Question of the day
Thursday, Mar 4, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The setup…
A trip through the Hall of Governors at the state Capitol might leave a person feeling like they are forgetting someone. Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich is not among the portraits of all the other former governors hanging in the hall.
That doesn’t bother state Rep. Bill Black (R-Danville). He is sponsoring legislation to prohibit the state from paying for the portrait of an impeached and convicted governor. Black says the cost of those portraits can be as high as $25,000, and he thinks the taxpayers shouldn’t have to foot the bill.
* The Question: Envision the official Blagojevich portrait. Got it? OK. What is he doing?
Keep it clean, please.
- Downstate Commissioner - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 11:28 am:
He is sitting in a jail cell, behind bars, dressed in a clown costume.
- Ken in Aurora - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 11:29 am:
I envision a candid in the style of Norman Rockwell with the Rodster lovingly primping his hair in a mirror.
- siriusly - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 11:29 am:
He is wearing a jogging suit and he is getting Richard Nixon’s autograph.
- Anon - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 11:29 am:
Lifting weights in a prison yard.
- Ghost - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 11:31 am:
curled up in a fetal position on a floor with an inlay of the state seal, muttering, “It was bleeping golden…”
- HMMM - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 11:31 am:
Jogging but this also begs a question is it a impeached and convicted or is it a impeached or convicted governor.
As Blago was impeached but not yet convicted and George Ryan was not impeached but was convicted who has to pay for the pictures of these two gems?
- 47th Ward - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 11:32 am:
He’s in full Elvis regalia: the jumpsuit and cape, sequins, sunglasses and of course, the hair. The details are important, we need to see the gold necklace with the bolt of lightening and “TCB” etched into it.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 11:32 am:
HMMM, Blagojevich was impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate.
- Saluki09 - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 11:34 am:
HMMM: I assume that the impeached and convicted means impeached by the House and then convicted by the Senate, rather than it being a reference to the criminal proceedings. Then again, that is an assumption.
- Sewanee - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 11:34 am:
Getting fired by Donald Trump
- Plutocrat03 - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 11:35 am:
At a microphone wearing an Elvis getup.
With luck there could be Jailhouse Rock playing in the background.
Seriously…take a nice digital photo, print it out on canvas…Job done for less than 200 bucks!
- TJ - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 11:37 am:
Sitting in a prison cell wearing an orange jumpsuit getting a prison tat from his cellmate George Ryan and leaning forward with his chin in his hands smiling as an imagination bubble is above his head showing him dressed in an Elvis Presley outfit while standing in front of a series of Blagojevich 2016 campaign signs.
I think that juxtaposing his delusional side with reality would be the only way to go.
- bored now - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 11:39 am:
an empty frame. saves the state the money and just about says it all…
- Interested Observer - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 11:40 am:
47th Ward - you forgot that the portrait should be on black velvet.
- Prognosis Negative - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 11:41 am:
A giant Godzilla-sized Blago shaking Children’s Memorial Hospital.
- 312 - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 11:42 am:
In a jogging suit, wearing an Elvis wig, holding a “##@?& golden ticket”!
- Angry Chicagoan - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 11:43 am:
I think a certain degree of formality is required with these things. You’d have Blago sitting at a slight recline in an armchair, in the traditional way. On his face, the sort of self-righteous gaze he’s good at. On tbe side table, perhaps a few bottles of hair product, along with a voodoo doll of some other state politician who has stood up to him. In the bookcase, an appropriate selection of tawdry reality show DVD jackets — C*O*P*S, Get Me Out of Here and so on — along with a file box of IOUs. A painting or objet d’art in the background that symbolizes un a subtle way the collapse of Illinois.
The key here is quiet satire. Light entertainment for visitors to the Capitol that makes it worth the expense of commissioning the painting and memorializes the record of his administration.
- George - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 11:44 am:
Ok, maybe instead of a blurred-out wardrobe malfunction, it can be just a painting of him with his mouth blurred out. Or pixelated.
And a constant beep coming from behind the frame.
- Vote Quimby! - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 11:45 am:
A screen shot from his first attempted TV role on “I’m Kind of a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here but Bring The Cameras”: falling into Central America. It should be cheap to digitize something…maybe a tenth of what Rep. Black said. I’d chip in…
- colt 45 - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 11:46 am:
sitting around a table playing poker with ryan, walker and kerner
- dave - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 11:46 am:
They could just blow up his mug shot.
- Whatever - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 11:46 am:
How about a “wanted” poster with a black and white photo of Blago? A lot cheaper than a pricey oil painting.
- Justice - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 11:50 am:
His picture and in the background a “Lady Justice wearing a blindfold and holding a scale. There is a pile of money on one side that says Mine and nothing on the other side that says The Peoples’.
- LN - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 11:50 am:
I suggest enlarging that picture of him and some tourists in the Governor’s office, where the man is standing behind him holding out a $20 while Blago is oblivious. That one gets me every time.
- VanillaMan - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 11:54 am:
Make it look as official and normal as any other governor. We need to show people that one cannot determine honesty by a person’s appearance alone.
- Montrose - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 11:56 am:
Don’t forget the kitty. There has to be a kitty.
- Jake from Elwood - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 11:57 am:
LN beat me to it. That one is perfect and already in print.
- irish - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 11:57 am:
Against a background of $100, $500 and $1000 bills. Just the blacked out silhouette of Blago from the chest up. ( like on those game shows where you have to guess qwho it is by their silhouette.) And a small placard with, “The $25,000.00 Man”, on it.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 11:58 am:
Sitting cross-legged in a white padded room, wearing a straight-jacket and one of those mouth-ball thingies with a wild look in his eyes.
- OneMan - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 12:00 pm:
Sitting in his office chair with that guy holding up money behind him…
- OneMan - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 12:06 pm:
He should be looking at a map trying to locate Springfield
- TaxMeMore - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 12:07 pm:
Elvis get up on black velvet are great ideas. Holding a hair brush for a microphone. I’d have Madigan and Daley, Blago campaign co-chairs, in the background as his band.
- siriusly - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 12:08 pm:
He should be portrayed where he spent most of his time governing. You know like the Capitol Building, the Governor’s Mansion or the Governor’s Office in the JRTC.
Remember how right after his arrest he “went back to work as usual” every day at the JRTC. That was a good one Rod!
- siriusly - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 12:11 pm:
“and one of those mouth-ball thingies” LOL
Rich I heard a lot of rumors about the guy - but “going gimp” wasn’t one of them!
- 47th Ward - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 12:13 pm:
===you forgot that the portrait should be on black velvet===
IO, that’s a great suggestion. In fact, they could make velvet rugs of the official portrait and sell them from vans in abandoned parking lots all across the state. Maybe then the state can recoup some of the cost of the portrait and Black’s bill won’t be necessary.
I mean, who hasn’t seen those rug guys by the side of the road, with leopards and unicorns, and dogs playing poker. Rod’s Elvis portrait would be a top seller.
- Stones - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 12:13 pm:
Primping in front of a mirror.
- Too Easy! - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 12:18 pm:
In Elvis garb from head to toe with the name plate that says Elvis Has Left The Building, along with the date of his Impeachment.
- Bill - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 12:19 pm:
Sitting on the bench of the United States Supreme Court.
- FOIA Fan - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 12:20 pm:
They should put up a mirror in lieu of a painting– a reminder that each one of us is to blame, in some small degree, for letting the nutcase get as far as he did for as long as he did.
- San Juan - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 12:23 pm:
Just reprint the Sun Times photo of him in the alley behind his home with the Rat poster on the utility pole. Priceless.
- D.P. Gumby - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 12:24 pm:
Let’s do something avant garde–a video installation of all his greatest photos, including all those mentioned so far, w/ a soundtrack of Elvis and the wiretaps mashed-up together
- White Rabbit - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 12:24 pm:
The portrait should be based off the picture of him peering from behind the telephone pole that had the rat extermination poster stapled to it.
- Beowulf - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 12:28 pm:
He is tying some fair young maiden to a railroad track as he smiles and twirls his newly grown moustache between his fingers. A new “Twist” on “the culture of the hair”(Sorry, Mr.McKenna).
- Bue - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 12:36 pm:
Eating cake
- Anon - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 12:39 pm:
Can someone link to this Blago alley rat poster pic? Or tell me where I can find it? Sounds priceless!
- not applicable - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 12:41 pm:
He is sitting in Obama’s US Senate Seat.
- dupage dan - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 12:48 pm:
Sitting in the oval office with the seal of the President of the United States behind him and a big red stripe thru the whole thing.
or,
Sitting on a white horse with his hand shoved into his shirt and wearing a tricorn hat. Our very own Napolean Bonaparte
- irish - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 12:53 pm:
===Anon==== http://newsbusters.org/blogs/ken-shepherd/2008/12/10/special-blagojevich-scandal-captionfest
- Third Generation Chicago Native - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 1:00 pm:
Yes, a portrait should be done, he is part of Illinois Government History. Should we take Ryan’s picture down? No, he is also part of history.
- Small Town Liberal - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 1:07 pm:
Tape a picture of him to a dartboard and charge a dollar per throw. Budget problem solved.
- OneMan - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 1:07 pm:
== Sitting on the bench of the United States Supreme Court. ==
As part of NBC’s new show, No you did not just drop LSD
Or perhaps playing right field in Wrigley…
- Downstate weed chewing hick - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 1:17 pm:
Bill Black is my rep and I usually agree with him, but I think he is wrong. That $25K is only one view and for Rod, we will need one from the front and one from the side.
- vole - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 1:19 pm:
Head pic, framed by the window on the state plane, The Worst Way Express.
- walter sobchak - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 1:21 pm:
His portrait has already been painted and can not be improved upon. It hangs above the bar at the Old Town Ale House on North Avenue in Chicago. I’m sure the owners would give it to the Hall of Governor’s on permanent loan for a nominal fee. Perhaps Rich could put a copy on this site and ask for comments!
- Fed Up - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 1:23 pm:
Full fronal view of him tearing up the state constitution.
- One of the 35 - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 1:28 pm:
How about a 3″ by 5″ polaroid in a tiny frame?
- zatoichi - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 1:31 pm:
Cover art of MAD magazine with full Alfred E head shot smirk and the motto “What was he thinking?” ribboned across the bottom.
- showmethemoney - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 1:38 pm:
dressed in his arrest day sweatsuit doing his hair ala “The Fonz”
- Lefty Lefty - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 1:52 pm:
I did the “envisioning” thing and all I came up with was Alfred E. Neuman with a blanker look on his face.
- SAP - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 1:56 pm:
The Kramer
- Anonymous - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 2:03 pm:
Rich,
That ‘mouth-ball thingy’ is called a ball gag. And don’t act like you didn’t know that
- Captain Flume - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 2:06 pm:
Well, he is dressed as a drunken sailor and has a huge stack of papers with a hammer and sickle imprinted on it representing Soviet bureaucracy ISBE rules next to him and holding a voodoo doll of Michael J. Madigan in one hand and an invoice for flu vaccines in the other while over his shoulder is the small barely discernible image of John Filan wearing a t-shirt with words Groundbreaking and Landmark and $10 Billion! printed on it all framed by an I-Pass toll plaza with his name emblazoned on the sign above.
- Quizzical - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 2:09 pm:
I second Mr. Sobchak. The portrait from the Old Town Ale House is priceless. Otherwise, maybe him looking into a mirror primping his hair, but in the mirror he is wearing Roman armor or some other getup of a character he has compared himself to.
- Moving to Oklahoma - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 2:10 pm:
There is a “Far Side” cartoon of a kid pushing on a door that is labeled “pull.” outside the building is a sign that reads “Midvale School for the Gifted”
I would go with a parody of that, with Rod pushing the door, and the sign in the front yard saying “Gov Blagojevich’s office.”
here is a link for reference.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_xZJENponhAc/RmHMZmm2d1I/AAAAAAAAAHg/g0HSLDoGjBM/s400/farside1.gif
- Bongo Furry - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 2:56 pm:
The portrait should be of his better days. He should be perched like a lap dog at the feet of Dick Mell.
A place that if he stayed, he would probably still be the Governor.
- Way Way Down Here - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 3:06 pm:
Absent when pictures were taken.
- Obamarama - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 3:16 pm:
Holding up the a front page Trib story about himself headlined “Acquitted!” in one hand and the middle finger up on the other.
- Levois - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 3:28 pm:
“Getting fired by Donald Trump”
I think we have a winner!
- Anonymiss - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 3:30 pm:
It would a portrait of Rod painting a portrait of himself.
- Anonymiss - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 3:30 pm:
It would be*, that is.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 4:44 pm:
Rod in the black jumpsuit, boarding the state plane, hairbrush in hand.
- OneMan - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 4:59 pm:
Rod in the orange jumpsuit
- Forgotten Few - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 4:59 pm:
He’s pointing to a “kitty” with one hand and accepting some cash behind his back with the other.
- SilverBack - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 5:04 pm:
Is his official “booking mug shot” available? Possibly on The Smoking Gun?
- Moderate REpub - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 5:20 pm:
25,000.00 Man”, on it.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 11:58 am:
Sitting cross-legged in a white padded room, wearing a straight-jacket and one of those “mouth-ball thingies” with a wild look in his eyes.
called a ball gag.
Blago sitting at a bar with a scared look on his face and Mike Jacobs standing in the doorway of the bar with a grin on his face.
- Boone Logan Square - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 5:22 pm:
Shaking down a sick child with a “wha’ me worry?” grin on his face.
- ZC - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 5:46 pm:
No picture of Rod. Just a white silhouette on the black frame next to the other gubs, and a message, “Your face here - contact Rod. Highest offer, no bids below $25,000 considered.”
- RJW - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 6:07 pm:
I think it should show him sitting at a table with his hands outstreached, while other anonymous hands reach into the picture with wads of money in them.
- 32nd Ward Roscoe Village - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 6:58 pm:
Captain Flume, you forgot the kitty and a CTA bus full of seniors riding for free in the background.
- Hickory - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 8:16 pm:
Only a fool would pay $25g fo a picture.
- Lazy Intern - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 10:07 pm:
Waving smiling as people in the background look on joyously at him.
- unclesam - Thursday, Mar 4, 10 @ 10:08 pm:
Here’s the scene of the picture:
Foreground: Rod sitting behind his desk, appears to be signing a piece of paper. Big wooden desk — solid- cannot see below his torso; however, his head is down just slightly so his hair is the centerpiece. On the front of the desk is the Illinois State symbol. On the top of the desk, to his left, are some neatly organized papers, but one sheet — a golden colored sheet — is sticking out just enough to be noticed.
In the background: It’s a credenza that matches the desk and stretches the length of the wall — but met by bookcases on either end. Nothing on the credenza, but above are three pictures: a portrait of Kennedy on the left, a portrait of Nixon on the right, and a picture of Wrigley Field in the center. Each book case has four shelves — three of the four shelves on each side contain books. On the remaining shelf on the bookcase on the left is a small mirror. On the remaing shelf on the bookshelf on the right is a bust of Elvis and a hairbrush.
Last, ever so gently, in the far right corner of the floor at the bottom of the credenza is a black kitty.