Rauner Taps Hoosier Jason Barclay To Serve As His General Counsel

Illinois' Governor-elect Bruce Rauner (R) must be anticipating tussles with federal prosecutors in his new administration. He's tapped one of Mitch Daniels' go-to guys when you have a public corruption problem that needs fixed to serve as general counsel in his administration. Grab your barf bag before reading what Rauner has to say about Barclay.

“Jason has a top flight legal and strategic mind and brings a deep understanding of how one the country’s most successful governor’s offices operated . . . Most importantly, both are committed to transforming Illinois and making it the most compassionate and competitive state in the nation.” 

Prior to joining the firm, Jason served as legal counsel in the office of Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels. In state government, Jason had a particularly sharp focus on public ethics, helping guide one of the nation’s most comprehensive and highly regarded integrity and compliance programs. He also played a key role in executing the legal strategies necessary to implement Governor Daniels’ agenda.

If you had to identify the top ten attorneys in the state of Indiana who inflicted more harm on the state's already bad track record on ethics in state government over the past decade, you would have to put Barclay near the top of the list. He was very adept at writing ethics rules with holes big enough through which you could drive an 18-wheeler. Rauner must have been impressed with Barclay's ability to convince our useless federal prosecutors in this state not to bring our most corrupt public officials to justice. He'll need that extra help in Illinois since the federal prosecutors in Chicago actually have a proven track record for prosecuting public corruption cases, unlike our sorry U.S. Attorney's Office in Indianapolis. So when does Rauner announce a job for Mitch Roob? We hear he's pushing real hard for a job in Rauner's administration.