Trust, pigs, vetoes and Obama
Friday, Aug 15, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Mayor Daley is back in Chicago, so he was asked about Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s plan to call him up and get him to intervene in the Statehouse imbroglio over the capital bill…
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley isn’t sure what he can do to end a feud between Gov. Rod Blagojevich and House Speaker Michael Madigan over a stalled statewide capital construction program.
“Patch what up? This been going on for how long?” Daley told reporters Thursday.
* Hizzoner explains further…
“You can’t break trust, once you break trust then you have a difficult time, it doesn’t have nothing to do with Mayor Daley, this has to do with government, first and foremost. Once you break trust, it is hard to build the trust back up.”
* More…
Blagojevich spokesman Lucio Guerrero said the governor wants the mayor to get involved because Chicago stands to gain from a capital program if they can push it through the General Assembly.
Daley said the Democrats who run the state should be able to come up with a capital program that makes it clear to all lawmakers what public works projects would get done in their districts.
* Meanwhile, the governor compared showing pigs to dealing with the Legislature…
The Democratic governor, his wife, Patti, and 5-year-old daughter, Annie, climbed into a ring at the Illinois State Fair’s Swine Pavilion and took a pig for a quick spin before the show judges.
Blagojevich said there are a “lot of similarities” between working on the state budget and leading a pig around a pen.
“You know, you’ve got to take a knife to pork,” said Blagojevich, who campaigned against lawmakers pet projects but has doled them out as part of budget talks.
The Blagojeviches gently guided the big pig around a ring by lightly tapping it with a stick, but the governor insisted he didn’t need one.
“Are you kidding me? I’m used to working with people like this,” Blagojevich said.
* While Senate President Jones mulls his options on bringing the General Assembly back to town, the governor lashed out at anyone who would vote for his two amendatory vetoes in order to set up a lawsuit…
The Illinois Senate may soon return to Springfield to address health care for young adults and the elimination of property taxes for severely disabled veterans.
Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago) is reviewing his options at this point, said Cindy Davidsmeyer, his spokeswoman. […]
At the state fair Thursday, Blagojevich said “it’s hard to believe” that lawmakers would vote for legislation “to set up a lawsuit to take health care away from young adults.”
The Democratic governor said that would be “an act of gross dishonesty and a fraud” and considers the lawmakers’ actions sincere.
* You gotta wonder whether the delegation will be surrounded by armed guards…
Illinois delegates will have the best seats when the Democrats meet later this month at the Pepsi Center in Denver to make Barack Obama the party nominee. It’s traditional for home state delegates to get prime position on the floor.
* Related…
* FBI didn’t need billboard to see this insider cabal
* SJ-R Opinion: All sides must give ground for capital bill
* Former Blagojevich staffer to lead Obama Illinois campaign press office
- Independent - Friday, Aug 15, 08 @ 9:17 am:
It’s time for Daley to step up in the Blago/Jones - Madigan feud. Daley and his PR machine crow about how he’s an exceptional leader. Now is the time to prove it. Richard Daley is the only Illinois Democrat with the prominence, political capital, and personal connections with all three to broker a truce.
Blago is obviously a pain to work with but he is still the governor. It’s time for Daley to step up and get these three men to the table. My respect for Daley as a leader would rise tenfold if he could mitigate this feud and help produce results for Illinois.
- wordslinger - Friday, Aug 15, 08 @ 9:27 am:
==The Blagojeviches gently guided the big pig around a ring by lightly tapping it with a stick, but the governor insisted he didn’t need one.
“Are you kidding me? I’m used to working with people like this,” Blagojevich said.==
He might want to get his money back from the Dale Carnegie school.
- The Doc - Friday, Aug 15, 08 @ 9:31 am:
Independent, I strongly disagree. I don’t want Daley anywhere near Springfield on the heels of a reported $420 million hole in Chicago’s budget, the country’s highest big-city sales tax, an increasing litany of fines and fees, a costly and questionable airport expansion project, corruption scandals plaguing multiple departments, and Orwellian-like policies. All on his watch.
I want him as far away as possible from state government. Adding him to the dysfunctional mix is a truly bad idea.
- Independent - Friday, Aug 15, 08 @ 9:36 am:
Daley doesn’t have to dive into the nitty-gritty of state budget numbers and I wouldn’t want him to. He should take more of a big picture role, stress how much Illinois is suffering with this impasse, mitigate personality clashes, and just get them to talk.
- Springfield Alum - Friday, Aug 15, 08 @ 9:45 am:
Lucio Guerero’s comments were telling. The Governor doesn’t want Mayor Daley to try to mediate the feud between the Governor and Speaker. He wants the Mayor to side with him and put some pressure on Madigan to support his capital plan. If it were a well thought out plan, that’s one thing. (If it were a good plan, one could argue that the Speaker probably would have been all for it and we wouldn’t be in the situation we are in now.) However, it’s, borrowing from the Mayor, silly, silly, silly.
- Crystal Clear - Friday, Aug 15, 08 @ 9:48 am:
=Daley doesn’t have to dive into the nitty-gritty of state budget numbers and I wouldn’t want him to.=
If Daley gets involved, he will get his pound of flesh ($’s).
- fed up - Friday, Aug 15, 08 @ 10:01 am:
Ill. unemployment rate is 7.3% higher than the national avg and higher than bordering states, just a quick thank you to Blago, Jones, Madigan , Daley and stroger, way to destroy the state guys.
- Bill - Friday, Aug 15, 08 @ 10:19 am:
“Are you kidding me? I’m used to working with people like this,”
Good one, Rod. This guy kills me!
- Sal Says: - Friday, Aug 15, 08 @ 10:30 am:
“How to Win Friends and Influence People !” Now this IS Whackadoodle.
Quoting above: ‘The Blagojeviches gently guided the big pig around a ring by lightly tapping it with a stick, but the governor insisted he didn’t need one.
“Are you kidding me? I’m used to working with people like this,” Blagojevich said.’
And, ‘working WITH’? Please.
- Ghost - Friday, Aug 15, 08 @ 10:40 am:
you must admit, the Gov loves to use the stick as his preffered way to lead.
If only somone had shown him how to use carrots instead.
- Anon - Friday, Aug 15, 08 @ 11:05 am:
Regarding the first picture -
Can’t you just hear the crickets chirp?
- VanillaMan - Friday, Aug 15, 08 @ 11:10 am:
The Blagojeviches gently guided the big pig around a ring by lightly tapping it with a stick, but the governor insisted he didn’t need one.
Instead, the Governor began to berate the animal, “Move along Porky! What are you, a Republican? Listen, if you won’t do what I ask, you will force me to bring in the Mayor. He’ll back me.”
“You’re problem is that you are a corrupted little piggy! Always demanding more feed while the working people of Illinois see higher gas bills and property taxes!”
The pig that Blagojevich was trying to lead, then suddenly bolted away from the Governor, who became angry and louder in his denunciations. “What’s your problem? Don’t you have any brains at all? You are acting like a drunken sailor, a Madigan stooge. He calls the shots and you just act like a lemming.”
Frightened by the Governor’s taunt, the pig started defecating on Blagojevich’s loafer as the crowd laughed. Blagojevich turned purple with rage and grabbed the stick held by his daughter Annie and began poking the frightened animal. This caused it to squeal loudly and charge the Governor. Blagojevich grabbed his daughter and held her in front of him as the pig, angry at being mistreated, roared at him.
In response, Blagojevich cowered while holding Annie tightly, “What’s the matter with you? Can’t you see my family and I are trying to enjoy the Fair? You are ruining this family outing with your demands!”
As Blagojevich scrambled from the show area, the crowd jeered him and Lisa Madigan appeared behind the bleachers. The pig immediately trotted up to the Attorney General and nuzzled her left leg.
“All he had to do is lead it by showing a little respect”, Ms. Madigan answered when asked why the pink porker happily complied with her commands.
- Bill - Friday, Aug 15, 08 @ 11:14 am:
Now, VM, that is really funny for a change. Especially the defecating on his shoe part.
- wordslinger - Friday, Aug 15, 08 @ 1:34 pm:
According to the Illinois Work Info Center, Illinois has 8.8 million people working and 437,600 unemployed.
Why do we need to borrow money and lease assets to fund a capitol bill that allegedly would create 700,000 jobs? Has there ever been a coherent justification for the size of the program?
- Phineas J. Whoopee - Friday, Aug 15, 08 @ 1:37 pm:
From the clips I saw, the pig was leading around Blago.
- VanillaMan - Friday, Aug 15, 08 @ 2:29 pm:
==It’s traditional for home state delegates to get prime position on the floor.==
I can hear Obama now, “That’s not the Illinois delegation that I knew. That’s not the Illinois governor that I helped elect. That’s not the Illinois Democratic Party Leader that I followed. Emil Jones? Never heard of him!”
- Six Degrees of Separation - Friday, Aug 15, 08 @ 3:49 pm:
Wordslinger-
Everyone jumps on this “700,000 jobs” bandwagon, on both sides, as if it is 700,000 simultaneous jobs jumping into the economy. The truth is that
1.) the 25 or 34 billion won’t be spent in one year but spread over several;
2.) The “induced jobs” from each billion invested only last as long as the money lasts and are not permanent. If 5 billion is spent in a year, that roughly translates to 150,000 direct and indirect jobs supported FOR THAT YEAR, using federal statistics for spurred employment from capital infrastructure initiatives;
3.) The jobs represent more full employment for many who are underemployed, especially in the building trades. So some, if not many or most,of the workers who would directly benefit are not counted among the 437,600 “hard” unemployed.
4.) In any case, we would expect the state’s unemployment rate to go down if a large infusion of construction capital came in. By how much, who knows? Full employment of 100% can never be achieved because there is always some transience, no matter how robust the economy.
A little insight and common sense on both sides of this, please.