Corruption is expensive

Just released campaign disclosure reports show that Rod Blagojevich's campaign has racked up $687,839 in legal fees to Winston & Strawn, former Governor Jim Thompson's firm.

Winston & Strawn is the law firm that represented George Ryan in his recent trial and conviction. And it is the firm defending Rod against nine state and federal corruption investigations.

UPDATE: Figure is actually $839,656. Found another $151,817.

Technorati Tags: corruption, Illinois

Will Obama stump for Blagojevich?

Two people I know who have spent considerable time with Rod Blagojevich say he seeths with anger/jealously when the topic of Barack Obama comes up -- perhaps because Obama's national spotlight is so bright no one else in Illinois can be seen.



It will be interesting to see if Blagojevich asks for campaign help from Obama and even more interesting to see if the wunderkind Senator obliges. He already has used political capital for state Treasurer candidate Alexi Giannoulias, who has been the subject of scathing editorials from the Tribune on his bank loans to questionable individuals.



Obama should feel particularly uncomfortable around Rod. Already the subject of nine separate state and federal investigations, the news promises to get worse in coming weeks for the Governor as the investigations progress. Obama tried to play dumb about some of Rod's corruption in an interview with the Daily Herald editorial board this week.

"I have not followed closely enough what's been taking place in these investigations to comment on them," Obama told the Daily Herald this week. "Obviously I'm concerned about reports that hiring practices at the state weren't, at times, following appropriate procedures. How high up that went, the degree at which the governor was involved, is not something I'm going to speculate on.

If had been paying attention, of course, he would have to acknowledge that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has found evidence of "endemic hiring fraud" in his administration and "credible witnesses" to back the claims.



Two other Blagojevich practices ought to bother Obama, at least according to an interview he gave ABC News earlier this year. Obama said he doesn't take gifts from lobbyists.

Obama said that to avoid any problems, his personal rule was to never accept gifts or money from lobbyists.

And he says he is opposed to allowing government officials to leave their jobs and immediately go to work for companies they dealt with.

For example, Obama said, a government official in charge of passing a prescription drug bill should not work later for a drug company.

John Wyma is Rod's former chief of staff in Congress and now a lobbyist who has made tons of money off the administration and in return helped raise tons of money for Rod. If Barack's staff wants to look here, they will see that Wyma has given Rod at least $500 in personal gifts every year Rod has been governor.



And if Barack's staff wants to look here and many other places, they will see that Rod's top deputies are turning right around and cashing in on their government service in the exact way that Obama opposes.

(Jack) Hartman quit the tollway in February to join The Rise Group, a Chicago-based construction consulting firm that made more than a quarter-million dollars last year on a tollway contract. The company's president, Leif Selkregg, has been a contributor to Blagojevich's campaign fund since 2001.

So, it looks like if Obama supports Rod it's solely because of his party affiliation. Rod's lack of integrity since he's been in office already is well documented. The real question is whether Barack will show any integrity by backing away from him, or if he'll simply become another party hack like his seatmate from Illinois.

Technorati Tags: Chicago media, corruption, Illinois

Wrong-way Mikva is seated

I know uber liberal Abner Mikva has a long list of credentials: White House lawyer to Bill Clinton, federal judge, legislator, and more. So he's supposed to have judgment and wisdom, right?

Well, he wrote one of the most unwise and off-base op-eds I've read in years on June 13 in the Sun-Times defending Governor Rod Blagojevich for all the bad press he's getting on the hiring scandal. Here's a sample.

Those are the facts. But you wouldn't know it by reading or listening to the media. The emphasis there is on vague allegations that "some" employees have been hired improperly. There are "lists" of open positions that have gone through various persons in the governor's office. But there are no specifics as to whether such positions are "exempt" or Rutan-covered, or evidence that people whose names may be on lists were actually treated differently than anyone else. Every administration has the right to fill certain positions with people they think will best help them implement their agenda. And for those positions where politics cannot be a factor in the selection of a candidate, there is no prohibition against anyone making recommendations for the jobs. There is, however, a very clear testing and interview process that must be used to select the best candidate. The newspaper stories over the past few weeks do not offer any evidence that those processes were violated.

The stories did have specifics and evidence, Abner. But if you don't believe me, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, just two weeks after the Mikva defense, released the Lisa Madigan letter where he refers to evidence of "endemic hiring fraud" in the Blagojevich administration and the existence of "credible witnesses" to prove the allegations.

Today, Abner got an appointment from his beloved Governor. He was named head of Illinois Human Rights Commission, a post that pays at least $40,000 according to previously published reports. We know that because Blagojevich gave another seat to the sister of state Senator Carol Ronen, his most loyal supporter in the General Assembly.

We're not saying the wacked-out op-ed and appointment are linked. We are saying we hope Mr. Mikva's wisdom and judgment improves in time to hear his first case on the commission.

Technorati Tags: corruption, Illinois, liberals

City Council flunks economics

Much has been written this week by journalists and bloggers such as Marathon Pundit about the guaranteed wage ordinance passed today by the Chicago City Council and I don't have a lot to add.

It's a noble thought to pay everybody lots of money but it's common sense that it won't be helpful to Chicago overall. Wal-Mart and Target will tend to locate outside the city and if they do decide to build more stores in Chicago, there will be fewer workers or higher prices. Wishing market forces away doesn't work. And neither will anyone in Chicago if their leaders don't realize this simple fact.

Marathon Pundit, by the way, will make his debut on Constitutional Public Radio tomorrow afternoon. He'll probably have something to say about the City Council as well as the lunacy of the academic world, where he has broke important new ground.

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Technorati Tags: Chicago media, Illinois, liberals

Studs strikes out

This story probably won't get much coverage because it is a resounding defeat for the ACLU and radical lefty/media darling Studs Terkel.

U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kennelly, a Clinton-appointee and no conservative, slapped down a lawsuit asking the AT&T be required to disclose whether it participates in a government anti-terrorism program.

Democrats like our own U.S. Senator Dick Durbin tried to suggest there was something wrong that the Bush administration uses phone records to track terrorism. Kennelly, however, said even disclosing whether AT&T participates in the program would be a victory for terrorists.

A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit that sought to bar AT&T from giving the government telephone records without warrants, saying it would require disclosures that would "adversely affect our national security."

Judge Matthew F. Kennelly said disclosing whether AT&T had given such records to the supersecret National Security Agency in its hunt for terrorists would violate the government's right to keep state secrets.

"The court is persuaded that requiring AT&T to confirm or deny whether it has disclosed large quantities of telephone records to the federal government could give adversaries of this country valuable insight into the government's intelligence activities," the 40-page opinion said.

Terkel for some reason signed onto this beyond silly lawsuit. Kennelly's decision is further evidence that the liberal left would be a disaster if they were put in charge of national security.

Technorati Tags: Iraq, NSA, terror

0 for 3 in Rolling Meadows

Governor Rod Blagojevich, his deputy governor and his press secretary couldn't come up with a single answer when asked today why his administration continues to change its story about the exploding hiring scandal in their office.

Blagojevich probably doesn't want to dig himself any deeper after this interview in October 2005 with the Tribune.

Blagojevich said that in the weeks after he won election but before he took office in January 2003, he and his staff consulted with numerous lawyers and former Gov. James Thompson, who headed his transition team, about the best way to make hiring decisions. Blagojevich promised to reform state government following the scandal-scarred administration of George Ryan, who is currently on trial.

"I think, in many ways, I was fortunate enough to be governor in the wake of the previous administration, Gov. Ryan's administration. As we were building our administration, we were mindful of some of the things that happened before, some of the structures that were not in place," he said. "And as we constructed our administration, we were determined to make sure we built in systems that could make sure that we protect the taxpayers' money and that we do the best job we possibly can to make sure that people work, work honestly and do the people's business to the best of their ability."

He said that his administration stressed that qualifications were key in all state employees who have been hired since he became governor in January 2003. "Qualifications. All the time. Again, the decisions that are made when it comes to who gets hired in different places, those decisions are made through a whole system that we have established," he said.

But if he isn't going to answer questions, why not Deputy Governor Brad Tusk, who, after all, is in charge of the office's communications efforts and the agencies that are under federal investigation for hiring abuses.

In deflecting some questions a few weeks ago, Tusk told journalist/blogger Jeff Berkowitz he "doesn't do politics." Apparently he doesn't do government, either.

Press Secretary Abby Ottenhoff might as well bring a giant spinning wheel with different excuses and give it tug every time a reporter asks a question. The Wheel of Misinformation. A new lottery game! Maybe that lottery scheme will work after all, Bradley. Then you might be able to pay for one of your new focus group phrases like All-Kids. I love it when a plan comes together.

Technorati Tags: Chicago media, corruption, Illinois

Skype lives up to hype

Skype is the most popular of the internet phone services. I started using it a few days ago and it is great. Using headphones with a built-in microphone, I can call anyone in the United States from my computer, free of charge. The task is made considerably easier and more fun by this clever little program (Mac only) that links my address book to Skype.

Technorati Tags: gadgets

Get elected, get rich?

Since Rod Blagojevich was elected governor, his family has prospered even if most of the rest of Illinois has been mired in a stagnant state economy.

We will have to wait until October for Rod to file his 2005 federal and state income tax returns and show it to the public. He filed for an extension earlier this year. Since he's become governor, Rod's family income has risen 65 percent.

2003 return -- $227,497 family income.
2004 return -- $375,063 family income.

If Rod's family income increases 65 percent again, that would put it at $618,853 for 2005. One more 65 percent increase and Rod's family income tops $1 million for 2006.

Most of the recent increase has been due to Patti Blagojevich's real estate business. She's apparently a real dynamo, juggling two children, including a toddler, and First Lady duties, as well as a growing stable of real estate clients.

Normally, some might be concerned that a First Lady's real estate business might intersect with state government or her husband's political campaign. Not me. That's because we have a governor "who does things right" and has extensive experience in putting a "system in place" to ensure proper conduct.

Technorati Tags: Chicago media, corruption, Illinois

Where's Durbin on "torture" in Chicago?

Illini Pundit had a good point the other day. Why isn't the news media asking our "jack-in-the-box" U.S. Senator about the Burge torture report.

Since this is now clearly both an Illinois and a Federal matter, I'm awaiting Sen. Dick Durbin's scathing attacks on Chicago's pro-torture administration, and Mayor Daley, the pro-torture former State's Attorney and current Mayor, and political booster of Sen. Durbin.

As we all know, Dick Durbin never misses an opportunity to take a partisan shot at Republicans. His attack machine was temporarily sidelined last year when he compared US troops to Nazis but he's back on his feet throwing mud every chance he gets.

His "jack-in-the-box" label comes from a political/news pro friend of mine who thusly describes politicians who jump up and make public statements about every available newsworthy event, no matter how tangential the relevance to their job.

It would not be a stretch at all for Durbin to be commenting on the reports of torture under Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge -- at a time when Chicago Mayor Richard Daley was Cook County State's Attorney. The Chicago news media loves this story and is trying to squeeze every last drop out of it.

It's tailor made for Durbin. Except the targets are powerful Democrats. I guess we won't see him pop out of his box this time.

Technorati Tags: Illinois, Iraq, liberals

Kass vs. Blagojevich on stem cells

One of the two gave the issue deep thought, confronting the moral questions that arise. He produced a piece of work that says something profound and will endure.

The other looked at a poll and made a deeply cynical gesture that has no substantive value and only has political power if Illinoisans are rock stupid.

In Illinois, our columnists often outshine our governors. Sadly.

Technorati Tags: Chicago media, Illinois

Brother, can you spare a reporter?

The Chicago Sun-Times does have reporters to spare when it puts its mind to it -- today eight of them covered the long-awaited Burge torture report.

As we've stated several times here, the Sun-Times has had zero reporters to spare to cover a potentially larger story -- the possible fraudulent exoneration of Anthony Porter, the man whose case launched the Illinois death penalty moratorium.

Across the newsrooms in Chicago, where they absolutely love a story where a cop or prosecutor may have crossed the line, there is much sadness because the report falls far short of some of the previous hype those same reporters helped fuel.

Technorati Tags: Alstory Simon, Anthony Porter, Chicago media, Illinois, murder, mystery

Junk food and junk science

The Chicago Tribune ran a lengthy and bizarre story Tuesday about a study that suggests that African-Americans in Chicago are more likely to die from diseases because they live slightly farther from grocery stores than do whites.

According to the study, conducted for LaSalle Bank, the average white resident in Chicago lives .39 miles from a grocery store and the average black resident .59 miles. Therefore, the premise of the study is that African-Americans are more likely to eat at fast-food restaurants rather than partake in healthier choices at a grocery store.

Right up front the story quotes the author's study as saying that the grocery store-disease connection is there, but one doesn't cause the other.

Mari Gallagher, the consultant who conducted the study for LaSalle Bank, stops short of saying there is a cause-and-effect relationship between living in a food desert and developing a disease.

So, in other words, the entire story is essentially like discussing why cities starting with the first half of the alphabet have a higher crime rate than cities starting with the second half of the alphabet. There may be a statistically significant correlation with lower letters and higher crime rates, but if one doesn't cause the other, the relationship is coincidental, and the discussion scientifically pointless.

It's quite obvious to everyone but the Tribune that the higher incidence of diseases is caused by something other than a .2 mile difference in proximity to grocery stores.

Technorati Tags: Chicago media, mystery

Vibrate your way to fitness

Uh, didn't we try this once before. Remember those vibrating belts from about 40 years ago that were supposed to make us lean without effort. Well, let's just say we don't see many of those contraptions (above left) around these days.

There's a new vibrating machine (above center), though, and it has the imprimatur of Madonna (above right), among others. Here's all you need to know:

The new exercise machine removes the need to actually work out.

Manufacturers claim that the vibrating platform offers the same benefits of an hour-long sweaty gym workout in just 15 minutes with the machine burning the calories for you.

Read all about it here.

Technorati Tags: gadgets, fitness

Giving away more secrets

Not satisfied with giving the terrorists our national security secrets, the New York Times is now giving away our marathon training strategies.

Technorati Tags: terror

"Doing things right," take three

As far as we can tell, today's Chicago Tribune article by John Chase and Rick Pearson describes at least the third "system" put in place by the Rod Blagojevich administration to follow the law on hiring decisions.

The first was described by the governor himself in an October 2005 article in the Chicago Tribune.

Blagojevich said that in the weeks after he won election but before he took office in January 2003, he and his staff consulted with numerous lawyers and former Gov. James Thompson, who headed his transition team, about the best way to make hiring decisions. Blagojevich promised to reform state government following the scandal-scarred administration of George Ryan, who is currently on trial.

"I think, in many ways, I was fortunate enough to be governor in the wake of the previous administration, Gov. Ryan's administration. As we were building our administration, we were mindful of some of the things that happened before, some of the structures that were not in place," he said. "And as we constructed our administration, we were determined to make sure we built in systems that could make sure that we protect the taxpayers' money and that we do the best job we possibly can to make sure that people work, work honestly and do the people's business to the best of their ability."

He said that his administration stressed that qualifications were key in all state employees who have been hired since he became governor in January 2003. "Qualifications. All the time. Again, the decisions that are made when it comes to who gets hired in different places, those decisions are made through a whole system that we have established," he said.

Then, the Sun-Times told us a couple of months ago that the first system was scrapped once federal prosecutors started investigating. The second system went into place in January of this year.

Shortly after federal investigators launched a probe into Gov. Blagojevich's hiring practices, his administration overhauled the way it awards state jobs, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

The changes, detailed in documents obtained by the newspaper, drastically scaled back the hiring duties of the governor's personnel office and chief of staff. They took effect in January of this year -- about two months after the feds peppered the governor's office and three state agencies with subpoenas for job placement records.

Well, there's another system about to debut, according to today's Tribune.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich's top attorney has ordered state agency directors to stop taking requests for politically connected job applicants and said a new system was being established to ensure that such clout requests would be "processed and treated like any other application."

The order from William J. Quinlan, Blagojevich's general counsel, was obtained by the Tribune on Friday. It comes amid a federal investigation into what U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald has called "allegations of endemic hiring fraud" within the governor's administration that has "implicated multiple state agencies" and involves "a number of credible witnesses."

I don't think Patrick Fitzgerald is being fooled by the shuffling organizational charts and new "systems." It looks like it is "all systems go" for a series of indictments starting soon.

Technorati Tags: corruption, Illinois

Hodas escapes Hurricane Harris

I bet longtime Illinois political operative Glenn Hodas has some great stories from the past few months.

Rod's X-men sued by whistleblower

More trouble for Rod Blagojevich on the hiring front. Associated Press is reporting on a whistleblower lawsuit filed in Springfield against Rod's chief of staff and campaign manager Lon Monk (jogging with Rod above) and others in the administration.


The whistleblower is Maynard Crossland, former head of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.

A lawsuit filed by Maynard Crossland claims aides to Gov. Rod Blagojevich came to his office in 2003 with a chart with red X's over the names of people the governor wanted to fire. Crossland says he was told the employees should be fired because they were Republicans, even though their jobs were protected from political hiring and firing.

At least you have to give Rod's thugs high marks for clear communication. I wonder if Maynard still has the chart. Would make a nice visual someday soon -- for TV, the feds, or both.

Technorati Tags: Chicago media, corruption, Illinois

Tom Roeser lets it fly

When he was an occasional newspaper columnist, Tom Roeser sometimes had to shade his thoughts to get his work past an editor. Now with his own blog, he just lets it rip, going after Barack Obama, Eric Zorn and Lynn Sweet today. Very entertaining and well-written. Here is a sample. Read it all.

Note: Zorn, incidentally, is offended that Obama uses generalized religiosity and spiritual imagery in his speeches, evidently believing the world just flew together, piece by minute piece to become, from a sea of atoms, something as complex as humanity, all bits and pieces plopping together on one day with a Great Bang yet with no Designer or First Cause. Obama's references concerns Eric who obviously believes the line between church and state is crossed in this way. Possibly ten gorillas sitting down before ten electric typewriters could, pressing their fingers on the keys, by the barest mathematical probability produce "The Merchant of Venice."

Another writer with a deft touch is Aaron at Free Will, who, in discussing Rod Blagojevich's fudging of AllKids numbers, reminds us of the larger picture.

It should be pointed out that since most state medical assistance programs target the poor, a significant number of people "added" to the plans are likely to be people who have been driven to poverty by Blagojevich's policies. The public would be better served by policies that eliminate the need for 450,000 people to be on government-sponsored health plans.

Technorati Tags: blogs, Illinois

Blagojevich's IG scam continues

The last remaining rhetorical firewall protecting Rod Blagojevich from the flames of his own corruption is the Inspector General's office, as we've pointed out before.

Blagojevich was trying his best to keep the wall from collapsing this evening with yet another insistence to the Associated Press that his Inspector General is doing great things but we can't tell you what they are.

"I like what we're doing, and I like the fact that we have an inspector general," he said. "We are fearless. We don't care whether that inspector general finds wrongdoing from someone that we hire."

When probed on specifics, he clammed up.

Blagojevich said state law bars him from disclosing any of the inspector general's findings. Pressed on the issue, he said officials should take a look at changing the law so that more information can be made public.

The story then went on to point out that Blagojevich helped write the law and bragged about its passage. He could have taken the secrecy clause out of the ethics law, but then he wouldn't have his firewall, would he?

Yet, as we mentioned a couple of months ago, Blagojevich's spokespeople had no problem revealing IG information when faced with negative stories from the Sun-Times. So this evening he essentially admitted his administration broke the law back then by disclosing IG reports. Maybe his fearless IG will catch the violation and turn someone in.

Technorati Tags: corruption, Illinois

Berkowitz lets one slip away

There are few journalists who have advanced public discourse more in Illinois in recent years than Jeff Berkowitz.

Jeff (above right) takes his video camera to news events and asks tough questions of newsmakers. Then he invites them on his weekly cable TV show for one-on-one interviews where the newsmaker better come prepared to answer tough questions and better know policy because Berkowitz sure does.

He posts the interviews here. His blog is here.

This evening, I watched Berkowitz' videocast interview of Blagojevich's Deputy Governor, Bradley Tusk (above left), and came away disappointed. The 30-minute interview focused on budget and education policy. Tusk predictably portrayed the administration as being innovative and fiscally prudent and Berkowitz poked holes in some of Tusk's dubious assertions.

Maybe Berkowitz just ran out of time, or, the interview was arranged with topic restrictions. I couldn't believe that I didn't hear a question about how the administration has managed to attract nine separate state and federal corruption investigations when it pledged to clean up state government. And, I wanted to hear Tusk's response to the stunning series of audits
by the Illinois Auditor General that in essence painted a picture of incompetence, mismanagement and corruption unprecedented even in Illinois.

Those issues dwarf all other with this governor. With U.S. Patrick Fitzgerald apparently on the verge of corruption indictments, does it really matter what Rod and Brad say about how much the state lottery will fetch in a sale?

And nice try, Brad, on the spin that Republicans don't have any new ideas. It's not a new idea to sell everything off, borrow money, rob pensions, and fail to pay bills. That's the oldest idea in the book.

Technorati Tags: corruption, Illinois, pr

Who took the painting from Southern Illinois?

A very expensive piece of art is missing from the U.S. Post Office in Herrin, a southern Illinois town. Aaron from Free Will has the fascinating and exclusive story.

Technorati Tags: corruption, Illinois, mystery

Guns and corruption in Sparta

Rod Blagojevich continued his week of astonishing hypocrisy by heading to downstate Sparta where the most anti-gun member of Congress a few years ago pretended to be pro-gun at the ribbon-cutting of the $50 million World Shooting and Recreational Complex. That came a few days after he was in Wheaton celebrating the widening corruption investigations into his "reform" administration.

Jim Muir of the Southern Illinoisan had a blog post this morning that pointed out those celebrating with Rod have links to the hiring problems he's facing.

So, what was it that turned my mood sour, pessimistic and cynical within 10 minutes of crawling out of bed? I can trace my change in moods to a specific moment -- my daily walk to the mailbox to get the morning newspaper.

As I sauntered back to the house, like I do every morning, I unrolled the paper and glanced at the front page and there staring back at me was the smiling faces of the politicos that had gathered for the ribbon-cutting at the World Shooting and Recreational Complex in Sparta.

And unmentioned is the contract that was awarded to build the facility. It went to Knight Infrastructure, a company owned by Peter and Kim Fox of Champaign that flew Blagojevich around in the closing months of the 2002 campaign. Peter Fox has raised at least $100,000 for Blagojevich and probably much more, and he has been subpoenaed in connection to the federal probe into the Blagojevich administration's handling of pension funds and bond deals.

It would be interesting to hear how Knight Infrastructure got that contract? Was it bid?

Technorati Tags: corruption, Illinois

Rod ignored IG on lottery probe

Governor Rod Blagojevich and his spokespeople were saying all weekend that the administration is rooting out corruption through his inspector general.

Because the inspector general's actions are almost completely secret, we have little hard evidence either way to evaluate that spin. That's probably why Rod is using that defense, one of the few that he has remaining.

Well, there's one story out there that directly contradicts that claim. The Associated Press reported last May that the administration rebuffed the IG's recommendation on a questionable payment to a politically connected lottery vendor.

The governor's executive inspector general has referred her Illinois State Lottery investigation to the attorney general, a move that can happen when she finds wrongdoing and her recommendation for disciplinary action is ignored.

A source familiar with the investigation said on condition of anonymity Wednesday that Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the Department of Revenue, which oversees the lottery, took no action on recommendations involving the lottery investigation.

The referral became public Wednesday, a day after the executive inspector general, Zaldwaynaka "Z." Scott, announced she would leave her post in July to join a law firm.

The contract in question was worth millions of dollars.

The latest investigation dogging the governor is into a contract involving advertising for the Illinois State Lottery.

A state audit found that Illinois paid R.J. Dale Advertising & Public Relations of Chicago $7.1 million to promote the lottery, but the firm could document only $2 million worth of work. Madigan spokeswoman Melissa Merz said Wednesday that issues related to the lottery were referred by Scott's office on April 28, but declined further comment.

Deputy Inspector General Mary Anderson confirmed the office referred the case to Madigan, but declined to comment on specifics. She confirmed that a final report regarding the lottery was sent to the governor's office and the Department of Revenue on Sept. 30.

Blagojevich spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff had no immediate comment. Revenue Department spokeswoman Geraldine Conrad referred questions to the executive inspector general.

Robert J. Dale, president of the firm, said his firm has done nothing wrong and there were no discrepancies in the work his firm did for the state.

Earlier Wednesday, Blagojevich said Dale's firm had successfully driven up lottery sales and the problem was simply how it accounted for its costs. He said his administration is conducting its own review of the firm and expects to have a report as early as this week.

"Pressure needs to be put on him. I applaud all the pressure being put on him in addition to our office," the governor said.

When in doubt, applaud the investigations of corruption in his administration. The spin is consistent from the Blagojevich camp.

Technorati Tags: Chicago media, corruption, Illinois, pr

More fed investigations the better?

Rod Blagojevich was in Wheaton today unloading his more-bizarre-by-the-day defense about the exploding corruption investigation enveloping his administration. He says the fed investigations are a good thing because it means his Inspector General is catching wronging.

That didn't happen under George Ryan, said Rod, who is still using the former governor as a scapegoat even though he's been governor nearly four years.

Well, it's self-evident that if his administration was doing things right in the first place, there would be no need for nine separate state and federal investigations. And, didn't Rod tell us Oct. 27, 2005, in the Tribune that the systems were put in place to make sure this stuff doesn't happen.

Blagojevich said that in the weeks after he won election but before he took office in January 2003, he and his staff consulted with numerous lawyers and former Gov. James Thompson, who headed his transition team, about the best way to make hiring decisions. Blagojevich promised to reform state government following the scandal-scarred administration of George Ryan, who is currently on trial.

"I think, in many ways, I was fortunate enough to be governor in the wake of the previous administration, Gov. Ryan's administration. As we were building our administration, we were mindful of some of the things that happened before, some of the structures that were not in place," he said. "And as we constructed our administration, we were determined to make sure we built in systems that could make sure that we protect the taxpayers' money and that we do the best job we possibly can to make sure that people work, work honestly and do the people's business to the best of their ability."

He said that his administration stressed that qualifications were key in all state employees who have been hired since he became governor in January 2003. "Qualifications. All the time. Again, the decisions that are made when it comes to who gets hired in different places, those decisions are made through a whole system that we have established," he said.

So the converse to Rod's whole argument is that an administration with no federal investigations must be corrupt. Now that's some reverse spin.

Technorati Tags: Chicago media, corruption, Illinois, pr

Dem rogues compare notes in Wheaton

Just for your Independence Day blogging enjoyment, I was working the holiday to bring you news and photos you won't get from any other source.

Here, embattled Democratic governor Rod Blagojevich wandered over to embattled Democratic candidate for state Treasurer, Alexi Giannoulias, for a few private words moments before the 4th of July parade in Wheaton this morning.

It's not often you see the Big A (Alexi) and Public Official A (Rod) together sharing such a private moment. I wasn't able to overhear the conversation but I imagine Patrick Fitzgerald's name came up.

Technorati Tags: Chicago media, corruption, Illinois

The lost IG report

One of the mysteries that I assume will be unraveled in the next couple months is why "Z" Scott (above) resigned as Rod Blagojevich's Inspector General just as several state and federal corruption investigations were heating up.

She served as IG from April 2003 to May 2005.

The most likely scenarios, in my opinion, are that she left because she didn't want to wear the jacket for the rampant corruption she found and got out, or that she has become a witness for U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

Z. Scott's name was all over the news this weekend after the Chicago Tribune exclusively reported on a scathing Sept. 9, 2004 report she authored that said Blagojevich's hiring department had "utter contempt" for following state hiring laws.

Another mystery is the Sept. 9 date. The Tribune back in November 2005 reported on another IG report released that day that disclosed the Blagojevich administration was skirting veteran's preferences laws to aid politically connected hires.

When confronted with the report back then, the Blagojevich administration claimed it never received that Nov. 9 report. So they received one IG report dated Sept. 9 and not the other? Hmmmmm.

Technorati Tags: Chicago media, corruption, Illinois

Rod caught in pincher movement

The best part of the double pincher movement is that if the defenders turn to engage one flanker the other flanker will be totally unseen and coming in directly behind the defenders.

--from a military website

The beauty of watching the Rod Blagojevich administration being pursued doggedly by the U.S. Attorney's office and the news media is wondering what creative and insincere answer it will come up with next.

It sometimes gets Rod by when the episodes are spaced far enough apart that people don't readily compare the bogus excuses. It's a bit of problem when the attacks are coming daily, like this weekend.

In Saturday's Tribune, which recounts the Patrick Fitzgerald letter describing "endemic" hiring corruption in the Blagojevich, this sentence appears.

Blagojevich has steadfastly denied that (Joe) Cini, the director of the governor's office of intergovernmental affairs, and the others engaged in any wrongdoing.

Then, in today's paper, the Tribune breaks another big story that reveals the contents of a Sept. 9, 2004, Inspector General's report. In it, Blagojevich's former IG said the Cini-led hiring office's "effort reflects not only ignorance of the law, but complete and utter contempt for the law."

Blagojevich said Saturday in response to the IG story that he deals with corruption when it happens.

CHICAGO - Gov. Rod Blagojevich insisted Saturday that misconduct in his administration is limited to isolated events by people who are soon punished, even though his own inspector general found a top Blagojevich aide took part in a "concerted effort" to subvert the law.

"As you police the system, every so often you're going find some people who violate the rules. The test of leadership is what do you do about it? Do you act and do you pursue it? Do you work with other law enforcement agencies to ferret more of it out?" he said. "Those are the things we've been doing."

So, his hiring chief is found to have blatantly and willfully violated the law and he's still working for the state? I think Blagojevich answered his own question: he flunked the test of leadership.

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