Tag: Lisa Madigan

Red-Light Camera Co.’s Chicago Corruption

The chairman of the Australian company behind Chicago’s red-light program resigned this week and trading in the company’s stock was suspended amid an intensifying investigation into allegations of corruption in its Chicago contract.

Redflex Holdings Ltd. announced the extraordinary actions just days after board members were briefed by an outside legal team hired to examine ties between the company’s U.S. subsidiary and the city official who oversaw its contract, a relationship first disclosed in October by the Tribune.  …

The internal probe found that company executives systematically courted former city transportation official John Bills with thousands of dollars in free trips to the Super Bowl and other sporting events, sources familiar with the investigation told the Tribune.  …
The internal probe and a parallel investigation by city Inspector General Joseph Ferguson are also raising more questions about the company’s hiring of a longtime Bills friend who received more than $570,000 in company commissions as a customer service representative in Chicago, the sources said.

via Chicago Tribune.

The Tribune got the OK to print this story because John Bills was one of Daley’s guys.  Since Daley is gone Rahm gave the nod.

Hello Lisa Madigan?  Anita Alvarez?  Either of you awake?

 

Illinois Credit — Worst in the Nation

Illinois fell to the bottom of all 50 states in the rankings of a major credit ratings agency Friday following the failure of Gov. Pat Quinn and lawmakers to fix the state’s hemorrhaging pension system during this month’s lame-duck session.

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Service downgraded Illinois in what is the latest fallout over the $96.8 billion debt to five state pension systems. The New York rating firm’s ranking signaled taxpayers may pay tens of millions of dollars more in interest when the state borrows money for roads and other projects.

“It’s absolutely bad news for taxpayers,” said Dan Rutherford, the Republican state treasurer.

Illinois received its bottom-of-the-pack ranking when it fell from an “A” rating to “A-minus.”

via Chicago Tribune.

Well there you have it.  The Machine, the Illinois combine has driven us straight into the gutter.  The cost of the billions and billions of debt is going up and up.  The taxpayers are stuck with the bill.

It’s old news but I’d like to review this for the record.  I have only three (3) Republicans that represent me.  Every single other elected official that represents me is a Democrat.

Alderman Bob Fioretti – D
Mayor Rahm Emanuel – D
Chicago City Clerk – D
Cook County Clerk of Courts – D
Cook County Treasurer – D
Cook County Assessor – D
Cook County Recorder of Deeds – D
Cook County States Attorney (DA) – D
Cook County Board Member – D
Cook County Board President – D
IL House Seat, Derrick Smith (Current under indictment) – D
IL Senate Seat, Patricia Van Pelt – D
IL Governor, Pat Quinn – D
IL Lt. Governor, Sheila Simon – D
IL Attorney General, Lisa (I won’t investigate my father) Madigan – D
IL Comptroller, Judy Baar Topinka – R
IL Treasurer, Dan Rutherford – R
IL Sec. of State, Jesse White – D
US House, Danny Davis – D
US Senate, Mark Kirk – R
US Senate, Dick Durbin – D
US President, Barack Obama – D

What is that?  3 of 22?  If you just take the State folks it’s 2 of 17.  2 of 17.  That’s 11.76% of my elected persons are not Democrats.

So let me ask you, if I was looking to blame someone for the mess that we’re in where would be a good place to start?

Mike Madigan: Speaker King

Democratic Speaker Michael Madigan has many advantages as he tries to extend his nearly uninterrupted three-decade control of the Illinois House.

His Democrats have more campaign money. His party has home-state President Barack Obama to drive the vote. Perhaps most important, Madigan drew the district boundaries for each of the 118 House contests that will play out in Tuesday’s election.

Given all that, Madigan is positioned to add to his 64-54 majority.

via Chicago Tribune.

Someday Michael Madigan’s daughter will not be the Illinois Attorney General.

Someday the people of Illinois will realize just what self serving piece of garbage Michael Madigan really is and demand that he be thrown in jail, burn his house down, and then burn the ashes.

All of Illinois’ problem can be laid at the feet of Michael Madigan.  The debt, the fraud, the corruption, the bad roads, the pension fiasco, … everything.  It’s been his piss poor planning for the last 30 years that has brought us to this point in time where the state is bankrupt and looking for a federal bailout.

We need to Kill the Machine.

 

 

 

$2M in Unemployment to Inmates

More than 1,100 people have collected nearly $2 million in unemployment benefits while they were in county jails or state prisons, including $43,000 that went to a person in the Cook County Jail, a state agency said Tuesday.

Now they may face state or federal criminal fraud charges as well as having to repay what they shouldn’t have taken in the first place, said Greg Rivara, spokesman for the Illinois Department of Employment Security.

In Cook County alone, there were 296 inmates tied to $722,689 in wrongful payments. In Will County, 21 inmates collected $85,159. Lake County was another leader with 20 inmates collecting $84,533, the agency said.

via Chicago Tribune.

WT…?!  You couldn’t make this stuff up.

#1. Where are the two wonder-twins of justice in this?  Nothing from Lisa Madigan or Anita Alvarez?  Why?  Where have they been?
#2.  Who the hell is running this agency?  Jail and prison records are actually a matter of public record.  You’re telling me no one ever bothered to cross-check the payouts against another public record?

#3.  It kinda makes you wonder how much fraud is really going on in the system.  After all, The Machine has their corrupt friends running all these agencies there is really no limit to how much might be missing.

Certainly not last… This is just another fine example as to why any service run by the government is doomed to ultimately doomed to fail.  People are incentivized to cheat the system.  But government employees are also incentivized to get as many people as possible into the system so they can justify their jobs and get more jobs and thus become more politically powerful.  As such, no one is watching the money.
The government that works the least is most often the government that works best.

Emanuel Plans Changes to City’s Gun Law

A few days ago…

Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants to rewrite Chicago’s firearm ordinance in response to a ruling by a federal judge who struck down a section of the city’s law he called vague and unconstitutional.  …

Last week, U.S. District Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan called that regulation “indiscriminate and arbitrary.””There is something incongruent about a nonviolent person, who is not a felon but who is convicted of a misdemeanor offense of simple possession of a firearm, being forever barred from exercising his constitutional right to defend himself in his own home in Chicago against felons or violent criminals,” Der-Yeghiayan wrote.  …

Having strong gun laws is part of the city’s overall approach to stemming violent crime, Emanuel said at an unrelated news conference.”Sensible, smart, targeted gun laws keep guns out of the hands of gangbangers and drug dealers,” Emanuel said, calling such laws “key to a strategy of reducing violence.”

via chicagotribune.com.

How’s that again Rahm?  You have the nation’s most restrictive gun law.  It’s failing miserably by any standard.  You have failed to ‘keep guns out of the hands of gangbangers and drug dealers.’  You have also failed to create any ‘strategy of reducing violence.’

Rahm:  You should start by enforcing the existing state and federal laws already on the books.  First show that they are somehow inadequate before creating a whole new system of bureaucracy to harass law abiding citizens.

Get a real Cook County State’s Attorney.  Get a real Illinois Attorney General.  If these prosecutors would charge crimes already on the books (e.g. felons with guns do federal time) you would not need any new laws to lock-up gangbangers and drug dealers.

Chicago’s Suburbs Corrupt Too

A former Chicago alderman is pushing for the creation of a suburban inspector general’s office to thwart corruption in the 1,200-plus government agencies spread throughout the suburban landscape.

In a report released Monday, Dick Simpson, a former alderman and current head of the University of Illinois at Chicago’s political science department, cited more than 100 cases over the past three decades involving suburban officials convicted of corruption.

via DailyHerald.com.

The article provides a couple of examples of corrupt behavior by suburban pols.  Nothing surprising; and missing some of the bigger players (Mayors Blaze & Stephens.)

What’s missing from the article, and from the report apparently, is any mention of the dynamic duo of legal prosecution Ms. Anita Alvarez and Ms. Lisa Madigan.  Both of these positions have investigation divisions.  Each is certainly capable of putting corrupt politicians in jail.

That Anita and Lisa simply refuse to protect the citizens from corrupt politicians means they both need to be replaced.

FYI, You CAN Cheat on Your Property Taxes

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Assessor Joe Berrios on Tuesday urged state lawmakers to give them more power to go after property owners who improperly claim tax breaks, saying they could recover more than $150 million in three years with the new authority.

Under legislation pending in Springfield, counties could go after back taxes from people who have wrongly received homestead exemptions. The tax break should only be applied to a property owner’s primary residence, but people often also claim it for rental properties, vacation homes and secondary residences. Other property owners get inappropriate property tax reductions for being a senior citizen, disabled person or disabled veteran.

People who claimed multiple improper homestead exemptions also would be fined a percentage of their unpaid taxes, and the county could place liens on the properties to try to compel property owners to pay up.

via Chicago Tribune.

Wha?!

So let me get this straight… right now, I could file for a homestead and senior freeze exemptions on properties I own but don’t live at and despite the fact that I’m not a senior?

How stupid are the politicians in Springfield?  They grant all these exemptions but provide no way to enforce them.  This would be funny if not so sad.

Of course, there is someone who can do something about it; two in fact.  Both women… both lawyers… both elected to put bad people — like people who lie on government documents — in jail and fine them.

So rather than pushing for new laws, why doesn’t the county just ask Anita Alvarez to file charges against these people?  And if she’s too busy, Lisa Madigan could take some of the cases.

Of course both Alvarez and Madigan are too busy doing nothing.
So instead Preckwinkle and Berrios are asking for another new law so they can hire more government workers to police this new law.

$50 million a year in new revenue… $50 million a year in new expenses for staff and pensions.  The taxpayer will end up with nothing.

Clout Boosts Ex-Police Chief $30k per Year

The Machine taking care of its own:

At first blush, a pension bill adopted by the General Assembly in 2007 seemed to have a laudable goal: extending retirement benefits to local police force employees’ widows after they remarried.

But buried within the legislation was something considerably less altruistic: a provision that enabled a member of one of Chicago’s better-known political families to boost his pension by more than $30,000 a year — while saddling unsuspecting taxpayers in Oak Brook with nearly $750,000 in funding liabilities, the Chicago Sun-Times and Better Government Association have learned.

The recipient of that larger pension, Thomas Sheahan, is a former police chief in Oak Brook, the current village manager in Lyons and a member of a Democratic clan that has helped rule Chicago’s Southwest Side for decades.

Sharp-tongued and unapologetic about benefitting from the provision that no one else has used, the 59-year-old Sheahan said of his pension: “I worked for 24 f—— years [in the public sector], I deserve every penny of it and I deserve a lot f—— more.”

Retiring from Oak Brook last spring, Sheahan now is drawing an annual payout of nearly $77,000. Although pension records show that’s about $32,000 more than he would have received had he retired at the same point without the legislation, Sheahan said it’s still a relatively modest sum. “I get about what a sergeant gets,” he said.

Sheahan — brother of former Cook County Sheriff Michael Sheahan and James “Skinny” Sheahan, a long-time aide to ex-Mayor Richard M. Daley — wouldn’t say if or how he was involved in the origin of the pension sweetener.

via Chicago Sun-Times.

When will the people rise up and say “Enough!”  A foul-mouth connected punk thinks he deserves more.  Go get a real job in the private sector and find out what you’re really worth.

But that’s not even the end of the story:

The main sponsor of the bill, then-state Rep. Bob Molaro (D-Chicago), told members of the Illinois House that the tweak to the state’s pension code was intended to help one person, according to a transcript that didn’t identify the person.  …

Molaro declined to be interviewed, but released a statement to the Sun-Times indicating he did not know Thomas Sheahan at the time the legislation was crafted, something Sheahan echoes. They came to know each other, however, after Molaro left the Legislature in late 2008 and, with a partner, became a $5,000-a-month lobbyist for Oak Brook.

Molaro said in the statement: “Any attempt to connect the sponsorship of this bill and my being part of the lobbying team for the village of Oak Brook is completely unfounded and absurd.”  …

Sheahan now is village manager in Lyons, where he said he’s paid roughly $65,000 a year for fewer than 20 hours a week.

So this political hack is now drawing $140,000 per year from the taxpayers.  Unbelievable.

And Molaro… the tool that he is, doesn’t even know who he’s working for.  He’s just doing what he’s told; nothing more than a warm body filling a seat collecting $80,000/year from the taxpayers to be Michael Madigan’s bag man.

Speaking of Madigan… Where’s Lisa Madigan in all this?  Shouldn’t the state’s highest law enforcement officer look into the matter to see if a crime’s been committed?

Derrick Smith Must Resign or Be Expelled — Dems Own It

The Democratic party was silent prior to the election of State Rep Derrick Smith on the issue of his resigning or getting off the ticket for allegedly accepting a $7000 cash bribe from an undercover FBI agent posing as a daycare center owner in exchange for a $50000 grant.

The silence of the Democrats is now over as they are calling for the resignation of Derrick Smith in unanimity, as if from a chorus, they are signing the same song, “Get out!”

Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and Minority Leader Robert Cross found an issue they can agree as they named members to a committee to investigate the charges and to call on Smith to “Get out!”

via Examiner.com.

Silent?!  The Dems weren’t silent:

The growing pressure on Democratic state Rep. Derrick Smith contrasts with the silence from party leaders who avoided such criticism in the days after the arrest, when it might have affected his primary race.

Some, including U.S. Rep. Danny Davis and Ald. Walter Burnett, 27th, encouraged voters to support Smith to ensure the West Side seat stays in Democratic hands. But that changed the day after his easy victory over Tom Swiss, a former Cook County Republican Party official.

Now Democratic leaders are moving to oust Smith and pick a replacement to run in the November general election.

Davis said that while he asked voters to cast their ballots for Smith, it was about ensuring the seat stayed in Democrat control and was not a show of support for Smith. Davis said Smith should not appear on the November ballot given the ethical cloud he now faces.

“I was glad to see Derrick win the election, but I think in reality one can say that Democrats won the election,” Davis said. “I don’t think they were necessarily voting for Derrick, but I think they were saying ‘Democrat, Democrat, Democrat.'”  …

Quinn likewise refused to call for Smith’s resignation before the election, only to change his tune Wednesday while on a trade mission in Brussels.

“The governor believes Rep. Smith should resign” because the charges represent a “cloud hanging over” him, said Quinn spokeswoman Brooke Anderson.

House Speaker Michael Madigan poured more than $60,000 into the race before Smith’s arrest.  Madigan has declined to comment on the situation.

via Chicago Tribune.

The Illinois Machine, made up of both Democrats and Republicans, is working overtime here.   The Machine is controlled by Chicago Democrats — the GOP’ers in their mist are really just tolerated because they play along — and they own this.

Jesse White, Danny Davis, Michael Madigan, Lisa Madigan, Pat Quinn… what have you done for the poor folks whom you represent?  Quinn’s new budget calls for cutting Medicaid spending by $2.7 billion next year.  Well who’s that going to hurt Governor?

Last year this cabal doubled our income taxes.  This year they want to kill Medicaid.  How about stopping the corruption that costs our cities and state billions every year?

The whole lot-of-’em need to be kicked out to the street and have their pensions cancelled.

Beavers Indictment: Where’s Madigan?

So I understand that our unwanted and tried to be run out of town U.S. Attorney for Northern Illinois has indicted Old Man Beavers.  The feds are usually pretty good about putting their case together and have a 85-90% conviction rate.  So it’s safe to say that the Hog of Cook County is going to join the long list of Chicago (specifically and Illinois generally) politicians who in the end do time.  Way to make us proud.

But has anyone asked where Lisa Madigan was when all this was going down?  Isn’t this corrupt political number six or seven for the U.S. Attorney?  How many politicians has Ms. Madigan prosecuted?  Exactly NONE.

Well ain’t that something.