Conflicted Interests

$521,000

CONFLICTED INTERESTS

Rich Miller— Springfield’s Capitol Fax “journalist”–
rakes in over $521,000 in payments from 70 State Agencies
and other governments- plus 181 political committees.

Is Miller the most conflicted journalist in the country?

Graphic courtesy of IllinoisMirror.com

Last week, an amazing thing started to unfold in Illinois-accountability. We helped IllinoisMirror.com expose the hundreds of thousands in taxpayer dollars flowing to Rich Millers Capitol Fax blog.

It’s not a pretty picture for “journalist” Rich Miller…

1. $256,000 from 70 state agencies including $71,000 from Speaker Michael Madigan’s general assembly. Review database here

2. $231,173 from 181 political committees including public unions, PAC’s, candidates and elected statewide officials. Click here

3. Speaking honorariums from the teachers union, IPACE ($2,000) during the last gubernatorial general election cycle (2010).

4. Tens of thousands in additional money from City of Chicago ($10,000) and Universities and Colleges ($20,000).

Still, that only quantifies 38 of nearly 7,000 Illinois units of government paying big bucks to Rich Miller’s Capitol Fax blog. Miller’s possibly making hundreds of thousands more from taxpayers!

No wonder Rich Miller wrote derisively on the lawsuit For The Good of Illinois vs. State of Illinois, Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka to open the books on state spending!

Stay tuned for a lot more on this story…

The Illinois Constitution says that there must be a “public purpose” to an expenditure of taxpayer monies. What’s the “public purpose?” There is no justification to purchase “insider access” to political gossip with taxpayer money.

Is Rich Miller the most conflicted “journalist” in the country?

Let us know your thoughts.