The "Reformer" Sweating Bullets
When Rod Blagojevich was elected Governor of Illinois four years ago, he promised us all that he was going to clean up the mess that Springfield had become with 25 years of GOP leadership. Away were going to go the patronage jobs that had been given to party donors for decades. The hiring process was going to follow the letter of the law.
Well, okay, maybe not quite the letter, or the spirit, or the law period. It seems, according to the Chicago Tribune, that the hiring game in Springfield has gotten worse under Blago, not better. Heck, his daughter is getting $1,500 "birthday gifts" from people right after they secure a state job.
A number of his top deputies are under federal investigation, the State's Attorney General, a fellow Democrat hasn't helped by stepping into the matter, and newspapers from Chicago to Bloomington are looking under stones to find out who's hiding.
Rod had claimed all along that it was two mid-level bureaucrats who were responsible for everything, but the more people the newspapers talk to, the more it seems that Joe Cini, a top aide was actually the guy pulling strings for the Governor.
Now the feds are checking out Rod's personal finances, Cini, and others in the upper echelon of Springfield politics. The last thing Rod needs seven weeks before the general election is more front page stories about how he's bumping veterans from jobs they are entitled to by state law to give them to donors. Or how he's got 63 year old party faithful filling "college intern" positions, but that's what he's getting.
The biggest miscalculation on the Blagojevich, it seems, was that they'd be taken on their word that they were going to clean up Springfield. Unfortunately, for them, the Feds were already crawling all over the capital investigating the last governor, and don't seem to inclined to ignore the current one, as he must have hoped.
Technorati Tags: Illinois, Springfield, Blagojevich, Corruption, Cini
Well, okay, maybe not quite the letter, or the spirit, or the law period. It seems, according to the Chicago Tribune, that the hiring game in Springfield has gotten worse under Blago, not better. Heck, his daughter is getting $1,500 "birthday gifts" from people right after they secure a state job.
A number of his top deputies are under federal investigation, the State's Attorney General, a fellow Democrat hasn't helped by stepping into the matter, and newspapers from Chicago to Bloomington are looking under stones to find out who's hiding.
Rod had claimed all along that it was two mid-level bureaucrats who were responsible for everything, but the more people the newspapers talk to, the more it seems that Joe Cini, a top aide was actually the guy pulling strings for the Governor.
Now the feds are checking out Rod's personal finances, Cini, and others in the upper echelon of Springfield politics. The last thing Rod needs seven weeks before the general election is more front page stories about how he's bumping veterans from jobs they are entitled to by state law to give them to donors. Or how he's got 63 year old party faithful filling "college intern" positions, but that's what he's getting.
The biggest miscalculation on the Blagojevich, it seems, was that they'd be taken on their word that they were going to clean up Springfield. Unfortunately, for them, the Feds were already crawling all over the capital investigating the last governor, and don't seem to inclined to ignore the current one, as he must have hoped.
Technorati Tags: Illinois, Springfield, Blagojevich, Corruption, Cini
posted by Crazy Politico at 7:34 AM
2Comments:
The press may or may not forget the promises a politician made during the campaign (depending on the party) but the people do not forget.
A few years ago we had a governor honestly run for re-election on the motto "Promises Made! Promises Kept" but unfortunately he wasn't so careful to keep his promises during his second term.
Yeah, Rod's having the same issue. He keeps trying to convince people this is still residue from the last administration. However, department managers going to the papers and claiming Joe Cini has screaming cussing hissy fits when his "recommended people" aren't hired doesn't help the credibility issue for the governor.
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