No one investigated Ryan for this. And what now?

George Ryan Guilty. Guilty times 22. So is Larry Warner. I can't say I'm surprised now, but I didn't have as much faith in a guilty verdict before the trial started. The Feds didn't seem to care enough about government corruption to follow up on this Chicago Tribune article from November 8, 1998.

Did you know Libertarian candidate Jim Tobin was kicked off the ballot for Governor in 1998 in the very tight Ryan versus Poshard race? Would Tobin have earned enough votes to save us from four more years of Republican corruption with George Ryan as Governor? What if the Chicago Tribune had released their report on George Ryan using Secretary of State employees to kick the Libertarians off the ballot BEFORE the election instead of days after the election? What if Republican Attorney General Jim Ryan had investigated George Ryan speedier than the Feds did? What if ANYONE in the General Assembly had the courage to try to impeach George Ryan? What if, what if, what if? Doesn't much matter now except to try to learn from our history.

After that 1998 election Illinois Libertarians were saying "Impeach Crook Ryan" right at the top of their website. Guess what, they were right and have every reason to say "we told you so" today. (Unfortunately, the current Illinois Libertarians are completely uninvolved, clueless and useless when it comes to Illinois politics, so, as was often the case when I was with them, I'll probably be the only one to do or say something.)

Jim Ryan could have very, very easily investigated this information from the Chicago Tribune in a matter of months, if not weeks. This may not have netted George Ryan, but I bet the trail led to Scott Fawell. And it certainly should have given the General Assembly more than enough information to start it's own impeachment investigation into George Ryan. Which is exactly what they should be doing now with Governor Rod Blagojevich, Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, and Speaker Michael Madigan to start with. Democrat Attorney General Lisa Madigan is also dropping the ball right now.

Officials from the Illinois Libertarian Party, whose slate was knocked off the ballot shortly before Tuesday's vote, have asserted in documents filed with the Illinois Board of Elections that state employees, including many from Ryan's office, worked on the nominating petition challenge on state time.

A check of sign-in sheets at the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners as well as a review of state employee time records and interviews appear to support their charges. At least 73 state employees worked on the petition challenge during August and the first week of September, records show, with more than half employed by the secretary of state.

Of the nearly 180 visits made by state workers to the board offices to work on the challenge, at least 19 were made by employees who were on the state clock, records show. The other visits appear to have been made either after hours or on personal time.

The number of state employees working on state time may well be higher. While a dozen other state agencies complied with Freedom of Information requests for employee schedules filed a month ago, Ryan's office declined to turn over all records for all secretary of state employees.

"I was there," Passero said last month of his working at the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners to knock the Libertarians off the ballot. "You had to have people on both sides, so I volunteered my help on my own time."

But Passero's work records show that on two of the seven days he worked on the petition challenge--Aug. 7 and Aug. 29--he did not take time off.

Ellouise Pullum, a field administrator with the secretary of state's office, signed in to do campaign work at 12:48 p.m. Aug. 31, even though she also was listed as having worked a full day at her government job.

Pullum said last week that she had no comment.

One secretary of state employee who worked on the Libertarian challenge said she only performed those duties after leaving work at 4:30 p.m. Records show, however, that she stamped into the election board offices at 3:39 p.m. one day and at 4:19 p.m. on another.

The Honorable John Fritchey has an idea about what now (below). I'd advise that we be careful about how we take advantage of current events and public sentiment, like happened with the Patriot Act. Passing some legislation and then "moving on to put this behind us" is exactly what we shouldn't do. Now is the precise time to get tough.

I don't know (but would like to learn) what powers the General Assembly has to police their own, but whatever they can do, they should be doing it right now, starting with Governor Rod Blagojevich, Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, President Emil Jones Jr., and Speaker Michael Madigan. Now is the time to widen the net if we really want to send a message to current and future politicians about what is acceptable from our leaders. The General Assembly should start taking personal responsibility for letting this stuff happen under their watch without then doing a thing about it, and stop waiting for the Feds to do the dirty work that takes them years and years to do.

Why doesn't someone, anyone, in the General Assembly DEMAND to see the time sheets from Speaker Madigan's office relating to kicking Ralph Nader off the ballot, and the same with Judy Baar Topinka's office trying to kick the Libertarians off the ballot? Where is Democrat Attorney General Lisa Madigan's investigation?

In July 2003, the Bloomington Pantagraph had a great idea that went next to nowhere.

We can only hope that this week's sentencing of Scott Fawell to 6 1/2 years in prison for his criminal activities while serving as the top aide to former Gov. George Ryan sends a wakeup call throughout state government.

Although allegations are much less serious than the corruption charges again Fawell, there are still investigations of at least three top Illinois politicians.

State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka's office was the latest to be accused of using office employees to do campaign work on state time.

Her office is being investigated by the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago. Investigations are already ongoing for the same reason for Senate President Emil Jones; House Speaker Michael Madigan; and Rep. Lee Daniels, while he was GOP House leader. No charges have been filed.

Topinka's former campaign manager, Nancy Kimme, was accused of sending employees in the treasurer's office to the State Board of Elections to assist in challenging election petitions filed by Libertarian Party candidates last year. Topinka asked the accuser to put her complaints in writing, which she did. The treasurer said the written complaint was turned over to her inspector general, Crystal Caison, to investigate in November.
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One problem with the system is the lack of independent complaint investigators in state offices. Ryan had an inspector general whose job was to investigate employee complaints, among other things. The inspector was eventually sentenced for coverups within Ryan's offices.

Although no one has been charged with having employees doing campaign work on state time, the number of allegations related to the state's highest offices do nothing but lend credence to claims that Illinois is a politically corrupt state. To the governor and legislators we suggest: It's cleanup time!

In January 2005 I had this suggestion.

Last week, Speaker Michael Madigan created 6 new committees that will result in well over $100,000 in raises to more than a dozen State Representatives. Of the 9 Democrats getting the $8,771 (15%) pay raise, none of them are from downstate.
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"One committee they desperately need in Springfield, however, is the Corruption Response and Oversight of Officials imitating Kings; the CROOK committee," suggests Trigg. "That is an issue that everyone in Illinois would agree needs a lot more attention than it is getting, except our leaders in Springfield, that is. More than 70 indictments and convictions in License for Bribes with our last Governor about to be tried, 16 from Hired Trucks in Chicago, 6 cheating the minority contract system in the Duff investigation, FBI agents framing a cop, a police chief framing a potential election fraud witness, cops stealing and selling drugs, and some of our current Governor's largest campaign donors just happen to get appointments weeks after they contribute, not to mention family members getting prime spots on the Illinois Arts Council," rattles off Trigg.

Now is not the time to simply pass some legislation and move on.

Speaker Michael Madigan needs to tell us how his employees were being paid on the days they were working to kick Ralph Nader off the ballot, as was reported by ABC World New with Peter Jennings.

Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka needs to tell us where her employees were on June 28, 2002 and how they were being paid the days they were working to kick the Libertarians off the ballot.

Senate President Emil Jones Jr. should explain how and why his employee was checking petitions in 2002 during normal working hours.

Governor Rob Blagojevich needs to tell us how it is his big campaign donors got appointed to state commissions or got lucrative state contracts.

And I'm sure there is much more serious stuff than this that needs to be taken care of. The General Assembly needs to be taking personal responsibility immediately. They won't because they are chickens and are afraid of Madigan and Jones, but they need to. Funny how Democrats were demanding Tom Delay resign his leadership position when it was made public he was under investigation and the Republicans all but forced him to, but I don't recall anyone calling for Speaker Madigan and President Jones to resign their leadership positions or any Democrats trying to persuade them to do the right thing.

The George Ryan guilty verdict isn't an end to corruption in Illinois. I don't think that will really start to happen until the rank and file Democrats revolt against their Party leaders and we see the end of the dictatorship era of Michael Madigan and Emil Jones Jr. (just look at how they are handling the budget) Republicans have little credibility on this issue, but can start to help also. Reporters and editorial boards across the state also need to start taking corruption seriously and get tough with their words come time for the GA to vote on the House Speaker and Senate President after the next election. Lastly, the voters need to stop voting for anyone that refuses to be independent of their leadership when it comes to corruption. (Unfortunately, about 2/3 of the General Assembly members will be unopposed, largely because of anti-democratic election laws, so voters won't have that opportunity to kick the bums out.)