Ordinarily, I wouldn't give the time of day to an editor-turned-flack who whines on Facebook about the press mistreating his boss and mistreating a Florida technology company to which George Sheldon gave $811 million in consulting contracts. But I'll make an exception for Neil Skene.
Over the weekend Skene jumped to the defense of his boss, Sheldon, director of Illinois' troubled Department of Children and Families. The big bad Tallahassee Democrat apparently was attacking Sheldon and the "Tallahassee friends" who hooked up with him in Illinois. So Skene, Sheldon's deputy chief of staff, thought it a good PR strategy to retaliate in social media.
For so many reasons his comments are inappropriate.
In the first place, all the Democrat did was expand on the Chicago Tribune stories of several ethics investigations about favoritism in contracts and hiring during Sheldon’s two-year watch at DCFS. Which coincide with investigations into the deaths of three children on the agency's books. In fact, local lawmakers grilled Sheldon two weeks ago, after the death of a baby girl found in a Joliet Township house that DCFS had visited the day before. The child was reported missing shortly after the DCFS visit on April 25 and was found dead under a couch in the house shortly before midnight April 26.
The Tribune's was important and fair coverage, something Skene himself would have appreciated back when he was Tallahassee bureau chief of the St. Petersburg Times. It included the mess Sheldon walked into in 2015, even the Illinois governor's high regard for him. So, why impugn the work of this three-reporter Tribune team led by David Jackson, who shared the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for public service while he worked at the Washington Post and was a Pulitzer finalist four times with the Tribune?
"Five Points is a fine technology company that doesn't deserve this smear," wrote Skene in his Facebook post.
If Skene had important information about Sheldon's Florida contractors -- nuances that would help explain the the DCFS director's side of the story -- why didn't he tell the Tribune instead of patting backs on Facebook? The Trib was trying to interview everybody the story touched. There's no "fix" in for Sheldon that I can see. Skene could have taken out his phone and made one phone call. Or did he? Did he talk to reporters Jackson, Gary Marx and Duaa Eldeib? I tried to ask him why he chose Facebook instead of asking the Tribune if he could write an op-ed, a guest opinion column -- but he did not return my call.
In the second place, Sheldon is contemplating a return to Florida before any of the investigations are complete. That hasn't made him Mr. Popularity in Illinois.
He was secretary of the Florida Department of Children and Families under Gov. Charlie Crist, 2008-2011. And now he's being actively recruited to run Our Kids, Miami-Dade's privately run foster care agency that recently lost three of its top administrators following the suicides of youth in the agency's care. If Sheldon wants to hightail-it out of Dodge and the Illinois investigators are dragging their feet, no wonder the Chicago Tribune wants answers fast.
Maybe Skene fears with so much light shed on Sheldon in Chicago, Our Kids might be getting cold feet. Is the agency backing away from its No. 1 choice for new director? I tried to reach Sandy Bohrer, a lawyer who once worked as a special counsel for Sheldon and now is a member of the Our Kids board. But he didn't return my phone call either.
Nor, by the way, did Sheldon reply to my email.
Oh, yes, and I did write about the Tribune's stories on May 4, including the Florida-crony connection, though I didn't mention Skene.
I'm sorry, but one Florida crony defending other Florida cronies while the jury is still out on Sheldon's regime at DCFS generally ... strikes me as particularly unsavory. For heaven's sake, children who shouldn't have, died. Put the PR campaign on ice.
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith.
