor - you know where the speakers office ( and home) is - just show up.

Comment by Thoughts Matter Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 11:06 am
So both Madigan and Rauner seem to be “electronic device challenged” (EDC). Isn’t there still a staircase and hallways between the two offices? Can’t they physically just walk up to one another and start talking? This is mostly snark, but c’mon, this is worse than junior high ‘he said, she said’ stuff.

Comment by East Central Illinois Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 11:11 am
The Governor’s Office and the House uses CMS’s phone system, which generates a record of all phone calls made. This record should be subject to FOIA, however the records I have seen only capture phone calls between Springfield and Chicago and vice versa, as those generate a cost, but I would assume Springfield to Springfield calls and Chicago to Chicago calls are recorded somewhere as well.

There would be no indication regarding the content of the call, but it would be interesting to see if any phone calls have been made.

Comment by Jon Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 11:21 am
Michelle Flaherty +1. I love the idea of Madigan using burner phones. Maybe Rauner does use email — from constantly rotating phony accounts in the dark web.

Comment by Keyrock Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 11:23 am
Elections have consequences. Campaigns shape relationships.

Surprised that some of the knowledgeable commenters think that Speaker Madigan owes Governor Rauner any mercy.

People are getting hurt, true, and Governor Rauner can end that by dropping all the nonsense and talking budget. According to his Twitter feed he’s chosen to visit two of his favorite southern Illinois restaurants instead.

Hate to give Stantis credit, but it seems like his satirical cartoon has been looked at as a playbook by the administration.

Comment by LizPhairTax Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 11:27 am
Madigan isn’t going to make the first move. He never does. And he’s not going to meet with Rauner. There’s no point at this point.

For a deal to go down, a go-between has to meet with Madigan and assure him that Rauner has dropped the Turnaround Agenda, with the possible exception of property tax reform. Anything less than a complete abandonment of “structural reform” by Rauner isn’t going to move the meter. Just about everybody seems to realize this except Rauner.

Madigan will be perfectly content to wait until the 2018 gubernatorial election to pass a budget. Rauner won’t walk back anything until after this fall’s election, and even then.

So asking these guys about who’s calling who and when is an exercise in futility, save for demonstrating how intransigent the situation remains. Rauner seems perfectly willing to be a one-termer, which is likely what will happen if 2018 rolls around with no budget. For him, being governor is a lark, something to bring up in bull sessions around the fire with his wealthy buds while they reminisce about fly fishing and pheasant hunting and whatever else it is that guys who have it made talk about when they are no longer relevant.

Comment by Much Ado Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 11:28 am
Chris Kennedy’s Op-Ed on the current crisis in higher education was right on target. In every region of the state, the consequences of this dysfunction are very visible.

Comment by NW Illinois Democrat Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 11:35 am
Maybe the primary election losses have opened the door from rauners caucus. The governor may be accepting some criticism of his turnaround agenda. Is rauner back peddlin’ here a little?

Comment by Magic carpet ride Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 11:39 am
Seems to me that the lede should have been Rauner won’t detail how and when he reached out to Madigan. Next would be react from Brown. When you fact-check the place to start is with who asserted what they claim to be a fact? Or am I missing something?

Comment by Indendent Retiree Lawyer Journalist Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 11:58 am
Madigan isn’t going to make the first move. He never does.

Why would anyone think that a speaker of the house should make the first move? Is Obama waiting for Ryan on anything?

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 12:16 pm
Can I humbly ask that we all take a moment to ponder something?

Consider the following: We have all taken it for granted that a claim by governor of Illinois that he reached out to the staff of the Speaker of the House is something that merits fact-checking.

A single unstated presumption underlies Vinicky’s questions to Brown, Rich’s questions to Rauner’s staff, this post and all of its comments (even the comments of Rauner defenders), and that unstated presumption is that even the governor’s simplest and most straight forward claims have ZERO credibility. None.

Whether Rauner reached out to Madigan or not is very much beside the point — the point is that NOBODY believes that happened simply because the governor says it happened.

Just think about that…

Something as simple as a claim about a phone call is not to be believed without confirmation.

Over the course of his first year in office, the governor’s credibility has slowly but consistently eroded away. Day after day after day — drip, drip, drip. And now it’s all gone — and it’s so utterly gone that none of us even noticed when the very last of it vanished. Drip, drip, drip.

The Governor of Illinois has zero credibility.

That is the context in which any negotiations in Springfield will take place.

And we’ve got three more years to go.

– MrJM

Comment by @MisterJayEm Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 1:10 pm
Oh, good grief! No one knows anything, no one talks to the others. This is all so completely ridiculous. Get to work, all of you elected types.

Comment by South Central Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 1:48 pm
=== Get to work, all of you elected types===

Ross Perot, is that you?

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 1:48 pm
I’d suggest that staff for Rauner and Madigan go to communications class, but the communications programs have been cut by the public universities.

Comment by Norseman Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 2:01 pm
The biggest, most vitriolic, front page, political fight of at least the last have century (if not longer) and Steve doesn’t know…doesn’t think he can find out…and can’t offer any insight?

Thanks for the chuckle…

Comment by Commonsense in Illinois Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 2:08 pm
+++ A single unstated presumption underlies Vinicky’s questions to Brown, Rich’s questions to Rauner’s staff, this post and all of its comments (even the comments of Rauner defenders), and that unstated presumption is that even the governor’s simplest and most straight forward claims have ZERO credibility. None. +++
A Daily Herald editorial today led with Rauner’s claim, without challenge, and without questioning its credibility. Realistically, a lot of public figures enjoy presumptive credibility as to something as ’simple’ as a claim they contacted someone for a meeting. My bias is that Rauner turned me off more than a year ago, but that followed my ignoring my doubts that probably should have sprung my brain to action when the Dave McKinney story broke and, if not then, the Election Night–alleged–phone calls business. It is time, I believe, for mainstream journalists to shed the governor of presumptive credibility. IMHO…

Comment by Independent retiree/lawyer/journalist Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 2:34 pm
I believe Steve Brown is simply saying Madigan is on vacation and can not be reached.

Comment by Mama Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 2:44 pm
I don’t post often here though I read often. I’m not as articulate has several I often agree with. But the smart people here keep saying–sadly they are correct– nothing matters, nothing helps, nothing is a solution because the Governor wants his Turnaround Agenda passed and implemented, before any the issue is discussed and negotiated. And then there are no guarantees, promises, hints that the State’s problems/issues will be addressed, dealt with. He will then ask for more of whatever. He thinks he can destroy unions and the opposition (be it the Democratic Party or the Repubs).

And he thinks he holds the high cards/ground
2018

Comment by Ill_Wil Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 3:27 pm
A very diplomatic action on the Gov’s behalf, is bi-partisanship on an incline?

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Mar 23, 16 @ 3:39 pm
How does one reach the Speaker if and when he is on vacation? He has no cell phone and no email. Just wait until he calls into the office from a land line somewhere and checks his messages?

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Mar 24, 16 @ 2:29 am