Democratic State Senator Susan Garrett has finally found her voice and taken a firm stand, speaking out against an important (dare we say critical?) election issue for the citizens of Illinois.
No, it's not about former Governor Rod Blagojevich and the years of corruption, pay-to-play and running this State's finances into a $9 billion hole.
It's not about her fellow State Senator Terry Link and his petition scandals, which recently resulted in one of his campaign workers pleading guilty to perjury, with the trial of the other worker on the way.
And it's not even about the Democratic candidates for Lake County Board who were called out for making baseless allegations of corruption and sweetheart tax deals on their campaign literature, and who were bankrolled by Garrett's other colleague in the state senate, Michael Bond.
No, it's actually about a vitally important race to the citizens of Illinois: the re-election of Shields Township Clerk David Barkhausen. Garrett's ethical eagle eye (which has apparently been fairly myopic up until now) has noted that Barkhausen owes some campaign fines to the Illinois State Board of Elections (due to late filing of some pre-election documents between 2001-2004), to the tune of around $1200, says Garrett. Garrett wants County Clerk Willard Helander to remove Barkhausen from the ballot (it should be noted that there is no law that requires Helander to take any action in response to Garrett's complaint).
"It's a matter of ethics. Do we just let these things go?" asked Garrett.
TA's take on this: thank goodness Senator Garrett is right on top of ethical issues to protect the integrity of the ballot here in Illinois. I'm not sure what took her so long, but I feel much better that Senator Garrett has now undertaken the mantle of ethical watchdog for the North Shore. I'm sure we can expect her to quickly organize an ethical task force that is going to get to the root of such issues as Link's petition scandals and the Lake County Board campaign materials scandal.
Good thing Senator Garrett didn't wait to find her ethical principles until the State was mired in corruption and it was too late to save us all... um... well, you folks figure that out for yourselves.
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14 comments:
Garrett is a joke. She has never talked about "ethics" unless she is trying to point the finger at Republicans.
Nothing more than a partisan hack...
Hey is this the same Senator Susan Garrett that was mentioned by name during testimony at the Sorich trial in Chicago?
Long story short - patronage hiring led to the indictment of one of Daley's guys - Sorich - at his trial, testimony included a witness stating he had hired over 300 street and sanitation workers for the purpose of working on the Congressional campaign of Rahm Emmanuel and the Senate campaign of Susan Garrett...
I ask you...why would Chicago Democrats be so interested in working on Ms. Garrett's campaign - what is the quid pro quo?
Ms. Garrett should tread lightly on accusations of "ethics" as she has compromised herself on many occassions, with her silence, support and actions on behalf of others...
You could even say that Garrett's ethical bark(hausen) is worse than her bite...
Did her D2s show an in kind contribution for the workers?
I checked into the law about the fines on the SBOE website and their is nothing indicating it is unethical not to pay the fines. If a County Clerk wanted to play politics they could knock them off but it could be contested as well.
Anyone check all the "Friends of Garrett" to see what "fines" may be pending?
$1,200...Susan, surely you can do better than that...
Hey, I noticed Susan Garrett gave money to the "County Board Conspirators". Hmmm $1,200 fine versus outright lies on mail pieces...case closed in my book...
Susan, say you?
Mr. Barkhausen, where may I send a check for your re-election. Anyone running against Chicago-style politics will get my money and manpower.
Garrett has been silent on:
Gash's FEC fine
Seal's AG investigation
Rod (who she ENDORSED)
and Burris's latest scandal
She supports Link and his corruption.
Susan Garrett has no shame
This is why I love this blog. TA, you belong on the RNC payroll. When blago was whining the other day about senators who show up and do nothing in springfield he was probably talking thugs like this woman, Link-who you are singlehandedly bringing down btw, shoenberg, and others.
This woman needs to go.
FOKLAES
Hey Susan,
Are you going to ask Barbara Flynn Currie why she held on to the affidavit submitted to her by Roland Burris indicating he was approached by Rod's brother to host a fundraiser?
Oops sorry - wrong party - different rules....
$1,200 fine versus a #@$#%#^%$^ US Senate seat. Need we say more...
Does it really matter? If you own $$ pay up!! Good for garrett
BArkhausen left state politics for a reason! He gave the GOP a black eye, now he is hacking around at township level and got caught again. GOOD! Toss him. Helander should show him the door. Sooner Barkhausen is gone the sooner LC GOP starts looking better. Garrett did us a favor!!
Check it out. Barkhausen is the ONLY one in Lake County with outstanding fines with the board. Pretty smart guy. Leave your hand in the cookie jar long enough and sooner or later someone will see you. If he had paid his fines back in 2001 there would be no story here. what a dope!
Susan,
Looks like you found the blog - the reality is only YOU believe YOUR actions were warranted.
Why didn't you stand up to Terry Link on his petitions, on his statements of economic interest, on his votes (and lobbying) for SBC, while his wife is an SBC lobbyist, Dianne Hewitt and other county board candidates that LIED about "sweetheart deals" (and you even gave her money!)
Yeah...that's class!
Hey TA,
I just found the article about Garrett and her ties to the Chicago machine. It is a Sun Times article dated June 1, 2006 entitled, Witness Describes City Jobs Scheme.
Here's the meat: pulled from article word for word...
"A key witness in the City Hall hiring trial testified Wednesday he used a political army largely made up of city workers to volunteer in various Democratic campaigns, then asked Mayor Daley's patronage chief to reward them with city jobs and promotions.
Daniel Katalinic, the highest-profile witness to testify yet in the trial that's in its third week, said Robert Sorich, a former top official in the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, told him to which political races he should deploy his volunteers. He also said Daley's former campaign manager, Greg Goldner, doled out similar orders.
Katalinic said his campaign organization started small but eventually grew to nearly 300 people who worked on many campaigns, from that of U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel to state Sen. Susan Garrett. Nearly all of the group were Streets and Sanitation workers or people trying to land city jobs, Katalinic said."
Both Katalinic and Sorich were found guilty and sentenced to jail.
Queen of Ethics - did you report the in-kind contribution of these workers on your D2s?
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