Our Land of Lincoln already had a political culture of corruption of historic proportions.But this was bleeping bad -- or good.
Governor Rod Blagojevich's arrest for what U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald called a "political corruption crime spree" that included attempts to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama, puts Illinois solidly No. 1 in the political corruption rankings.
Robert Grant, special agent in charge of the FBI's Chicago office, characterized Illinois' place in the pantheon of political corruption.
"If it isn't the most corrupt state in the United States, it's certainly one hell of a competitor," Grant said.
CNN has several videos on this still breaking story.
www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/12/09/sot.fitzgerald.lincoln.grave.wgn
The Chicago Tribune has full coverage at Chicagotribune.com.
www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-blagojevich-maindec09,0,7734677.story
Even before the 6 a.m. busting of Blago, Illinois has been near the top of any national political corruption ranking.
Last year an article in the Chicago Sun-Times made the case for Illinois as the best among the worst states in political corruption. Afterall, this is a State where votes by dead men are legendary, and four of the last eight governors (Blago, George Ryan, Dan Walker and Otto Kerner) have gone to prison.
James Merriner writes:
"You might remember that in 1998 Minnesota elected Gov. Jesse Ventura, the Reform Party candidate and a former pro wrestler. Witty Minnesotans soon sported bumper stickers -- "My governor can beat up your governor."
Some Illinoisans had enough pride to respond. "Our governor is a bigger crook than your governor," said a National Taxpayers Union of Illinois bumper sticker in 2000.
That's the spirit. We're No. 1!"
So why are we -- the Land of Lincoln -- so corrupt? Professor Larry Sabato -- an AP american Government textbook author, among other things, says it will finally be up to the voters to say enough is enough. In Chicago, there have long been questions about how Mayor Daley gets things done. He was last re-elected with over 60 percent of the vote.
Sabato was asked, assuming that Illinois and New Jersey are among the most corrupt states, why is that? What is different about them?
"Corruption is nurtured by the political culture . . ." he said. "Through the generations, corruption has become strongly associated with politics [and] people just expect the two to go together like love and marriage."
To quote Sabato once more on the culture of corruption: it "depends heavily on what average voters will tolerate from their elected officials."
www.cebcglobal.org/Newsroom/News/News_031107.htm
The citizens probably won't let Blago stand in office for long without resigning. After hearing reports of his explitive-laced corruption conversations, Chicago Tribune and WGN-TV polls showed 95% of the people said Blagojevich should step down now. Reports say he will not resign. So this is still a fasinating developing story.
But for now the people, by way of the polls are saying --- Bleep Bagojevich! (As Patrick Fitzgerald said in making the case against the Governor -- "The bleeps are not what was said." )
VIDEO: Buzzwords Related To Blagojevich Case
9 comments:
I think governer blago should step down because he does not care about illinois anymore. If he says bleep illinois then bleep him.
Geremie
Ugh. I'm sure even Honest Abe would be rolling up his sleeves to sucker punch Blagojevich in the middle of his face. Rightly so, I imagine. But I mean, given Daley(s), corruption in Illinois is not surprising - I always thought sooner or later something like this would happen to the governor.
It's a little bit annoying though that remnants of the political machines of old are still hanging around and messing with politics today.
On another note, this whole scandal/calls for resignation/unlikely resignation remind me a lot of the story of a certain man named Max Mosley earlier this year...
The reason Illinois politics are so corrupt is we haven't broken the Democratic Machine in Chicago. Yeah, I hate it because I'm a Republican, but think about it. Chicago, with around 2/3 of the state's population, is one of the few remaining U.S. cities with an old Tammany Hall-style machine in place. No matter what happens, the Democratic candidates always win. Thus, absolute power is corrupting absolutely.
As a journalism major, I am deeply disturbed by Blago's plot to force the Trib to purge its anti-Blago element, i.e. John Kass and Steve Chapman. This goon needs to go to jail now. He's selling Senate seats and trying to muzzle the press. Those are grounds for imprisonment in my book.
He is just pure trash. Honestly I don't understand how someone like him can not only get in, but get reelected. Still, I don't think that it is purely a partisan issue here. It is most definitely how this whole culture has been fostered, with the Daleys and many other IL politicians. It is good though to see that Illinois can proudly say that they have had great forward thinkers and continue to have them, from Paul Simon to Dick Durbin to Obama.
To prepare you for this legal process, the CBS 2 Regular Guys want to take this opportunity to teach a lesson about the buzzwords that relate to the Blagojevich case:
Pay to Play—A system in which government officials hand out lucrative governmental jobs and contracts only to those who contribute substantial money to re-election efforts. Sometimes called quid pro quo or this for that, it is a fundamental term in the lexicon of Illinois politics. It is also the reason why former Governor George Ryan is currently sitting in federal prison.
.500—Out of the last 8 Illinois governors, 4 have faced serious legal scrutiny from the federal government. Three have been sent to prison, and Blagojevich--if convicted-- would be the fourth.
Candidate 5—In the Federal complaint, Blagojevich is alleged to have tried to win favors and campaign donations from candidates interested in filling Obama’s Senate seat. The federal complaint alleges that “Senate Candidate 5” offered to raise upwards of $1million for the Governor’s re-election bid.
The same cannot be said about Obama. When he found out President-elect Obama was unwilling to make a deal to help an ally win the appointment, Blagojevich unleashed a profane rant about Obama.
Jesse Jackson, Jr. has said he is Senate Candidate 5, but said he was involved in no wrong-doing related to the open Senate seat.
Impeachment—Like the U.S. Constitution, the Illinois Constitution allows the House to impeach the chief executive with a majority vote. The senate conducts the impeachment trial and can expel the chief executive with a 2/3 majority.
Unlike the U.S. system, the Illinois House has never impeached a governor. But this might change with legislative leaders from both parties calling for the beginning of impeachment hearings should Blagojevich refuse to resign.
Special Election—Because much of the controversy stems from the allegations that Blagojevich conspired to profit from the appointment of Obama’s Senate successor, several top party leaders have demanded that Blagojevich refrain from appointing the new Senator. Democratic leaders fear a successor picked by Blagojevich would be forever tainted and would increase the odds of losing the Senate seat to the Republicans in 2010.
Top leaders of both parties seem to prefer the creation of a special election in which Democrats would compete against Republicans to fill the two-year vacancy.
Reasonable Doubt—Despite the severity of the wiretap evidence against Blagojevich, these are just allegations and he deserves his day in court. Like any American citizen accused of a crime, Blagojevich is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Rule of Law—And like any other American citizen, the law even applies to a once-powerful governor.
Everyone knows Blago is corrupt but I think he is only the tip of the iceberg of Illinois corruption. By staying in office Blago is drawing more attention and investigation into this massive problem. So Blago is only staying in office in order to bring everyone down with him.
The reasons why Blagojevich will not resign are a secret right now, but he must have some tricks up his sleeve. He must either have info on others that he will use to cut a deal, or like the lawyer says the charges are exaggerated. His career is over so he needs to just go on with his life in disgrace. People think that Illinois is extremly corrupt but I think that many states have these same problems. Govenors in illinois are just dumb enough to get caught. The Daley machine (impressive though it is) provides a stereotype for everyone else in the country and they point to this to show how corrupt our politics are. However, Illinois has produced some of the greatest politicians of all time: Lincoln, Hilary Clinton was raised here, Obama. Give us some credit!!!
I'm not sure if it's the overwhelming power of the corrupt politicians in Illinois or the citizens' extreme inability to make wise decisions when choosing them, but it's kind of sad that Illinois' corruption has been allowed to continue for so long and to such an extreme degree that we have become a punchline. What Blago was doing achieved a level of hilarity that shouldn't really be sought in matters of serious politics.
I'd like to hope that Illinois will be able to straighten up its act but looking at our history I'm not really sure that's likely.. I guess we'll just have to ride it out; at the very least I assume we'll see Blago join his buddies in jail.
I really just don't understand this whole occurence...I mean, Blagojevich KNEW he was under surveillance...how could anyone (especially an enlightened politician) be that completely, utterly stupid?!?!?! He shouldn't to go jail...he should to go an asylum!!!
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