Earlier this week, we learned that Democrat candidate for Illinois State Treasurer Mike Frerichs and his chinaman State Senate President John Cullerton caved and finally released state documents that cover Frerichs' career in the State Senate after public and media pressure forced their hand.
But, just because the outcome has arrived, doesn't mean folks still aren't talking about this boneheaded move. Yesterday, the Madison County Record editorialized about this being 'politics as usual'. From the piece:
Campaign operatives for a Democratic candidate for state treasurer, State Sen. Mike Frerichs (D-Champaign), make a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for documents pertaining to the Republican rival’s tenure as a state legislator and are accommodated.
Campaign operatives for the Republican nominee, State Rep. Tom Cross (R-Oswego), make a FOIA request for similar documents pertaining to the Democrat’s tenure as a state legislator and are denied.
Looks like a double standard, doesn’t it?
...Here’s how it works: Everything bad that Illinois Democrats believe and assert about Illinois Republicans, no matter how unfounded, is assumed to be true. Everything bad that Illinois Republicans believe and assert about Illinois Democrats, no matter how reasonable, is assumed to be false.
Consequently, if the FOIA documents requested by and provided to a Democrat fail to incriminate his Republican rival, the only possible conclusion is that the Republican has doctored those documents or withheld the juicy ones.
Conversely, if FOIA documents are requested by and denied to a Republican, the only possible conclusion is that his Democratic rival is as pure as the driven snow and the mean-spirited Republican was out of line for questioning his ethics and making the request in the first place.
...That Sen. Frerichs or Democrat Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who likes to fashion herself a friend of FOIA and open government and is free to intervene, aren’t embarrassed by this outrage is telling. So long as we keep choosing state leaders like these, the politicians, not the people, will always come first in Illinois.Emphasis, ours.
