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Symbolism and Senate President Jones

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Illinois

The Tribune’s editorial page, which doesn’t carry the political punch it did when newspapers ruled the roost, demands today that Senate President Emil Jones allow a vote on House Bill 1. The legislation, according to the synopsis…

Prohibits a business that makes a State contract bid or proposal from making contributions to the officeholder responsible for awarding the contract, or a political committee established to promote the officeholder’s candidacy, during the period from the date the bid or request for proposals is issued through the date the contract is awarded, if the bid or proposal exceeds $25,000 or the aggregate bids and State contracts of that business exceed $25,000.

The Tribune sees the bill as a chance to clear up some of the questions surrounding his recent past…

He’s had to defend himself against published reports about lucrative state jobs held by his wife and son, and a utility company contract given to his stepson. He shocked and undermined some of his fellow Democrats by pulling a rare parliamentary maneuver to stymie a statewide electric rate freeze.

The paper also sees the vote as an important opportunity to show that he’s not completely beholden to Gov. Blagojevich this year…

“The one person who has an interest in bottling this ‘pay-to-play’ legislation up is the governor, because this would be unilateral disarmament for the governor’s fundraising operation,” said the chief House sponsor, Rep. John Fritchey (D-Chicago).

Gov. Rod Blagojevich has raked in hefty campaign contributions from vendors that do business with the state. Federal investigators are scrutinizing the practice.

So what’s known as House Bill 1 will serve as an important loyalty test: How wedded is Jones to the governor’s interests?

I noticed in Friday’s Question of the Day that Jones may be more unpopular with commenters here than Rod Blagojevich, which is really saying something. Some of that is way overblown, but there’s no doubt that Jones’ public reputation has been damaged by all the revelations this year and his closeness to Blagojevich.

The bottom line, though, is that the perception questions won’t go away if this one bill passes, despite the Tribune’s framing. (It may have even been sent across the hall by Speaker Madigan to deliberately put Jones on the spot.) But it is certain that the worst will continue to be assumed by editorial writers, columnists and pundits if he continues to bottle up the legislation.

Thoughts?

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, May 14, 07 @ 8:23 am

Comments

I don’t think that there is too much doubt as to how the majority of the voters in Illinois view Emil Jones and his personal “code of ethics” (or lack of one). What I would really like to know is how the voters in his own district now regard Emil and his blatant conflicts of interest? Is it a classic case of “Sure, he is an s.o.b. but he is ‘our’ s.o.b. so that it makes it okay.”? That is what I think would make for a really interesting question.

As far as “Emil versus Rod” as to who is the biggest violater when it comes to self-enrichment and self-advancement at the expense of the Illinois taxpayers, I like to think of the two of them as the “Double Mint Twins”.

Comment by Beowulf Monday, May 14, 07 @ 8:42 am
I guess the worst is Emil’s connection to the power companies.
All of the in your face nepotism is par for the course in this great state of Illinois(NOT).
But there are families in southern Illinois unable to keep the lights on and small business that will be closing their doors.
Emil has made it clear he does not care. And I might add Blagojevich is no better. If he really cared he would have stopped the rate increases and set Emil straight. But Emil’s taking all the money and Blago doesn’t have a leg to stand on when criticizing anyone on this subject.

Comment by Lula May Monday, May 14, 07 @ 8:49 am
Maybe Emil has the goods on Rod and Rod has the goods on Emil.
In otherwords we all lose!
But it sure would be great if one of them snapped which would lead to the other snapping.
Feeding frenzy for the media! Someone say dirty laundry?

Comment by Easy Does It Monday, May 14, 07 @ 9:05 am
I think the State’s failure to act decisively to deal with the outrageous price of electricity is very damaging to the Democratic Party, not to mention citiznes of Illinois. Since Jones appears to be the primary impediment to effective action, I’d say it’s pretty damning of his leadership. It’s time for a change in the Democratic leadership of the Illinois State Senate!

Comment by Captain America Monday, May 14, 07 @ 9:42 am
The great check on matters rests within Emil’s caucus. New suburban and downstate Democrats, more than any other species of political animal, will suffer if this Rod-inspired, Emil-backed politics continues much longer (wrong-headed massive tax hikes, inaction on the electricity front, deep-sixing overdue ethics reforms…and apparent indifference to appearances). In the context of a long overtime, the “pressure within” will surely build. Emil would do well to spend less time consumed with outdoing Madigan, and more time keeping a pulse on his caucus…his freshmen are a particularly sharp group. Maybe the headiness of winning that supermajority temporarily “ungrounded” our Senate President.

Comment by Supermajority Blues Monday, May 14, 07 @ 9:46 am
Cronyism? I can not get too excited about Emil Jones getting busted b/c it’s not like he’s the only one or that he invented it.

But the ComEd and electric rate thing is a real bone in my throat.

If the Senate Democrats want my respect they’ll dump EJ.

Comment by Carl Nyberg Monday, May 14, 07 @ 9:55 am
Rich, good job on picking up on the anger at Emil Jones.

You might ask if people have a different opinion of Blagojevich than a year ago and the ask why people have evolved their understanding of the governor.

Comment by Carl Nyberg Monday, May 14, 07 @ 9:58 am
Jones is a typical old time urban Democratic pol.
He believes in high taxes, big government, vast public patronage bureaucracies with lifetime job security for the bureaucrats, with a strong dollop of “where’s mine” tolerance of corruption for the pols at the top of the heap.

He hasn’t changed. He is just a bit more visible at the moment.

Comment by Cassandra Monday, May 14, 07 @ 10:18 am
I bet he was doing cartwheels when his 5-for-5 results came in last November. Now, he can’t keep his caucus in order and is facing ethics allegations. How things can change in six short-long months!

Comment by Anonymous Monday, May 14, 07 @ 10:29 am
I think the hate/anger of Jones is because he has disconnected himself from the taxpayers in Illinois. Once he bacame the Sen Pres. his responsibility is to the WHOLE state not just his district. He has FAILED by not allowing bills to be called that affect other parts of Illinois due to the fact he has been given lots of $$ from the companies it affects.

Comment by He makes Ryan look like a saint Monday, May 14, 07 @ 10:31 am
Do you really think that Pres. Jones cares at all about what editorial writers, columnists, and pundits think about him at this point? His ethics and his tendency towards family patronage are no worse than what we suffered through with Pate Philip and others. He has made public statements that he feels that if he were a white President running things exactly the same way that they would consider him a clever mastermind and excellent strategist.
At this point if someone were to run aginst him in his district, Jones would poll 85% of the vote. I hope he sticks to his guns and does not sell out his constituents for a few downstate votes.

Comment by Bill Monday, May 14, 07 @ 2:50 pm
I save my vitriol against those where I may wield my vote.

Comment by i d Monday, May 14, 07 @ 2:54 pm
I took my ethics test today. What a joke. As I’m reading the sections about not taking money from people doing business with the state and not doing political business on state time, I kept wondering if those questions are on the tests taken by Emil and Rod - if they even took them at all. All of the things forbidden to the rank and file, the elected officials seem to think it’s ok to do. Don’t take money from vendors etc., doesn’t apply to Rod, Emil and their ilk. What a sad, sad state we live in. And there ought to be a law against using actual cases, especially if everyone knows who the people are who are involved, when inserting examples of EOIG illegalities. Especially when court cases are still pending. It’s not only petty and wrong but awfully tacky also.

And Bill, you should be ashamed of yourself, AGAIN. Standing up for and supporting a crook who doesn’t care about the people who elected him.

Comment by Disgusted Monday, May 14, 07 @ 5:50 pm
Exactly how is Emil Jones a “crook” and “corrupt” to you anonymous geniuses? I don’t buy that at all, and unlike most of you, I actually know him.

Comment by steve schnorf Monday, May 14, 07 @ 10:27 pm
Truth is Jones is trying to find a way to fund human services and provide jobs in union type of work whether that’s plumbing, carpentry, teaching — trying to provide living wages for the working poor. GRT is a terrible way to do that.

Is he a crook - I don’t think so. Is it unethical hiring family or taking money from lobbyists to promote a bill? That’s the question because those bills have a direct impact on taxpayers. I’ve been around this too long and have seen things that I’m disgusted with and it is time to get the ethics on track.

I want to see adult entitlements be done and the laws that created them gone. Mandates for career ending gifts to educators when new dollars need to stay in struggling school districts should NOT be dictated through laws of the state. Turning the implementation back on school boards by legislators and the four tops to say its in their laps is wiping their hands clean of blood money from unions. The same goes for the electric companies. I don’t see newspaper ink tax anywhere here?

That is why SB1 needs to implemented.

Comment by Tired of it Tuesday, May 15, 07 @ 7:22 am