With Allies like that, Who needs Friends?
According to CBS-2, Judy Baar Topinka is running as far away from George Ryan, just as fast as she can:
"In the race for governor, Republican Judy Baar Topinka quickly distanced herself from her one-time political mentor." {emphasis added}The Topinka campaign might want to rethink their strategy. The more she denies her close relationship with George Ryan, the more it becomes a story. And the more reporters are going to dig. When Topinka said this:
"You really don't have friends in politics. You have alliances," Topinka said. "George Ryan was nice to me on the campaign trial. I appreciated that. Everyone likes someone to be nice to them, but it was not a close, close relationship. I was not a social friend."It of course got me wondering, just how nice was George Ryan to Judy Baar Topinka?
Would you believe $37,750 nice?
According to the Illinois State Board of Elections, $37,750 is how much money Judy Baar Topinka raked in over the years from Citizens for George Ryan. The checks started rolling in back in 1994, and they kept rolling in until June 30, 2001. According to this outstanding timeline by the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, Topinka was still cashing Ryan's checks, even though 30 people had already been indicted under Operation Safe Roads (including Ryan's Inspector General, Dean Bauer, for his part in the cover-up) and prosecutors had alleged that atleast $170,000 in bribe money had tainted Ryan's campaign fund.
In otherwords, long after the public and Judy Baar Topinka were well aware that there was something rotten in the state of Denmark, Topinka was cashing bribe-tainted checks. Most of those checks had three zeros, and the largest was for $10,000.
Fine Judy. Have it your way. George wasn't your friend, he was your ally. But you have to admit, $37,750 makes him a pretty close ally.
I just hope that Ryan kept all of those thank-you notes and Christmas cards from Topinka, and shares them with the press, just to say thanks for throwing him under the bus. It's no wonder "you don't really have friends in politics."
10 comments:
YDD,
I was an ally and friend of Glenn Poshard and one of those Democratic votes he mentions losing in 1998 below to Jim Muir in The Southern,
Poshard said the most difficult aspect about the quashed investigations is that voters in 1998 never knew the facts.
"I'm pro-life and I knew I would be criticized and even lose a certain amount of votes from my own party, I expected that," said Poshard. "What is difficult for me is to know that all these people knew things weren't right and I knew myself that things were not right and the public never, ever fully knew and understood that. These were people that were scared to death, scared to give their names, scared of losing their jobs. But, they all told the same story. These were state employees who were telling us they had to buy tickets to Ryan's fundraisers, that they had to work on Ryan's campaign, that there was no choice."
A lot of us in Illinois have some answering to do about George Ryan.
I should have guessed better. I wasn't working in State Government or trying to run under Ryan on a Republican ticket. I had no reason to be scared.
SuburbanChicagoNews.Com
The conviction of former Gov.
George Ryan creates an additional hurdle for the gubernatorial campaign of Judy Baar Topinka, JoAnn Osmond, outgoing chairman of the Lake County Republican Federation, said Tuesday.
“They were so close,” said Osmond, who is also a state representative from Antioch, “as was anybody who worked with George.”
People aren't buying it!
He was close to everybody Hicks, and many of use bailed out on Poshard.
I'll never let myself be bamboozled like this again on these wedge social issues.
Well fed Ted Lechowicz, Dem Senate Prez Emil Jones among others they were all friends of George Ryan.
Judy was a friend too, but so were lots of Dems. Nobody besides Randall Sherman, Pat Quinn, and Glenn Poshard and Joe Powers ever dared criticized George Ryan. Illinois corruption is unbelievable.
And Rod Blagojevich got $15,000 from Jospeh Cari Jr., convicted felon and former Democratic National Committee finance chairman.
I guess the moral of your story must logically be BOTH Topinka and Blagojevich are corrupt and no one should vote for either one. I can accept that conclusion as absolutely true. They both stink of guilt by association.
It's nice to know you won't be voting for Blagojevich, YDD, since you don't want to be part of the problem with corruption too.
A few months ago, one of the regular political wizards that post on this blog asked, “don’t you people get tired of defending Rod Blagojevich?”
It’s funny how things change.
I'm sure they'll take this well thought out, non partisan, insight of yours and run with it YDD, too funny. Someone sure loves to hear themself talk.
I am as conservative as they come and this is twice I have agreed with YDD in the last few days.
Judy was close to Ryan and she is making herself out to be dishonest by saying otherwise.
A simple "I new him and I don't excuse his behavior" would go a long way.
Then she should give all the money from Ryan ties (or the equal of) to charity.
Three weeks later this would be a non-story to everyone besides political junkies.
Instead she will run and the press will chase her down.
According to the Sun-Times, the Governor has $22,285 worth of what could similarly be considered "bribe tainted checks" from firms in the City of Chicago's Hired Trucks Program - which is the of a federal investigation that has lead to the indictment of 44 people (35 of which have plead guilty), including former City Clerk James Laski.
Now, YDD, I'm willing to assume that the contributions that the Governor got from these firms is in no way directly related to any corruption if you are willing to acknowledge the same is true for the money Judy got from Citizens for Ryan. Sound fair?
Jeff -- I'm sorry, I missed Joseph Cari's conviction. When did that happen?
GOP -- If I were the Governor's campaign manager, I would advise him to give the money back. But, the BIG difference here is the the federal government determined that Citizens for Ryan was a criminal enterprise. Basically, taking a check from Citizens for Ryan was like taking a check from Tony Soprano.
And again, Topinka kept taking money AFTER license-for-bribes was all over the front pages. Headline news stuff. I think voters see a big difference.
Now, I will admit to you and everyone else, I'm not saying the Governor is untainted (although whether he or his administration has done anything illegal is a different question). All I'm saying is that Topinka is in no position to make any ethics charges against anybody. I mean, come on, how do you take that seriously from a Constitutional Officer that was dating one of her employees? Topinka acts as though she's standing on the moral high ground, when she's really standing on quicksand.
I'll agree with Asst. U.S. Attorney Patrick Collins on this one. The culture of corruption will be brought to an end when, and only when, the voters finally decide that they've had enough. It's a cancer -- a bipartisan cancer -- on government that no one person could eradicate even if they wanted too, and for that, Blagojevich was guilty of promising too much. Even the Chicago Tribune can't do what really needs to be done -- get the big money out of politics -- because that same big money fills their ad space. Neither Poshard or Paul Simon could do it, and they were two of the most honest politicians you'd ever meet.
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