Tribune Seeks Causes & Solutions for Corruption
Some folks who know about corruption have the day off.
In honor of the celebration of Lincoln's birthday, how about sharing your ideas for the reasons this is such a corrupt state and your suggestions for improvement with the Chicago Tribune?
Send any you have to CTC-Response@Tribune.com by 4 PM Monday.
My first was allowing the public to see legislative staff time sheets.
You can find out the story behind the plaque and the rest of my suggestions on McHenry County Blog.
14 comments:
Thanks Cal...I was hoping someone would post something for the holiday.
Gee Cal, so all those people who did your work in Springfield are corrupt? You must have been a great Rep to work for.
Reminds me of my favorite Homer Simpson quote:
"Ah beer, the cause of and solution to all of life's problems."
Reagan said it best, "Trust, but verify."
Refusal to allow verification tends to make me suspicious.
It is interesting that no one reading this blog has any ideas of how to stop corruption that he/she is willing to share, don't you think?
Always fun to hear a former elected official suddenly ask for ways to stop corruption...what did you do/propose while you were in the House, Cal?
I think it's sad that you would paint everyone who works in Springfield with the corruption brush...what a man.
If you want to see what I did in the House, take a look at this site:
http://wasearch.loc.gov/e22k/2002*sa_/http://www.skinnerforgovernor.org/
Don't forget to read the column by Mike Royko. Or just find McHenryCountyBlog.com tomorrow. I'll link to it.
I believe if you put term limits in place you will end alot of corruption.
As a former legislative staffer, I am a little offended by the implication that we don't do anything. Maybe there are some slackers, but there are also some really hard-working and dedicated folks on both sides of the isle in both chambers.
I didn't say that legislative staffers did not work hard. I know they do.
I was only talking about giving outsiders an opportunity to prove political work was done on state time.
Does anyone seriously challenge that this possibility is the reason that Mike, Emil, Tom and Frank don't want legislative staff time sheets made public?
So, what do you think of the rest of my ideas on McHenry County Blog? (Frankly, some are a lot more significant that making staff time sheets public.)
I think you'll find whatever the Tribune publishes Tuesday interesting reading.
Too late to summit comments, but not too late to read them at ChicagoTribune.com/responses.
First of all, the suggestion of publicizing timesheets is a bit redundant. Everyone's timesheets were subject to subpoena during Mr. Fitzgerald's inquest several years ago, so if there were any systematic improprieties, I have no doubt they were investigated.
Second, I've given some thought to the state vs. political work distinction. Some things are easy to put in one column or the other (clearly, posting campaign signs or attending a fundraiser on state time would be a no-no). Others are harder, because the distinction between constituent work and political work is hard to draw. My sense of things is that most of the staffers did their political volunteering on their own time, and made a good faith effort to behave in an ethical manner. Many of us joined to be a part of the political process and sought out opportunities to get involved with political campaigns on our own time. But there were also a few senior staffers who eschewed the political ladder and just worked on their particular specialty. These latter few were 100X more productive than the politically ambitious junior staffers such as myself, but not b/c we were corruptly doing political work on state time (we were careful not to). The reason was that the senior staffers (who'd already chosen not to pursue opportunities at higher levels or the private sector) knew more about the issues and people of Springfield.
If you want to make the staffing system more efficient, my suggestion is to cut down on the number of positions. If you are worried about corruption, it's not the political work of staffers that is a problem (after all, what staffer doesn't want his/her boss or party to stay in office?! involvement in campaigns makes no difference to the incentives facing staffers when doing their state work). The avenue for corruption is the ease with which state employees move into private lobbying firms. I would be all for a limitation on this revolving door.
-- the former staffer
I do have other suggestions on McHenryCountyBlog.com.
It would seem to me that someone with only a Freedom of Information request should be able to find out whose payroll a certain staffer was on the Friday before the last primary election during the middle of the day.
Under current law, that is impossible...and, I would submit, that impossibility is good reason to think something illegal may be being covered up.
And, there is also the original reason for my search for time sheets--Mike Madigan's staffers' challenging Ralph Nader's petitions. After a FOI request was filed, they were not there all day long or they just disappeared.
Very curious, wouldn't you say?
Ugh, enough promoting of your blog already.
I will read your blog when I get some more time. For now, will continue my posting on this topic thread here.
I do not agree that refusing to submit to FOIA on these records indicates something illegal or unethical going on. I can tell you for a fact that by the time I was on staff, we were regularly lectured about the law and our own more stringent staff rules regarding political work. It was not a nudge-nudge, wink-wink kind of talk. It was a serious, 'you may have to testify in federal court' kind of talk.
There are plenty of reasons to resist FOIA.
(1) Allowing public access to staff records will invite political opponents (not just good-gov't types, but dirty little hacks from the opposing party) to try to make political hay out of some perceived transgression. If you disclose nothing, then there is no risk. Why take a risk if you don't have to.
(2) Many staffers are lawyers, and as such their timesheets may contain privileged information (e.g., "5:40am -- met with Emil to discuss legal duties regarding FOIA request"). Presumably such info could be redacted in a FOIA response, but that would look kind of Nixonian.
(3) Timesheets are not even public records. If you are unhappy with Madigan's performance as majority leader, unseat him, don't fire his staffers.
(4) You've heard of unitary executive theory; what about unitary legislative leadership theory? OK, that one's a stretch.
(5) There are probably some staffers who goof off during the work day, you know, check email for an hour or something and call it "research". Take a 1.5 hr. lunch and stay late to finish missed work, but only put down 1 hr. for lunch b/c of accounting rules or something. Now if you let people FOIA these sheets, staffers could get burned not for doing something terribly corrupt but for the sort of minor transgressions that occur in most modern workplaces.
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