Blagojevich: Corruption not relevant

Rod Blagojevich may have been the luckiest gubernatorial candidate in Illinois history. The obscure congressman rode to victory against a candidate in the other party who had the same last name of the corrupt incumbent governor. Nearly every word out of Rod's mouth in 2002 was about corruption in state government.

Now, today, as he's being engulfed in his own corruption scandal of even larger proportions, he states that corruption doesn't matter to "people."

Pointing at reporters trying to ask a question about the federal investigation, Blagojevich said: "If you guys want to cover this issue and cover the substance of it, then we can get that message out. But if you want to cover tangential, collateral things that have no impact or relevance to people, then you don't get that message out.

"The reality is," the governor continued, "they like to sell newspapers. They're not interested in concrete solutions to problems for people. They just like controversy and tangents that have no relevance to the quality of life for people."

Here's what Rod said in 2002 on WBBM's At Issue, while being questioned by guest host Mike Flannery.

I think we have to restore confidence and integrity in state government. And we need real ethics reform. But most also, I think the voters and the taxpayers have to believe those of us who want to lead them. And understand that were not just going to look the other way at corruption or be corrupt ourselves, but that we ought to leaders that are also honest with them about the tough issues that confront us as people.

It's a new year. For Rod, it might as well be a new century.

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