Besides the multiple federal investigations he’s facing, Gov. Blagojevich has 65,000 other reasons he might have trouble persuading state lawmakers this week to “follow my lead” on ethics reform.
The governor has kept $65,000 in campaign contributions from one of his administration’s former top employees, Ali D. Ata, even though Ata pleaded guilty to felony charges earlier this year.
After cutting a deal with federal prosecutors in April, Ata testified against former top Blagojevich adviser and fund-raiser Tony Rezko, who was convicted in June of wide-ranging corruption involving state deals.
After a Sun-Times reporter asked about the Ata contributions, Blagojevich campaign spokesman Doug Scofield said Sunday he was not aware of Ata’s money being dumped.
* Despite his own, very real problems, Gov. Blagojevich had the temerity to call out Rep. John Fritchey by name during his press conference last week…
Blagojevich is proposing a more comprehensive ethics plan that would… require lawmakers who lobby on behalf of corporate clients to disclose the clients and the fees. That’s a direct slap at Speaker Michael Madigan and state Rep. John Fritchey. The speaker’s law firm handles corporate property tax appeals, and the governor says Fritchey did legal work for pay day loan clients.
“Across the board ethics reform so that the taxpayers can have a better bang for their buck,” the governor said.
However, Fritchey was infuriated by the allegations. He says he never lobbied for pay day loan companies and that Blagojevich knows it.
“The governor has resorted to an all-new low, even for him. His allegations are pathetic and border on pathological,” Fritchey said. [emphasis added]
Now the point of this post isn’t to retract my statements. I stand by everything that I said. But that being said, I sincerely think that it is unfortunate that the situation has devolved to the point where our state’s Governor is routinely vocally derided by people from across the political and geographical divides of our state. […]
I want to publicly say that if my comments somehow are taken to be disrespectful to our state, they are intended to be anything but. I believe in our state, and I believe that we deserve better. I want to believe that the public knows the passion that underlies my statements, but I feel better making sure that there is no doubt.
Approving a long-awaited Illinois ethics bill could give political ammunition to Republican presidential candidate John McCain, according statements Gov. Rod Blagojevich made on Friday.
With two proposals on the table in Springfield this week, Blagojevich said voting for the one the governor opposes could make Barack Obama look soft on ethics.
“What I’m afraid of is that this is a Republican trap and they’re setting Barack Obama up by using this ethics issue in Illinois,” Blagojevich said in Chicago on Friday.
“Sometime in October in those battleground states, you’ll be seeing TV ads that … will start accusing Sen. Obama of coming back to Illinois to help his old friends in the Illinois General Assembly.”
* Well, McCain does have a new TV ad, but it’s not quite what the governor predicted…
Text…
ANNCR: Barack Obama. Born of the corrupt Chicago political machine.
BARACK OBAMA: In terms of my toughness, look, first of all, I come from Chicago.
ANNCR: His economic adviser, William Daley. Lobbyist. Mayor’s brother.
His money man, Tony Rezko. Client. Patron. Convicted Felon.
His “political godfather.” Emil Jones. Under ethical cloud.
His governor, Rod Blagojevich. A legacy of federal and state investigations.
With friends like that, Obama is not ready to lead.
Cynthia Canary, director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, called Blagojevich’s comments “delusional” and “loony.
Her group opposed the governor’s changes and asked Obama to speak with Jones.
“He doesn’t care about his political party or the course of this nation,” Canary said of the governor.Obama’s campaign declined to comment on Blagojevich’s remarks. But Sen. Terry Link of Waukegan, a close Obama friend and former state legislative colleague, said the governor was attempting to kill the original ethics measure.
* Related…
* State Capitol Notebook: “I think the governor will do whatever it takes,” spokesman Lucio Guerrero said Friday, when asked about the possibility of keeping lawmakers in town until they approve his “real” ethics reform ideas.
* Blagojevich says he’s ‘followed every rule that exists’: “You’re missing the heart of it and missing the truth of it. The reality is I’ve followed every rule that exists and no one has said otherwise,” Blagojevich said.
