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The So-Called Austin Mayor has deconstructed Governor Rod Blagojevich’s penchant for scoring cheap publicity points. He calls it “Blago-Mojo.”
1) A cause that no one could be against2) Action required by a non-Blago entity
followed always by, 3) A press release
This is pretty standard political stuff, but the governor appears to be elevating it to an art form. He specializes in tackling “issues” that he has no or very little influence over, but are popular with the voting public.
The So-Called Austin Mayor’s (I’d use a simple abbreviation rather than repeating his whole name, but in this case it would be the unfortunately harsh acronym “SCAM,” and that wouldn’t be nice) latest “Blago-Mojo” entry was about the guv’s reaction to the Chicago Sun-Times’ excellent report on how wounded Illinois veterans are being shafted by the Veterans’Administration.
In today’s Sun-Times, the Blagovernor returns to the first page in his playbook, this time as a response to the ST investigation into why Illinois’ wounded soldiers are receiving some of the lowest disability pay in the country:Gov. Blagojevich also sent a terse letter to [Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi] demanding a plan to address “this intolerable situation.”
So let’s take a look at our Blagorgeous leadership check lists:
1) A cause that no one could be against — disability pay for wounded veterans — Check!
2) Action required by a non-Blago entity — a demand that the V.A. craft a plan to address “this intolerable situation” — Check!
3) A press release — an open letter to the V.A. Secretary — Check!
4) The win-win Blago-bonus — A) Action by the V.A. means a moral victory for Blagorgeous, and B) inaction by the V.A. means Blagorgeous stood up for Illinois military men and women, so no matter what, Rod Blagojevich is the champion of wounded soldiers — Check!Hat’s off to the Governor, for yet another heroic press release!
What the so-called mayor didn’t include from the article might be even more illuminating, however, and is also part of a pattern.
In his letter… Blagojevich called the Chicago office “hostile” and criticized Chicago VA Director Michael Olson as giving “little cooperation” to the governor’s veterans affairs staff.Blagojevich wrote that his director of veterans affairs had repeatedly reached out to the VA regional office in Chicago to try to improve the disability claims process. [Snip]
Olson said he had never dealt with the governor’s office of veterans affairs. “I don’t know what he is referring to,” Olson said.
Here’s another Blago-Mojo deconstruction of the guv’s attack on foreign flu-shot maker Aventis for not cooperating with federal authorities:
1) A cause that no one could be against — “the health of the most vulnerable members of our population” — Check!
2)Moneyoutside the state’sbudgetresponsiblity — “that Aventis start cooperating with the FDA immediately” — Check!
3) A press release — an open letter to the president of Aventis — Check!Even the Blago-bonus applies in this case: The Guv has brilliantly positioned himself so that 1) action by the drug company means an apparent victory for Blagorgeous, and 2) if the flu becomes an epidemic Blagorgeous can say he saw the looming threat and tried to stop it. Either way Rod Blagojevich is the champion of “the most vulnerable members of our population”.
Once again, it’s all upside and no downside.
Except that Aventis flatly denied it was dragging its feet.
So, maybe there is an eventual downside. The governor flailing at imaginary dragons is one thing. But constantly crying “wolf” can have consequences.
posted by Rich Miller
Sunday, Dec 5, 04 @ 3:47 pm
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