Jones plots ethics end run - Accountability taking a back seat in Springfield

Jones plots ethics end run - Accountability taking a back seat in Springfield
BY CAROL MARIN Sun-Times Columnist
Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times
July 11, 2007

Senate President Emil Jones' anger still burns brightly and, in so many words, he said so last week when I saw him in Springfield.

"Do you believe there is racism in America?" he asked.

Yes, I answered, I do.

"And do you believe it exists in every institution in America?" he asked.

Yes, I said, I do.

"Well, then," he said disapprovingly, "I see what you write, I see what you say."

Jones' fury and suggestion of racism is directed at what Chicago Sun-Times' Springfield Bureau chief Dave McKinney, reporter Chris Fusco and I have written about the Senate president's family in recent months. We've reported that his relatives have been the beneficiaries of a ton of financial good fortune in the last few years, thanks in no small measure to the taxpayers of Illinois. That includes his wife, Dr. Lorrie Jones, who in 2005 was promoted by the Blagojevich administration to state mental health chief and given a $70,000 raise, taking her annual salary to $186,000. It includes his son Emil III, who recently got a new state job and salary bump from the state Commerce Department, and is now making $57,360. And most prominently of all, it includes Jones' stepson, John Sterling, who has gotten tens of millions of dollars in city, county and state computer technology contracts.

It was just this week that WMAQ-Channel 5 and the Sun-Times discovered an additional $11 million in contracts and subcontracts given to Sterling through city, county and state governments. That's in addition to the $45 million no-bid deal he received from City Colleges. And in addition to an additional $55 million he had already been paid by City Colleges.

It's not illegal. But in Illinois, where nepotism is a plague, it raises reasonable questions that public officials might not like but have to answer.

Jones has said that he has a talented, highly qualified family. Period. And that when it comes to contracts, he has no knowledge of his stepson's business dealings.

Don't ask, don't tell.

State Sen. James Meeks, a fellow Chicago Democrat, suggests a different approach, telling McKinney on Monday, "If I was him, I'd ask all of them, 'Who's doing business?' " Meeks went on to say, "For the legislative leaders to not want to face these stories or deal with hints of impropriety, they can handle it in one of two ways. They can disclose all of the business their family members have, or they can choose not to know anything about business their families have. If they choose not to know, when stories come out, there are people who won't believe them. And it's their choice."

In many cases, reporters have a very hard time finding information about contracts. Subcontracts, in particular, are nowhere to be found on the state's Web site. And even the trusty Freedom of Information Act is useless. Subcontracts are, for all intents and purposes, hidden from public view.

In response to our most recent report, Jones told the Sun-Times he might soften his stance in opposition to legislation that would put the names of subcontractors on the Internet. That bill, sponsored by a Republican, Sen. Christine Radogno of Lemont, has been deader than a doornail, locked up in the Rules Committee, which the Senate president controls. But late Tuesday, it sure looked like Jones would try instead to pull a legislative end run, tacking a thus far unseen "ethics" amendment on another bill instead.

Radogno's not buying it.

"This is a continuation of the game that this administration plays to deep-six ethics legislation," she said from Springfield Tuesday. She will hold a news conference today asking the governor, the lord of endless special sessions, to call a session on ethics to consider a pile of bills that are languishing in Springfield. They cover everything from forbidding state contractors from giving political contributions to disclosing the names of those invisible subcontractors.

Racism?

This isn't about the color of a politician's skin. Let's remember that Gov. Blagojevich is and has been the subject of far more serious questions that are being asked not just by reporters but by the feds.

So, no "r" word here. It's the "a" word that's in play, as in accountability.