When I was in Iraq, there was a guy at my hotel who worked for the United Nations. His group was rewriting school textbooks, and he was focusing on math books.

Apparently, Saddam Hussein and the Baath Party were all over the books. From photos in the front, to inclusion in the daily lessons. The guy said it wasn’t so bad in the math books, but it was much worse in others.

Anyway, I thought of that UN worker when I read this Daily Herald story:

State income tax booklets mailed out to 1.5 million households this week contain a full-page promotion for “Governor Blagojevich’s All Kids program,” the state’s plan to provide health insurance to every child.

The prominent use of the governor’s name — in a mailer coming as the March primary approaches — will likely open the full-page promo to charges Blagojevich is violating the spirit of ethics rules he himself championed.

“If you were really committed to ethical reforms that you’ve been touting for the last four years, then you should bend over backward to make sure it doesn’t look like you’re benefiting from a state program as we approach a campaign,” said Kent Redfield, professor of political studies at the University of Illinois at Springfield. “And it draws attention away from the actual program and toward whether his name should be on it.”

A Blagojevich spokeswoman defended the promo, which is headlined “Are your children uninsured?” and located on Page 17 of the 20-page Form IL-1040 instructions.

The name of the state agency that will administer the program isn’t even mentioned.

Now, I’m not trying to compare Saddam Hussein to Rod Blagojevich, but the obsession this administration has with stamping the governor’s name on nearly everything the state produces has reached ridiculous proportions.

And, again, there’s no comparison except for some fun satire, but you can’t help but wonder whether his successor will use Army tanks to tear down those gigantic tollway signs after Blagojevich leaves office.

(Hat tip to a commenter.)

UPDATE:From Edwin Eisendrath’s campaign:

“This is another sad example of Governor Blagojevich politicizing everything he touches. Is there one thing he can do that doesn’t cause people to wonder if he is using taxpayer dollars for his own political purposes? The people of Illinois deserve a Governor who will simply do the people’s business,” said Edwin Eisendrath, Democratic Candidate for Governor in response to growing concerns about a recent tax booklet mailing by the Blagojevich campaign.