From The Daily Southtown:

Attorney: Madigan gave 'bonus' for campaign work

Wednesday, July 24, 2002

By Kristen McQueary
Staff writer

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House Speaker Michael Madigan doled out nearly $275,000 in extra pay to staff members during a six-month stretch last year, according to documents released Tuesday by a lawyer who called the practice illegal.
Making public hundreds of pages of state documents that expanded upon a charge he made last week, Chicago elections attorney Richard Means alleges Madigan regularly supplements campaigns with taxpayer dollars.

State workers are allowed to do campaign work, but only if they go off the state payroll or campaign on their own time.

In Madigan's case, Means says the extra paychecks to staff members from June 2001 to January 2002 are illegal. A handful of the checks — as much as $20,000 in one case — were given right before staff went off the state payroll to campaign full time for the party. Means says the money was early compensation for campaign work.

"It appears pretty clear to me that the speaker is running the state Democratic Party out of the state treasury and not out of private contributions," Means said.

Madigan spokesman Steve Brown, however, said the extra payments shouldn't be called bonuses — they are merit-based, one-time salary adjustments.

"They are based on performance," he said. "I don't know that every staff member gets a positive merit review."

Brown said administrators in government get merit raises, too, and nobody raises questions about it. Madigan has given out the supplemental checks for years.

Money based on performance?

Means' documents also show that in some cases, staff workers for Madigan traveled with greater frequency to districts where an incumbent faced an opponent in 1999-2000, including the district of state Rep. Kevin McCarthy (D-Orland Park).

A Madigan aide traveled to McCarthy's district 51 times between October 1999 and July 2000. The primary election was in March. The aide went off the payroll in mid-July to campaign full time. McCarthy faced Maureen Burns Bekta in November.

McCarthy didn't return a call for comment.

Regardless of campaign activity, Means said the practice of giving state workers bonuses at all is illegal.

"In the private sector if someone does something extra and it results in a profit, then it's fine, but the state doesn't make a profit," he said. "They are paid to do the best job they can, and if they deserve some kind of extra consideration because they worked long hours or something, then comp time is the usual way of rewarding people."

Most of the checks from Madigan were cut in June and December of last year. One Madigan staff member who received a bonus check said the money was based on performance and seniority.

Like most Madigan aides, the staff member worked numerous overtime hours during the spring legislative session, which ended in May. The June payment coincided with the end of session and performance evaluations.

Higher pay for higher-ups

Higher-up Madigan staff members received the most generous payments. His chief of staff, Tim Mapes, received a total of $35,000 during the six-month period. Mapes also serves concurrently as executive director of the Democratic Party of Illinois.

Eileen Mitchell, director of issues development for Madigan, received $30,000 during the six-month period. She received $20,000 just before she took over as political director for the state party, records show.

Legal counsel Robert Uhe received $35,000. Operations manager Michael Noonan received $10,250, and program specialist John Lehy received $12,500.

About 40 lower-level staff workers received between $1,000 and $6,000, though one staff worker, Tyler Hunt, received $20,000, according to the documents.

"If they are entitled to higher pay, then put them in a higher pay (bracket)," Means said. "This is appropriated money. Other levels of government don't get bonuses."

Daniels also being investigated

Cindi Canary, executive director of Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, said the licenses-for-bribes scandal has increased public awareness about ethics in government. That, along with Means gathering documentation to support what reformers always suspected, has put the issue of campaigning on state time up front.

Means gathered similar papers on House Minority Leader Lee Daniels, accusing the Republican leader of using state workers on campaigns. He turned that information over to the Attorney General's office, which in turn gave it to the U.S. Attorney's office.

A federal investigation of Daniels is under way.

"For as long as I can remember, this has been an open secret, that state employees during campaign season were fanned out," she said. "The documentation finally sealed the deal on what everyone always suspected."

Means turned over his documents on Madigan to Attorney General Jim Ryan. A spokesman said Ryan still is reviewing the case.

Southtown politics writer

Kristen McQueary may be reached at kmcqueary@dailysouthtown.com or (708) 633-5972.