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Blagojevich, Bringer of Poor
6:10 pm, 8/21/07
Blagojevich, Bringer of Poor
How screwed up is the economy of Illinois? Pretty screwed up.
Months later, something was finally done.
The problem? Blagojevich refuses to sign it, arguing that he potentially can "make it better" if he reviews it thoroughly.
In fact, Blagojevich seems to be trying to make everything "better", since of the 700 bills the legislature has passed and sent to him this year, he had, as of the 10th of August, only signed 31 of them. It appears that politically beneficial bills, like abolishing the processing of horse meat for food (something that rarely happened anyway), get shot right through, but doing any actual work is off the table. (Congressional Democrats seem to be infected with a similar disease.)
That's ironic, because Blagojevich, noted for accusing legislators of not doing their jobs, is now giving them a raise, breaking a campaign promise and publicly declaring that his intention is to bribe them into passing his unfeasible, insane budget.
In any case, you read that right: Illinois still has no budget.
To repeat, Illinois has a state apple, but no budget.
In Blagojevich's defense, the recognition of an Official Fruit of State is a better idea than his previous scheme to raise operating funds for the state, which would've involved accepting paid sponsorships for things like official state credit cards and official state soft drinks. (Blagojevich mistakenly thought that companies would want to associate with his "brand".) The apple, however, was not Blagojevich's idea. Rather, it was brought to the legislature by a class of elementary school children with no intention of making cash off the idea.
I digress. The legislature sent a budget to Blagojevich over a week ago, ignoring his priorities and, allegedly, emphasizing their own. Blagojevich is now trying to figure out how to make it go away, rather than just signing it to bring this nonsense to an end, nonsense that has resulted in school funds not getting disbursed and widows of state troopers not getting their survivor-benefits checks.
In fact, when the woman in question, Karla Miller, called Blagojevich's office to try to get her problem straightened out, a very rude man hung up on her:
Indeed he is, and lost in the midst of all this is letter-writing Mount Carroll resident Gerald Bork, a Blagojevich fan who is perplexed by the public disgust, aware that Blagojevich ran and was elected as a reformer, but apparently unaware that it was a sham, that he is just as corrupt as his predecessor, and that he only got reelected because his opponent was no better of a candidate than he is:
How screwed up is the economy of Illinois? Pretty screwed up.
As it turns out, however, the governor actually is driving jobs out of the state. Literally.As the state's Mad Max factor continues to increase, this is easily equally troubling: Back a few months ago, when this blog was largely inactive, a major crisis erupted in Illinois as a horrifying increase in electric rates benighted the land, leaving little old ladies sitting in the cold and dark, terrified of further increasing their three-figure utility bills. Threats were made, utility companies were accused of misleading state legislators on what the package they sought to have approved would actually do, Senate majority leader Emil Jones was accused of helping them, House Speaker Michael Madigan proposed socializing electricity, and legislators, under siege from their constituents, called an emergency Committee of the Whole at which, if I recall correctly, somebody pulled the fire alarm.
According to documents, the Illinois Department of Human Services, which is under Blagojevich's control, has inked a deal with a company to take an estimated 65 welfare recipients to jobs at a factory in Missouri.
In other words, the job market in parts of this state is so wretched, we've got to pay someone to truck people across state lines so they can try to earn a living.
Months later, something was finally done.
The problem? Blagojevich refuses to sign it, arguing that he potentially can "make it better" if he reviews it thoroughly.
In fact, Blagojevich seems to be trying to make everything "better", since of the 700 bills the legislature has passed and sent to him this year, he had, as of the 10th of August, only signed 31 of them. It appears that politically beneficial bills, like abolishing the processing of horse meat for food (something that rarely happened anyway), get shot right through, but doing any actual work is off the table. (Congressional Democrats seem to be infected with a similar disease.)
That's ironic, because Blagojevich, noted for accusing legislators of not doing their jobs, is now giving them a raise, breaking a campaign promise and publicly declaring that his intention is to bribe them into passing his unfeasible, insane budget.
But even in his explanation, Blagojevich tried to cast legislators as venal money-grabbers rather than social-policy progressives, a move that ratcheted up tensions in the already poisonous political atmosphere of a record legislative overtime nearly 12 weeks old.Blagojevich is the victim here. Do you feel his pain?
"I want to say this in a nice way, but that [salary increase] seems to be, among many legislators, the single biggest priority for them," Blagojevich said. "And I ... felt that if that's so important to them, this is what really motivates their priorities, then maybe if I respect their priorities, maybe they'll respect the priority I have, which is providing health care to families."
In any case, you read that right: Illinois still has no budget.
To repeat, Illinois has a state apple, but no budget.
In Blagojevich's defense, the recognition of an Official Fruit of State is a better idea than his previous scheme to raise operating funds for the state, which would've involved accepting paid sponsorships for things like official state credit cards and official state soft drinks. (Blagojevich mistakenly thought that companies would want to associate with his "brand".) The apple, however, was not Blagojevich's idea. Rather, it was brought to the legislature by a class of elementary school children with no intention of making cash off the idea.
I digress. The legislature sent a budget to Blagojevich over a week ago, ignoring his priorities and, allegedly, emphasizing their own. Blagojevich is now trying to figure out how to make it go away, rather than just signing it to bring this nonsense to an end, nonsense that has resulted in school funds not getting disbursed and widows of state troopers not getting their survivor-benefits checks.
In fact, when the woman in question, Karla Miller, called Blagojevich's office to try to get her problem straightened out, a very rude man hung up on her:
"He was very flippant and just said, you know, we're all worried about the budget and we'll get it fixed and that kind of thing," she said. "He started to get a little testy with me, and I started to get a little testy back, and then he hung up on me."Nobody, it seems, can understand how a state run by people from the same corner of the same state, affiliated with the same wing of the same party, people so tightly associated that it'd be illegal for some of them to marry into each other's families, can get nothing done, but that's exactly what's happening.
On a day usually devoted to party unity -- "Governor's Day" at the State Fair -- the state comptroller, treasurer and lieutenant governor all condemned the Democratic bickering that has left Illinois without a budget for two weeks.The bickering is so ridiculous that at one point, Blagojevich threatened legal action against lawmakers for holding a special session at the wrong time of day, leading Chicago Democrat Joe Lyons to call Blagojevich "a madman" and "insane".
The attorney general scolded the governor for not helping people struggling to pay electricity bills. The House speaker accused the governor of unconstitutional actions, and was in turn accused of betraying fellow Democrats.
"It's embarrassing. It's not the way people envision their leaders acting," Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias said after a Democratic rally at the State Fair. "I think the public is getting sick and tired of this."
But Blagojevich said he doesn't owe the public an apology as he pushes to expand government health programs.
His latest tactic is a threat to increase health spending by $500 million without legislative permission. Lawmakers sent him a budget without the new health programs he wants, but Blagojevich says he can spend the money anyway.
Indeed he is, and lost in the midst of all this is letter-writing Mount Carroll resident Gerald Bork, a Blagojevich fan who is perplexed by the public disgust, aware that Blagojevich ran and was elected as a reformer, but apparently unaware that it was a sham, that he is just as corrupt as his predecessor, and that he only got reelected because his opponent was no better of a candidate than he is:
Almost constantly, I am hearing nothing but criticism of Governor Blagojevich. Why?Well, Mr. Bork, in the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth...
