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Guv strays off script, but runs powerful TV ad * Updated x3 *

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Illinois

[Updated twice and bumped up.]

The governor finally came out of seclusion today and I’m told the results weren’t pretty.

At one point, he reportedly said the check to his daughter (he was apparently confused as to which daughter) was a christening gift, which runs counter to the party line that it was a birthday gift. He also said he told Lon Monk, his former chief of staff, to get Beverly Ascaridis a job.

Hopefully, we’ll have video soon.

In the meantime, check out the new TV ad from the Blagojevich campaign. It is not good for JBT at all. Ouch.

A whole lot more people will see that TV ad than the coverage of the guv’s public stumble, unless JBT puts that in an ad.

*** UPDATE *** AP:

…Blagojevich also said he suggested to his chief of staff to see if he could find something that fit her qualifications.

But Blagojevich vehemently denied there was any quid pro quo from accepting the check from his lifelong friend Michael Ascaridis. […]

Blagojevich also seemed to muddy the waters about the purpose of the check which his office has said was a birthday gift to one of his daughters. Blagojevich said the check came about the time his other daughter was born and christened.

I can’t help but wonder if the story about the check has now changed because the fifteenhunnert was never deposited into a college fund.

The daughter, by the way, was born in April. The check was supposedly handed over in August.

*** UPDATE 2 *** ABC7:

In a 15-minute exchange, an agitated governor said he couldn’t be expected to recreate a 40-year relationship, that the gift check issue is ridiculous and there’s nothing to it. […]

The Governor repeated several times — during persistent questioning — that the check went into his daughter’s college fund and that a gift of that size is normal among life-long friends.

So, the Governor was asked, have you written any $1,500 checks as gifts to young relatives?

“It’s quite possible I could have done more than that for my nephew. And I know over the years my wife and I have contributed to the gifts of our nephews. We have two of them now,” said Blagojevich.

The ABC7 video of the story is now up.

*** UPDATE 3 *** CBS2:

â€œThe year of this birthday gift, or christening gift, or whatever it was, was the year our baby Annie was born,â€ Blagojevich said. â€œAnd it was probably the time when Annie was christened down in Springfield and my best friend and his family were at the christening. My guess is that the gift was in a card.â€

The governor also responded for the first time to a story published yesterday in the Chicago Sun-Times claiming that some of his top political operatives may have tried unsuccessfully to extort campaign contributions from a Hollywood movie producer and a money management fund he partly owned.

Blagojevich said there is absolutely nothing to it and that he never authorized anyone to make such threats. He said that in the end the fund, Capri Capital, did get the state business without having to make the campaign contributions that were allegedly sought.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 5:03 pm

Comments

KA BOOM

Comment by heet101 Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 3:07 pm
Do you think it became a christening gift when the Blagojevich’s realized they never deposited the check into her college fund?

I wonder what Joe Power’s clients think of this change in messaging — their statements to the FBI apparently say something else.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 3:10 pm
Saw the TV ad this morning. Very effective, and an excellent visual: Judy standing next to George Ryan on stage at an event, with the banner between them reading “Thank you, Gov. Ryan !”

Ouch.

Comment by Scott Fawell's Cellmate Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 3:11 pm
This ad will make little difference JBT has a lot of monentum and more will come out on him.Plus he just gave new energy to the check story.

Comment by DOWNSTATE Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 3:16 pm
This new add will cause a momentary bump for Topinka that she can easily counter with any one of the many missteps the Governor is currently making.

Topinka just needs to keep pounding away on this $1,500 dollar check that really has people talking. Now that he’s stuck his foot further into his mouth on this one she really has a good commercial angle all laid out for her without her staff even having to try. Blagojevich is just handing her more so she can end his political career.

After all what Topinka said at a State Fair political event isn’t illegal what Blagojevich is being accused of doing is illegal.

Comment by Sound Reasoning Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 3:24 pm
Hey Rich,

Is this organization legit, or is this more politcal fluff? They’ve been announcing this phone number on the radio all day.
The Chicago Crime Commission’s government-corruption hot line is available 24-hours a day. Call 888-393-6646.The hot line will provide automated prompts. The commission’s Web site, www.888EYEONGOV.org

Comment by Guy Fawkes Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 3:25 pm
Correction to Anonymous:
The FBI never stormed into Topinka’s office. There was an investigation based on the allegation of a single employee. The Treasurer’s Office turned over all pertinent information that was requested and when no wrongdoing was discovered the investigation was dropped. That all occurred many years ago. Let’s see: How many years has she been Treasurer? 12 How many investigations into her professional conduct? 1. How many current investigations into her conduct? 0.

Now let’s ask the same questions of the Blagojevich administration: How many years as Governor? Not quite 4. How many investigations that are still ongoing 14 or more. Hmmm, who’s really more corrupt than Ryan.

Comment by Fact Corrections Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 3:32 pm
The ad looks like more of the same old, rehashed, tie her to Ryan crapola. She does need to do away with this connection though. An ad saying “What? I’m supposed to tell the gov., in a public forum, that he’s a putz?” She needs to do away with the association crud. They are both in the same party and were elected officials at the same time, and hasn’t she been the Treasurer under Blago too? She needs to clear up this mess, but with Blago not debating it takes away a forum for her to explain.

BTW. How many current elected officials are jumping up and down screaming “Oh, oh, oh Rod’s a corrupt and inept Governor?” Not many. Isn’t it called party unity, and it’s played on both sides. Stale, dumb commercials.

Comment by Buck Flagojevich Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 3:32 pm
I saw the spot on the internet, who were the people in between them ? Was one of them Jim Thompson who they blurred out. If it was Big Jim I guess I know why he was blurred out, the Gov. might need some legal help from Thompsons law office

Comment by Anthony Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 3:35 pm
If I were Blago I don’ think I would be reminding voters of George Ryan. That sword cuts both ways.

Comment by HoosierDaddy Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 3:41 pm
Great ad…and there is more where that came from!

Comment by Bill Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 3:41 pm
It is a good spot because, as polls show, these types of ads drive up her negatives. This is a race with two unpopular people. The winner is going to not going to be who people like the best, it will be who people can stand. The Blagojevich camp is running a smart campaign, attack her relentlessly. Its working, Topinkas negatives are higher than they ever have been. I will stick with my day after primary prediction…Blagojevich will win by 5-9 points.

Comment by HANKSTER Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 3:43 pm
sorry…the winner is NOT GOING TO BE

Comment by HANKSTER Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 3:44 pm
So Public Official A got his story a bit mixed up today. Hope he can remember who got what check and who made the decision to give Ascaridis her job (and why) when the Feds have a nice sit down chat with him. Yeah, that ought to be a memorable visit……

Comment by Walking Wounded Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 4:01 pm
Thats all this administration is good at….diverting attention, half truths, and spinning.

Illinois voters: Fool us once(Ryan) shame on you, Fool us twice(Blago) shame on US!

Comment by scoot Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 4:01 pm
I thought it was a Kwanzaa, Chanukkah, Festivus and Rammadan gift all rolled into one. That’ll explain it away.

Bill, I know you are joking, but keep it up. I am laughing at your responses all day.

Comment by Wumpus Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 4:05 pm
All it will take is more stories about Rod’s stumbles and an ad or two from JBT highlighting many of Rod’s illegal activities. It’s still early.

Let Rod keep running those same old reconstituted commercials. People will be turning them out real soon. I think we have heard his message about Ryan and JBT enough. Four months worth is enough.

Comment by Buck Flagojevich Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 4:06 pm
I bet the newest add has plenty of present and future dem candidates a little nervous trying to remember if they had anything good to say on video about the state’s next “Public Official A”…

Comment by Animous Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 4:09 pm
JBT’s associating with Public Official A is bad, but Rod being Public Official A is worse.

Comment by Truth Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 4:13 pm
He is not only a bad governor, but a bad liar!!!

Comment by Wheres the leadership??? Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 4:25 pm
JBT is showing what an ineffectual campaigner she is…her campaign manager was Karen Hasara’s chief of staff, and that explains alot of this I think. She runs like she really don’t want to win.

Comment by Duzzent Madder Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 4:52 pm
It was striking that in the six months of the Ryan trial, Judy Baar Topinka’s name came up exactly once, and that was just for advising a job seeker to go see Larry Warner. Big deal.

If she was as involved with Ryan as Blago implies, you would think her name would have been mentioned every day, but it certainly wasn’t.

The ad is just a tired smear, which, when you think of it, is about all Blago has got.

Comment by Bubs Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 4:55 pm
Those “Had Enough” commercials Judy is running about the $1,500 check and the budget problems are pretty effective as well.

On Channel 5 NBC Chicago News, extensive videotape was shown of the governor stumbling over answers, the press shouting out questions (have you ever given such a gift to someone else?) and the governor looking nervous and wanting to dart out of the room. Bob Sirott introduced the piece by stating that the “Governor came out of hiding today.”

Wasn’t very pretty at all.

If the press dogs him this hard the rest of the way, this governor will have a major problem, no matter how many millions of $$$$ he throws into ads.

Comment by Louis G. Atsaves Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 5:10 pm
“..and there’s more to come.” Right. In the weekend papers.

If he can’t explain the issue simply and directly, could be he’s not telling the truth. Oh, what a surprise.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 5:15 pm
JBT has known these pix with Ryan were out there since she first thought of running for guv this cycle. And she knew the opposition would use them. If her campaign doesn’t have a plan for how to deal with these ads, they really are useless. They’ve had months to prepare.

Was Mrs. Ascaridis’ job Rutan-exempt or not.
If it was protected, this should be a fairly easy test case for reform. It sounds like maybe there were no other applicants (hard to believe, given the candyland that is state employment these days) so they popped her into in then moved the job. This seems to me to violate Rutan, hard to believe a judge would see otherwise, even if Blago has Big Jim or someone else from Winston Strawn as his lawyer.

Mrs. Ascaridis should go home, the job should be filled properly, and Blago and Lon Monk should get fined or otherwise legally punished. Nothing earthshaking, but it would send a sign that violating Rutan, if such was the case here, is not worth the hassle. Right now, in state government overall, Rutan violations ARE worth
the hassle.

Comment by Cassandra Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 5:16 pm
The media and JBT fans had better pray there really is something to this that can be linked directly to the job, they are playing with fire because if nothing comes of this (I’m not saying it won’t) this may be seen as an attack on Rod’s family and they won’t set well with a lot of people. People understand politics, but they don’t like bringing a family into it. Just saying.

Comment by Anon Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 5:27 pm
You know, up until now I thought Blago was going to be able to distract people enough to keep them from focusing on the check. Usually he stays on message like no one I have ever seen. After his comments today about the check, I am beginning to think he will sink himself. He looks pretty scared, and he should be.

The JBT-G. Ryan ads may have worked, but Blago himself has diminished their effectiveness with this $1,500 business.

Comment by Minion Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 6:41 pm
There already is something linked directly to the job. the check was written about 10 days after the job started. And Rod never received a $1,500 check or anything close to it on other birthdays. I’ll tell you people don’t appreciate — a governor who uses family members to launder payoffs.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 6:56 pm
History repeating itself?

2002 George Ryan’s name not on the ballot. Blago campaigns against him anyway, promises “Reform and Renewal”.

2006 George Ryan’s name not on the ballot.
Blago campaigns against him anyway, accepts “birthday” checks from job seekers.

Wake up Illinois voters before its too late!

Comment by KenoMan Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 7:14 pm
The Governor and his actions may end a few downstate democrats’ political tenure.

Comment by upset downstate demo Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 7:21 pm
When Blagojevich speaks, it reminds me of what my parents taught me when I was a child about lying. They said a lier must continue to lie to defend their original lie. At some point the lier forgets what he said in a previous lie and gets cought. Oops, I think Blago has a bad memory, perhaps he should get his stories straight before he slips up with the Feds…

Comment by Grand Ol' Pappa Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 7:34 pm
“He also said he told Lon Monk, his former chief of staff, to get Beverly Ascaridis a job.” Let’s recap, shall we? The lady without a passing grade gets hired for a state job in a county she admits she still doesn’t know the location of, at the same time her husband gives Amy a $1500 birthday present (or maybe he gives Annie a $1500 christening gift?) on direct order of the Governor - admitted today on audio and video tape for the entire world to see and hear over and over on every media outlet in the state. Ottenhoff, Rausch and Nix can spin like tops, there is no explaining this one; it IS not merely an example of endemic hiring fraud, it is the definition of it. Years ago, a man in a parking garage gave an investigative reporter the sage advice “Follow the money”, and a Presidency ended in disgrace; Mr. Fitzgerald and members of the Illinois media, please do the same and keep doing so until a Governorship which is already a disgrace ends.

Comment by Diogenes Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 7:49 pm
I think Judy just needs to show a picture of Rod in profile, then just play audio of Rod’s excuses and explanations, while the nose grows and grows….

Nice to see Rod throwing Loyal Lon under the bus for this, nice reward to your inner circle, drag them in to cover for you. This sure looks like it may be the Blago version of the Willis family van accident.

Comment by Gepetto Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 8:17 pm
People, i fI want to give a gift to a baby/child for college, I’d give a bond. Cheaper and it’d mature later.

Comment by Wumpus Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 8:34 pm
According to the State Board of Elections’ website, Michael Ascaridis gave Dick Mell $900 and Mell’s 33rd Ward Organization $2230. Not a penny to Blago or anyone else.

Did Mell set up his estranged son-in-law?

Comment by Ascaridis Likes Mell Not Blago Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 8:56 pm
Ascaridis Likes Mell Not Blago,

That’s even better, switch the story from ‘Gift among friends’ to ‘It’s my father-in-law behind this and I have the ‘nad power(tm) to stand up to him’

Brilliant

Comment by OneMan Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 9:00 pm
Better question! If Blago told his aide to find a job she is qualified for, didn’t she fail the test?

Comment by Wumpus Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 9:11 pm
Checked the FEC site.

Ascaridis gave Blago’s FED campaign $1500 or so.

Still begs the question why the $1500 to the kid?

It is obviuos that Acaridis is not a prolific giver. His best friends runs for congress and then Governor twice and he only gives his campaign $1500? Then we are expected to believe that he’ll part with $1500 for a birthday/christening gift?

Too big a pill to swallow.

Comment by Ascaridis Likes Mell Not Blago Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 9:15 pm
With the messed up excuses (one week to prepare!!!) could it possibly be that Rod’s pea-brain is finally starting to grasp the fact the Fed’s have the goods on him? Just a thought.

Comment by Buck Flagojevich Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 9:18 pm
Try a search of federal contributions folks. The guy was a Congressman:

ASCARIDIS, MICHAEL
11/28/1998
$395
Blagojevich, Rod R

ASCARIDIS, MICHAEL
11/9/1994
$400
Blagojevich, Rod

Comment by Not quite Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 9:19 pm
Note — if the date on the 1994 contribution is correct, that means Ascaridis must have been the first contributor to then State Representative Blagojevich’s congressional campaign, one day after Rostenkowski was defeated by Flanagan.

Comment by Not quite Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 9:21 pm
Cassandra,

What do you know about state government? Your comments are not based on reality.

Comment by So Blue Democrat Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 9:23 pm
Even though IDOT can’t hire any engineers because of the “state hiring freeze”, the govenor admits instructing his minions to “find a job for her”. She gets a job even though she flunked her test. This is just outrageous; when are people in this state going to wake up and say they’ve had enough of this nonsense??? I guess we’ll just have to keep throwing our govenors into jail after one term…

Comment by I'm mad as h*** Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 9:27 pm
The. Worst. Governor. Ever.

Will this impact the near suburban state senate races? seems like a couple of good pickup opportunites will be lost if this continues.

Comment by Minion Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 9:34 pm
As a Illinois Vet, I’m outraged by the Governor breaking hiring laws that help out Illinois Vets…Did she ever report to this job??? In Whiteside County?? Where is Lt Gov. Quin on this issue???

Comment by X-Man Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 9:37 pm
Given today’s media fiasco, it’s been altogether a bad day for the gov. Stumbles over himself during check press conference; sees his “friend” Mr. Daley’s group get raided by the FBI over hiring practices (bet the shredders at the Thompson Center are working overtime tonight!) and WalMart announced it’s going to practically give away lots of generic drugs, if the plan takes off in Florida. So much for expanding SaveRx. Poor Rod, I bet his head is spinning.

Comment by Martha Mitchell Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 9:42 pm
I don’t understand the part about his youngest daughter being christened “down in Springfield”. Why would he go to Springfield for such an event? Is this guy losing it?

Comment by Little Egypt Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 10:08 pm
Watched the gov stumble over his explanation of the check. He appeared a little twitchy, but I guess finding out that the feds are looking at you personally might have that effect. And frankly, as a state employee who has wasted way too much time on I Save Rx and All Kids propoganda when it has NOTHING to do with the job I was hired for, I’m positively giddy with the thought. Reform and renewal indeed. What was he thinking?

Comment by cynically anonymous Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 10:10 pm
Watched the raw feeds via YouTube over at Dan Curry’s blog. Worth a peek. In summary, Blago tubed. Not a pretty sight, especially in the second round. The talking point about Stu Levine, the “30 year Republican operative” rings pretty hollow when you know the guy had no problem hopping on the guy’s plane (with Stu aboard) to jet off to New York to troll for cash.

Further, if I’m anyone on that staff, I see my future very clearly now that Rod’s thrown “best friend #2″ Lon Monk under the bus without hesitation.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 10:31 pm
I have been wavering on what I was going to do on election day. Now more confused than ever. NEVER have left the dem party in a gov race before. On the other hand, JBT has way too much baggage herself. WHAT TO DO???
If I thought this Green guy had any chance I might look into him a little more. Probably be a cluster f in Springfield dealing with Madigan & Emil if he actually got elected. But maybe thats what we need to do. Just to clean things up. He’d probably be just like the guy who beat Rostenkowski. Just a one term place sitter until Lisa gets her turn. Is anyone else thinking this is an option? I guess I have about 6 weeks to figure it out.

Comment by Democrat with a spinning head Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 10:44 pm
If Rod pops his head out for another press conference, does it mean five more weeks of fall? or just five more weeks of hiding out, not debating, and running slanderous and inaccurate attack ads? Oh, I forgot, there’s always the fake charity:

I noticed this afternoon he trotted out that now-known-to-be-a-lie “I’m calling an audible, I don’t care what the budget office says, I just now decided I’m going to double the gift amount and add another million dollars to it” at the women’s anti-violence convention thing today.

If you can read the signals, Rod, this one means “hit the showers”.

Comment by Gregor Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 10:56 pm
Anybody else catch the story on NBC5 at 10 about the story in tomorrow’s CS-T regarding a new Federal probe of Rodster? I was in the next room - what was *that* about?

Comment by Ken in Aurora Thursday, Sep 21, 06 @ 11:02 pm
Rich,
Are you still chicken?

Comment by chinman Friday, Sep 22, 06 @ 12:08 am
Fast Corrections is right on about Judy. The ad doesn’t hurt her, by the way, because it only looks like he’s copying her tactic of imposing the ghost of Ryan on the background imagery in her ad.

No, he’s in trouble big time. And I’m telling you, all Judy needs to do to really knock him out is to show that he has an ethics problem up the wazoo as well as that he is reckless in making appointments. Stuart Levine? Sister Claudette? I mean, I hate to use that tag line from his anti-Topinka ads, but was his brain on, or had he been smoking something?

Also, he ran an ad calling Judy Ryan’s treasurer, which is baloney, because she was elected treasurer. And more than once, too, I might add. She was not an appointment like Levine or Sister Claudette.

Remember the bigger picture, folks. National security. We cannot afford to have a gov who is under massive investigation at a time when we’re dealing with all of these dictatorial leaders and psycho terrorists out there in the rest of the big bad world. If Rod didn’t know that Sister Claudette had such ties to the Nation of Islam leader, then by golly, I personally perceive him to be a potential weak link in the chain of security around here. And besides, Rudy Giuliani is backin’ Topinka. I think Rudy knows a thing or two about dealing with crime and emergencies, and he is definitely backin’ Judy. Right on her website, there’s a quote from him about how she’ll be a “tough governor.”

And on a lighter note, think about it. She’s doing more with less money. What has Rod shown us, that he can blow his campaign war chest on slick ads just because he has the money to burn? I perceive it as wasteful, and so do a lot of other people.

Methinks former boxer Joe Birkett whispered into Judy’s ear that they are going to let him swing like an idiot and then just knock him out with one hard hit right before the very end.

Comment by Angie Friday, Sep 22, 06 @ 12:29 am
Everybody says this ad is great for Blagojevich…Put me in the “okay” camp.

No question, the first 7-8 seconds are damning, with Judy nodding up and down while Ryan talks and the sign. But then they cut to footage of her saying “Governor, you’re a damn good guy” — and there’s a WHOLE lot of text, comparatively, right next to her. Kinda caught me off guard.

I think the middle 4, 5 seconds are a waste. But that’s just me.

Comment by RickG Friday, Sep 22, 06 @ 5:27 am
I guess we’ll all finally learn the truth about where the corruption was in CMS. Seems Blago fired two people several months ago to get that taken care of, but it’s still going on. Has anyone thought that maybe, just maybe, it’s the gov who’s got a little corruption in “his” hiring process? Come on! Can’t pass a test but still gets a job? And the two people the gov blamed all this on have been gone from CMS for over a year! They obviously weren’t the ones who are crooked. Look at all the issues when you go to vote in November, folks.

Comment by Ranman Friday, Sep 22, 06 @ 7:32 am
I fully believe that there’s much pay-to-play going on, especially in healthcare. I worked in the biz in the past and saw someone who was not able to consistently craft a grammatically correct email to staffers, but who was still promoted to a leadership role. This person was an openly vociferous liberal, too, so my guess is that since the hospital industry keeps putting more cash into Rod’s already huge campaign war chest, which should really be his legal defense war chest right now, there’s a whole lot more political pay-to-play going on than most people are even aware of.

Comment by Angie Saturday, Sep 23, 06 @ 7:37 pm