Let’s see… where to begin? The beauty of covering Gov. Blagojevich is that there’s always something. Always.

The guv dissed the Tribune’s John Chase during his press conference yesterday and the Trib story piled it on high.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich acknowledged Thursday he helped get a state job for a friend whose husband wrote a $1,500 check to the governor’s daughter, but said it was “ludicrous” to suggest the job and gift were connected.

Blagojevich also offered a new, contradictory explanation for the check in his first detailed comments since the Tribune reported two weeks ago that the FBI is investigating the woman’s allegation that the gift may have come in return for her job. […]

“And (I) suggested to my chief of staff to see if he can find something that fits her qualifications,” Blagojevich said. “That’s all I know.”

I noticed last night when watching the full video that he didn’t say the word “I” when he talked about passing along her name to Lon Monk. Anyway, back to the story.

But on Thursday, the governor said he wasn’t sure what the money was for and suggested it could have been a christening present for his youngest child, Annie, who was born in April 2003.

The christening was in Springfield, and I believe if memory serves it was during the legislative session. So if the check was written in August or September (the guv mentioned September yesterday) then it wasn’t for a christening.. Memory did not serve. The christening was in August.

The Trib also has a separate story entitled “Key statements in controversy.”

Reporter: What account did the check go in?

Blagojevich: We disclose all of that. And the disclosures show that all of the kids’ money for college goes into a mutual fund for college.

The Tribune then tossed in an editorial for good measure, “Pay for play(time).”

Even if everyone accepts that the Ascaridises are so fond of the Blagojevich children that they wanted to give about two weeks of Beverly’s pay to the little ones, there are loads of other questions about this.

- The job was located in Whiteside County, 130 miles from the Ascaridis home in Chicago. But it was transferred to DuPage County shortly after Ascaridis got it. “I don’t even know where Whiteside County is,” Beverly Ascaridis told the Tribune. Who profited from that sleight of hand? The people of the state or the governor’s buddy?

- Did a military veteran lose out because of this deal? The state inspector general has reported that the Blagojevich administration has gotten around state rules that give hiring preference to veterans by hiring people in rural counties, where few veterans apply for jobs, and then moving the jobs elsewhere. (Whiteside County has about 60,000 people.)

- Why did Blagojevich file a 2003 ethics statement, then amend it in 2005 to include Michael and Beverly Ascaridis as having given gifts of more than $500?

And the Sun-Times editorial page jabbed the guv for yet another atrocious auditor general report.

If Gov. Blagojevich is counting on making his prescription drug program part of his re-election plank, he should reconsider. A report from Illinois Auditor General William Holland shows the drug program, as well as the governor’s efforts to buy flu shots in 2004, may not be anything to brag about. Both of the programs broke federal laws, the report concludes. Both had significant management lapses. Both failed to meet expectations. Neither is a good example of government at work.

The Ascaridis story and the ISaveRX stories are connected. On Wednesday, the governor defiantly vowed to continue violating federal drug importation laws. Yesterday, he claimed Topinka’s campaign was violating a minor state election law and said something to the effect of “it’s the law.”

I sometimes think that the man has no self-awareness at all.

*** UPDATE *** If you go to the 1:22 mark in video one, the governor says this:

“Now, let me be clear, the law is the law. The law, L-A-W, requires full disclosures on campaign finance reports.”