 |
| RAUNER: Trying to 'buy' political allies |
Which
Rauner says is essential because Harold is necessary to “prosecute” Michael
Madigan, the Illinois House speaker whom the governor has based an entire
campaign strategy upon calling crooked and corrupt and the reason Illinois has
problems to begin with.
OUST
MADIGAN, RAUNER would have us think, and Illinois goes back to being the
paradise it ought to be.
There’s
just one problem with that line of logic.
It
really seems that Rauner doesn’t fully comprehend exactly what it is the
various officials of Illinois state government do. There’s no way that Harold –
if she were to get elected as state attorney general – would be going into any
court to file an indictment against Madigan. Or anybody else, for that matter.
The
attorney general is the legal counsel FOR state government. Many municipal
governments are able to get by with an attorney hired part-time, or perhaps a
few full-time attorneys to handle the legal issues they encounter.
ILLINOIS
GOVERNMENT IS a big-enough scene that it takes the whole crew that works for
the Illinois attorney general’s office to defend it every time a law suit is
filed against the state, or any time government officials need legal advice on
how to conduct themselves without violating the law. Essentially, Illinois has
its own law firm.
 |
| MADIGAN: Partisan actions, not criminal |
And
yes, it may sound odd that the General Assembly (a body by-and-large filled
with licensed attorneys) would need legal counsel. Although when you consider
the legislators are politicians at heart – and NOT legal experts – it makes
sense.
So
if anything, if Madigan in the future were to find himself in a predicament
with a prosecutor somewhere, it most likely would be that the attorney general
would be a part of the team defending him from legal prosecution.
Too
many people seem to think the attorney general is some sort of super-prosecutor
who oversees all in the criminal justice world. Instead of being more of a
civil law expert (and in reality an aspiring politico with a law school degree
who wishes to run for an even higher office someday).
 |
| HAROLD: What could she do, if she wins? |
IN
REALITY, IT is the various state’s attorneys scattered around Illinois’ 102
counties who have the authority to go about prosecuting state officials if they
think they can prove their actions are harmful to the interests of the people
in a criminal manner. If the attorney general really tried to usurp that authority,
they’d be the first to complain.
More
likely, it is the U.S. attorney’s office (mostly in Chicago, although there
also are federal prosecutors in Springfield and Marion) that would be inclined
to review state government activity and determine that federal laws are being
violated.
While
federal prosecutors in the central and Southern Illinois districts traditionally
don’t get involved in taking on state government, the activities of the offices
of state government located in Chicago certainly aren’t alien turf to the prosecutors
based out of the Dirksen Federal Building.
 |
| Otto Kerner learned what federal prosecutors could do |
Just
who do they think it was that challenged (and beat) those “four Illinois
governors” who wound up serving time in prison for their activities – along with
many other state, Cook County and Chicago municipal officials throughout the
years.
I
HAVE NO doubt that if Madigan were doing something truly corrupt (and not the
Rauner definition of corrupt which mostly is Madigan’s refusal to go along with
all the anti-organized labor acts the governor desires in the name of “reform”),
there’d be a prosecutor more than willing to make his name off pursuing the
case.
 |
| THOMPSON: Made his rep on Otto |
Similar
to the way then-prosecutor James R. Thompson turned his post into four terms as
Illinois governor through overseeing the prosecution of then-Gov. Otto Kerner.
So
if Bruce Rauner is really making a special donation of $1 million to support
Erika Harold’s Republican campaign for attorney general because he expects her
to prosecute Madigan (as he’s saying publicly when appearing on radio stations
in Southern Illinois), I’d say he’s being foolish, and wasteful of his money.
If
he really knows of specific illegal activity, it would be much cheaper for him
to follow that old cliché and “drop a dime” to call the U.S. attorney’s office.
Otherwise, we can only assume Rauner has got nothin’ on Madigan – which may be
the real reason many people won’t vote for Rauner’s re-election come Nov. 6.
-30-
No comments:
Post a Comment