Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Former Illinois House GOP Staffer Dave Olien Makes Good and Observations on Political Corruption
Dave Olien, a former top staffer of George Ryan when he was House Republican Leader has written a column for the Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin, which compares Wisconsin and Illinois convictions of political folks.
His conclusion:
But Olien precdicts
Dave was set to staff my committee when Ryan plucked this able man for his own staff. We had such fun the year before when I was passing a bill to give local townships, cities and counties a larger share of Motor Fuel Tax. This was in pre-personal computer days. Dave calculated how much extra every township, county and municipality would receive, if the bill passed. And, under the bill townships, were able to use the extra money to fix up non-dedicated private roads (a major McHenry County problem), so they could be taken over by the township.
Originally, it was drafted just to give money to counties and townships, but freshman Chicago State Rep. Democrat Walt Kozlowski, who apparently had been assigned to cultivate me, also in my freshman term, came over and asked if cities could be cut into the deal. (Kozlowski eventually became Chicago City Clerk and was convicted for providing jobs to ghost payrollers.)
Without consulting Speaker Bob Blair, I said,
Needless to say, floor amendments were allowed then that did not have to get the approval of the Rules or substantive committee and, if approved by the substantive committee, then the Rules Committee again.
(I can hear current legislators asking, "What's a floor amendment?")
What did any of us care if Democratic Party Governor Dan Walker opposed it? (I think he vetoed it. We just overrode his veto. We called the veto session, the “veto override” session.)
Interstingly, the bio at the bottom of the column says that Olien "formerly worked for the speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives," but does not say that Speaker was George Ryan.
His conclusion:
Or, as the headline of the column says,It marks a major change of the "rules" of politics in Illinois and many other states, including Wisconsin, where insiders have routinely used access to governors to build strong lobbying practices as well as state resources to win elections.
The Rules of the Game Have ChangedI’m not as sure as Dave. I’m still waiting for the Mike Tristano shoes to drop.
But Olien precdicts
It marks a major change of the "rules" of politics in Illinois and many other states, including Wisconsin, where insiders have routinely used access to governors to build strong lobbying practices as well as state resources to win elections.He continues
Insiders in Illinois and Wisconsin both argued that it was standard practice to use state resources for political purposes. But in both the Federal Courthouse in Chicago and the Dane County Courthouse criminal prosecutions have demonstrated that standard practice was in effect a criminal undertaking as defined by both Wisconsin law and federal law.Olien escaped Springfield to the higher paying world of the University of Illinois and, there, underwent an extreme makeover. He also escaped from Springfield’s politically corruption atmosphere, ending up as a Vice President of the University of Wisconsin System.
Clearly, state employees in the executive and legislative branches in Wisconsin now are vulnerable to federal prosecution as well as prosecution by local authorities if they engage or have engaged in facilitating fundraising or other political activity on state time.
Dave was set to staff my committee when Ryan plucked this able man for his own staff. We had such fun the year before when I was passing a bill to give local townships, cities and counties a larger share of Motor Fuel Tax. This was in pre-personal computer days. Dave calculated how much extra every township, county and municipality would receive, if the bill passed. And, under the bill townships, were able to use the extra money to fix up non-dedicated private roads (a major McHenry County problem), so they could be taken over by the township.
Originally, it was drafted just to give money to counties and townships, but freshman Chicago State Rep. Democrat Walt Kozlowski, who apparently had been assigned to cultivate me, also in my freshman term, came over and asked if cities could be cut into the deal. (Kozlowski eventually became Chicago City Clerk and was convicted for providing jobs to ghost payrollers.)
Without consulting Speaker Bob Blair, I said,
I don’t see why not.Blair was angry I had amended the bill without his permission, but with the Democrats’ support, it sailed out of the House and freshman State Senator Jack Schaffer (R-Cary) got it through the Senate.
Needless to say, floor amendments were allowed then that did not have to get the approval of the Rules or substantive committee and, if approved by the substantive committee, then the Rules Committee again.
(I can hear current legislators asking, "What's a floor amendment?")
What did any of us care if Democratic Party Governor Dan Walker opposed it? (I think he vetoed it. We just overrode his veto. We called the veto session, the “veto override” session.)
Interstingly, the bio at the bottom of the column says that Olien "formerly worked for the speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives," but does not say that Speaker was George Ryan.
