rainydaynews

Appointing Roland Burris as the next Senator of Illinois was the most selfish thing Governor Rod Blagojevich could have done, so it should come as no surprise that he did it.
As a former Illinois attorney general and comptroller, Roland Burris was a standout politician. He was a trailblazer, the first African-American elected to statewide office. It happened in the ancient history of 1991.
That’s right, the state that is home to the first African-American elected to the White House did not elect one to statewide office until 1991. Burris served four years as comptroller and then four years as attorney general. He has run for governor three times since then unsuccessfully including a primary run against Rod Blagojevich six years ago.
As a fervent supporter of the Illinois Democratic Party, Burris has contributed about $3,000 to Rod’s campaign funds over the years, but hasn’t had any close ties to the governor. He is, by the assessment of most Illinoisans, a decent public servant.
That is why it is so awful to have his name sullied by being nominated to the Senate at this time. I’m sure that old Rod thought he was pulling a fast one. By appointing someone not tied to his federal corruption charges, Rod clearly thought he would make himself seem less corrupt.
By not naming one of the candidates alleged to have been part of the corruption investigation, Blagojevich and his lawyer will likely claim that the appointment of a scandal free politician is additional evidence that the governor never had any ill intentions.
BS!
I think everyone with eyes can see that the governor is attempting to use Burris to give himself more credibility. Under any other circumstances, I would support the appointment of Roland Burris. He is an intelligent man with the best interest of the people of Illinois at heart.
Unfortunately, I’m afraid the quality of the appointment might lead some to believe it’s all right for Governor Blagojevich to name the next Illinois senator. The governor makes the argument that the people of Illinois deserve to have two Senators from the beginning of the legislative session and not be forced to wait until the state can hold a special election.
Again, BS!
The governor has absolutely no concern about the people of the state of Illinois and what we deserve. If he cared at all, he would have found a way to work with his fellow Democrats to pay the state’s bills and take care of the basic needs of the state, without closing historical sites and cutting social services. He would know that the safety of Illinois prison guards is more important than his perceived insult from the guards at the Pontiac Correctional Center (which almost shot his helicopter down more than a year ago when he failed to notify them he was coming there).
And, he would know that a disgraced, indicted governor does more harm to Illinois than could ever be levied by virtue of waiting for an election for our new Senator..

According to the weather man, we are about to be hit with a winter storm bringing the potential for power outages and heavy ice.

No, that’s not the good news.

The good news is that I am lucky enough to live in a really great neighborhood. This morning, the gentleman who coordinates neighborhood events sent out a note mentioning the coming storm and asking for neighbors to discuss what resources are available in the neighborhood in the event of a weather emergency.

He mentioned he had a chainsaw for downed tree limbs and such and that another neighbor had a four-wheel drive pickup truck. He also mentioned that if anyone else wanted to let their resources be known, to send an email to the list.

Just a few minutes ago, we got another note from another set of neighbors pointing out that they too had a truck for getting around in the bad weather. Even more moving, a neighbor about three blocks away said they have solar electricty, geo-thermal heating and a wood stove, with plenty of floor space if the power goes out and people need a place where there is heat.

In a state now well known for its political corruption, it’s nice to see that some people who live here are not the all like the governor.

As more and more information becomes available about the arrest on Tuesday of the Illinois governor, it becomes clear that many people knew what they were doing was wrong and have decided to cooperate in the investigation or resign.

The governor needs to do the same.

But in the meantime, it’s fun to watch the fallout. One of the presumptive potential candidates for the Senate seat was Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. There is no discussion in the affadavit of just cause about the potential to appoint Madigan to the senate other than a brief mention of various candidates. Attorney General Madigan has been above reproach in her job as AG and the reason the governor might want to appoint her would be to win favor with her father.

Madigan’s father, Mike Madigan, is a Chicago Democrat and long-time speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives. Speaker Madigan has been a thorn in the governor’s side almost since the day he was elected, prompting many to speculate that the problems between the two were part of a good old fashioned Chicago turf war.

Regardless, the governor has argued with Speaker Madigan time and again about his duties as governor, the responsible management of the state and the Illinois Constitution, prompting the speaker to remind the governor that Speaker Madigan helped write the 1970 Constitution.

So, there is speculation that the governor considered appointing the Speaker’s daughter to the seat in hopes of getting some goodwill from the Speaker. Fat chance, Rod. They don’t call Speaker Madigan the Velvet Hammer for nothing. He gets what he wants and those who cross him don’t.

The Speaker has been considerably restrained in the last two days, allowing the Republicans to sponsor the bill forming an impeachment committee. All he did was call the special session of the House. Will your buddy Senate President Emil Jones call a special session of the Senate to hear the charges? Oh, I bet he will.

And, Attorney General Madigan, I think she was righteously pissed to see her name sullied simply by the innuendo that she was one of the candidates you were considering. Whatever their faults, the Madigan family has never shirked doing what is necessary for the people of Illinois.

Maybe that’s why Lisa told CNN today that she’d give the General Assembly a little time to handle this and then she would take it to court. It looks to me like she’s giving her Dad a chance to get his revenge and still making sure the people of the state get rid of Rod.

For the better part of the last three years, I have been howling about the incompetence of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

Today, he was arrested.

He is accused of trying to sell the senate seat of presidnet-elect Barack Obama, among other things. To be honest, it’s the among other things that offended me the most.

For instance, the indictment from the U.S. Attorney’s office charges that the governor tried to sell reimbursement for children’s medical care. The charges claim he tried to force the CEO of Children’s Medical Hospital to donate $50,000 to hsi campaign fund in return for the state actually paying $8 million in bills. Since the state owes various contractors $5 billion, I can see where the CEO might have been tempted. The hospital like many others in Illinois is struggling because the state doesn’t pay its bills.

He is also charged with trying to force the Chicago Tribune to fire editors that were unfriendly or wrote editorials calling for the goernor’s impeachment. Hmmm, kick the journalists who are actually doing their jobs. The governor’s offer was to help the Tribune’s parent company in their efforts to sell Wrigley Field in Chicago. The indictment doesn’t exactly say that the Trib told the governor to go to hell, but Wrigley hasn’t sold and the Trib editors are still working.

The most heartening part of the news conference was, well, twofold. As a reporter, I was encouraged to hear that the Tribune had heard rumors of the investigation 2 months ago and when asked to hold the story until the evidence was in, they did.

The second heartening event was the report that while the governor and his chief of staff presumed that they could make a deal with the president-elect and appoint the person “he wanted” as his successor, the deal fell flat. Being prosecutors, the spokesmen for the U.S. Attorney’s office would not officially clear the president-elect from any wrongdoing, but repeated that just because the governor tried to make a deal doesn’t mean the president-elect was willing to play.

Pay to play politics in Illinois is nothing new, but this is ridiculous. Only two governors in the last 50 years have made it through their terms of office without accusations of wrongdoing. Maybe, as one local mayor suggested, it’s the office that’s corrupt.