Free Will Classic

2:48 am, 10/26/03

This State Needs an Enema!
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is looking for a few good thugs.

Michael Fenger, director of the Illinois Department of Labor for just nine months, resigned Monday. The longtime Rockford labor leader, who earned $105,400 as labor director, aroused ferocious debate when Gov. Rod Blagojevich appointed him in January because of his conviction for slashing tires. Fenger claimed he was innocent in the incident involving a nonunion truck during a 1997 rally in Sterling. He said he pleaded guilty to avoid a costly and lengthy trial and was fined $1,500 and sentenced to a year's court supervision.

Yeah, he was just a victim of the system. That is, the video surveillance system the police were using when he was caught on tape committing the crime.

The National Legal and Policy Center's Organized Labor Accountability Project reported in an April 28, 2003 "Union Corruption Update" that the Illinois Senate Democrats "rammed" through Fenger's confirmation with no debate. There was no discussion in the confirmation hearings about Fengers' guilty plea to plunging an awl into four tires of a Ford pickup truck owned by a nonunion firm during a 1997 protest rally outside a Sterling, Illinois, Wal-Mart construction site. Not only was Fengers' activity witnessed by police, it was videotaped, as well. But according to the National Right to Work Committee, Blagojevich's spokesman Billy Weinberg admitted to them that the governor nor anyone on his staff asked to review the Sterling police department's video evidence. During the Senate confirmation hearing, only through asking thinly-disguised procedural questions was State Senator Peter Roskam (R-Wheaton) able to enter into the record three times references to Fenger's "criminal background."

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn has further decided that Illinois' rich are too successful, and they must be punished. Specifically, their income taxes must be doubled.

Quinn's boss and fellow Democrat, Gov. Rod Blagojevich, opposes the idea, his office said Tuesday. But skeptical Republicans are alleging that the administration isn't opposed enough and may be using its colorful lieutenant governor to carefully float the idea to the public.

Really, the point may be moot, since when Blago is done driving industry out of the state, there will be no rich people left to tax.

As an example of his systematic eradication of our economy, he has now jacked up the registration fees on Illinois trucking companies by some 36%. 180,000 bills were sent out the week before last, with a due date of November 1st. "Surprise!" In response, some companies are moving to Indiana, where, like every neighboring state, truck registration fees are about half those in Illinois.

Blago's chief fundraiser has creepy ties to the casinos.

Gov. Blagojevich's top adviser on gambling policy wagered hundreds of thousands of dollars at Illinois casinos run by people he later dealt with on the governor's behalf. Christopher G. Kelly's other interests include raising and donating money for Blagojevich's campaign efforts, and doing the same for a Chicago alderman whose brother, a city employee, helps determine how much Kelly's roofing company and affiliated firms earn at O'Hare Airport.

Blagojevich calls Kelly, 45, 'a friend who I trust . . . a very smart, very effective person.'

When your *state* has something that people are calling a "shadow government", you've got problems. The proof is in the frightening reality that Blago has begun an extensive process of firing state management employees such as prison wardens and county officials, and replacing them with inexperienced, but fiercely loyal Democratic Party shills. It's quite an empire he's building, radiating from Chicago, with the minority of Chicago Democrats lording their power over us lesser barbarians outside of "The City". In fact, some capital buildings have nearly been abandoned.

"You could shoot a cannon through the hall," [Senate Minority Leader] Watson said from his office in the Statehouse in Springfield. "This is the heartbeat of what goes on in this state. It is a concern. This is the capital. This is where state government should be governed from." Since taking office in January, Blagojevich has set up camp in the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago, saying he prefers to stay in his hometown to allow his daughter to remain in her current grade school. That has meant most of the governor's staff and top agency directors also are based in Chicago. Watson said the arrangement has resulted in a "mass exodus" from Springfield. "I just think the capital was designated as Springfield because it is centrally located and has access to the people of this state. I think that's where government and the operations of state government should take place," Watson said. Watson, the highest ranking state official who is not from Chicago, said his comments are not "anti-Chicago."

Yeah, I mean, what a crazy idea, that the state should be run from it's capital. You can't imagine the screeching we'd hear if a Republican tried to govern from, say, Carbondale, "because I don't want my daughter to change schools". However, as always, Blago says we shouldn't worry, because hey, they're not spending more on travel:

Becky Carroll, a spokeswoman for the governor's budget office, said there has not been a drastic spike in the amount of money the Blagojevich administration is spending on travel. She said the governor's office has actually spent less on travel in the first six months of its four-year term than did Blagojevich's predecessors.

Which, really, just means that they're spending more time in Chicago than in Springfield, and in fact, more time in Chicago than their Springfield-based predecessors spent in Springfield, which is absolutely terrifying.

Blagojevich, who may also worship the devil, has now begun considering the use of slave labor to fill in the gaps in his economic strategy, by holding high school students hostage, indenturing them into community service at risk of not being allowed to graduate.

"To me the term 'community service' already has a negative connotation, because 'community service' is often associated with people who are serving their probation," said Davis. "Our kids in small towns are involved in so many activities in school, after school and many have jobs. When will they work in the time to do this?"

Blagojevich, who may have a swastika tattooed on his forehead, demands exceeding community spirit and generosity from the youth of Illinois, whether they like it or not, which is interesting, since he gave less money to charity last year than I did, but makes over 10 times as much.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his wife, Patti, had an adjusted gross income of $302,560 in 2002, and gave $455 to charity, their joint federal tax return shows. Included in the charitable giving was $155 in cash and $300 in non-cash contributions, the return shows.

This is approximately the same amount I spend at high school bake sales each year. However, according to Blago's spokescreature, this is all a deception!

"It really doesn't reflect the sum of their contributions," Ottenhoff said. "There are a number of organizations that they've given cash donations to that they don't claim. ... The contribution is more significant to them than the exemption." Specifically, while traveling on the campaign trail last year, Ottenhoff said, "they gave several cash donations to churches and organizations that they visited throughout the state, and did not claim exemptions for those." In addition, Ottenhoff also said that Patti Blagojevich also donates time to organizations, including, for example, her daughter Amy's school.

Their humanitarianism melts my heart. She volunteers at her daughter's school, while her husband shuts down perfectly good orphanages.

Rod is like a bumbling, socialistic Prince of Darkness. Here is a man who has openly praised convicted vote fraudsters for their "help" in his campaigns in previous inauguration addresses. I ought to move. Somewhere with concealed carry.