* While this story has an interesting premise - the sworn testimony of a witness in Al Sanchez’s trial that House Speaker Michael Madigan put so many employees into the city’s Bureau of Electricity that it was called “Madigan Electric” - the evidence presented is somewhat slim…
In all, 16 employees of the bureau have contributed a total of $45,200 since 1997 to the speaker’s 13th Ward Democratic Organization and to Citizens for Lisa Madigan, according to campaign records.
That works out to $235.42 per year per employee. Not much.
But this statement is more than a bit weird…
“Madigan doesn’t have anything to do with hiring in Chicago,'’ says his spokesman, Steve Brown.
What? Nothing at all? The Speaker, a ward committeeman for decades, has nothing to do with city hiring?
* Meanwhile, I’m kinda curious about the story behind this story…
Gov. Quinn’s office took the unusual step late Friday of retracting a letter of support for a West Side hospital expansion after drawing bipartisan criticism for personally promoting the project.
Quinn’s office sent a letter bearing his signature to the scandal-plagued Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board, touting Hartgrove Hospital’s bid to build an 88-bed mental health facility at 520 N. Ridgeway.
His letter, dated March 5, praised the hospital’s “commitment to once again provide services in this community.” But it sparked serious questions about why he would personally intervene on a matter before a board that was ground zero in the corruption scandals that knocked former Gov. Rod Blagojevich from office.
Late Friday, Quinn’s office said the letter was written without his backing and said it shouldn’t have been sent to the board. A new letter correcting the original one would be sent immediately to the hospital construction board.
There’s nothing in the piece about who wrote the letter and put the governor’s name on it or whether that person has been punished. Curious, that.
* And the Daily Herald takes a fairly honest, if brief, look at some of the pros and cons of various ethics reforms today…
PRO: District lines drawn by a computer would lead to more candidates competing in more competitive elections. Instead of always re-electing incumbents, voters would get to choose from many candidates in races for Congress and the state legislature. Term limits for leaders would get new people in control of the chamber much more often and make the leaders less powerful than they are today.
CON: More candidates running in more-competitive races will require candidates to spend more money in election races. Leader term limits could backfire. Madigan is the only leader who stood up to Blagojevich and stopped him from gaining control of nearly $30 billion in project spending. A new, less-experienced leader might not be so willing to say “no” to a governor.
* Related…
* Sen. Raoul Frustrated by Tone of Reform Debate
* Quinn takes to suburbs to stump for government reform
* Gov. Pat Quinn expects ethics laws to pass late in session
* Illinois legislation calls for Web portal about state salaries
* FOIA rewrite would help public get information
* Revised FOI Act would add penalties
* Let the sun shine in
* How you could find out more about state spending
* Local prosecutors support commission’s idea to add powers
* Redistricting reform to wait for later
* Your role in ethics reform
* State’s purchasing system shows complex challenges of reform