https://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/us/illinois-public-officials-aid-lobbying-clients-of-family.html

This article explains why Illinois still needs tougher ethics laws and standards.  In other states, a politician must recuse themselves from voting when a close relative (grandparent, parent, child, grandchild or their spouse, brother and sisters and their inlaws) hold financial interests in companies affected by the legislation proposed.

This article explains:

Medill Watchdog examined statements of economic interests of public officials, lobbying registrations filed with the City of Chicago, Cook County and the state, and records of state bills and local ordinances. The investigation found 14 elected officials from Cook County alone who, while not lobbyists themselves, are related to or in business with lobbyists.

The review found more than a dozen instances in which an official took action that benefited the lobbying client of a family member or business partner.

Reformers say Illinois has a historic tolerance for corruption. “There are people who believe that’s just the way it’s done,” said Kyle McCarter, a Republican state senator from Lebanon. “Cultures don’t change overnight.”

I think that article says it all.  Clearly when Jerome Larkin head of the ARDC went after myself and Ken Ditkowsky in invalid, kangaroo court proceedings with no or very limited discovery, and they struck almost of all my crucial witnesses, if you read the transcripts, you will be thoroughly convince that “Illinois [does in fact] have a historic tolerance for corruptioin [and] there are people believe that’s just the way it’s done.”

Larkin was told to get rid of myself and Ken, that is to stop Ken Ditkowsky to stop writing his famous call the state official on the carpet for not doing their job and looking the other way, and to get rid of me for writing this blog.

Well, it did not work.  Ken at age 83 is one of the most prolific activist letter writers there still is, he is sending out dozens of emails, faxes and letters still, and I am still posting on this blog and it is more popular than ever and has more subscribers than ever.

Illinois has to tight it’s ethics laws in terms of lobbying.  It has to give the Judicial Inquiry Board teeth to take out judges that simply refuse to follow the laws as written and who flagrantly engage in Fraud on the Court, still handing out summary Eviction Orders, allow the use of tied in crony shrinks to guardianize those who do not need a guardian but are wealthy (the need for a guardian increases exponentially if the victim is wealthy and has no relatives to protect them from a bogus proceeding or there is already infighting in the family), also judges have to stop changing transcripts, closing the courtroooms outside the standards set forth in 7th circuit decisions that there has to be a motion, findings of fact and conclusions of law to seal a courtroom or transcripts and that decision has to be placed on file with the clerk for the public, and you cannot close prospective proceedings and there must be a law.  Many judges simply aren’t doing that.

And that’s not even motioning the psychotropic drugging of wards in nursing homes.  Federal Law says you cannot have nursing homes–or anyone for that matter–dispensing dangerous psychotripic meds in nursing homes UNLESS there actually is a diagnosed mental disease or illness in a patient–other than dementia.

In dementia patients, dosing them why psychotropic drugs (which are essentially horse tranquilizer), increases the chance of their death substantially. Widespread studies with Medicare statistics have confirm this.  FDA has issued black box warnings and doctors are not to do this, or risk losing their licenses to prescribe opiods, which is what should happen.

However, the IDFPR has only one investigator and I’m told they are over a year behind on these FDA black box warning/psychotropic meds cases, so that by the time your loved one is drugged and the case is investigated, they may be long dead before then.

Something has to be done.

Please keep on writing, faxing, emailing and calling your authorities to speak out against these unlawful practices.  Force our court system to be open, transparent, democratic and accountable.

Democracy is not a spectator sport.  Get involved.  Write a letter a day or a week.  Fax , call and email when you can.

Tell Jerome Larkin that corruption will no longer be tolerated as a way of life and you expect him to DO SOMETHING about crooked attorneys.

The case of Seth Gillman is a prime example of a tragic failure of the ARDC to take prompt action to protect the public and you can google his story elsewhere on this blog.

Encourage the Illinois State legislature to add into the 2009 Ethics Reporting Act that the ARDC attorneys and supervisors and managers MUST ethics report and that any state representative must report conflicts of interest with next of kin and recuse themselves on voting if there is a conflict or even an appearance of a conflict of interest with next of kin.

JoAnne