Video: Schimpf questions Lisa Madigan’s competence over failure to recognize conflict of interest

Kevin Hoffman
Sep 3, 2014

Republican candidate for Attorney General Paul Schimpf called on incumbent Lisa Madigan to recuse herself from providing any legal advice in the ongoing state and federal investigations of Gov. Pat Quinn’s ill-fated Neighborhood Recovery Initiative program.During a Sept. 3 press conference at the Union League Club of Chicago, Schimpf cited an alleged conflict of interest with Madigan because her chief of staff had been in contact with the head of the troubled anti-violence program.Schimpf displayed an enlarged copy of a subpoenaed email sent by Quinn’s former director of the Illinois Violence Prevention Authority, Barbara Shaw, to Ann Spillane, Madigan’s chief of staff, following the November 2010 elections.

The email, dated Nov. 5, 2010, reads:

Hi, Ann. I’m just checking in to see if there has been a decision on the raises/bonus question for my managers. I don’t know if I made it clear, but I would prefer to do raises, particularly given that, as a result of Tuesday’s outcome, there is now a likelihood that this big initiative will continue beyond one year.

“The importance of this email is two-fold. First, you know obviously it does speak to the fact that Lisa Madigan’s office was asked about the raises. But it also indicates that there had been previous contact between Lisa Madigan’s office and the other managers of the NRI,” Schimpf said. “And the fact is, somebody’s not going to ask for raises unless they have been keeping that person that they’re asking for the raise or the bonus informed on what’s going on.”

Here is a copy of the actual email (click to enlarge):

Schimpf’s press conference comes on the heels of a Chicago Sun-Times report about a letter sent by state Sen. Jason Barickman, the ranking Republican and co-chair of the Legislative Audit Committee investigating the NRI, that seeks Madigan’s advice over whether Quinn is allowed legally “to withhold potentially thousands of administration emails regarding the the anti-violence grant program.” The Sun-Times noted the Attorney General’s office is expected to respond to Barickman’s request, and that Madigan does not believe her position as former co-chair of the IVPA board, which was responsible for supervising the NRI’s implementation, constitutes a conflict of interest.

“The fact that Lisa Madigan doesn’t think that she has a conflict of interest calls into question her competence to be the Attorney General of the state of Illinois,” said Schimpf.

Schimpf said Madigan has served honorably and should be respected for her service, but he believes she has lost perspective and now embodies the political class that feels the rules no longer apply to them.

“If we ever want to get Illinois turned around, we’re going to have to turn away from this political class and we’re going to have to look for our leaders based on their competence, not their connections,” Schimpf added.

Below is an edited video from Schimpf’s press conference.