15 Comments - Anonymous - Monday, Jan 17, 05 @ 7:35 pm: Budget cuts have over Balgojevich’s tenure stripped away and eroded qualified staff from nearly every state agency. The DNR staff cuts have been in the news recently, but I suspect that many, many more agencies under the governor continue to be drastically understaffed (and will be even more understaffed if Blagojevich decides upon another round of across-the-board budget cuts for agencies.) Agency staff, I think, would have a lot to say about what’s really going on with taxpayer dollars and how the increasing internal chaos over the past two years has severely curtailed the efficient delivery of state services. - Anonymous - Monday, Jan 17, 05 @ 9:29 pm: Rod Blagojevich Budget 101 C- Some credit for inheriting what he did, borrowing and making my kids pay for it, and enacting the largest business fee in history, all while securing over 10 million in his own war chest, garners him a C- Governance 102 D Overtime legislative session with control of all 3 brances in Demo’s hands, proves he can’t govern Public Relations C and fading fast. Canada drug buying fiasco with less than 1,000 sign up shows his populist rhetoric not playing well with common folk anymore Political Relations- F Rod does not work well with others. - Anonymous - Monday, Jan 17, 05 @ 10:32 pm: it all depends on who you ask.. If you ask the normal everyday person that doesn’t follow it much, they think he’s doing all the right things. He’s protecting the elderly and helping the soccer moms. If you ask the legislators and some lobbyists, they think he doesn’t understand about governing. The whole idea of him changing the way business is done in Springfield is laughable. He’s kept his promise on Taxes…. That will probably save him. Unless he doesn’t work out his problem with Madigan.. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Jan 18, 05 @ 9:47 am: The Governor started out on the wrong foot by not moving into the mansion. Springfield really took that seriously. His big shows at the governor’s conventions really turned off the other governor’s - even the Dems. He has made many long time dedicated state employees lose their jobs or live in fear of losing their jobs. He has dismantled complete sections of DOT (Traffic Safety) just to remove one or two he thought were Republicans. The goings on at the Abe Lincoln Presidential Museum are laughable, if they weren’t so serious. The very good director of Preservation is gone for unknown reasons. He is all about himself - grade D. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Jan 18, 05 @ 3:15 pm: To Gov had a promising start. His first budget was accepted as a honeymoon present. He was highly visable both downstate and in Chicago and seemed to push the right buttons with the locals. When Doug Scofield left and Brad Tusk came in, a new attitutde seemed to emerge from this administration. All of the sudden, Rod was not the happy warrior that the electorate loves to see. He was confrontational, arrogant and misinformed. His realtionship with the legislature was destroyed through debacle after debacle (gaming, ISBE, “drunken sailors”, “Wallflower”, “Fathers’ Bidding” etc.)and his hapless national attacks on prescription drugs, video games and whatever else was polling well were transparent manuevers. With no love under the Capitol he sought an Edgar like approach to appeal to the public, it has not worked so far and is not looking bright for the future. Top all this off with being three hours late for everything. Our Governor is too insider to be a populist and too preachy to be an insider. Lack of GOP competition and the Dems shying away from an inter-party blood bath maybe the only thing that can save him. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Jan 18, 05 @ 6:07 pm: To Gov had a promising start. His first budget was accepted as a honeymoon present. He was highly visable both downstate and in Chicago and seemed to push the right buttons with the locals. When Doug Scofield left and Brad Tusk came in, {sic} This one says it all. Hey guys, you are going to have to fire some staff in bad times and with a new party in power. Why not? I am surpised Ryan didn’t do it with the Edgar folks. Did you really think the dole was going to last forever? - Anonymous - Tuesday, Jan 18, 05 @ 8:01 pm: Budget 101: Grade C- & dropping. Best way to describe this is from seeing that State Treasurer’s office (staff) and the State Comptroller’s office (staff) working and communicating with each other daily (often multiple times per day) on money, investments, cash flow, and all the other myriad arcane financial details. And then there’s the Governor’s “finance people” (assuming one can use that term without losing it) basically being shut out because they’ve got literally nothing of any value to contribute. And what makes it worse is that neither State office trusts virtually any of the Governor’s people (or the Governor himself) to let them be a player, because they are flat out convinced that it will be a fast return back to the “press conference agenda”. It’s really sad to see….. Governance 102: Grade: D (and dropping) See above. “Govern what….” If the inside players won’t talk/work with you or your people, there is minimal “Governance”. As a btw, in terms of both knowledge & Institutional Memory, IDOR looks like a ghost town. Literally, nobody knows anything these days - and if you really want to see unhappy people, watch legislative staff trying to get answers out of IDOR. As for IDPH (got dealings with some folks there), well, so far at least (as I hear it), Governor Blagojevich’s minions haven’t trashed IDPH (yet!), but they do say that all his “prescription drug” crusade nonsense against the FDA has created some negative feelings between IL/US government agencies. Nothing overt, it’s just that nobody wants to get hung out & roasted at one of his “press conflagrations”. So, nobody is willing to go out on a limb. Going to come back to haunt IL in the long run. Business Environment 103: Grade D The business tax hikes (particularly on the Transportation sectors) were just plainly not very smart (see both Political relations/Public Relations). I’ve heard more everyday citizen complaints about those taxes (visit Rochelle, and if you can, talk to the inside players about the UP Global III Intermodal facility, as an example), and how those taxes/proposed taxes have affected plans for them. Just as a point, we (IL) really need a similar facility downstate at someplace like say, Mt. Vernon Be an ideal location for an intermodal facility, except that any railroad corporation would have to be completely crazy to bank on Governor Blagojevich’s word. After all, virtually no legislators do. Which leads into the next 2 areas….. Public Relations: Grade: B/B- Got to give him some credit in this area. He’s right on top of “hot button” topics where he can score some fast points with the public, and he’s got a superbly well organized press team (as far as holding press conferences, they get LOTS of practice). But, in IMO the “Where’s The Beef?” is starting to catch up to him. Political Relations: Grade: Depends Upon Goal (A or F) A = Create a bipartisan alliance of politicians against you and your goals. F = Create a bipartisan alliance of politicians supporting you and your goals. I’ve got to stop now - thinking about Governor Blagojevich’s performance depresses me….. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Jan 18, 05 @ 9:30 pm: I’m guessing most of the anonymous posts are from state employees. Besides the takeover by CMS, we see things like the grossly inflated salaries that the people brought on board in the last two years are receiving (anywhere from $10-20,000/yr more than people in the same job titles who have been with the state for years are making) and then have to stomach seeing folks laid off at DNR and other agencies because “there is no money”. We see how GOMB has decided to micromanage the procurement system and review every contract that is issued for more than $10,000 — even if the contract involves federal dollars that are designated for specific projects and specific agencies. We are the ones who had to stomach taking an ethics test that was designed by a California company that gave big bucks to the Governor’s campaign war chest. Some of us had high hopes for this administration and have been greatly saddened by the chaos that has reigned for two years. There is good governance, and there is good public performance. Our state only has one. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Jan 19, 05 @ 8:28 pm: Oooh. Is there some major hypocrisy going here or what? Live in the Mansion??=Fluff, as it was for Edgar, Ryan and Thompson. They didn’t live there; they pretended to live there . . . What amazes me is the amount of hand-wringing that goes on because the Governor seeks media attention and asks the G.A. to take the lead on certain controversial issues: e.g., revenue sources, gambling, etc. Just because most of the statehouse press corps has a better relationship with Steve Brown than they do with Cheryl Jackson or Abby Ottenhoff doesn’t in any way diminish the fact that a Democratic Governor hasn’t proposed raising the income or sales tax. Fee increases? It was impossible to get anyone to print during the Edgar era the fact that fee increases were in fact “tax increases”. I remember the House Dems trying to do early mailers in ‘94 trying to pin certain suburban GOP reps with that label and, I believe, CapFax poo-poohed them as fees (targeted constituency increases rather than taxes). Today, just because the Speaker’s velvet hammer falls on Blago because he won’t Edgarize his economic wardrobe, everyone (meaning the statehouse press corps and CapFax’s legislative ears) has this clear vision of what “taxes” really are. Trust? I trust Marty Kovaric, Hotel loans, Rauschenberger’s commitment to highway safety, Rutherford and Service Master, and all these other GOPers who would turn around state government by what: not raising income or sales taxes (oops!, already there), cutting state government payroll (oops!, already done by at least 5,000), outlining their capital spending plans (like they ALWAYS did! before when Pate ran the show), or refusing any expansion of gambling (let’s see, legalized gambling in Illinois wasn’t signed by Walker was it?). The Governor is an easy target on “key” issues affecting Illinois: residency at the Governor’s mansion, the Governor’s prayer breakfast, his hair, his ability (or inability) to get free media, his understanding of the Cardinal’s lineup, his unwillingness to commit to higher sales and income taxes. Wow. Talk about the GOP and Brown making mountains out of nothing. It sounds like they’re longing for the good ole Thompson, Edgar, Ryan days when the pecking order was clear Madigan/Pate/Governor of the Day) and the money flowed freely. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Jan 19, 05 @ 8:31 pm: Anonymously suggested the posts were posted anonymously by anonymous state employees. Courageous deduction, anonymous. - Rich Miller - Wednesday, Jan 19, 05 @ 8:49 pm: I don’t recall EVER letting Edgar get away with calling a tax increase a fee increase. In fact, I eliminated the legislative subscription discount after he and the GA increased the phone tax (which Lee Daniels only half-jokingly referred to at the time as the “Rich Miller tax.”) So, my vitriol-filled anonymous friend, if you can back up your wild claims that I protected Edgar on taxes, then please do so. If not, then kindly crawl back under your tinfoil-covered rock. And this statement: “It was impossible to get anyone to print during the Edgar era the fact that fee increases were in fact ‘tax increases’” is absolutely bogus. The governor’s press secretary, Mike Lawrence, HIMSELF once said, after prodding from reporters, that he believed a particular fee increase proposed by his boss was really a tax increase. You don’t think that made headlines? Your post is so full of falsehoods and shameless, overwrought self-pity that I’m tempted to delete it. But I’ll keep it here as a good example of the whining that people like me have to listen to every day from people like yourself. I feel better now. Have a wonderful evening. - Anonymous - Thursday, Jan 20, 05 @ 5:00 pm: Actually, in response to the Blago’s defender, I bet the majority of people who have given him a failing rating on here are Dems, not GOPs. - Anonymous - Friday, Jan 21, 05 @ 7:11 am: There is a couch in the Speaker’s office with a couple of guys who might be able to refresh some memories about the media’s portrayal of Edgar’s fiscal policies, including his “fees”. In addition, Mike Lawrence didn’t just “step up” and admit that Edgar’s fees were taxes. It took a “little” time. One of us will shave. - Anonymous - Friday, Jan 21, 05 @ 7:23 am: I agree with the assessment that most of the posts were from Dems. That’s the problem. - Anonymous - Friday, Jan 21, 05 @ 3:46 pm: The governor should be applauded for not raising income and sales taxes, or at least for holding off increases so far. He has two years to go, and I am not optimistic. What is most significant about his tenure, however, is his failure to implement solutions to significant fiscal or social problems. Accounting tricks aren’t going to do it. He was hired by the electorate to develop real solutions. State government needs to be substantially downsized and the state pension system needs to be overhauled, yet so far, other than appoint a pension reform committee and offer a stunningly ineffective early retirement program, the governor has accomplished close to nothing in these areas. State government remains a repository of expensive (to the taxpayer) and obsolete jobs, and state employees enjoy benefits that most of the people who are supporting them (the rest of us) in this 21st century will never see(paid health insurance, paid pension, paid lifeinsurance, etc). Yet the governor can’t get obsolete prisons and mental hospitals closed. One solution to excessive bureaucracy is to treat more social service clients in the community, especially the mentally and physically handicapped, and juvenile offenders. It’s not just cheaper, it’s also far more humane. Yet Illinois lags behind most other states in rates of community care of vulnerable groups. And over at DCFS, although Illinois has one of the highest rates of foster care in the country, earlier (Republican) declines in foster care rates have slowed and the governor’s appointee as director has spoken of “de-emphasizing” adoption. He also announced to the Chicago Tribune that in the next fiscal year, federal grant monies will be shifted from prevention services designed to prevent foster care to services for teenage wards. This may not help Illinoisians at risk of harming their kids, but foster care is what generates state jobs and nice state contracts. We need a governor who is up to confronting and finding real solutions to problems. Who cares where he lives or how he gets along with his in-laws. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.