Lisa Madigan Sued for Breach of FOIA Laws 10/29/2010
The Committee to Elect BILL4AG and Libertarian Party candidate for Attorney General Bill Malan filed a Complaint today in Cook County Chancery Court against Attorney General Lisa Madigan and a Madigan lieutenant for violating Illinois’ Freedom of Information Act by withholding documents regarding “Operation Guardian.” The complaint seeks an injunction ordering Madigan to release documents that her office is withholding.
Lisa Madigan is accused of refusing to release records that will demonstrate her office has been misleading the public regarding “Operation Guardian,” campaigning at public expense, and failing to pursue instances of corruption and violations of election law.
As part of “Operation Guardian,” Lisa Madigan has been making surprise inspection visits to nursing homes and elderly care facilities throughout the state. Executing that operation, she claims to have found 124 residents and employees with open warrants, but refused Malan’s request for information about the crimes alleged and how many of the 124 were taken into custody or left in the nursing homes.
“It’s pretty fishy when the Attorney General travels around the state holding press conferences about ‘Operation Guardian,’ but won’t release basic information about that program,” Malan said. “Is this really keeping seniors safe, or is it an opportunity for Ms. Madigan to campaign on the public dime?”
Malan has also named Cara Smith, the Public Access Counselor whose office is responsible for FOIA compliance, as a co-defendant. Smith is not only responsible for FOIA compliance, but also holds the position of Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Communications to Lisa Madigan. It is inappropriate, Malan argues, for Smith to hold both these positions at once.
“If you’ve got the same person acting as ‘spin-doctor’ and also responsible for Transparency - "Ensuring Open and Honest Government" - you can bet the public won’t have access to all the information,” Malan said. “It's like if Richard Nixon could have put Bob Haldeman in charge of investigating the Watergate burglary. Lisa has turned FOIA on its head by putting her propagandist in charge of public information.”
Lisa Madigan is also accused of failing to investigate charges of election fraud by the Republican Party of Illinois. The Republicans, according to information received by Malan, misreported expenses to knock the Libertarian and Constitution parties off the ballot as “grassroots organizing.” Madigan has refused to investigate this violation of election law.
“Lisa Madigan presents herself as ‘independent,’ but she is everything but that,” Malan said. “Lisa is just another cog in the democratic machine here in Illinois, and she has no independence.”
Lisa Madigan is accused of refusing to release records that will demonstrate her office has been misleading the public regarding “Operation Guardian,” campaigning at public expense, and failing to pursue instances of corruption and violations of election law.
As part of “Operation Guardian,” Lisa Madigan has been making surprise inspection visits to nursing homes and elderly care facilities throughout the state. Executing that operation, she claims to have found 124 residents and employees with open warrants, but refused Malan’s request for information about the crimes alleged and how many of the 124 were taken into custody or left in the nursing homes.
“It’s pretty fishy when the Attorney General travels around the state holding press conferences about ‘Operation Guardian,’ but won’t release basic information about that program,” Malan said. “Is this really keeping seniors safe, or is it an opportunity for Ms. Madigan to campaign on the public dime?”
Malan has also named Cara Smith, the Public Access Counselor whose office is responsible for FOIA compliance, as a co-defendant. Smith is not only responsible for FOIA compliance, but also holds the position of Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Communications to Lisa Madigan. It is inappropriate, Malan argues, for Smith to hold both these positions at once.
“If you’ve got the same person acting as ‘spin-doctor’ and also responsible for Transparency - "Ensuring Open and Honest Government" - you can bet the public won’t have access to all the information,” Malan said. “It's like if Richard Nixon could have put Bob Haldeman in charge of investigating the Watergate burglary. Lisa has turned FOIA on its head by putting her propagandist in charge of public information.”
Lisa Madigan is also accused of failing to investigate charges of election fraud by the Republican Party of Illinois. The Republicans, according to information received by Malan, misreported expenses to knock the Libertarian and Constitution parties off the ballot as “grassroots organizing.” Madigan has refused to investigate this violation of election law.
“Lisa Madigan presents herself as ‘independent,’ but she is everything but that,” Malan said. “Lisa is just another cog in the democratic machine here in Illinois, and she has no independence.”
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Voting is a fundamental right and one of the most important duties of a citizen. In Illinois, it is a felony to use deception to prevent any person from supporting the nomination or election of any person for public office.
From June through August of this year, the Illinois Republican Party, Pat Brady, Chairman, coordinated an effort to "jigger the ballot," to borrow a phrase from Republican Candidate Mark Kirk.
Probable violations of the law by the State GOP included misreporting the use of party funds. The State GOP paid Republican lawyers John Fogarty and Brien Sheahan, and others on the Party payroll to obstruct candidate nominations while hiding the identity of the puppeteer footing the bill - the Illinois Republican Party. The State GOP attempted to hide the fact it was behind objections to 23 candidates, through the use of two phony or "conduit" objectors. Funds used to pay State GOP staffers to oppose candidates were misreported as used for "grassroots organizing."
When these dirty tricks were being played, I asked Republican Candidate for Attorney General Steve Kim to repudiate these low and probably illegal tactics of the Republican Party. Mr. Kim's campaign did not respond. So today I call upon Attorney General Lisa Madigan to investigate this likely violation of election law by the Illinois Republican Party. But odds are Lisa Madigan will ignore it, because the Democrats are probably not squeaky clean on this issue either.
The Chicago Sun Times, in its endorsement of Lisa Madigan noted: "One area where Madigan could do more -- and where her Republican challenger Steve Kim vows he would do more -- is in fighting public corruption. But let's not be naive -- that's one crusade Madigan is unlikely to take on. Not when it could so obviously put her at odds with her father."
Given Republican Steve Kim's failure to repudiate the actions of his party, his "vow" to fight corruption should be taken with a grain of salt.
It is a shocking and dismal state of affairs that a major paper endorsed Madigan, while admitting that she will not fight corruption. The citizens of Illinois should not accept - like a bunch of sheep - the fact that their chief law enforcement officer will not attack corruption. If the people of Illinois want to get rid of corruption, they need to elect an independent Attorney General.
Illinois is $12 billion in the red, and every year, a half billion dollars is squandered as a result of corruption and official misconduct. Corruption and cronyism should be a priority for the Attorney General, not a land mine the AG needs to tiptoe around. Only an Independent Attorney General will do what is necessary to drain the cesspool of corruption in Illinois.
From June through August of this year, the Illinois Republican Party, Pat Brady, Chairman, coordinated an effort to "jigger the ballot," to borrow a phrase from Republican Candidate Mark Kirk.
Probable violations of the law by the State GOP included misreporting the use of party funds. The State GOP paid Republican lawyers John Fogarty and Brien Sheahan, and others on the Party payroll to obstruct candidate nominations while hiding the identity of the puppeteer footing the bill - the Illinois Republican Party. The State GOP attempted to hide the fact it was behind objections to 23 candidates, through the use of two phony or "conduit" objectors. Funds used to pay State GOP staffers to oppose candidates were misreported as used for "grassroots organizing."
When these dirty tricks were being played, I asked Republican Candidate for Attorney General Steve Kim to repudiate these low and probably illegal tactics of the Republican Party. Mr. Kim's campaign did not respond. So today I call upon Attorney General Lisa Madigan to investigate this likely violation of election law by the Illinois Republican Party. But odds are Lisa Madigan will ignore it, because the Democrats are probably not squeaky clean on this issue either.
The Chicago Sun Times, in its endorsement of Lisa Madigan noted: "One area where Madigan could do more -- and where her Republican challenger Steve Kim vows he would do more -- is in fighting public corruption. But let's not be naive -- that's one crusade Madigan is unlikely to take on. Not when it could so obviously put her at odds with her father."
Given Republican Steve Kim's failure to repudiate the actions of his party, his "vow" to fight corruption should be taken with a grain of salt.
It is a shocking and dismal state of affairs that a major paper endorsed Madigan, while admitting that she will not fight corruption. The citizens of Illinois should not accept - like a bunch of sheep - the fact that their chief law enforcement officer will not attack corruption. If the people of Illinois want to get rid of corruption, they need to elect an independent Attorney General.
Illinois is $12 billion in the red, and every year, a half billion dollars is squandered as a result of corruption and official misconduct. Corruption and cronyism should be a priority for the Attorney General, not a land mine the AG needs to tiptoe around. Only an Independent Attorney General will do what is necessary to drain the cesspool of corruption in Illinois.
Madigan’s Office Stonewalls Key Facts of “Operation Guardian”
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s Freedom of Information (FOI) web page boldly proclaims: ENSURING OPEN AND HONEST GOVERNMENT.
The person responsible for ensuring all Illinois agencies comply with FOI requests is the Public Access Counselor (PAC). The PAC is an attorney in the AG’s office named Cara Smith. However, when Cara Smith is not wearing her PAC hat, she is Lisa Madigan’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy/Communications. In other words, Cara Smith is Spinner in Chief for Lisa Madigan and also responsible for ENSURING OPEN AND HONEST GOVERNMENT.
Florida, “The Sunshine State,” used to run an ad campaign with the tagline “The rules are different here.” Illinois is like that, except for the “sunshine” part. Illinois does not have to advertise “the rules are different here.” Illinois and corruption are synonyms. Only in Illinois would the AG’s top spinner also be in charge of controlling the release of information about the AG’s office in response to FOI requests.
OPERATION GUARDIAN STONEWALLING. Madigan’s office issued a press release on September 20th that over 120 persons with outstanding warrants had been identified during Operation Guardian. On September 22nd, I submitted an FOI request asking for information about the 120 persons – what were the crimes charged, how many were arrested and how many were left in the homes. I also asked for information about media and other groups Madigan met with during Operation Guardian, and also about activities by her staff.
I put in the FOI request to get some sunshine on two key points:
- Since nursing homes do not have the ability to check for open warrants (which was the basis for the “120 felons” press release) it is misleading at best to call this aspect of Operation Guardian a “compliance check.”
- Madigan’s traveling “compliance” road show was campaigning on the public dime.
In response to my FOI request, Madigan’s office sent me copies of press releases, along with documents saying why they won’t release some items and others need more consideration.
But this is Illinois: the rules are different here. And those rules won’t change until we throw out the people who made them.
In an interview today on WBEZ’s popular “848” show, Attorney General Lisa Madigan was asked if it is possible for her to be independent given her father is the powerful Speaker, Mike Madigan. In response, General Madigan replied that, although that may have been a legitimate question when she first ran eight years ago, she has proven her independence, and as an example said her office investigated former 6th District State Representative Patricia Bailey, a Democrat. Bailey was eventually convicted in 2005 of perjury for filing documents stating she lived in the 6th district, when in fact she did not.
In the State of Illinois, Madigan putting the gaff on Bailey is like an angler coming back from the Caribbean with a minnow. The reporter asked no follow-up.
Similarly, the Chicago Tribune, once an independent – even belligerent - newspaper, has succumbed. The Tribune’s editorial board, combining the investigative acumen of Inspector Clouseau with the observational power of Mr. Magoo gave a wheezing endorsement to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan in her bid for re-election. A partial autopsy of the Tribune’s last words follows.
A. Madigan is a “tireless advocate for consumers and taxpayers….”
FINDINGS: Madigan has often pursued businesses and banks, but Illinois taxpayers – consumers of and payers for government services – have gotten short shrift. Madigan has been more of a lapdog than a watchdog when it comes to protecting the citizens against government corruption and pay-for-play.
Examples:
FINDINGS: Between April and August of 2010 – that is to say, during the campaign season - Lisa Madigan participated in unannounced “compliance checks” at several nursing homes. Madigan’s office issued a press release on September 20, 2010 that the “compliance” checks uncovered 124 residents and staff with outstanding warrants.
The kicker is, nursing homes do not have the ability to check for open warrants. So the failure of nursing homes to check for open warrants is not a “compliance” issue. In February of 2010, a task force on nursing home safety reported to Governor Quinn there was no “mechanism to retrieve information about outstanding warrants, recent arrests on suspicion of a felony, and prior convictions in other states.” The task force also noted that processes that are required by law to be completed by the Illinois Department of Public Health within 14 days “are not completed for months” in many cases.
Rather than “compliance checks” so-called Operation Guardian served as a traveling campaign platform for Lisa Madigan, paid for by the state.
C. CONCLUSION
Forensic journalism in Illinois arrived Dead On Arrival in 2010. Suspected cause of death is repeated stress trauma caused by cutting and pasting from incumbents press releases. This disease is chronic; Illinois news organizations repeatedly endorse incumbent politicians in order to maintain their “inside source.” But how can our “independent media” be the watchdog this state truly needs if they continue to cozy up with the very people they’re supposed to be monitoring?
In the State of Illinois, Madigan putting the gaff on Bailey is like an angler coming back from the Caribbean with a minnow. The reporter asked no follow-up.
Similarly, the Chicago Tribune, once an independent – even belligerent - newspaper, has succumbed. The Tribune’s editorial board, combining the investigative acumen of Inspector Clouseau with the observational power of Mr. Magoo gave a wheezing endorsement to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan in her bid for re-election. A partial autopsy of the Tribune’s last words follows.
A. Madigan is a “tireless advocate for consumers and taxpayers….”
FINDINGS: Madigan has often pursued businesses and banks, but Illinois taxpayers – consumers of and payers for government services – have gotten short shrift. Madigan has been more of a lapdog than a watchdog when it comes to protecting the citizens against government corruption and pay-for-play.
Examples:
- Union Giveaway: State employees unions recently made huge contributions to Governor Pat Quinn’s campaign. At about the same time Quinn re-opened negotiations with the unions, giving them large pay increases and extending a “no-layoff’ guarantee for another year. With the state $12 billion in the red, this “tireless advocate for consumers and taxpayers” Lisa Madigan’s failure to call a foul qualifies her for an endorsement as a professional wrestling referee.
- Payday Loans. Lisa Madigan, as well as Speaker Mike Madigan pressed for increased regulation of payday loans. The increased regulation included computer tracking of consumer loans. According to Chicago Sun-Times “Watchdog” reporters Tim Novak and Dave McKinney, the contractor for these transactions is Veritec. A lobbyist for Veritec is Jordan Matyas, who married one of Speaker Madigan’s daughters on July 3, 2010. Mike Madigan stated he “doesn’t recall talking to Jordan about [the payday loan] bill” and “Jordan wasn’t his son-in-law yet” when Madigan voted for it. The deal “totally stinks,” according to Republican Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno.
- UI-UC Scandal. Was Madigan a “tireless advocate for consumers and taxpayers” regarding the admissions scandal at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign? Big campaign contributors got relatives put on a special admissions track of that highly competitive state university, bumping applicants who qualified on their own merit. When a committee looked into the scandal in 2009, ten legislators, including Speaker Mike Madigan, were invited to testify. Of the ten, the Speaker and six others refused to testify. Lisa Madigan did nothing to investigate this blatant pay-for-play.
FINDINGS: Between April and August of 2010 – that is to say, during the campaign season - Lisa Madigan participated in unannounced “compliance checks” at several nursing homes. Madigan’s office issued a press release on September 20, 2010 that the “compliance” checks uncovered 124 residents and staff with outstanding warrants.
The kicker is, nursing homes do not have the ability to check for open warrants. So the failure of nursing homes to check for open warrants is not a “compliance” issue. In February of 2010, a task force on nursing home safety reported to Governor Quinn there was no “mechanism to retrieve information about outstanding warrants, recent arrests on suspicion of a felony, and prior convictions in other states.” The task force also noted that processes that are required by law to be completed by the Illinois Department of Public Health within 14 days “are not completed for months” in many cases.
Rather than “compliance checks” so-called Operation Guardian served as a traveling campaign platform for Lisa Madigan, paid for by the state.
C. CONCLUSION
Forensic journalism in Illinois arrived Dead On Arrival in 2010. Suspected cause of death is repeated stress trauma caused by cutting and pasting from incumbents press releases. This disease is chronic; Illinois news organizations repeatedly endorse incumbent politicians in order to maintain their “inside source.” But how can our “independent media” be the watchdog this state truly needs if they continue to cozy up with the very people they’re supposed to be monitoring?
