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?
Add Comment
