Thursday,
May 12 2005
GOVERNOR BLAGOJEVICH'S CHARADE: People are greeting the
piece of campaign finance reform legislation trotted out by
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich yesterday with an appropriate
mixture of amusement and scorn. Sort of like if Hillary Clinton
had come out with a detailed "document management strategy"
shortly after the Rose Law Firm billing records magically appeared
in the White House attic.
For those
who weren't paying attention, Blagojevich rode to victory in 2002
portraying himself as a "reformer" promising to "end
business as usual" in Illinois. This wasn't a very difficult
task given the GOP's political weakness in the state and a terrible
party image fostered by the George Ryan corruption scandal going
on at the time. But people who follow Illinois politics know that
saying Rod Blagojevich is a reformer is like calling Denny Hastert
anorexic (no offense intended the Speaker, of course). It just
ain't true.
In addition
to having deep ties to the Chicago Democratic machine, Blagojevich
is one the most aggressive fundraisers the state has ever seen.
Blago is currently sitting on a massive $10.4 million reelection
war chest - one of the largest in the entire country.
Two weeks
ago The
Daily Herald completed an analysis of contributions Blagojevich
received since he began his run for Governor back in 2000. The
results, in the opinion of one state campaign finance reform leader,
were "stunning:"
•
$7.34 million in campaign contributions from firms with special
state contracts and from people or associates of people he’s
appointed to state boards and commissions. That represents nearly
one in five campaign dollars Blagojevich has collected since
he began setting up a run for governor in 2000.
•
Of the total, $3.81 million in campaign cash comes from companies
that hold contracts with state agencies and the tollway authority.
The more than 320 companies that donated received $2.64 billion
in state business under Blagojevich.
•
The other $3.53 million is from campaign donations by appointees.
One in five of the more than 700 appointees are donors to Friends
of Blagojevich.
•
More than 80 percent of tollway construction contractors and
engineering firms have given to Blagojevich’s campaign
fund.
Blagojevich
has also been battered in recent weeks by a couple of scathing
state audits and the indictment
this past Monday of a member of the Illinois Health Facilities
Planning Board for extorting $9.5 million from hospitals seeking
permission to build new facilities (In all fairness to the Governor
on this one, the major player in the scandal is a Republican who
Blagojevich recently reappointed).
Still, this
is one of the more conspicuous examples of chutzpah in recent
memory. Over the last 4 years Blagoveich raised a jaw-dropping
$37.6 million from everyone under the sun, including
35 contributions of more than $100,000 and nearly a 1,000 contributions
of $10 grand or more. Two and a half years after being elected
as a "reformer," now beset by mounting evidence that
business in Illinois is indeed continuing as usual, Blagojevich
steps forward wanting to take money out of politics. Will voters
buy this charade?
WHIZGATE:
Here's
a news item of some silliness: Minnesota Vikings running back
Onterrio Smith was busted with a kit used to evade NFL drug tests
called "The Original Whizzinator." Not included in most
reports is this explanation of how the thing works that came off
the wire yesterday:
The
$150 device includes a prosthetic penis attached to a jockstrap
and plastic bag. Using a syringe, the user fills the bag with
a precisely measured amount of water blended with the urine
powder to create a clean sample. When the user takes a drug
test in front of an observer, the water is released through
the prosthetic with a valve (the instructions recommend the
user cough to hide the sound of the valve unsnapping).
Are members
of Congress are already gearing up for a round of hearings exploring
the use of prosthetic peeing devices by professional athletes
trying to avoid detection of drugs and steroids? T. Bevan
12:15pm Link |
Email | Send
To A Friend
