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* Sun-Times…
A former political consultant whose allegations of sexual harassment against a longtime aide to House Speaker Mike Madigan highlighted the treatment of women in Illinois politics has created a new political action committee with the goal of helping the state “elect more ethical and accountable elected officials.”
Alaina Hampton on Wednesday launched the Majority Justice Movement PAC — just five days after ComEd was charged in federal court with bribery in a bombshell case that implicates several people, including Madigan, though no one else has been criminally charged. Madigan has denied any wrongdoing.
“What we’ve seen over the course of the past several years or honestly for my entire lifetime is that we don’t have very many elected officials in the state of Illinois that are willing to hold corrupt politicians accountable, and I think the rest of Illinois deserves more transparent and ethical leadership,” Hampton said Sunday.
“What I’d like to do is help fund candidates and elected officials that are willing to have a little more intermittence from the machine-style politics that we see here in Illinois,” she continued. “And what that means is helping them learn how to fundraise so they don’t have to rely on directed funds from large corporations such as ComEd.”
* Tribune…
Hampton said she is digging through state election board filings — reports candidates and elected officials submit regularly accounting for who has donated to their campaigns and how much. On Monday, she’s “going to start calling through to legislators who have taken money from ComEd and asking them to donate that money to this PAC,” Hampton told the Tribune in a Friday phone interview. […]
Hampton said she wants the money to fund the campaigns of candidates who are not beholden to big companies.
“I decided to start this political action committee because I think residents deserve more honorable and accountable elected officials, and I think what we’ve seen over the past few years is that we don’t have very many, elected officials that are willing to stand up to machine politics here and take a stand and hold people accountable,” said Hampton, who now works for a national Democratic consulting firm.
* Meanwhile…
Former Commonwealth Edison CEO Anne Pramaggiore resigned [Friday] from the Motorola Solutions board following disclosures in federal filings that she was directly involved in ComEd’s admitted efforts to bribe House Speaker Michael Madigan in return for favorable and lucrative legislation.
The news, delivered in a terse Securities & Exchange Commission filing, provided no reason for her resignation, other than to say it was not due to any disagreement with Motorola regarding its operations or policies.
* Related…
* ComEd bribery scheme implicating Illinois House Speaker revives term limits talk: Anyone who thinks term limits alone would eliminate corruption need look no further than term-limited Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, a Republican who was arrested last week on a federal complaint alleging his participation in a $60 million bribery scheme. Surprisingly, the other legislative leaders are already term-limited. The Senate Democrats and Republicans in both the House and Senate already limit their leaders’ terms through legislative rules. Retired Senate President John Cullerton, a Chicago Democrat who began his career in the House as a Madigan protege, took the lead in 2017 to restrict leaders to five two-year terms as either minority or majority leader.
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Jul 27, 20 @ 1:04 pm
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MJM…love it.
Comment by Nagidam Monday, Jul 27, 20 @ 1:10 pm
Nothing like naming a PAC to sow confusion.
- Hi, I’m calling from the MJM PAC.
- Sure, I’ll donate to Madigan’s reelection campaign efforts.
- No, you misunderstand, this isn’t to reelect Madigan. It is to elect politicians who aren’t beholden to big corporations.
- Then why is it named MJM PAC?
Comment by Huh? Monday, Jul 27, 20 @ 1:12 pm
“Nothing like naming a PAC to sow confusion”
The full name is Majority Justice Movement PAC. Otherwise to be known as the MJM PAC. It is a clever name. the MJM moniker is now and has long been associated with corruption.
Comment by Donnie Elgin Monday, Jul 27, 20 @ 1:15 pm
===money from ComEd and asking them to donate that money to this PAC===
Going to funnel this money through the MJM PAC? Subtle.
I’d be interested to see what process Ms. Hampton plans to implement in order to determine who are “the campaigns of candidates who are not beholden to big companies” and how that process is determined.
Other than the opportunity to provide negative hits against sitting legislators for not blindly turning over campaign funds to a PAC with little transparency and nothing to establish accountability, I am not certain if this PAC, well intention or otherwise, was very well thought out. I admire a lot of what Aliana Hampton has done and I appreciate her for this, but this is not the right way to move forward.
Other people need to be involved and given who her current employer is and how that employer makes money, I’m not exactly certain that I can trust this PAC to determine who is and isn’t “beholden to big companies.”
There are better things to do with these contributions than turn it over to a PAC.
Comment by Candy Dogood Monday, Jul 27, 20 @ 1:18 pm
I want to add that I am certain that there are people out there who would be happy to help make Ms. Hampton’s PAC project have a bit more accountability.
Comment by Candy Dogood Monday, Jul 27, 20 @ 1:19 pm
Traditionally any candidates that received money from a donor they feared may create the appearance of impropriety donated the money to charity. The idea was to get the funds out of the political system.
Comment by Dread Pirate Roberts Monday, Jul 27, 20 @ 1:21 pm
MJM - this is “new” only to Illinois. Been going on in Virginia.
https://www.activatevirginia.org/pledge
Comment by Anyone Remember Monday, Jul 27, 20 @ 1:22 pm
Maybe she should add a tagline to further define the brand - “MJM PAc…an apple a day the ethical way” works for me
Comment by We'll See Monday, Jul 27, 20 @ 1:24 pm
Lol, lol, lol. Ok I’m done laughing. We should oppose all forms of discrimination, harassments and corruption but Ms. Hampton is clearly out of her element and should kindly go away.
Comment by Ostomie Wedgie Monday, Jul 27, 20 @ 1:30 pm
I hope Hampton would be able to pay herself a nice big salary out of this new PAC racket.
Comment by Frumpy white guy Monday, Jul 27, 20 @ 1:37 pm
Like this new idea from a veteran campaign person with a record of success.
IPO and IVI used to play a similar role decades ago and those groups won a lot of elections against a pretty good group of political folks.
Looking forward to following how many contribute. We still have a lot of progressive democrats in Illinois and I suspect many of them will be excited about this idea too.
Comment by Back to the Future Monday, Jul 27, 20 @ 1:42 pm
Nothing sends shivers down the spines of politicians like a PAC with $0.
Comment by Dance Band on the Titanic Monday, Jul 27, 20 @ 1:51 pm
She should run for office
Comment by Precinct Captain Monday, Jul 27, 20 @ 1:57 pm
Why is this even a thing and does anyone believe she will do anything to help solve the problem? She publicly smashed a group of women who started a similar PAC. She must have the best press person but can we be done with the grandstanding already.
Comment by Selfie Monday, Jul 27, 20 @ 1:57 pm
@ Back to the Future - Monday, Jul 27, 20 @ 1:42 pm:
When you write that kind of fluffery do yourself a favor and read it back to yourself and ask if it sounds like a series of talking points strung together. If it does and you’re not specifically writing a press release go back to the drawing board until there’s some humanity in it.
And if those are talking points:
It’s also helpful to not invite questions that don’t have sufficient or developed answers, like “I suspect many of them will be excited about this idea too.”
Why would progressives be excited about funneling campaign funds into a PAC with no apparatus in place to maintain it would be accountable to the stated mission?
What exactly has Ms. Hampton done to demonstrate she would spend PAC money in a progressive fashion?
“We still have?” Oooh? Where have the progressives been going? Isn’t the state becoming more left wing/progressive in it’s political leanings?
If you’re going to speak on behalf of a group of folks and you’re speaking professionally, it’s always better to have someone from that group represent the group themselves. If this PAC was going to be progressive, it could have created a board with some recognizable progressives responsible for doling out the funds in a progressive way.
Meanwhile some of us just adamantly distrust anyone in their 20s or 30s who starts their own PAC.
Comment by Candy Dogood Monday, Jul 27, 20 @ 2:02 pm
==She should run for office==
I wondered the same thing about Ms. Hampton in the last few years. Since she’s a Springfield-area native, I had wondered if she would move back to her home area and run for GA down here. IMO her best chance of winning a seat down here would most likely mean moving to downtown Springfield (part of the 96th Rep Dist) and challenge Scherer in the Dem primary.
Comment by Chatham Resident Monday, Jul 27, 20 @ 2:08 pm
Candy
Thanks for your reflections. Rest assured I will take them seriously.
I was in my teens when I first worked in a campaign, really learned a lot, made some friends I still have and have never regretted the experience. Not worried at all about how old (or young) someone with the energy to jump into politics is. We need more people with new ideas and integrity to roll up their sleeves and jump in.
As to your other points, let me assure I have never meet the person starting the MJM thing, but she did stand up for herself in a positive and professional manner according to newspaper accounts I read and I do think what she is doing has merit.
Comment by Back to the Future Monday, Jul 27, 20 @ 2:30 pm
@ Back to the Future - Monday, Jul 27, 20 @ 2:30 pm:
===Not worried at all about how old (or young) someone with the energy to jump into politics is.===
You’ll note I said start a PAC.
===I have never meet the person starting the MJM thing===
Then why do you think the PAC would excite progressives?
What are Ms. Hampton’s progressive bonafides?
What is Ms. Hampton’s “record of success” based off of?
Just because someone supported and encouraged Alaina Hampton’s efforts in the #MeToo movement doesn’t mean they have to think it’s a good idea to give her control of tens of thousands of dollars of campaign contributions under threat of being pilloried by the press.
As I said before, I don’t think this PAC was very well thought out.
Comment by Candy Dogood Monday, Jul 27, 20 @ 3:11 pm
Agree the idea has “room to grow”, but that is the way campaigns and movements start.
I do think being against “sexual harassment” has been picked up by a lot of independent and progressive Dems lately and this lady played a meaningful role in the press coverage that issue got.
She has, according to newspaper accounts, played different roles in a lot of campaigns.
In terms of giving control of “tens of thousands of dollars”, I hope it is a lot more, but pretty certain that most calls will not be returned. For example, I really don’t think our AG will be sending her PAC all or any of the money he received (which is OK and shouldn’t be regarded as a bad thing), but it doesn’t hurt to ask or highlight where ComEd money went in light of thier plea agreement.
Comment by Back to the Future Monday, Jul 27, 20 @ 3:51 pm
(10 ILCS 5/9-17) (from Ch. 46, par. 9-17)
Sec. 9-17
Any person who shall sell or utilize information copied from statements and reports filed with the State Board of Elections or the county clerk pursuant to Article 9 of this Code for the purpose of soliciting contributions or for the purpose of business solicitation shall be guilty of a Class B misdemeanor.
Comment by Boomer Monday, Jul 27, 20 @ 4:10 pm
Good point, Boomer.
Comment by Thomas Paine Monday, Jul 27, 20 @ 4:15 pm
===(10 ILCS 5/9-17) (from Ch. 46, par. 9-17)
Sec. 9-17===
LOL, not very well thought out at all.
This can be easily worked around if someone were to draft a comprehensive publicly available “News Report”
Comment by Candy Dogood Monday, Jul 27, 20 @ 4:20 pm
Thinking that statute won’t be a bar to MJM PAC, but time will tell.
Still like the idea and wish her the best.
Comment by Back to the Future Monday, Jul 27, 20 @ 4:34 pm
Could Alaina Hampton actually be a leftover Raunerite in disguise?
Per last September’s WUIS interview, it makes one wonder: “Hampton grew up downstate near Springfield and moved to Chicago for her first job. A child in a family of lifelong Republicans, Hampton started her career as a staffer for the Democratic Party of Illinois.
Soon, the then-23-year-old campaign staffer began working on underserved, low-income communities. . . .”
https://www.nprillinois.org/post/no-regrets-alaina-hampton-life-after-speaking-out#stream/0
Comment by Chatham Resident Monday, Jul 27, 20 @ 8:35 pm