You’re not going to believe this, but I am feeling a tinge of sympathy for Scott Reeder this morning.
Democratic Party boss and Speaker of the Illinois House Mike Madigan has banned him from the General Assembly’s press box. So has Democratic Senate President John Cullerton.
They are claiming that Reeder is not a real journalist, but a shill for the right-wing Illinois Policy Institute.
Which he is.
The Democratic leaders claim that the stink tank IPI is not a real think tank, but a lobbying group that fronts for the state’s Republican Party.
Which it is.
In Tuesday’s lawsuit, Reeder alleged the no-lobbying prohibition has not been evenly enforced since floor privileges were granted to reporters for the Chicago Tribune despite it being a registered lobbying entity in Springfield in 2000 and hiring lobbyists in 2002 and 2003.
Reeder’s lawsuit described his employer, the Illinois Policy Institute, as a not-for-profit, “non-partisan public-policy research and education organization that promotes personal and economic freedom in Illinois.”
“Mr. Reeder writes his news commentary from a perspective that favors free markets and limited government – a perspective that he, the Illinois News Network and IPI believe is underrepresented in the Illinois media,” the Reeder lawsuit alleged.
But despite it being described as non-partisan, the group and its leadership veer frequently to the right.
It has received $500,000 in donations during the past five years from Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner, the State Journal-Register reported last November.
I have written posts attacking Scott Reeder here on this blog.
But he has a point on this issue.
I mean what is the Chicago Tribune but a lobbyist for the state’s corporate interests?
In fact, what are Madigan and Cullerton other than shills for Illinois’ corporate class?
It reminds me of last year’s IEA Representative Assembly. Having just retired, they were not able to move my membership from active to retired. I could not run as a delegate as a retiree (although I did this year and lost).
So I decided to attend the RA as a journalist. In fact I was the only person who registered as a journalist.
As I walked onto the RA floor staffer Tim Crawford informed me that I couldn’t be there, although I have seen reporters on the floor at past RAs that I’ve been to.
More than twenty of them (RAs. Not journalists).
Only with the personal permission of the president is what Crawford told me.
And that wasn’t going to happen.
Now the truth is that I’m not a journalist. I’m just a retired K-5 teacher who writes a blog.
And I disagree with everything Reeder and the IPI stink tank believe.
But us faux-journalists have to stick together.
Fred Klonsky 
I heard about this on the radio and was going to write a post about it; I see you’ve already done one. I feel that we should share the by-line for this post. But seriously, I’ve been reviewing some videos of a couple Tribune manages talking at luncheons– the speeches they give are basically exact replicas of things posted on IPI’s Twitter stream. So if the Trib gets a seat in the press box, then so should the IPI. Clearly the answer is to kick out the Trib.
Tim,
Feel free to write another. I’ll post you as I always do. This story is so nice we should post about it twice!
It’s a shame to have to defend an a**hole like Reeder, but you make a good point. And no one ever accused the Tribune of being non-partisan. Col McCormick would twirl in his grave at the thought.