Federal charges may chill campaigns
By Shamus Toomey Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted on April 07, 2002

More than one northerly chill descended on Illinois last week. The other one came from the U.S. attorney's office and it sent a shiver through Illinois' political system.

By taking the unprecedented legal step of using federal racketeering laws to indict Gov. George Ryan's campaign committee as part of a probe of his former secretary of state's office, veteran political observers believe U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald sent a message that he intends to end the days of politicians and their minions misusing tax dollars for political gain.

Some believe the message was heard in Springfield and could at least lead to temporary changes in what often is seen as a corrupt culture of politics where the lines are blurred between how tax dollars and campaign cash is used.

"I think this rightly should be taken as a shot across the bow to public officials at the state and local levels to clean up your acts," said Jay Stewart, attorney for the Better Government Association.

"For a long time, there's been an attitude in Illinois that, 'Oh, maybe it's illegal, but come on, we're all adults.' But clearly the current U.S. attorney does not share that point of view," Stewart said. "He doesn't believe it's all just fun and games and a victimless crime."

If the indictment leads to real change, that could turn out to be the legacy of the federal Operation Safe Road probe of secretary of state's office corruption that so far has netted 42 convictions. But there is a concern the chill could fade quickly and a resilient culture of corruption will continue. Corruption convictions, after all, are frequent in a state with a long, sorry history of sending public officials to prison.

It was just two years ago, while the federal investigation into the secretary of state's office was ongoing, that Chicago City Treasurer Miriam Santos pleaded guilty to improperly using city workers in her 1998 run for attorney general. And just last month, as politicians awaited the long-suspected indictment of Ryan campaign manager Scott Fawell, unproven allegations flew about House Speaker Michael Madigan misusing his staffers to help in his daughter's bid for attorney general.

Illinois residents have come to accept some level of political misdeeds, says University of Illinois-Springfield political science professor Kent Redfield.

"We accept that politics is a dirty business and a little bit of corruption is the cost of doing business," he said. "As long as we don't have some poor family getting burned to death in an auto accident, the general public is pretty tolerant. Our standards aren't very high and that's quite different from a lot of other states."

But there is a belief that last week's indictments will have a positive effect. A Democratic consultant who has worked on several statewide campaigns said nerves already are rattling in Springfield about who might be next. And campaigns, at least in the immediate future, will be overly cautious about setting up clear "firewalls" - different offices, different phones, different payrolls - to separate campaign and state business.

"It will have a chilling effect on both sides of the aisle," the strategist said. "People will be very, very nervous. Everybody. Not just statewide positions, but down to town mayors and county government around the state."

Redfield also is optimistic about change resulting from the latest charges. He thinks the current wariness will survive this year's election cycle, particularly if Democrats are able to ride the Ryan scandal to resounding victories in the November election.

"They don't want to be vulnerable to the same charges," Redfield said. "I think it will have a short-term impact and I honestly think it will also have a long-term impact."

State Rep. William Black, a Danville Republican and a member of Lee Daniels' leadership team, acknowledged that Illinois has a "very checkered history," but he believes things are changing.

"I think the message is very clear," he said. "Business as usual is not going to happen anymore. The old days are gone. And good."

The "old days" of co-mingling state and campaign work at the public's expense exists, in part, because of many gray areas in the law. Workers can say they are doing the campaign work on lunch breaks, vacation time and comp time. Public events ostensibly held to help taxpayers can be seen as thinly-veiled campaign events financed by taxpayers. State workers can be asked to voluntarily contribute money to a politician, but feel the donation is essential to keep their job the way it is.

When Santos was charged with selling out her city office in an attempt to become the state's top lawyer, many griped she was unfairly singled out. She eventually pleaded guilty after federal prosecutors charged she used city employees to solicit campaign contributions, plan fund-raisers, write speeches and coordinate events. The coup de grace came when she was caught on tape telling a city brokerage firm it was time to "belly up" with a campaign contribution or risk losing city business.

Just who could be next in the crosshairs of prosecutors is not something people are anxious to talk about, although many insist the list could be long and diverse.

"I think there are a lot of people in the capitol building shaking their heads and wondering how could these people go astray," Redfield said. "But there are also a lot of people throughout Illinois saying, 'There but for the grace of God go I.'æ"

Allegations of improper use of state workers abounded in the primary campaign that just ended. Speaker Madigan, who also is the chairman of the state's Democratic Party, was dogged with questions about how he helped his daughter, who won her race and will face the GOP's Joe Birkett in the fall.

The speaker had 25 of his legislative staffers moved off the state payroll temporarily to do campaign work for the party. In the weeks and months before the switch, there were reports some of those workers received a total of $97,000 in taxpayer-funded bonuses, money critics suggested was compensation for campaign work.

Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said the money represented merit payments for past state work, not compensation for campaign work.

It wasn't the first time allegations surfaced about the speaker. In 2000, again while Operation Safe Road continued, Republicans accused Madigan of having his staffers do campaign work on the taxpayers' dime, but the accusations never led to any reprimands. Brown said Madigan is clean, so changes following Fawell's indictment aren't needed.

"For people like us who follow the law, there will be no change," Brown said. "For people who don't, that's another question. You'd have to ask them."

The Better Government Association's Stewart said more needs to be done to prevent politicians and their campaigns from finding ways to skirt the rules. Stewart wants state and county prosecutors to step up and better prosecute corruption. But he also suggests new laws, such as one that would ban companies that get state contracts from contributing to campaigns.

Stewart also said state workers should be banned from campaign work, an idea Redfield said would only serve to eliminate more people from the political process when more should be encouraged to participate. Enforcing the current laws would be better than a "meat-ax" approach, he said.

Whether the indictments of Fawell, former Ryan campaign aide Rich Juliano and the campaign committee itself has truly marked a new day in Illinois politics or if it was more a can't-be-ignored offshoot dug up during the licenses-for-bribes probe remains to be seen, observers said.

"If the legacy of Safe Road is simply a bunch of people went to jail and the culture didn't change," Stewart said, "it will be a victory, but really a missed opportunity."

• Daily Herald State Government Editor John Patterson contributed to this report.

Charges: Will last week's indictments be the end?