Here we go again
Once again, the Blagojevich administration is criticized for alleged insider dealing, and once again it immediately pronounces everything fine and dandy. Wanna bet how long it will take before the governor's office does the inevitable flip-flop and tosses Maximus under the nearest bus? (Standard Blagojevich adminisration pronouncements skipped over because we've grown so accustomed to the schtick.)
A $180,000 consulting deal awarded this month to a company that has been a hefty political donor to Gov. Blagojevich is drawing political heat over whether the firm was placed on an "inside track" for the state business. [...]
In March, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Maximus received a special waiver from the state to bid on that contract. The company needed that waiver because it provided information used by the administration to develop the contract proposal.
In April, Illinois Auditor General William Holland released a scathing report focusing partly on the state's heavy use of consultants, including Maximus. He specifically criticized the administration's reliance on contractors in the development of bid specifications. [...]
Holland said the practice, while not illegal, "creates, at minimum, the appearance that such vendors had an advantage" over rivals that weren't consulted by the state before putting a contract out to bid.
Maximus, which did not return phone messages left Friday in its public relations or investor relations offices at its Virginia headquarters, has contributed $25,500 to Blagojevich's campaign fund. Its Springfield lobbyist is David Stricklin, Blagojevich's former congressional chief of staff.
"This doesn't sound right. It sounds suspicious. It's not credible," Sen. Iris Martinez (D-Chicago) said of Maximus' deal. "It raises a red flag as to how business is being conducted by the State of Illinois, and I take issue to that."
posted by Rich Miller @ 7/18/2005 04:41:00 AM
43 comments
43 Comments...
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Is this really a Blago issue?
Isn't it just a 'bureacracy and corruption in Illinois' issue?
When Maximus had a contract with the Wisconsin equivalent of Public Aid under then-Gov. Tommy Thompson there was major waste and mismanagement and, I believe, outright fraud.
Under no circumstances should Illinois contract with Maximus.
Above was well-publicized..doesn't the governor's staff read? Or does rewarding contributors take precedence over just about everything.
Anon 7:17, I'd agrue that it's both. You're right in pointing out that this issue is indicative of the institutionalized corruption that is so pervasive in our state. But Blago centered his campaign on being a reformer who would "end politics as usual" in Springfield.
It's probably true that one person or party cannot change the whole system, especially on one term as governor. Now, may Blago was just a niave idealist who didn't realize that this was a promise he couldn't keep. Or, he could be a media savy politian who knew that this was a soundbite promise that could carry him to victory and then he could blame others for his inability to keep it later on. Either way, there is a political price to pay for making a promise you can't keep. Now it is up to the voters of Illinois to do their part in changing politics as usual and vote out the politicans who feed them such soundbites in the hopes that they'll get a pass on their failures later. I used to live in Chicago, and I used to blame the mayor and alderman for all the corruption. But then I realized that when you're getting re-elected by 80% of the people even when such corruption is so evident and pervasive, maybe the public has to share some of that blame.
Democrats (and GOP members of the infamous "combine") want to solidy Illinois slide into the state of Chicago. A place where corruption is tolerated and even romanticized. I don't think it's wildly melodramatic to say that Illinois needs a political savior right now. Blago promised to be that - sincerely or not - and he has proved to be anything but. He needs to go!
Holland's report remains a blueprint how to attack the continued corruption within Blago's administration.
9:32, good comments. I think that the pervasive distaste for the Gov rests not only in that he is doing the same stuff as the previous administrations, but that he railed so hard against it in order to get elected. In other words, it's not so much that he's a cheat as it is that he's a phony and liar.
Anon 9:32 says it all. The Governor made "No more business as usual" his top campaign promise, pledging to restore public faith in government.
He has fallen way, way short of that mark, and it's not clear that he has made any improvements over the previous administration -- remember that Ryan is under indictment for acts as Secretary of State, but his term as Governor was pretty scandal-free.
When all else fails, Mr. No More Business as Usual's defense for his actions is "Republicans did it first." His campaign finance dance is a great example. Um, Governor, that's why it's called "Business as usual."
Most of Blago's reforms have amounted to no more than window-dressing and rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Remember how a campaign donor got a contract to develop the ethics trainings for state employees? Restore public faith in government my arse.
It is my recollection that Maximus (and their predecessor firm, the name of which I forget) has been used by the state for many, many years, primarily to do cost allocation for federal funds. I also believe they are one of the best known companies in the country doing this work.
I certainly know we used them at CMS when I was there 15 years ago, and we definitely weren't told to use them by any one; we simply thought highly of them.
thanks yellow dog. due to the anonymous nature of my posting, you probably don't realize that I have sparred with you on many posts before, but I couldn't agree with you more. Citing past corruption should not be an acceptable tactic for someone who campaigned to change the way things were done in the past.
I'd mention too that in addition to his "they did it first" routine, Blago has started borrowing from Mayor Daley's "I can't be responsible for everything that does on around here" defense. That may be enough for a Daley in Chicago...but that line isn't going to save Blago statewide.
>Whether or not the republicans have
>or have not done anything wrong at
>any time has nothing to do with the
>FACT that Blago has a miserable track
>record and isn't worthy of being the
>governor of our state.
Wrong-o. The fact of the matter is the political parties are producing candidates that cannot stem the bureacracy that the political parties themselves have created. That is why I think Rich's "can so-and-so be elected governor" polls are useless.
Whoever gets elected will be elected by the parties and bureaucracy, not the people. A good question for Rich's blog would be "Which non-politician from Illinois, in your opinion, would make a good governor, regardless if they are electable or not?"
We've got to get away from the Republicans vs. the Democrats argument (they are both the problem) and get into a 'Those who benefit from the corruption' vs. 'Those who are penalized because of it' discussion.
In that debate, the Repubs, Dems, contractors, elected officials, etc will all be on the same side, and the rest of us (far more numerous) will be on the other.
To say that elected officials are not elected by the people is simply specious. Of course they are. They are elected by the people who vote, and who don't vote. They are elected by the people who participate in primaries, and those who consider themselves above that. They are elected by the people who contibute to their campaigns, and by those who don't contribute to their opponents campaign. They're elected by people who walk in parades and go door to door with literature, and by those who don't. They are elected by the volunteers at headquarters. And at the end of the day, they are elected because they got the most citizens to vote for them of the people who chose to run. Read the immortal Pogo.
Iris Martinez has a lot of chutzpah talking about right and wrong with her past and political connections to HDO
She doesn't seem all that interested in corruption or contracts in the city or influence with Victor Reyes
Anon 7:17 said:
Is this really a Blago issue?
Isn't it just a 'bureacracy and corruption in Illinois' issue?
Yes, when a Friend of Rod was Maximus lobbyist, its a Blago issue. This is more pay to play.
What about the corruption with ALderman Doreghty, Martin from the Emerald Isle and John "quarers" Boyle?
read yesterdays front page Tribune
Iris Martinez talking about corruption
LOL
she has a good sense of humor to talk about this
This is not a Blago issue, it is an Illinois culture issue. Senator Iris Martinez has no room to talk. Blago has done some good, he has done some not so good.
But you are holding him up to a much higher standard than previous Republican governors Thompson, Edgar, and Ryan.
hold on there a second Anon 12:41. How much kool-aid did you drink?!
Even if he is being held to a higher standard (which I'd argue that he isn't), he invited such a standard on himself when he campaigned as a reformer who would end "business as usual", ie the Illinois political culture. He can't use the culture he campaigned against as a defense for his corruption now.
Anonymous 12:41:
But isn't it a standard that he himself created? Reform and Renewal? No more business as usual?
Anon 11:13, all the more reason to adopt an identity on the blog.
12:54 is right, and Rich Miller and others warned about this during the campaign and Rod's several first months in office. When you campaign and attack as a reformer, you run the risk of stumbling and falling on your own sword.
Remember all of the time Glenn Poshard wasted explaining where all of his campaign money came from?
Calling yourself a reformer is like painting a big bullseye on your back for every reporter out there, as well as every person who is part of the current system you've declared you're about to "rock".
I would concur with Steve. I used their predecessor firm in the 80s & 90s at DCCA; I think they were called David M. Griffith & Associates and did nothing but Federal cost recovery work and did it very well. They definitely weren't clouted in. I also doubt that this is high margin work-it certainly wasn't back then. Now, we didn't let the firm write any of the bid specs, mind you, but that was then, this is now...
numbersguy, the only point you made that makes sense to me is "that was then, this is now."
You admit that you dealt with the predecessor firm, not this exact firm in question here. And while that predecessor firm may have done good work for the state before on legit terms, that doesn't mean that this deal wasn't corrupt.
sorry, continued from 1:28...
I suppose you can't say for certain that this deal was corrupt for certain just yet.....but let's face it, Blago has created a pattern that makes it hard to give him and his contributors the benefit of the doubt anymore.
It's rather interesting to note that former Gov. Jim Thompson is on the Maximus Board of Directors (www.maximus.com)and who just happened to be the co-chair of Blagojevich's transition team. He is also chairman of the law firm Winston & Strawn, which has been pretty heavily used by this administration.
Anon 1:37, that is interesting. But - and this isn't meant to sound glib or dismissive - what is your point?
Alderman Doreghty was not the only elected official interviewed for the Sunday Tribune story on Chicago patronage.
Perhaps he was the only one bold enough to be interviewed on the record without anonymity.
Here's a story that sort of sums up the Maximus experience in Wisconsin last year. It's from a Canadian newspaper.
Also, the lobbyist in question in Illinois was Poshard's top staffer in Washington and ran his statewide campaign. After he lost, he then went to work for Blagojevich.
He used to be a generally nice guy. Haven't seen him in a number of years though.
Did Doreghty break any federal laws and/or violate the Shakman consent decree?
certainly Martin took bribes and violated the law, but that does not mean that Doreghty did
the hoisting engineers of the Operating Engineers look like jokes
well paid jokes
Maximus and one of companies it took over David Griffin & Associates has a long history working with the State of Illinois dating back to the Thompson administration.
Maximus does a lot of consulting work for communities and counties across Illinois.
The comparisons to the Mayor and the Governor start here. I think Rod is actually a victim of his percieved fund-raising prowise. Maximus is a huge company that clearly doesn't need this contract, but because they hired someone connected to Rod they were probably pressured into giving. There is probably no quid pro quo as the Republicans would like to allege, it's much more a problem of the inside culture or squeezing money out of everyone you know. It's probably a competition among his inner circle and they are all squeezing their clients.
Again, the problem with Rod's campaign reforms is that they focus on the donors. All of his problems start with the askers and his own trusted "friends". I bet the Mayor knows this story well.
Ah, former Governor Thompson in the news again. Anyone ever remember one of his former staffers - Terry Logsdon? Wasn't he the one not getting enough and blew the whistle on MSI - even though he was part of it?
And where is he today, or his co-horts he placed in state positions?
Just curious...
Steve Schnorf - Thank you for the historical perspective. It is alternatively funny and maddening to watch the GOP Blagojevich haters act like nothing crooked happended in the 22 years of Thompson and Edgar. Do those criminal activities excuse anything wrong done by Blagojevich's people? Of course not. But don't act like Illinois politics and government were clean before Blagojevich .... .
Anon 7/18/2005 1:37 PM
If my memory serves me right, they employ more than 800 attorneys. They also hire Federal level prosecutors such as Dan Webb and make then partners so they’re happy. By the way Dan Webb is defending Former Gove Ryan. It’s no coincidence either that when Ryan’s proceedings started, Thompson made it a point to be at the hearing. He knew back then that Ryan’s trial would cause trouble so he wanted to get it right, because he’s worried about where things COULD end up going. But the real problem is that more has happened since and now he has to be worried sick with when it’s going to be his turn.
Actually the current corruption as a system, has been around for a very long time. It was smaller and since has grown extremely huge. How huge will show itself soon.
It never ceases to amaze me how the public (and most state workers) simply assume that every state contract is awarded as a political payback. Over the years, I was involved with several bids where Maximus (previously David M. Griffiths) was the winning bidder. In no case was there any political pressure from anyone to select Maximus. In every case, Maximus was far and away the most qualified bidder for the work needed and the vendor offering the lowest price to do the work. These passionate "play for pay" speculations are great, amusing fun for those of us who pay attention to such issues. However, they are also sometimes simply random releases of hot air. I beleive that is the case with the Maximus speculations.
9:00 pm one of the best comment in weeks
i here the return on investment of this contract is really good. $90,000 to get thousands more back from the federal government.
Hey, we should be getting every dollar we can from the feds. Truth of the matter is this administration has collected millions more from the feds than ever before. Hopefully reversing the trend of IL being a "donor state" to the typical rural parts of our country.
It's possible to improve our collection of federal dollars; most administrations pledge to do it, and most accomplish it to some degree, some better than others. It is virtually impossibe to stop us from being a "donor state", though. We tie for the lowest level of medicaid reimbursement, we have very little in the way of large defense contractors, we don't attract large numbers of retirees, and since we are a fairly wealthy state, we send lots of income tax to Washington.
Did I miss something or did it also say in the article that Maximus was the lowest bidder? If they really were the lowest bidder, would we want the state to choose someone else? that seems like government waste to me.
Did I miss something or did it also say in the article that Maximus was the lowest bidder? If they really were the lowest bidder, would we want the state to choose someone else? that seems like government waste to me.
Some government RFP's are decided on low bid, some on qualifications. Not sure where this work falls. Sometimes the "low bid" is not always the best bargain; would you want to choose a brain surgeon on the basis of lowest bid?
Anon 7:04: "It is alternatively funny and maddening to watch the GOP Blagojevich haters act like nothing crooked happended in the 22 years of Thompson and Edgar."
I don't think anyone has claimed or insinuated that. The point that everyone is trying to make (and if you're calling people like yellow dog "GOP Blago Haters" then you're going to have to answer to them) is that Blago created the higher standard that we are now holding him to. Thompson and Edgar didn't completely center their campaigns on the mantle of reform and ending "business as usual".
That is the whole point here. You can't use the "GOP did it first" line in defense of someone who explicitly campaigned against the "old way"......you can't do it and still expect people to respect you.
...and since when do two wrongs make a right anyway?
Whats up with Millette and our friend Stefanski?
Oh quit bitching and let them have their stadium...of course the laid off state employees will be rooting for the home team.....NOT. If they want the stadium, pay for it yourself.
Think Claypool has his hands clean in this? Fat chance. The trail of bread crumbs is heading his way. Why do you think he's been holding off on announcing his run...
If the dem states attorney in Marion has the virility to look into the stadium deal how come j ryan didnt have the testicular virility to look into the hotel deal in downtown springfield that a highly connected r power guy still owes the state $13 mil oh wait jbt let him off for around $3 mill wasnt it interesting i guess the marion deal just isnt big enough to let slid and if i recall the hotel is privately owned how did that happen.
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