CORPORATE CRIME REPORTER
Perkins
Coie’s Patrick Collins on the Culture of Corruption
23 Corporate Crime Reporter 32, August 23, 2009
Patrick Collins is a partner at Perkins Coie.
But for 12 years, as a federal prosecutor in Chicago, he was prosecuting public corruption in Illinois – a full time job if there ever was one.
Then earlier this year, the new Governor of Illinois, Patrick Quinn, asked Collins to head up something called the Illinois Reform Commission, which was tasked with making recommendations for ethical reform for Illinois government.
The Commission made recommendations in six areas.
The Illinois legislature wasn’t exactly excited by the proposals.
They adopted a couple, but left most on the table.
“The conclusions we drew was there is a culture of corruption in Illinois,” Collins told Corporate Crime Reporter last month, as he was preparing to chair a panel on public corruption at the American Bar Association annual meeting in Chicago. “An organizational behavioral psychologist called me during the process. And he said – for as long as it took for the culture to be embedded in a society, that’s how long it will take to unwind it. So, it might take that long to flip the culture in Illinois.”
However long that might be.
“During the time we were indicting and trying Governor George Ryan – during that exact same period was the time Rod Blagojevich was allegedly engaging in pay to play,” Collins said.
“We indicted George Ryan in 2003. That’s when Blagojevich’s misconduct began. We tried Ryan in 2005 and 2006, and that’s when some of the most serious misconduct occurred under Blagojevich.”
“Here’s a guy who has a daily reminder of the problems that corruption can cause. And not only did Blagojevich steal Ryan’s playbook, he took it up a notch.”
“So, yes, this is an embedded culture of corruption. Change by indictment isn’t working. Or if it is, it is working very slowly.”
“And on the other hand, you don’t have a legislature that is receptive to broad based reforms. That raises a question – why not?”
“Don’t we deserve to be a model for the nation on campaign finance? Shouldn’t we at a minimum adopt the federal model on campaign finance limitations? But even that met with a lot of resistance, even in this environment. And even with the media beating the drum.”
“My conclusion? This is embedded pretty deep. It’s in the DNA of the political culture.”
“Obviously, you have to continue to enforce the laws aggressively. And we have one of the most aggressive prosecutors around in Chicago. But we need to get some new blood into government. That’s happening in some respects. You have to change the rules and the expectations. But this is tough sledding. It certainly wasn’t an easy sell from our standpoint.”
At the time of our interview with Collins, he was preparing to moderate the ABA’s panel on public corruption.
He had lined up a star studded panel that included Judge Amy St. Eve, Judge Paul Friedman, former Court of Appeals Judge Abner Mikva, Chicago defense attorney Ed Genson, and Williams & Connolly partner Robert Cary.
More than 250 lawyers attended the session.
Collins is getting a reputation for being an anti-corruption fighter in a state with a culture of corruption.
Does that affect his business in any way?
“My friends give me grief by saying – have you ever left the government?” Collins said.
“Am I not considered for some engagements because of the white hat thing? Maybe. Do I think the white hat thing is more good than bad? Yes.”
“Part of it is defining what is meant by the white hat. One of the things I get really enthused about is when the government has overreached. There are those cases out there for clients and individual companies where the government is mistreating them. Those are cases I can do well in terms of putting the government on the defensive.”
“I don’t know anybody in this white collar world who can be all things to all people. I do know that I have carved out a niche within my firm. It’s a niche I’m comfortable in.”
[See complete q/a format Interview with Patrick Collins, 23 Corporate Crime Reporter 32(12), August 11, 2009, print edition only.]
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