A press release from Allen Skillicorn:
MADIGAN SKIPS BUDGET NEGOTIATIONS TO HOST FUNDRAISER
East Dundee, IL – Allen Skillicorn, Republican candidate for State Representative, questions House Speaker Michael J. Madigan’s absence from last week’s state budget meeting after campaign finance reports filed indicate Madigan skipped budget negotiations to host a fundraiser.
Regarding the Speaker’s absence, Madigan spokesman Steve Brown mentioned a scheduling conflict, but refused to elaborate. Subsequent filings with the State Board of Elections indicate the Speaker collected over $500,000 from unions and trail lawyers that same day, on Thursday, December 17.
“Speaker Madigan has repeatedly pledged to work ‘respectfully and cooperatively’ with the governor.” Skillicorn continued, “We are six months into a budget crisis. How can speaker Madigan place campaign fundraising above performing his basic constitutional duties for the State of Illinois? It’s shocking.”
A-1 reports filed with the State Board of Elections detail over $500,000 in itemized donations to Madigan controlled campaign committees. Donor totals between the three funds Dec. 17 include:
- Service Employees International Union $107,800
- Associated Fire Fighters of IL PAC $107,800
- Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters PAC $95,000
- Cooney and Conway $43,200
- Healy Law Firm (the) $43,200
- McNabola Law Group, P.C. $32,400
- Korein Tillery LLC $28,400
- Illinois Hospital Association PAC $15,000
- Chicagoland Speedway, LLC $12,000
- Motherway & Napleton $10,000
- Penn National Gaming, Inc. $10,000
- Walgreens $6,000
- Cates Mahoney LLC $5,000
- Illinois Medical Anesthesia PAC $5,000
- Machinery Movers Labor Union 136 $3,000
- Spiros Law P.C. $3,000
- Continental Airlines Empl. Fund $2,500
- Illinois Film PAC $2,500
- Law Offices of Richard L. Pullano PC $2,500
- Norfolk Southern Corporation $2,500
Direct Links to Dec. 17 A-1 Reports:
Maybe Madigan was planning to donate the funds raised at that function directly to the State of Illinois to help close the budget hole. Mr. Skillcorn should publicly demand that Mr. Madigan immediately turn over the funds collected in order to help the State. 🙂
When Madigan reads this blog to see this press release, I’m sure he will feel obligated to respond…
Skillicorn reminds me of the angry sports enthusiast who yells at the television when the referee makes a bad call. Except the angry sports enthusiast isn’t looking for credit for having yelled at no one..
Notice that some candidates have a better handle on the state issues that really matter than the others?
The budget is a serious issue.
Madgan blowing off the Governor to collect more $$ from the bar association and unions is a big deal.
well he learned from the best Obammie did it so why not him….
no one wants to do their job that they were elected to do, this is what they would rather do!
isn’t it obvious… and yet they keep getting voted in…
sickening!
why should any of us be surprised anymore
IL = GREED!
And Madigan gives the overtaxed Illinois residents the middle finger once again.
Ever wonder what a Democrat leprechaun looks like ?
Well since Rauner is getting money from big business like Koch Bros Americans for Prosperity and doing work for Club for growth maybe he should use his money for the budget.
http://realkochfacts.com/moderate-bruce-rauner-really-just-another-koch-lackey/
It would be helpful if Skillicorn was aware of how campaign finance reporting worked.
You are not required to report contributions the day you receive them.
You are required to report them the day you deposit them.
Skillicorn has absolutely no evidence that Madigan hosted a fundraiser on the 17th.
Also, Madigan’s daughter had a baby the day of or the day before.
But that wouldn’t make as nice of an attack for Skillicorn, would it?
But hey, lets not let facts get in the way.
The Machinery Movers Labor Union 136 is the Ironworkers Local 136 out of Bridgeview.
More officially known as the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental, and Reinforcing Iron Workers (BSOIW).
Here is their website.
http://www.riggerslocal136.com
They are part of the Chicago Federation of Labor (CFL).
And part of the Chicago & Cook County Building and Construction Trades Council (CBTC).
The networks of labor unions is one aspect that makes them so powerful.
Other labor unions or labor union networks in the list above are:
Service Employees International Union (SEIU), affiliated with Change to Win and the Chicago Federation of Labor (CFL).
Associated Fire Fighters of IL (AFFI), a regional council affiliated with many Illinois Association of Firefighters (IAFF) locals, and also affiliated with the AFL-CIO and the Chicago Federation of Labor (CFL).
http://www.affi-iaff.org
Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters, a regional council of Carpenter union locals affiliated with a few building and construction trade councils (BCTC’s):
– Chicago & Cook County Building and Construction Trades Council
– Fox Valley Building & Construction Trades Council
The Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters is also affiliated with the Chicago Federation of Labor (CFL).
The Carpenters union is more officially known as the United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America.
Note all the references to the Chicago Federation of Labor.
Here is their website.
http://www.chicagolabor.org
The taxpayers have no effective counter to the labor union networks.
Not surprisingly the taxpayer story does not receive as much press coverage.
Of the 20 Madigan contributors listed above, 4 are labor unions or labor union networks (20%):
– Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
– Associated Fire Fighters of IL PAC (AFFI / IAFF)
– Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters PAC (Carpenters / UBC)
– Machinery Movers Labor Union 136 (BSOIW).
Those four labor unions consisted of 58% ($313,600) of the total contributions ($536,800).
So 20% contributed 58%.
Another example of the organized labor / Michael J Madigan connection.
The Illinois State Board of Elections (ISBE) website sucks for the ability of taxpayers to easily perform statistical analysis.
All the data on the website should be able to be easily and intuitively downloaded to an Excel Spreadsheet or cvs file for statistical analysis.
That is currently not the case.
One reason one does not read more such analysis as the above.
It’s not quick and easy to obtain and analyze the data.
Time for an updated system is way overdue.
This feature should have been available at least 10 years ago.
What a joke.