Part Three of four.
Governor Quinn, at his news conference on clean water at
the Jim Thompson Center
in downtown Chicago on Sunday, August 23, 2009, along
with
Doug Scott, Director of the Illinois Environmental
Protection Agency (left),
Attorney General Lisa Madigan (right) and State
Representative Bob Rita (right).
Photo by Rob Sherman. Click on picture for larger
image.
Governor Quinn
discussed with me the million dollar Pilgrim Baptist
grant at his
press conference on transparency in government, last
week on Monday, August 17th. Then, two days ago, on
Sunday, Auust 23rd, after his
press conference on clean water, Quinn discussed
with me concerns that State workers have expressed to me
about why they should have to take furlough days, if the
State has tens of millions of dollars for houses of
worship, parochial schools and religious ministries.
Regarding the million dollar grant to Pilgrim Baptist, I
said to the Governor, during the Press Q&A, that he had
told me, at the St. Patrick's Day Parade, five months
ago, that he would have his attorneys look into the
Pilgrim Baptist grant.
The Governor nodded, that he
recalled that conversation in March, 2009.
I then said that, at the
Gay Pride Parade, on June 28th,
Attorney General Lisa Madigan had told me, through a
particular top aide, that there was nothing that Lisa
could do to settle my lawsuit, against the State, to
enjoin the disbursement of the million dollars,
until Pat gave Lisa the go-ahead to resolve the
litigation.
I summarized by saying that, since one of the topics
of the news conference was the need to clean up
lingering scandals in State government, and since Lisa
was right there in the room, standing next to him, could
he please just turn to Lisa and tell her, "Rob's right.
The grant is unconstitutional. Settle the matter with
Rob," and be done with that particular scandal.
Pat replied that Lisa is an excellent Attorney
General and that, as an independently elected
Constitutional Officer, Lisa has the power and
discretion to decide what to do with the case.
You can listen to
audio of the entire news conference. My exchange
with the Governor begins at the 4:13 mark of the
recording. The Governor's reply to me begins at the
5:01 mark and goes to 5:25.
While it's true that Lisa is a great AG -- the best
in the history of Illinois -- Pat is the client in the
Pilgrim Baptist litigation. The best attorney in the
world can't settle a case if her client refuses to tell
his attorney what he wants to do. Lisa is not the
client. Pat is. Lisa merely represents Pat.
I accepted Pat's answer, but then, after the news
conference, I met with Lisa to discuss this latest
development -- the contradiction between what her top
aide had told me and what Pat was telling me, now.
That discussion will be in Part Four of this series,
Meanwhile, after the news
conference this past Sunday, in which I spoke to
Illinois EPA Director Doug Scott during the Q&A about
pharmaceuticals in our drinking water (a report on that
conversation will be forthcoming, here, in the next few
days), I told Governor Quinn about the e-mails that I
have received and the
comments in the Springfield Journal-Register from
State employees, who have been saying, "We're not going
to take furlough days to help balance the budget if the
State has tens of millions of dollars to give away to
churches, parochial schools and religious ministries."
I asked Governor Quinn what response he had to State
employees who felt that way.
Pat said that the Operating Budget and the Capital
Budget are two separate funds.
I asked Pat if money could be transferred from the
Capital Budget to the Operating Budget.
Pat said, "No."
Keep in mind, as you read this, that this is not
about whether I agree with Pat or not. As a journalist,
I'm just letting you know what his position is on the
issues.
