More Money Than Jesus

12:53 am, 8/4/04

More Money Than Jesus
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (D-Daley) is just rackin' up his mobster-money left and right.

Even though he won't face an opponent until 2006, Gov. Blagojevich continued to raise campaign money at a record pace the first six months of this year.

Blagojevich raked in more than $4.9 million in cash and more than $121,000 in donations of flights, food and supplies for fund-raising events, state records show. The largest single cash donation - $100,000 - came from the Democratic Governors' Association in Washington, D.C., which raises money for Democratic gubernatorial candidates across the country.

Monday marked the deadline for Blagojevich and other Illinois politicians to disclose how much they raised and spent between Jan. 1 and June 30. All told, the governor ended the reporting period with $10.2 million in his war chest -- the largest amount by far of any state constitutional officeholder.

Most of the money raised so far this year came from a June 17 fund-raiser the governor hosted at the Field Museum, said Kelly Glynn, finance director for Friends of Blagojevich. The governor also went to California for a brief fund-raising swing in January.

You may remember this event, which the Governor famously said was neccessary because "We've been changing so many things here in Illinois, we're making so many different interests unhappy, that I have to do fund raising now in places like California." Later, he added that raising a lot of money "...gives you more independence; gives you more strength... [Thucydides] said that power is in question only among equals. The weak will do the bidding of the strong while the strong will forever exact their wills," arguing that his financial independance (presumably from the people of Illinois) makes it possible for him to "do your own thing".

This creepy theme of iron-fisted autocracy was reiterated by his spokesman.

"Fund-raising is a part of the political process that allows the governor to maintain his independence," Glynn said. "The governor doesn't like to do fund-raising, so we do one major event."

One big event, and all the Chicago gangsters, street thugs, and union bosses are invited. The good-ole-boys network of favored industrial players is on hand to help, too.

Governor Rod Blagojevich (blah-GOY'-uh-vitch) is getting help from political insiders and state contractors in his drive to raise campaign money.

They are paying for him to travel, providing hotels and meals -- even paying for cigars to give away at campaign fund-raisers.

The Blagojevich administration says there is nothing wrong with accepting help from companies doing business with the state. They say it does not influence which companies win state contracts and which don't.

Putting aside how sad it is that our governor's name requires a pronounciation guide, if you've ever tried to do business with a university, you know that that is complete and total bullshit.

But the practice bothers Cindi Canary of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. She says it creates the impression that government contracts are for sale.

It looks that way because they are.