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More trouble for the guv

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Illinois

* As if the federal subpoena wasn’t bad enough, the governor dug his hole even deeper yesterday during an interview with the Associated Press.

The Democratic governor said work on a new state budget is stuck in “a waiting game” until Speaker Michael Madigan, a fellow Democrat, spells out what he and his members could support.

“Speaker Madigan’s been talking for days, running around putting together a counterproposal to what we’ve had on the table since March 7. I’m eager to see what his budget proposal is,” Blagojevich said in an interview with The Associated Press.

“I would only suggest to him that he get moving,” Blagojevich added. “The clock is ticking.”

Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said the speaker is working with other legislative leaders to craft a budget and will continue doing so. He said Blagojevich appears to be trying to take attention off his own plan by making Madigan the bad guy.

* This link has more quotes from the AP interview, where he takes yet another shot at legislators…

“It’s natural that a lot of the men and women who work down here in Springfield are going to feel a lot of pressure from all these different lobbyists who are hired by the big corporate interests. They see them every day here. … It’s hard for members of the Legislature to think about the big-picture issues when every single day they’re getting bombarded by these lobbyists.”

* The Tribune claims it rejected a sitdown with the governor because of onerous ground rules…

On Tuesday, Blagojevich offered a rare opportunity for news media interviews. The administration refused an interview request from a Tribune reporter who rejected the condition that the questions remain solely about the governor’s budget proposal.

* Meanwhile, it just gets worse for the guv. A radio ad by the state coppers which mentions Blagojevich’s name appears to be in blatant violation of a state law that the governor himself pushed through the General Assembly…

“Thanks to Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the Illinois State Police Internet crime unit, e-criminals will no longer be able to victimize Illinois citizens,” the ad’s narrator says.

Under the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act, approved by lawmakers in 2003, broadcast ads and public service announcements on behalf of any state-administered program cannot contain the name, image or voice of a statewide elected official or state legislator.

The ad was sponsored and paid for by the state police, an agency spokesman said.

* The Glengariff Group has a new poll on the governor’s job approval rating. It’s not great news…

Six months after a big re-election victory, Gov. Blagojevich is barely hanging on to a majority of voters at 50.6% who say they approve of the job he is doing. 42.1% of voters disapprove of his performance — and it is the ferocity of that disapproval that is surprising with more people ’strongly disapproving’ of his performance than those that ’strongly approve’.

22.8% Strongly Approve
27.8% Somewhat Approve1
14.8% Somewhat Disapprove
27.3% Strongly Disapprove […]

Blagojevich’s 50% approval is being driven by an 81% job approval among African American voters — higher than he ever polled among that constituency during the month of October 2006. And the City of Chicago gives him a 75% job approval rating — again, driven by African American voters.

Crosstabs can be found at this link.

* And this brief note near the bottom of a story on gas prices illustrates how tough it will be to pass any revenue enhancer this spring…

Lawmakers appear more focused on higher power bills rather than gas prices. But attempts to raise taxes on Illinoisans could be dampened because they’re already feeling the hurt of higher energy prices.

“Until people can fill their cars to get to work and heat their homes, they’re not concerned about healthcare or anything else,” Mautino said.

* More tax and spend updates from Paul…

* Bethany Carson: Something’s brewing

* Carol Marin: Gov must deal on healthcare, school funding

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, May 23, 07 @ 9:05 am

Comments

I don’t believe any poll that says Elvis has an approval rating of over 50%. And I sure don’t believe his approval rating is 81% among African Americans. If I were an African American I would be insulted by that statistic.

Comment by Little Egypt Wednesday, May 23, 07 @ 9:17 am
That high rating among the black voters can be attributed to the “bread and circuses” PR effort Rod hs put into bamboozling them specifically as a demographic. Heavy lobbying of their church ministers, a lot of political outreach disguised as regular government service programs, dropping a lot of grant money on anything of interest to that demographic, a LOT of promises being made with no firm delivery dates. Promises he’s not in a position to keep, but when has that stopped him before.

Look for that high approval in that segment to dwindle over the coming months as the utility rates situation worsens and the final budget turns out to not be able to sustain the programs and promises made.

Comment by Babysitter's Club Wednesday, May 23, 07 @ 9:35 am
So basically, an income tax increase is more popular than the Governor.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, May 23, 07 @ 10:12 am
Healthcare, yes.

Education –not until the legislature and the administration can figure out what they are spending it on and the benchmarks for expected payoffs from the funding. And no fiddling with the test scores at the ISBE

Comment by Truthful James Wednesday, May 23, 07 @ 11:00 am
Too bad the feds must move so slow. If Ryan is still walking around free, we can only believe that Blago’s hair will be white or gone before he looks at a trial.

Comment by i d Wednesday, May 23, 07 @ 11:27 am
I am African American and while I originally supported this governor (first term), I did not support him during the last election. I was tired to of the games that Ryan played and I feel that Blagojevich is far worse than Ryan ever was. In addition, friends and family in Chicago do not support him so I was floored when he got re-elected.

Comment by disappointed supporter Wednesday, May 23, 07 @ 6:36 pm
These poll numbers look good. The same 27% who strongly disapprove are probably the same 27% of votes who think George bush is a great president. If these people say I’m wrong, I don’t want to be right!

Comment by anon Thursday, May 24, 07 @ 8:10 am