McHenry County Blog

A press release from Congressman Joe Walsh:

Duckworth Campaign Finance Chair Paid to Play in Blago Administration

Recently it was discovered that 21 donors to Tammy Duckworth’s congressional campaign also funneled $3 million into a Super PAC (House Majority PAC) attacking Congressman Joe Walsh.

Now, it has been discovered her campaign finance chairman, William Brandt Jr., was the beneficiary of an appointment to run the Illinois Finance Authority by Rod Blagojevich after Brandt’s company donated $165,000 to Blagojevich’s reelection campaign.

Congressman Joe Walsh stated, “Tammy Duckworth’s liberal elite donors have tried to buy her a congressional seat, and now we know that the head of her fundraising effort, William Brandt Jr., bought a Blago appointment after contributing $165,000 to his campaign.

“Brandt was appointed as head of the Illinois Finance Authority, which provides public money to businesses and organizations.

“What’s even more telling is that in Brandt’s first meeting as head of the IFA, he fired the board’s lobbyist for what was deemed a ‘political decision’ by Governor Blagojevich’s office.

“This is not far off the path of Tammy Duckworth’s actions, who as a fellow Blago appointee attempted to fire, humiliate and threaten two whistleblowers in the Illinois VA.”

Walsh concluded, “The Duckworth for Congress campaign is a group of political insiders from the Blagojevich era, including Ms. Duckworth herself.

“The more voters learn about Ms. Duckworth’s Chicago machine style politics, the more they are turning away from her.

“If Ms. Duckworth wants to prove she’s as independent minded as she advertises herself to be, she should remove fellow Blago appointee William Brandt from her finance committee and return the money from the 21 donors to her campaign that also donated the George Soros backed House Majority PAC.”

Read more about William Brandt Jr.’s firing of an Illinois Finance Authority lobbyist here.

If memory serves me correctly, it was a story from the Daily Herald where the campaign contributions to Kane County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay from county vendors first surfaced.  State Senator Chris Lauzen, who is running to replace McConnaughay, brought up the issue in a press conference in mid-January.

Now, a press release from State Senate candidate Cliff Sturges re-visits the issue.

When the campaigning gets negative, as least with press releases (not many press conferences anymore), I’ll do my best to get a reaction from the other candidate.  McConnaughay’s response is below the press release.

SURGES WEIGHS IN ON HEAVY McCONNAUGHAY PAY-TO-PLAY CONTRIBUTIONS

Gilberts, IL- Republican Senate candidate in the 33rd district, Cliff Surges, calls for a stop to pay-to-play politics in Illinois.

There have been many allegations made recently, that [Karen] McConnaughay, while in her current position as Kane County Chairman, received large donations from vendors, at least 80% of her total donations, who have significant contracts with the county.

There has been no detailed accounting of these connections from the McConnaughay campaign.

While the Surges campaign alleges no specific illegal activity by our opponent, with transparency comes accountability, and she must be held accountable for her conduct while serving in public office.

“My opponent has continued to declare that her campaign donations from companies and individuals that do business with Kane County is above board because she has no direct ‘vote’ on these contracts.

“This is laughable!

“Certainly even Ms. McConnaughay can concede that in her position as Chairman of the County,

• construction projects,
• development projects and
• county contracts

do not happen without her oversight and ultimate approval.

“My opponent has, and continues to accept campaign contributions from individuals and companies that have or currently do business with Kane County.”

”It’s time to move forward into a new age of strong ethics instead of the same old ‘culture of cronyism’ that exists now”, Surges urged.

“My opponent says she wants to take her experience from Kane County government to Springfield?

“We have enough pay-to-play politics there already, and the citizens of Illinois don’t need any more.”

“Illinois residents are tired of the behind-the-scenes tactics and back room deals that only continue to destroy the public’s trust in their elected officials” Surges said.

“It’s time to stand for what is right. Come out and vote. Enough is enough!

“The people will decide how Illinois moves forward by voting on March 20th.”

= = = = =

Karen McConnaughay’s response: to Chris Lauzen’s original press conference. I asked yesterday for any update that McConnaughay might desire, but have received no reply. If one comes, I shall add it.

“Sen. Lauzen leveled a personal attack on my integrity yesterday and offered, by his own admission, no proof to back it up.

“His accusations have no basis in fact and his supposed documentation is not only laughable, but it belies a fundamental ignorance of how the county he wants to run is governed.

“Chris has succeeded in getting his outlandish claims in the news, but has also exposed himself as the consummate practitioner of gutter politics.

“Chris has taken over half a million dollars in donations from PAC’s who have business before the general assembly but sanctimoniously claims that those donations never influence his votes.

“He hypocritically applies one standard to himself and another to everyone else, making himself the supreme judge of other people’s ethics.

“This sort of drive-by personal attack is an affront to the voters and a desperate attempt to score cheap political points.”

John Ruberry at Marathon Pundit has done the research and discovered almost $5 million in contributions to Democratic Party Governor Pat Quinn from public sector unions.

 

He calls it “Pay to Play.”

One might think of a tail wagging a dog.

As I was writing the article about early voting in McHenry County, I went to the mailbox.

There I found a third Scott Lee Cohen for Governor piece. He is the only one making mailings this month for that or any other statewide office.

I looked at the address side first.

When I looked at the other side, it was obvious that Cohen hoped people saw the money changing hand side first. The address side is a follow-up to it.

In my early voting article, I suggested that Cohen was positioning himself as the “None of the Above” candidate.

An email arrived yesterday about a bill that State Rep. Mike Tryon has introduced. It follows:

Wednesday I filed a bill in Springfield which addresses “pay-to-play” antics in Illinois.The bill, House Bill 6925, would prohibit unions that represent State employees and the political action committees affiliated with those unions from making campaign contributions to Illinois statewide elected officials or candidates.

If successful, House Bill 6925 would put an end to much of the unethical behavior that exists today between elected officials who negotiate union contracts and the unions and PACs that represent unionized workers on the State payroll.

The General Assembly passed legislation in 2008 which made it illegal for individuals running for a statewide office to receive campaign contributions from companies that hold State contracts, but that law excluded donations from unions that represent State employees and their political action committees.

This new bill addresses the unethical practice of unions supporting politicians in exchange for favorable contracts.

The need for the bill became crystal clear to me two weeks ago when Governor Pat Quinn took his budget director, who was in the middle of negotiations on an AFSCME contract, with him to his AFSCME endorsement interview.

It was inappropriate for the governor to bring his budget director to an AFSCME endorsement meeting while contract negotiations between AFSCME and the State of Illinois were underway.

Mixing policy and politics is what got our last two governors into trouble and Governor Quinn should have known better.

Two days after AFSCME endorsed Quinn, the governor announced his promise not to lay off any AFSCME union employees for the next 24 months. This does not meet the sniff test and smells like the same old politics that Illinois has been getting for the last eight years.

As you may remember, earlier this year I served as the chief sponsor of House Bill 0035, which created the Transparency Portal in Illinois. This new law mandated the creation of a user-friendly and searchable online database through which visitors could find all state employee salaries and contracts (www.accountability.illinois.gov).

House Bill 0035 was a great first step in adding a vital layer of transparency to state government, but unfortunately corruption in Illinois is very deeply rooted.
This new bill, if successful, should go incredibly far in restoring Illinoisans faith in their government. It is my hope that both Republicans and Democrats embrace this bill and support its passage.

The bill may be discussed next month when we return to Springfield for the November veto session.

Former District 300 Board member was out of the country on his new job when I emailed him asking what he thought his accomplishments were.

Interestingly, he did not mention getting elected as a Home School Dad. In 2007, he was one of two McHenry County Home School Dad’s to win a school board seat.

The other was John O’Neill, now a candidate for state representative against veteran incumbent Democrat Jack Franks.

Ryan got more votes than any of the other eight candidates when he ran for the Carpentersville School Board. He defeated incumbent School Board President Mary Fioretti.

I asked him to reflect on his accomplishments. Here’s his reply:

“As you may recall, my campaign was based upon a pledge of both fiscal and ethical accountability and transparency.

“To that end, there are several accomplishments I have particularly strong feelings about.

“I am very pleased that I was able to disprove the image of me that was portrayed by my adversaries and earn the trust of my colleagues, administration and staff of D300.

“Through my conduct, I believe I was able to show all of them that just because someone aspires to a high standard, and as such will occasionally disagree with group think, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re an enemy.

“Just the opposite – often times you’re the voice of reason and conscience.

“While it has often been referred to as ‘pay to play,’  I think ‘conflict of interest’ describes the policy more accurately.

“Besides the practical benefits of its implementation, such a policy sends a strong message in regard to the values a Board hold important.  I am proud that I didn’t give up on it after it was defeated the first time around, and of the collaborative approach used to get it ultimately approved.

“The degree of opposition by a key administrator both times around was initially stunning and proved quite revealing in regard to how entrenched and pervasive the ‘me first’ attitude of educrats really is.

“I am proud of the tasks accomplished under my watch as Chair of the Policy & Legislative as well as the Construction and Facilities Oversight Committees.

“In particular, strengthening D300′s policies on

• bullying, harassment and intimidation;
• authoring the cash reserve policy that saved taxpayers $2,000,000 by producing a 5-tier increase in D300′s credit ratings;
• developing specific protocols for construction change orders (a good topic for an in depth investigative article would be an audit of the referendum projects before these guides were in place);
• implementation of a FOIA policy which proactively posts the D300 ‘checkbook,’
• BOE meeting packets and FOIA responses online; as well as
• working with our local legislators to get a common sense ADA implementation bill signed into law (and subsequently being appointed to the C(aptial) D(evelopment) B(oard)’s ADA Task Force as a result).

“Lastly, although my role was minor,  I am pleased that my efforts as Vice Chair of the Finance Committee played a role in implementing the ‘Educational Program Review Technique’ (EPRT) process that was the foundation for eliminating D300′s $27M deficit in two years. (Credit must be given to Dr. (Cheryl) Crates for initiating the process).”

I next asked Ryan to reflect on his activity in the successful referendums passed by District 300:

“I strongly opposed the referendum – specifically the lack of fiscal discipline, integrity and transparency that necessitated it in the first place.

“Even more so, I stood opposed to the less than forthright tactics used by its proponents to secure its passage.  The same is true for the questionable interpretation of the Open Meetings Act and the post-referendum bonus paid to Dr. (Ken) Arndt by the preceding Board.

“I made one thing clear upon my inauguration though – what was done was done.  It passed and as such, I took it as my responsibility to ensure its promises were kept.”

And, Ryan has a final word:

“In closing, I guess the end of my resignation letter sums it up best.

“I will be eternally grateful to those who placed their confidence and trust in me; and I depart knowing I can honestly say ‘promises kept!’”

The Daley Herald’s James Fuller has done a comparison between local campaign contributions and vendor contributions that I have not seen since the article Allison Smith wrote for the Northwest Herald and the ones I wrote for McHenry County Blog.

That’s when campaign contributions to school tax hike committees, District 200′s and 300′s especially, were examined to see if those doing business with school districts were helping those pushing for tax hikes.

Guess what?

They were.

Now the Daily Herald looks for connections between Kane County Chairwoman Karen McConnaughay’s campaign war chest and county vendors.

And finds forty-three.

No pay to play, the chairlady says.

It may look bad, but she deliberately removes herself from the county’s vendor selection process.

One commenter points out that she gives contributions to board members who support her and who vote on vendor selection.

Another says, “Just keep on moving, nothing to see here folks.”

Here’s what the Senate tote board showed after the roll of the 59 Illinois state senators had been called.

59-0 in favoring of kicking Governor Rod Blagojevich out of office.

All those Democrats scurrying for cover lest they be thought to agree with the governor’s closing argument:

“Take those four tapes as they are and you, I believe in fairness, will recognize and acknowledge those are conversations relating to the things all of us in politics do in order to run campaigns and try to win elections.”

If true, the problem is a lot bigger than our ex-governor.

Here’s what the Senate tote board showed after the roll of the 59 Illinois state senators had been called.

59-0 in favoring of kicking Governor Rod Blagojevich out of office.

All those Democrats scurrying for cover lest they be thought to agree with the governor’s closing argument:

“Take those four tapes as they are and you, I believe in fairness, will recognize and acknowledge those are conversations relating to the things all of us in politics do in order to run campaigns and try to win elections.”

If true, the problem is a lot bigger than our ex-governor.

The following press release was received from District 300 school board candidate Robert Lee:

ROBERT LEE CALLS FOR COMPREHENSIVE ETHICS REFORM

EAST DUNDEE – Robert Lee, candidate for District 300 School Board, began pushing for the implementation of comprehensive ethics reform, working with the Policy and Legislation Committee to draft a proposal limiting the influence of pay-to-play tactics and other necessary reforms.

“Given that our state government passed a landmark pay-to-play ban in September, I think it is high time District 300 follow suit. Given the alleged actions of our governor, public officials at all levels of government should demonstrate their leadership by passing needed reforms,” Lee said. “District 300 must honestly evaluate its policies and pass comprehensive ethics reforms immediately.”

In August 2007, board member John Ryan sought to restrict campaign contributions from companies who receive $5,000 in business from District 300.

Additionally, the policy prevented a business relationship if contributions were made to campaigns that directly affected the District any time during the two prior years.

Lee hopes to finally see a similar reform package developed and passed by the District.

Lee said he’s worked to include language in the conflict of interest policy that would restrict campaign contributions to candidates for school board from companies that receive business from District 300.

Additionally, he worked to place similar restrictions on contributions to support or oppose District 300 ballot referenda, and make clear that prohibited political activity by district staff includes supporting or opposing candidates and ballot measures during compensated time.

“I supported Mr. Ryan in his first attempt to pass meaningful change in District 300. The vote of the board to defeat this important policy would have angered me had it not been so disappointing. This is a clear chance for all seven members of the board to demonstrate their ethical responsibilities. I will work to see positive changes are developed in the Policy and Legislation Committee, and lobby the Board to encourage approval of the changes.”

Lee can be reached

• at (847) 844‐0397,
• by cellular phone at (970) 420‐6468,
• by email at d300@robertwadelee.com, or
• by visiting http://www.robertwadelee.com.