Chicago Tribune Forum: full outline

The Chicago Tribune's Editorial Board endorsement session: 

Democratic candidates for Attorney General (AG)
Jan. 24, 2018

The following is an outline of the candidate forum.  It is broken down into the main questions and the time at which they were asked.   Candidate responses are mostly in bullet points except for a few sections that were more coherently summarized in a paragraph. I have inserted important background information into the discussion by putting it in parentheses with the word "NOTE."



0:00:30  Introduce yourself and tell us what would your top priority would be as attorney general 

Drury and Quinn did not really say what their priorities would be, but the other candidates stated or strongly implied the following:

• Goldstein: create a public integrity bureau to fight corruption
• Rotering: gun control
• Raoul: "protecting victims and providing resources for them"
• Fairley: "integrity in government" and "smart criminal justice reform"
• Ruiz: "level the playing field for working families" and stand against corruption in business and government
• Mariotti: "economic justice;" stand up for working families against powerful interests

0:08:45  What is the role of the AG in public corruption cases?  How would you leverage tools or get a bill passed?

(NOTE: This discussion focused on the powers of the AG as outlined in the Illinois Constitution.  Apparently, the language in the state Constitution is rather vague concerning the powers of the AG to subpoena or indict people.  These powers have not really been tested by the more cautious attorneys general that Illinois has had in the past.)

• Drury is in favor of testing the language of the Illinois Constitution by exercising the power of the AG to subpoena and indict public officials.  He will then see whether these powers will be upheld if they are challenged in the courts. 
• Rotering spoke about the importance of educating the public about the Open Meetings Act (OMA) and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) so that citizens can access government information more often and more easily.
• Ruiz echoed Rotering by insisting that the AG must fully enforce the OMA and FOIA so that people don't have to sue the government to obtain that information.  He added that the government should be actively investigating corruption (i.e. the Joe Berrios scandal with property taxes) rather than waiting for journalists to do it.
• Fairley said the AG must step in at all levels of government to protect government integrity.  She wants to make sure that local governments have the power and resources to hold officials accountable even when there isn't enough evidence for an indictment. This way, she argued, officials can at least be charged with administrative wrongdoing, if not criminal wrongdoing.
• Quinn cited the Illinois False Claims Act that he signed as governor, which allows anyone to report wrongdoing they see to the AG in exchange for a financial reward. Quinn also wants to promote a law to prevent lawmakers from having conflicts of interest.
• Raoul emphasized that the public access counselor (who is responsible for helping people "obtain public documents and access public meetings") is overburdened and under-resourced, so he wants to fix that. 
• Goldstein agreed with Raoul about the public access counselor, and also said the AG should go ahead and investigate issues of concern whether or not it leads to an indictment.

0:24:10  (DraaaAAAmaaa!)

The debate took a screeching left turn when Drury suddenly went off attacking other candidates, both individually and as a group.  He claimed they were "beholden to the powers that be" and that "they've been schooled in ethics, it seems, by Joe Berrios"--a savage burn, considering how corrupt Berrios has proven himself to be. Drury went on like this until he was interrupted by a visibly angry Mr. Ruiz, who responded by touting his own corruption-busting credentials in the Forrest Claypool scandal: "I came in and saved the day from that corruption, Scott, unlike you...you talk a good game but what have you done?"  The moderators eventually calmed everybody down.

0:27:35  Do campaign contributions or conflicts of interest compromise you?

(NOTE: Although he is the front-runner in this race, Raoul is suffering from a minor scandal over a $100,000 campaign contribution that he received from tobacco company titan, Don Levin.  The other candidates claim this creates an intractable conflict of interest for Raoul since there is a pending case against Levin's company in the Attorney General's office.)

• Raoul insisted that he is "not for sale" and pointed out that every candidate has taken contributions from various groups.  He refused to return the money, and, when Goldstein asked if Raoul would recuse himself from the Levin case if he is elected, Raoul stated that he would not (see 0:30:50). 
• This part of the debate got very heated.  Ruiz attacked Raoul for taking contributions from the tobacco industry, and Raoul insisted that his "record speaks for itself."  Both Raoul and Ruiz got quite aggravated with one another. 
• Mariotti responded to this brouhaha by saying that, as AG, he would publish all his meetings and schedules and recuse himself when there's even an appearance of a conflict. He criticized the other candidates for turning the debate into a "circus."
• The moderator questioned Rotering about some apparent connections between her and the Speaker of the Illinois House, Mike Madigan. The moderator stated that about 45 or 50 people who work for Madigan had collected ballot petition signatures for Rotering.  Rotering claimed she knew nothing about this; however, the moderator said it was a matter of public record and seemed incredulous that Rotering could be unaware of this.  
  (NOTE: Madigan has been a power-broker in the Illinois Democratic party for decades, but he is increasingly viewed as a toxic and divisive figure, so most candidates do their best to distance themselves from him).

0:37:00  About the pending consent decree for oversight of the Chicago Police Department: Yes or no, are you committed to taking that over the finish line?

Every candidate said yes, they would follow through on the current attorney general's efforts to get Mayor Rahm Emmanuel to "accept a federal judge's oversight of the Police Department" and to pursue more significant reforms of the Chicago police.

(NOTE: Last August, the Chicago Tribune reported:

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan [...] sued the city of Chicago, contending Mayor Rahm Emanuel's reforms are not sufficient to prevent the Chicago Police Department from continuing a pattern of deadly and excessive force that disproportionately hurts African-Americans and Latinos. [...]

[...] Madigan's move effectively pushes Emanuel toward acknowledging he will have to accept a federal judge's oversight of the Police Department, a still-to-be-negotiated agreement that likely will cost the city millions of dollars in reforms and run for several years.)

 0:37:36  Referring to Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios's resistance to sharing public records from his office: How would you assert that "a government record is a public record, period," and get as close to the Florida standard [of full disclosure] as possible?

This part of the forum got interesting (though no one answered the question), because at 0:39:56 the moderator pointed out that Raoul was the only one of the Democratic candidates who had not called on Joe Berrios to resign. When asked directly whether he thought Berrios should step down, Raoul replied, "I think that's a question for the voters to answer," adding, "I believe in the democratic process."

Fairley then jumped in, expressing her disappointment with the lack of leadership in the Democratic Party on the Berrios scandal. "He should step down. It is unconscionable what is happening in that office," she said vehemently.  She spoke of "ever-entrenched political leaders" who get into positions of power, use them for their own benefit, and stay there forever. She flatly rebutted Raoul's stance, saying, "The process is not working."


0:41:10  Yes or no, should Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios step down?  Are you endorsing anyone for Cook County Assessor?

• Everyone said he should step down, except Raoul.
• Goldstein and Ruiz both endorsed Fritz Kaegi. 
• Drury answered the question and then started tooting his own horn again until the moderators cut him off.  
• Fairley, at 43:26, said he should absolutely step down, adding that it's "really important for the health of the Democratic Party that he do so," in order to show that the party "has some integrity."  She argued that "people are losing confidence in our political process because of that."

0:44:27  How would you fight against the Trump administration?  On the other hand, isn't there already enough for the AG to do at the state level?  Why waste precious resources taking on fights at the federal level where other watch-dogs are opposing Trump already?

All the candidates agreed that federal issues are not separate from state issues.  They agreed that the federal government is currently assaulting our most basic human and civil rights, and that this should be a concern of the Illinois Attorney General.  Most candidates cited environmental concerns, as well. 

• Mariotti: Yes, he absolutely would.
• Moderator: "Do you not feel there is enough for the AG to do at the state level?"  "Why would you waste those precious resources [...] on the federal level where Trump is being watch-dogged already?"
• Mariotti: "I don't think it would be a waste."  Federal issues are Illinois issues.
• Moderator: "Can you do both?" There are only 375 lawyers in the AG's office.
• Mariotti: There are limited resources; he would prioritize cases that have the biggest impact.
• Ruiz: It’s appropriate to fight the Trump administration.
• Fairley talked about the Trump administration holding back federal money that the state needs (as retaliation for being sanctuary cities, or for contraceptive coverage for women; when the EPA fails to regulate the environment).  The state ends up paying the price for that, so the AG needs to fight back.
• Quinn wants to fight for clean air and clean water.
• Raoul talked about how his parents immigrated from Haiti and the Trump administration's assault on the American Dream, saying, "We are a nation of immigrants."
• Rotering: These are human rights and civil rights that are under attack.  We need to sue the polluters. 
• Drury reiterated the concern about limited financial resources and stressed the importance of attracting top talent to the AG's office by providing an inspiring vision and doing good public work.
• Goldstein: Trump administration is attacking our most fundamental rights, so we need to fight him.

0:58:58  Police accountability

• Drury talked about his history of working to end wrongful convictions and change policing procedures, saying "we worked really hard when it wasn't popular to be talking about police accountability." 
• Fairley talked about all that still needs to be done to achieve police accountability. She said we must develop a strong, detailed consent decree for the Chicago Police Department, but she emphasized that police reform is a statewide issue. She said that not enough is being done to investigate police issues all over the state, and she described her experience training investigators and her legal experience evaluating those kinds of cases. (NOTE: Fairley is chief of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability). 
• Raoul pointed out that he had sponsored legislation that created the Torture Inquiry Commission. He also worked with Drury on the legislation that Drury had mentioned.  Raoul serves on the Commission of Police Professionalism, and he said he wants to move from police certification to police licensing, which would require stricter standards for someone to become a police officer.

At 1:02:00, however, Fairley shot back at Raoul by asking, "Why did you pass a bill that actually says that when an officer is accused of sexual misconduct, that the officer must be investigated by a separate agency except for if you work for the Chicago Police Department?"

To which Raoul replied, "Because I thought COPA [the Civilian Office of Police Accountability] was a separate agency."

Fairley said sternly, "It requires law enforcement. Obviously, you didn't read the bill very well."

Raoul, oddly, made no effort to reply to this.

• Ruiz talked about his long history working for community policing, going back to 1992, and how his community, in particular, has suffered from lack of police accountability.
• Rotering said, "We know that community policing has to be the future of policing" and talked about the importance of putting resources into this issue. 

1:04:15  Mr. Quinn, why are you running?  Why not step aside for younger people?

• Quinn said that "democracy is not a spectator sport."  He talked about his past achievements in office, and he stressed that "we need an ethics initiative in Illinois."  He believes the AG is someone who can rectify this situation.    
• Mariotti responded by pointing out Quinn's failures in office and his loss of the governorship to Bruce Rauner, arguing that it's time for Quinn to get out of the way.
• Goldstein talked about his work as a criminal defense attorney and his dedication to helping the poor.  He then responded to Mariotti by saying it's "reprehensible" to tell someone they shouldn't run for office. "That's Cook County Democratic Party nonsense," trying to coerce people to get out of the race, he said. "It's undemocratic."