Go Directly To Jail
Dan Curry, over at his brand new blog, can't understand why some people wanted to go easy on George Ryan:

As someone who has been in government and watched things from the inside, I say all three are mostly wrong.

What Kristen is missing is that a public official is held to a higher standard and if they don't understand that, they better not get into public service. When a leader of a public office is confronted with corruption in his or her office, they have two choices: stamp it out or hide it. Every public office I've worked in has had such crossroads moments, and every time, the leader stamped it out. The signal was sent.

George Ryan sent the opposite signal and instead of dying, corruption flourished.

Jim Edgar fired Bob Hickman when he screwed up. George Ryan covered up when it happened on his watch.

One of the biggest red flags to the news media about Rod Blagojevich should have been his inaction regarding Tony Rezko and Chris Kelly. Both are clearly in the sights of the federal prosecutors and their names show up in story after story about corruption in the Blagojevich administration. Yet Rod says he stands by them 100 percent. Signal sent. Corruption is tolerated.

Rhodes is wrong about George and the moratorium. Anyone who was watching that issue closely knows that George's actions were at least 95 percent motivated by his own political survival. The moratorium was announced on a weekend sandwiched in between the announcement that George's inspector general was going to be indicted and the indictment itself. Both were blockbuster stories that clearly marked the tipping point of his political viability. Every TV station played it as "wag the dog." That's what it was.

His insincerity on the issue became evident when he didn't do the hard work to look at the Death Row cases one-by-one and just commuted them all.

The system needed reforms and was getting reforms. George Ryan was not hell-bent on reform - he was desperate to save his political skin so he could steal some more. Pandering to the Chicago Tribune and national media was his last card to play.

We used to joke that the reason Ryan was closing downstate prisons was so there'd be nowhere to put him. He belongs in a cell, and Blagojevich and his cronies should go in right after. No quarter should be offered in sweeping out state government. Even if you rescue a helpless child from a burning building, you are not therefore entitled to knock over a liquor store.

Dan also wonders when Lt. Governor Pat Quinn is finally going to blow a circuit over the choice between his hatred for Blagojevich and his loyalty to the Democrats.

Oh No, Blagzilla
Economy failing? Everybody getting poor? Can't figure out why socialist programs aren't working? Artificially encourage houses to be built where they shouldn't be!

"We have a genuine housing crisis in the state of Illinois," said state Sen. Iris Martinez (D-Chicago), who sponsored both bills. "You have people coming out of college, or firemen or policemen graduating from the academy, and nurses and teachers, and these people cannot afford to live in many of their neighborhoods."

The Business Location Efficiency Act, known among supporters as the "Location Matters" bill, offers tax incentives to encourage developers to consider this issue when creating new projects.

The bill would allow the state Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to award tax credits to companies whose economic development projects are located in areas close to affordable housing or mass transit. Projects that plan to improve affordable housing options or transportation access, or are located in areas with a labor surplus, also are eligible for the credits.

Now, maybe I'm missing something here, but if a project is built in a neighborhood of cheap houses that will make more people want to live there to work in this project, that will drive up housing costs, thus defeating the purpose. On the other hand, if the cost of doing business is so high that the prices for needed products vastly exceed the opportunity to earn money to pay them, clearly what we need is another expensive, meddling bureaucracy to further strain the system:

The General Assembly also passed the Comprehensive Housing Planning Act, which improves affordable housing options in Illinois. The law came out of a housing policy task force created by Blagojevich in 2003.

"For two years, the task force has been gathering information to see how we can assist low-income people, people with disabilities and senior citizens," Martinez said. "This codifies [the plan] into law, so in the future, all the work that has been done cannot be dismantled when the executive order expires."

I thought that people couldn't afford to live in their own neighborhoods and are commuting halfway across the state? That we've got a crisis on our hands? Doesn't that mean that they should want to dismantle the work they've done, since it either failed or even caused the problem in the first place?

Meanwhile, Governor Helicopter Mom is back at school, watching out for our children's health:

Gov. Rod Blagojevich will continue pushing for a junk food ban in Illinois schools despite a legislative panel's vote against it Tuesday.

Blagojevich wants to prohibit the sale of soda, chips and candy in vending machines during school hours in elementary and middle schools.

The State Board of Education voted last month to recommend the plan, but a bipartisan legislative panel blocked it on a 10-1 vote.

Lawmakers who sit on the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules said they support junk food restrictions, but the proposal needs work. Blagojevich did not understand the lawmakers' decision.

"How could they possibly think that we should have junk food in schools?" Blagojevich said. "We are talking about making sure children learn the right lesson in schools, and part of learning isn't just learning how to read and write. Part of it is also learning healthy habits."

"Every school district in Illinois has a local board that was elected to make these kinds of decisions," said Rutherford, who sits on the committee. "There are more important issues for the Illinois Board of Education to be focusing on than whether or not a kid should be eating a candy bar."

In fact, Blagojevich ought to be aware that Illinois graduates are lucky if they're learning to read and write, perhaps because they're so distracted by the state's preoccupations with violent videogames, colorful condoms, diversity programs, drug education, and junk food.

Look, man, just pay the bills.

Illinois is nearly $1.5 billion behind on payments to doctors, pharmacies, hospitals and other medical providers, causing experts to wonder how the state can launch a major new insurance program for children when it can't even pay current bills.

In recent weeks, doctors have begun complaining loudly about Medicaid payments that are past due, in many cases, by as many as four months. As a result, some physicians are limiting the number of poor patients they'll see.

They and other medical providers argue that Illinois is balancing its budget on their backs, using unpaid bills as short-term loans to help keep the state financially afloat.

"If you're not paying your bills, it's easy to make it look like your books are balanced," said Todd Evers, who owns four Illinois pharmacies and is waiting for more than $500,000 in Medicaid payments.

Actually, I was wondering this months before the "experts" cited by the Chicago Tribune, way back in early October. You can't run a government on happy thoughts.

Together, They Will Destroy Superman
Lex Luthor, er, I mean, Tony Rezko's pariah project has a new patron.

A firm founded by shopping mall mogul [and convicted felon] Edward J. DeBartolo Jr. is planning a $750-million retail and housing project on part of an expansive South Loop site that Chicago developer Antoin S. "Tony" Rezko gave up last year.

Tampa, Fla.-based DeBartolo Development LLC has signed a contract to buy 17 acres at Roosevelt Road and Clark Street, says DeBartolo President Ed Kobel. The firm also is talking with Chicago-based shopping mall owner General Growth Properties Inc. about forming a joint venture to develop the property, he says. General Growth declines to comment.

"We really think this is one of the best retail sites in America," Mr. Kobel says.

So did Mr. Rezko, head of a partnership that wanted to develop the entire 62-acre tract. Those plans fizzled last year after Mr. Rezko, an adviser and fund-raiser for Gov. Rod Blagojevich, became embroiled in a minority contracting scandal, imperiling the development's chances of getting as much as $140 million in city tax subsidies.

Specifically, Rezko was putting up "shill minorities" to bilk Chicago taxpayers out of minority enterprise subsidies through his Panda Express chinese food restaurants by pretending that his projects were actually run by the son of Nation of Islam founder Elijah Muhammed. Hilariously, some of the people involved actually claimed that they had been instructed by City officials on how to best cheat the system, scratching out names on forms and whatnought.

Last fall Mr. Rezko's partnership sold the property for $130.5 million to a company led by Iraqi-born British billionaire Nadhmi Auchi.

Mr. Auchi, whose firm would still control the remaining 45 acres of the site, has been a source of controversy himself for a 2003 corruption conviction in France and alleged ties to the former Iraqi government.

Nadhmi "Lord of War" Auchi was seemingly a direct accomplice of Hussein's during his rise to power, stood trial in 1959 for plotting the assassination of Iraqi Prime Minister Abdul Karim Qassim, and not only later sold warships to the Ba'athist Iraqi government through a Panamanian front, but was one of the largest stakeholders in BNP Paribas, one of the French banks stealing from the Oil-for-Food program. Auchi was apparently a prime mover in the establishment of Saddam's hidden Swiss funds, including what was euphemistically known as the "Satan" account, did the same for Gadaffi, and was inevstigated in the 1980's for his bribery schemes with the leaders of ludicrously corrupt post-war Italy. His influence may even reach into MI6, and despite his brother being whacked by Saddam's goons, his shady deals with the regime continued unabated: He was given a 15 month suspended sentence for taking kickbacks from TotaFinaElf, the Saddam-snuggling French oil company of which former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien's son-in-law had become head, and was investigated by American authorities for bribery in relation to an Iraqi mobile phone contract given to an Egyptian company in which he was a shareholder. Rezko and Auchi have been fast friends ever since they were introduced in London, presumably by people who travel in the same circles, such as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

DeBartolo is buying the parcel from Mr. Auchi's firm. Citing a confidentiality agreement, Mr. Kobel declines to say when the acquisition is scheduled to close or how much the firm has agreed to pay.

Mr. DeBartolo has had his own scrape with the law. In 1998, he pleaded guilty to a felony charge for failing to report a casino-license extortion plot orchestrated by former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards, who went to prison. Mr. DeBartolo testified that he paid Mr. Edwards $400,000 to get a license.

DeBartolo, former owner of the San Francisco 49ers, reportedly paid the bribe with an actual briefcase full of cash. DeBartolo was also involved in the incident where a New York pizza chain (indeed, the official pizza chain of the New York Yankees) was unexpectedly given contracts for locations at Illinois tollway islands, despite it being, er, Illinois, not New York. Panda Express was there, too:

The Subway sandwich shops and Panda Express Asian restaurants now being installed in the tollway's seven revamped rest stops are controlled by firms with strong ties to the food-service empire of Antoin "Tony" Rezko, a Blagojevich confidant who has seeded the governor's cabinet with former business underlings.

Christopher G. Kelly, Blagojevich's chief fundraiser, who also recommended the tollway's executive director for his job, is an investor in at least one Rezko-controlled food firm, a spokesman said.

The $83 million oases overhaul is being overseen by Los Angeles-based developer Wilton Partners, whose owner delivered a $50,000 personal check to the Blagojevich campaign just weeks after the governor announced with great fanfare the launch of the work.

What's more, food-service permits filed in Boone and Lake Counties, where two of the oases are, identify the manager of the Subway shops as Rezko's nephew, Rimon Rezko. The nephew lives in Oak Lawn in a home sold to him by Tony Rezko, property records show.

In addition to his Rezko ties, Chaib also has donated $10,000 to the Blagojevich political fund run by Kelly. The governor also appointed Chaib's wife, Lori, to a $15,000-a-year, part-time position on an obscure state board dealing with employment issues.

Chris Kelly, who is generally described as a "roofing contractor" (best said while doing a Godfather impersonation), has also been a helpful fundraiser for for a Chicago alderman whose brother determines how much he gets paid for roofing work at O'Hare Airport. His sister was given a cushy do-nothing job as head of the Bureau of Real Estate Professions five days after being issued a real estate license, and he threatened to sue the Governor's father-in-law for daring to suggest that he and the Governor might be criminals.

They are!

Illinois GOP Primary Enters "Hilarious Round"
Oh man.

A candidate for the GOP nomination for governor proposed a lopsided game of chance to determine who will face the front-runner in Tuesday's primary, asking two of his opponents to draw straws with him to decide who will stay in the race.

Jim Oberweis, an investment manager and dairy owner, ran the idea by state Sen. Bill Brady and businessman Ron Gidwitz on Thursday. He proposed giving himself 10 chances - but just one for each of his opponents - to draw the winning straw.

Oberweis argued that Brady and Gidwitz have no chance of winning the primary, and that he should therefore get 10 times as many chances to draw the winning straw.

Brady and Gidwitz quickly dismissed the idea.

"How could you take that seriously?" Brady asked. A spokeswoman for Gidwitz added: "I guess we've entered the silly phase of the campaign."

Topinka [said]: "Oberweis has done some really goofy things but this is just over the top."

I think I'm almost ready to officially endorse "none of the above". Really, I can see Oberweis's reasoning, sort of, but what was he thinking? Why not include Topinka and give her 100 straws, or just resolve it all through trial by combat?

Heavy Drug Use Noted At Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune has endorsed Ron Gidwitz in the gubernatorial primary, forcing Robert Engler to ask: Do the writers at the Chicago Tribune read their own newspaper?

At the very least, the Tribune endorsement may make some downstate Republicans consider just how reform can happen in Illinois government when candidates align themselves with the Chicago establishment. Ron Gidwitz's association with the Chicago Democrats and the Clan of Bridgeport does not cast him as a reformer. His appointment to be chairman of the board at the City Colleges of Chicago was made by Mayor Daley. This close association with Chicago's mayor is hardly the kind of reform Illinois needs. Many in the city believe that Gidwitz is in fact Daley's stealth candidate for governor.

After his time at the City Colleges of Chicago, Ron Gidwitz was appointed to head up the Illinois State Board of Education. Even though his campaign literature makes much of his involvement with education, Illinois Republican voters have to ask themselves if they really want a man who headed the state Board of Education at the head of their state government. Many Illinois Republican voters would like to see the state's Board of Education abolished, instead of having the man who used to head it up voted in as governor.

Perhaps the best reason Ron Gidwitz should not be governor is his record as Chairman of the Board at the City Colleges of Chicago. Before the Tribune endorsed Gidwitz they should have taken a closer look at his involvement with this failed educational institution. If the Tribune had taken that closer look, then they might have found that when Gidwitz left the City Colleges of Chicago it was an educational disaster and that the colleges continue to be an educational disaster, today. A foolish college administration and a greedy faculty union have ruined the City Colleges while Ron Gidwitz did little to stop it.

It was a rainy, Chicago afternoon on November 14, 1972, when the Kennedy-King campus of the City Colleges of Chicago was dedicated. At the dedication, Harold Grumhaus, then chairman and publisher of The Chicago Tribune, announced the gift of more than 3,800 books to the college library. "I want to thank you for a magnificent job in building this college...," Grumhaus said. Did anyone at the Tribune think to ask where are those books, today?

Today, there are plans to tear down Kennedy-King College and build a new one at taxpayer expense. College officials say they favor building a new facility rather than renovating the old structure, which has been plagued by massive water leaks from a failing roof. "If it costs $50 to renovate it, it would be too much," said Ralph Moore, a City Colleges board member. "That building has been a disaster from the beginning," Moore added, forgetting that at the beginning it was highly praised by the chairman and publisher of The Chicago Tribune....We have to wonder if the editorial writers at the Tribune remember Harold Grumhaus or read their own back issues before they decide to endorse a candidate for governor.

The editorial backs Topinka. Personally, I back None Of The Above. For now, anyway.

The Commission For The Advancement of Hate Crimes
Just in case coming down on Catholic pharmacists and telling them to find new careers if they didn't like it a whole twelve hours after the Pope died wasn't insensitive enough, Blago's out for the Jews:

Two Jewish members of the state's hate crimes commission resigned Thursday rather than serve with a Nation of Islam official appointed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration.

"Having a top member of an organization that continues to spew out hate on a regular basis made it impossible for us to continue to serve," said Lonnie Nasatir, who represents the Anti-Defamation League on the commission.

Richard Hirschhaut, director of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, resigned later.

On Wednesday, Blagojevich expressed support for Claudette Marie Muhammad, director of community outreach for the Nation of Islam, led by the Rev. Louis Farrakhan. But Blagojevich said he did not know he had appointed Muhammad until learning about it from news reports, and wished his staff had discussed it with him.

That's a healthy dose of nuance away from what spokeswoman Cheryl Jackson said. She said "the administration was aware of her ties to Farrakhan when she was chosen". Now we find that "the administration" was aware, but the Governor was not? If he doesn't have time to actually review "his" appointments, that might be a tipoff that Illinois has too many do-nothing bureaucracies, since he apparently requires a separate bureacracy to make decisions about them on his behalf. Asking the Governor to pop the name into Google would be far too much, of course, for a man who can't program his VCR, but I'm assuming that with his outstanding qualifications for the office, including opposable thumbs and basic literacy, he could request a resume on his appointments, since that power is vested in him personally and so on.

(Bonus points: I was years ahead of the Daily Show, asking Blagojevich if he was 'the Gay Governor' in the above-linked fisking long before they did. Then again, I've written a novel here. There's not a lot of original work left to do.)

Nasatir and Muhammad joined the commission in August. It was created in 1999 to foster education and help implement anti-discrimination laws.

Muhammad recently invited commission members to attend a Farrakhan speech in which he accused "Hollywood Jews" of "promoting lesbianism, homosexuality" and other "filth."

Blagojevich, a Democrat, said Farrakhan's comments are no reason to dismiss Muhammad as long as she believes in the panel's goals.

Let's see: Blagojevich supports Muhammad as long as she believes in the commission's goals.

The commission's goals are to fight racial, religious and, presumably, sexual orientation based hatred.

Muhammad felt that the best way to do this was by inviting the commission to a pep rally for racial, religious and sexual orientation based hatred, hosted by a man who has described white people as "potential humans".

As Farrakhan's "chief of protocol", how can the Governor even talk with a straight face about the possibility that Muhammad somehow has views that diverge significantly from Farrakhan's?

There's been some talk that Muhammad might have to renounce her ties to Farrakhan to keep her position on the commission, but personally I think she'd be better off renouncing her ties to Blagojevich. Those are far more embarassing.

Getting Minorities Involved
Provided that that minority is "crazy Jew-haters":

Standing up for what he says and believes, a very candid Louis Farrakhan preaches a message some may interpret as one of hate.

The Nation of Islam leader may have unknowingly addressed the source of a week-long controversy during his annual Saviors' Day speech.

Illinois gubernatorial candidate Ron Gidwitz, the Anti-Defamation League and at least one state lawmaker are upset that Gov. Rod Blagojevich appointed Farrakhan's director of protocol, Claudette Marie Johnson, to the state's discrimination and hate crimes commission.

The backlash came to a head when Johnson invited commission members to this speech, often filled, critics say, with inflammatory, anti-Semitic comments.

"You are a weak nation now and your country has been taken from you by the synagogue of Satan. They own Congress. That's why the Congress ain't right," Farrakhan said.

I wonder what the alternate reality Blagojevich lives in is really like. The only place a leading member of Nation of Islam has on a commission against hate crimes and discrimination is in providing an example of what the commission should be against.

The Gay Governor
Someone is out of the loop.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich wasn't in on the joke. Blagojevich says he didn't realize "The Daily Show" was a comedy spoof of the news when he sat down for an interview that ended up poking fun at the sometimes-puzzled Democratic governor.

"It was going to be an interview on contraceptives ... that's all I knew about it," Blagojevich laughingly told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in a story for Thursday's editions. "I had no idea I was going to be asked if I was 'the gay governor.'"

Interviewer Jason Jones pretended to stumble over Blagojevich's name before calling him "Governor Smith." He urged Blagojevich to explain the contraception issue by playing the role of "a hot 17-year-old" and later asked if he was "the gay governor."

At one point in the interview, a startled Blagojevich looked to someone off camera and said, "Is he teasing me, or is that legit?"

The segment, which aired two weeks ago, also featured Illinois Republican Rep. Ron Stephens, a pharmacist who opposes the governor's rule. Stephens has said he knew the show was a comedy.

"I thought the governor was hip enough that he would have known that, too," Stephens said.

A dubloon for the reader who can get me a video clip.

Update: Reader Diane notes that the video is available here, under "Pill of Rights". Wrong time to bring up Arnold's "Pumping Iron". Blago's reactions are great stuff. "Your listeners"? He thought he was on the radio?

Job Creation Numbers Less Concrete, More Jello-Like In Consistency
The Illinois Auditor General is at it again, this time noticing that despite Governor Blagojevich's claims, the case that Illinois "leads" 44 other states in job creation may be somewhat poorly constructed.

In our audit work we found issues in the following areas:

DCEO reports projected jobs to be created or retained instead of the actual jobs created or retained. In addition, DCEO's computer systems for performance measures did not track projected jobs vs. actual jobs.

DCEO altered its performance measurement technology to include employees that received training in its reported job creation and retention numbers.

DCEO had difficulty in providing support for jobs created and retained that were reported. For 8 of 10 jobs performance measures in our sample, documentation did not agree with the amount reported.

Most of DCEO's other reported performance measures we reviewed did not agree with underlying documentation: 73 percent (57 of 78) of the figures we tested did not agree.

Illinois' unemployment rate remains at 5.5%, roughly 16% higher than the national average of 4.7% and one of the ten worst in America. Of course, with the way the state does math, the real numbers could be downright Mississippian.

Golden Girl
Bruno Behrend asks the Illinois GOP: WHY ARE YOU PROTECTING HER?

Why is Andy McKenna continuing to shill for Topinka? I could care less if Gidwitz' ad stretches the facts & figures. He certainly has the general idea - Topinka is a has-been hack who is supported by the establishment only because she will continue to support the status quo.

Ron Gidwitz is doing us all a favor by raising her negatives. I hope he runs more of these ads.

Read the press release below, and follow up by calling party headquarters. Tell them to toss Topinka off the bus. She's poison for the party.

I don't think you can poison a bloated corpse.

Just Give Him Your Wallet
In his State of Bizarre-o World address, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich blamed everything in the world on the federal government. Yet while the federal government is shrinking the deficit, Blago continues to just plain make up numbers.

In a speech that often sounded more political than financial, Gov. Rod Blagojevich asked lawmakers Wednesday to increase state spending by nearly $1 billion as he seeks to launch a wide array of election-year education, health and public safety programs.

Blagojevich proposed a major expansion of preschool programs, a new tax credit to help families pay for college and a five-year plan to support stem-cell research.

He also called for ending $198 million worth of tax breaks for business, taking $144 million out of special-purpose funds and increasing cigar taxes by $10 million.

"We are all in the business of choosing," he said in a 37-minute address. "What you say 'yes' and 'no' to defines who you are, what you stand for, what values you believe in and whose side you're on. So I'm asking you, say 'yes' to our kids."

Oh my God. Just reading this makes me want to rub hot chili peppers into my eyeballs for the sense of relief it would bring.

Republicans at times reacted to his proposals with jeers and laughter - particularly when he declared the state's pension systems in stronger shape than ever. This year's budget and Blagojevich's proposal for the next one depend on sharply reducing contributions to the troubled pensions.

Blagojevich has never made an appropriate joke in his life, like the time he jokingly threatened to beat a reporter with a shovel.

"I think it was Enron math," Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson, R-Greenville, said afterward. "How can he say that? How can he be so outrageous?"

Blagojevich reminded his audience that he inherited a financial mess when he took office. He said he avoided the temptation to raise taxes or slash vital services, instead choosing to cut the number of state employees and slow the growth in many government programs.

Yet, somewhere, he found $20 million to pay the state's new army of bricklayers, and more for his tax-subsidized flights to Springfield because he considers himself too good to live in the seat of government, and more for... Oh, why do I even try.

At the same time, he said, the state put new money into key areas.

"We dug ourselves out of the worst fiscal crisis in our state's history. We did it while investing more in education. We did it while giving more people health care. And we did it without raising the income tax or the sales tax," he said.

I'm not sure if the Governor is aware of this, but simply ignoring your bills does not constitute "digging yourself out of a financial crisis". If I didn't pay any of my bills for a year, my checking account would look pretty good at the end, too, right up to the point when the Visa and Mastercard people have it frozen.

Blagojevich would not answer questions after the speech.

I wouldn't either. In fact, I'd have the Teamsters stuff a couple reporters in the trunk of the limo until their stories ran, as insurance.

But some of the ideas he trumpeted involve little money or don't really take effect until future years.

The first new proposal in the speech, for instance, was an initiative to streamline government administrative services. But that would be put in place over five years and have no impact on staffing levels in the upcoming budget.

Uh, isn't that what the Department of Central Mangement Services was for? You know, the organization meant to streamline government services to ended up funding parties for the awarding of their own contracts, then hired an expensive consultant to come in and find out why they couldn't stop spending money?

Blagojevich also discussed $10 million in grants to help schools reduce class-size but didn't point out that it is just a one-year program.

Blagojevich's budget calls for state government to spend $55.3 billion in fiscal 2007, an increase of $950 million, or 1.7 percent.

Republicans mockingly cheered the claim that the deficit has been eliminated....Reacting to criticism over his handling of pensions, Blagojevich said he has come up with several ideas to provide more money. One is to give the pensions any proceeds from the eventual sale of an unused casino license. Another is to come up with more ideas to provide money.

One of his ideas to provide more money is to come up with more ideas to provide money. Do not adjust your monitor: You have entered the "Blagojevich Zone".

Why can't he sell Official State of Illinois product endorsements, such as an official state credit card and an official state soft drink? Oh, he already tried that, and nobody wanted to be endorsed by Blagojevich.

After years of reducing the number of state employees, Blagojevich proposes to hire about 1,100, bringing the total to 58,490.

Again, the only way he can create jobs is by hiring people directly. The State of Illinois is one giant government jobs program.

Blagojevich added a new twist to his fourth budget address. A screen behind him displayed charts and photos - of everything from doughnuts to cute children - as he spoke.

"It's the best campaign speech I've heard in a long time," said Rep. Bill Black, R-Danville. "His delivery was phenomenal. The PowerPoint added to the impact."

I've seen Blagojevich speak. The PowerPoint was the best part. Colleagues respond:

"These are all wonderful things, but at some point we have to pay for these things," said GOP Gubernatorial Primary Candidate Judy Baar Topinka.

"He is literally bankrupting the state. And to kid about the fact that he's actually funding the pensions. I mean, the people are going to see through it," said GOP Gubernatorial Primary Candidate and state legislator Bill Brady.

"While there's no question it's the best speech he's ever given, I think the fact is the governor's going to be a tough guy to beat come this November," said Sen. John Cullerton. "Because of the fact when you can tell the Republicans right to their face that you’ve never raised taxes, it takes a lot of fight out of their belly."

Democratic primary challenger Edwin Eisendrath was also on hand for the speech.

"He gives a very good speech, but it's an old message. A lot of parts of his speech are just recycled from old ones, land fill gas tax, canned software tax." Eisendrath said. "All these tax increases are old. The legislature has already turned them down. He keeps trying to raise these taxes and fees."

What his critics call taxes, the governor prefers to describe as closing corporate loopholes.

Illinois may crash and burn, but just before it does, Blagojevich will eject, clutching a shoebox full of crisp $100 bills.

Pretty Wall Needed To Keep Wisconsin Out
Cause and effect, illustrated:

Tollway officials have quietly decided to build miles of expressway walls out of brick rather than concrete, a policy shift that benefits a backer of Gov. Rod Blagojevich and will likely cost commuters an extra $19 million...brick can cost nearly twice as much as the precast concrete walls that have been used for at least a decade.

The change also flies in the face of previous public statements by Blagojevich and tollway Director Jack Hartman, who both said an earlier proposal to require brick sound walls was too expensive to implement.

Much of the additional toll money that will be spent on the brick walls is set to go to members of a union that has endorsed Blagojevich and has donated $20,000 to his campaign. The masonry and bricklayers union represents the workers who will hand-lay the bricks for tollway sound walls and retaining walls.

Blagojevich's office did not return repeated phone calls seeking comment on the issue.

Oh, well, OK then.

So what's the case for doing this? Well, as I've noted before, the only way Governor Blagojevich can find to create jobs in Illinois by hiring people himself.

Tollway officials and supporters of brick sound walls don't argue the extra cost is netting stronger walls or more noise absorption.

In fact, Chuck Ostrander, director of the brick trade group Masonry Advisory Council, said one of the chief benefits to brick walls is the higher cost.

"It helps the local economy," he said, pointing out more union workers are hired to install brick walls than precast ones.

James Allen, president of the Chicago area bricklayers union, agrees, though he says brick can be cheaper than concrete. He did not provide any details to back up that assertion.

"There is more man hours that go into that, so there is a better employment rate," Allen said.

Tollway spokeswoman Kathleen Cantillon said the toll authority made the switch because brick walls look better than precast concrete.

If you follow the link to the original story, there's photos showing how they can be virtually indistinguishable, and there is a reason for that:

However, precast concrete slabs can be made to look exactly like any type of brick, argues John Dick of the Chicago based Pre-cast and Pre-stressed Institute.

Also, Dick noted, the bricks the tollway is using now instead of precast concrete actually are made of concrete. They're concrete blocks made to look like real bricks or slabs of limestone.

The brick walls also will help add variety to the 274-mile system, said Joelle McGinnis, another tollway spokeswoman.

Variety? They're spending $20 million or so to make a highway engineering fashion statement?

The State of the Twilight Zone
Governor Blagojevich has given his State of the State address, and it is comedy gold.

A little more than three years ago, the people of Illinois decided to bring us together to chart a new course. To make Illinois once again the land of opportunity. To shake up the system here in Springfield that accepted mediocrity and failure. To make state government begin again to work for the people, rather than the other way around.

Despite facing one of the most challenging periods in our state's history, Illinois today is now leading the nation in taking steps that help real people, people who work, middle class families, build better lives. We are making real progress - but there is much more to do.

Wow, it's a good thing Illinois abolished mediocrity and failure, as signed into law by Governor Mediocre R. Failure himself. Yesterday, I took steps towards becoming an incredibly wealthy jetsetter surrounded by Italian lingerie models, but I'm still a single guy in a one bedroom apartment. Likewise, Illinois is allegedly leading the nation and making progress in "taking steps", but not in actually achieving, what with Illinois household incomes collapsing, downstate manufacturers announcing layoffs as they flee the state, etc. "We're still trying!" isn't much of a boast after three years of not mere failure, but actual tangible harm and disgrace. In fact, the only way that the Governor can figure out to put middle class families to work and improve their lives is to hire them himself:

Our jobs bill means creating more than 85,000 jobs through mass transit construction, more than 7,000 jobs through school construction, and more than 140,000 jobs through road construction....

We can build roads all around our state: roads like Route 51 in Decatur, widen I-55 outside of Chicago, widen Route 13 from Marion to Carterville, improve Route 2 in Rockford, Route 5 in Moline, build the Technology Boulevard in Peoria, start work on the Mississippi River bridge, and realize the dream of making Route 336 a gateway from Chicago all the way to Kansas City.

Projects like these help companies reduce the cost of moving products to market, help people get to and from work, and by the way, when we're out there pitching Illinois to businesses, selling them on our infrastructure has proven to be one of the best arguments we can make.

And there's another reason to pass this bill. If we don't, we risk losing $3 billion in federal transportation funds to other states....

These are things that need to be done. So we should do them. And if we do them, we will give people all around Illinois the opportunity to go to work. 230,000 jobs all across Illinois. Jobs in every part of Illinois. Jobs in your district. Not a handful of jobs, a lot of jobs.

And when I say jobs, these are good jobs. Laborers laying asphalt for the expansion of Route 2. Ironworkers fabricating the support beams for the new Mississippi River Bridge. And do you know what these jobs pay? They can pay anywhere from $40,000 all the way to $120,000 a year.

"We can build roads all around our state." It'll be fun! The Governor even goes on to say "please". Desperation isn't usually listed among desirable leadership qualities, and while Blagojevich wants to build roads, they'll be roads to nowhere if he doesn't address the underlying marketplace burdens that are crushing the business environment in Illinois.

Of course, it's odd that Illinois is supposed to be in an emergency rush to make their federal match, since in theory, there's supposedly plenty of money: The Governor has long been praising himself for all the steps he took to streamline government, on the advice of the hugely expensive bureaucracy of consultants he hired to tell him how to do it. (Nevermind that other state agencies then determined that these savings did not exist.)

Also unsurprising:

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library is outdrawing the Clinton Presidential Library.

Well, duh. The irony here though is that Blagojevich is sounding like he himself is feeling a little adversarial towards the Union, given that he spends half of his speech attempting to go "Governor Blanco" and divert blame for all known problems in the world, real and imagined, onto the federal government:

And we did all of this despite policies coming out of Washington...When the federal government stalled...When Washington wouldn't raise the minimum wage...When Washington...When Washington...This administration in Washington...That may be acceptable policy in Washington...Washington gave us a program called No Child Left Behind. They told us they wanted better schools, but what we ended up with...But now Washington is making it even harder....Washington has its priorities all mixed up....There is perhaps no starker difference in our values and those of the current administration in Washington...Congress just cut funding for...Washington today can't get it right....Only in Washington...even if Washington won't...This administration in Washington has been equally hostile...they simply do not support women's reproductive rights...And in Washington, there's nothing realistic on the horizon...if we rely on Washington to act...How the federal government can let that happen...Everyone in Washington said...We can't keep waiting for them to act. You and I both know they won't....we have grappled with policies from Washington...Some in Washington, and many of the skeptics here in Illinois, may disagree with our priorities.

I encourage the Governor to secede, by taking a plane, perhaps his last taxpayer-subsidized journey (which, ironically, have been subsidized by funds that were originally earmarked for road construction), to Toronto and never coming back. I'm sure he can get a job in their mayor's office:

No law abiding citizen needs an Uzi or an AK 47 to be safe or to hunt. The federal assault weapon ban expired more than a year ago. Everyone in Washington said they were for extending the ban - even the President himself. And yet they let it lapse - and never looked back.

We can't keep waiting for them to act. You and I both know they won't.

So I say it's time we reinstate the assault weapons ban in Illinois....

Last year, we tried to pass the assault weapon ban and we came close. I called many of you to ask that you vote for the bill. Back then, some of you told me you wanted to, but couldn't because you were afraid of drawing a primary challenge. Well, the filing date for primary challenges has passed, and now it's time to pass this bill.

"Don't do what the people want you to do, do what you know that a rabid liberal is supposed to do!" The meaningless invocation of well known models of weapons (meant to confuse and terrorize people into thinking this has something to do with machine guns) aside, any rational person can reason that the burden is on government to prove that there is a need to intervene in private lives, not on citizens to prove that they need to be allowed to do something. Despite Blagojevich's insane wailing when the ban lapsed in September of 2004, there has been no rampage of violence. In fact, as Blagojevich himself proclaims, crime has continued to drop, a trend that was not in any meaningful way impacted by the original ban, either.

Seriously, I just... Wow.

This Guy Do What He Can Say What Work He's Going To Can Do
The Governor has a new campaign slogan: "I can't talk to you, I'm too busy governing!"

"I'm just not going to get involved in all of that politics. I'm doing my job every single day as governor," Blagojevich said. "So I'm just going to keep doing my job as governor and I'll let those who want to do politics go out and do politics."

"This is a situation that is a little bit different than previous campaigns that I've been involved because I'm the incumbent governor with a lot of work to do and so I'm going to keep doing my job because I think that's what the people expect me to do," he said.

HAH! HAH! There's that self-deprecating sense of humor again, from the guy who sees the government he leads as one giant campaign office.

Blagojevich has conducted more subtle forms of campaigning, such as taxpayer-paid mailings and e-mails to various groups, signs bearing his name on new open-road tolling lanes and a promotion for his All Kids child health-insurance plan inserted into state income-tax forms.

"Candidates say what they're going to do. Governors do and no governor has done more than this guy on issues such as health care, education, on helping working families make ends meet," said Blagojevich strategist Peter Giangreco. "You'd be hard-pressed to find a governor who has done so much in so little time."

For example, Illinois now has a breast cancer lottery ticket.

I wonder if it has his name on it...

So Beloved Is He
Folks, it is totally unnecessary to vandalize Governor Blagojevich's Wikipedia entry, especially on Christmas Eve.

That said, I am a little flattered that this blog is the link under "Criticisms". Maybe I should add a "Corruption" category to the entry with a handy timeline.

The Governor's Goons
Remember this odd comment, defending Governor Blagojevich?

What is shameful, is that because of this poorly written and biased "story" that you have chose to edit and post, the governor's day to day dealings with the public will go largely unreported. I for one want to know what our Governor is up to. Did I need video of that "river race"? Not neccessarily. Do I want to know what he say's regarding stem cell research, immigration, drug benefits, etal.? You bet.

Here's an explanation:

The publisher of the political newsletter Capitol Fax reported Monday that people using computers assigned to Gov. Rod Blagojevich's campaign have been posting anonymous messages bashing and praising other candidates in the governor's race on the Capitol Fax Weblog.

Rich Miller, who runs Capitol Fax and thecapitolfaxblog.com, said he began noticing last week that computers that could be traced to "Blagojevich for Governor" were the source of messages on his Web site's public message pages.

Another series of messages originating from the campaign's computers attacked a Chicago television reporter who has reported on some of the governor's questionable practices.

Doug Scofield, spokesman for the Blagojevich campaign, said the campaign hadn't verified that its computers were used to post on Miller's Web site.

"But if we take the technology (Miller is using) at face value, really about all we can say is that this isn't something that was organized or approved by the campaign and not the type of activity we want anybody associated with the campaign to engage in," Scofield said.

I should hope not: Their spelling is terrible.

Gee, Nobody Saw This Coming
Thank you, Governor Blagojevich, for the huge waste of time:

A federal judge has struck down the state's new law restricting sales of violent video games to minors. The law was supposed to take effect January 1. But the judge called it unconstitutional.

Lawyers for the video game industry had their lawsuit ready to file the day the governor signed the bill in July. Illinois is now the fifth state to enact a law banning the sale of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors. It is also the fifth state to have that law struck down by a federal judge.

Well, duh. Also, following in the Governor's long tradition of ridiculous ideas that look good on paper but which virtually no one will actually utilize:

As part of his "Keep Warm Illinois" campaign, Governor Rod Blagojevich announced that more than 120 warming centers will open December 1st, 2005.

The centers will offer people a place to keep warm if they don't have anywhere else to go or if they don't want to turn up their own heaters.

The Governor said he'll contact more than 1,100 mayors to ask them to help with the warming centers effort.

The Governor is apparently unaware that there are already thousands of "warming centers" open all around the state which are completely climate controlled and open to the public, such as malls, grocery stores, libraries and lobbies of all kinds of various locations. In the summer, people across Illinois have been advised for years to use those locations as "cooling centers" if they don't have adequate air conditioning. Blagojevich apparently envisions a Depression-like horde of people in rags clinging to each other for warmth in high school gymnasiums across the state. The Illinois economy is in the tank, but it isn't that bad.

Mr. Charisma
Literally moments ago I suggested that the Governor should turn the State of Illinois into a hilarious Reality TV show. I had no idea that he was way ahead of me.

Many politicians hope that when they appear in public, a TV camera will be on hand for the publicity. Gov. Rod Blagojevich often doesn't take that chance, instead using taxpayer money to hire companies to do the taping.

Since October 2004, the Department of Central Management Services reports, more than $130,000 in state money has been spent on "contractual videographers" to tape gubernatorial events. That amount doesn't include video work that state employees do through the Illinois Information Service, an arm of state government that provides radio and TV stations with usable tape.

On April 16, the governor, a runner and a fan of Elvis Presley, entered an eight-person team in the 80-mile River to River Relay run from the Mississippi River to the Ohio River in southern Illinois. He called the team he anchored "Blue Suede Running Shoes."

A St. Louis firm, Kaufman Broadcast Services Corp., was hired by the state to record the run and offered the tape to TV stations statewide. The rental of audio/visual equipment cost $2,166, and the satellite uplink services cost $3,000.

The governor's office also issued a news release that day, announcing that Blagojevich "became the first governor ever to run in the River to River Relay."

"Just as we provide written quotes (through news releases) to reporters, TV and radio have different needs. That's the rationale for doing this," [spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch] said.

A private company also taped a Sept. 11 appearance of the governor in a Mexican Independence Day parade in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago. An advisory issued by the governor's office said Blagojevich would be joined by Maria Isabel Benitez, "a hard-working immigrant mom whose immigration case has grabbed newspaper headlines on both sides of the border." She had been deported on Mother's Day in 2004, while seven months' pregnant, separating her from her husband and three children.

To record the event, the state hired Del Hall Video of Chicago, costing taxpayers $1,244.

When Blagojevich traveled to Washington, D.C., on April 27 to push Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois as the site for a $1 billion rare isotope accelerator, a news release was issued quoting the governor and other Illinois officials. Mobile Video Services Ltd. of Washington also was paid $1,095 for "contractual service for crew, gear & technicians to tape governor's visit to DC," according to the warrant on file with the state comptroller.

A May 10 news release outlined the governor's appearance at a CTA station on Chicago's south side, where he was joined by other elected officials and 200 people to lobby commuters on behalf of legislation that would close a "canned software tax loophole" to raise $65 million for mass transit funding. The legislation failed, but the state paid Del Hall Video $1,385 to record the lobbying event for use by TV stations.

Johnson also said state officeholders and agencies other than the governor use the service. She outlined $46,875 paid to outside firms for non-gubernatorial events between July 2004 and September 2005. During the same period, outside taping of the governor's events cost a total of $130,807.

On July 18, Blagojevich appeared in Chicago with Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle and U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Chicago, to announce that Illinois and other states were adding Australia and New Zealand to a list of countries where people should buy prescription drugs, though the federal government had not approved such sales. Video Replay Inc. of Chicago was paid $1,370 to tape the event.

Rausch said the coverage helped make senior citizens aware of potentially significant savings on pharmaceuticals. [To date, Illinois senior citizens still don't seem to care. -ed.]

Video Replay also taped a July 12 news conference where Blagojevich disclosed he had set aside $10 million in the state budget for stem cell research without the knowledge of many legislators. Comptroller Dan Hynes also participated. The cost was $1,740.

On Sept. 22, Blagojevich was in Rockford to announce the awarding of more than $11 million in state support for home improvement retailer Lowe’s to build a regional distribution center. Video Replay Inc. documented it for TV use, costing $1,597.

On Aug. 10, Blagojevich amendatorily vetoed a bill keeping the age of consent for a tattoo at 21 instead of 18. Del Hall Video provided the camera work, costing the state $1,220.

The governor signed a bill at the public library in Aurora on July 25 to ban the sale or rental of violent or sexually explicit video games to children. The state paid Del Hall Video $2,266 for services associated with that event.

Video Replay also was paid $1,501 to videotape Patti Blagojevich at her Chicago home Aug. 1, but this was to get video of her for use on a promotional DVD for the State and University Employees Combined Charity Campaign. She is honorary chairperson of that campaign this year. The DVD included many others, such as recipients of the charitable organizations that are part of the campaign, CMS' Johnson said. A Springfield firm, Imaginatics Inc., was paid $6,440 for 5,000 blank DVDs for distribution of the message to employees, according to Johnson.

It basically goes on and on... and on... and on... like that. I idly wonder how much Del Hall Video has donated to Blago's campaign fund...

Locked Away In An Overgrown Mansion
Picture Governor Blagojevich as that creepy recluse who sits around in his house in the dark that you won't let your kids go to for trick-or-treating:

Unlike other Illinois governors of recent decades, Blagojevich's lobbying style does not include backslapping office visits and chatty phone calls. And the state's Washington office also has cut back its personal contacts.

"I would have to say Governor Blagojevich's style doesn't include that. It is rare for me to speak to him personally," said U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, a Springfield resident and the second-highest ranking Democrat in the Senate. "I still know what his priorities are in his administration and do my best to try to help him."

"He's aloof; he's unresponsive; and he never shows gratitude," said Rep. Jerry Weller, R-Ill. Weller recalls showing up at the Statehouse for an appointment with Blagojevich only to be told it was canceled and that he was in Chicago.

Some senior Democrats say Blagojevich doesn't help or hurt the state's success in Washington. The influence of the delegation, particularly Hastert and Durbin, is the key to bringing home the bacon, they say.

I think that when you throw the Governor's father-in-law (who says Blago would "throw anybody under a bus") into the mix, it becomes obvious that there's only one path to resolving the state's fiscal issues: Turning the State of Illinois into a Reality TV show. These are just the kind of oddball characters that CBS could use to replace Everybody Loves Raymond.

Tusk Gored By Reality
Governor Blagojevich's Information Minister, Bradley Tusk, says there's a lot to be proud of. Illinois Senate Republican Issues Development Director Mark Gordon emails with some other numbers Tusk might want to consider:

12: The number of reported state and federal investigations of corruption in an Administration that promised to end business as usual.

140: The number of memorandums of understanding that legislators from both parties have insisted the Governor sign because they don’t trust him to live up to his agreements.

0: The number of memorandums of understanding that legislators demanded of prior governors.

$600 million: How much money Blagojevich claimed consultants saved the state through instituting “efficiencies” in state government.

$0: How much of the consultants' "savings" the Auditor General was able to find.

$1 million: How much the Blagojevich Administration paid another consultant to find the savings from the other consultants.

2,700: The number of trucking firms that were no longer in business in Illinois one year after the Governor increased taxes on truckers.

$1.8 billion: The amount of medical bills the State of Illinois had on hand at the end of last fiscal year with no money to pay them.

120 days: How long, on average, certain providers of Medicaid services wait to be reimbursed by the State.

$2.3 billion: The amount of money that will be raided from the state’s pension funds this year and next.

$500 million: The amount of money raided from the Downstate & Suburban Teachers pension fund this year, while granting a funding increase to the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund.

$22 billion: The current amount of State bond debt outstanding – more than double the $10 billion the Governor inherited three years ago.

$0: The amount of principal on the Governor's pension bond debt that has been paid by the Blagojevich administration.

$2 million: How much the State of Illinois must pay for expired flu vaccines.

1: The number of security officers assigned to carry Governor Blagojevich’s hairbrush.

Hey, and now that guy has Secret Service training.

Coincidentally, $6,000: The amount by which the median household income in Illinois has declined in the last six years. The only state to see a worse collapse is Michigan, and their Governor, Jennifer "we aren't going to let people pick their own jobs anymore" Granholm is a dirty Commie. (Another fun Granholmism, picked up by Blago's people: "It should not be acceptable that video games can so easily fall into the hands of young people.") I'm sure it's all George Ryan's fault, though, right Rod?