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Flip-flops and alienation

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Illinois

* My syndicated newspaper column begins with a litany of flip-flops and over the top remarks from Gov. Blagojevich (and it was written before I had heard about this additional goofiness) and ends thusly…

Is it any wonder the Illinois AFL-CIO now feels comfortable challenging the Democratic governor’s pledge to veto any income tax increases? The State Federation of Labor has been a staunch Blagojevich supporter for years, but its leaders demanded last week that the General Assembly ignore the flailing, wild-eyed, veto-threatening man behind the curtain and approve a bill to increase the income tax by a quarter point a year for four years in order to fund public schools.

More importantly, though, the AFL-CIO got behind a proposal to cut Blagojevich out of the distribution of those new education dollars by putting all the cash into a “lock-box” completely controlled by a three-fifths majority of both legislative chambers. This was done because nobody trusts the governor to distribute the funds equitably.

For the AFL-CIO to essentially admit that the man they’ve supported since before the 2002 primary is now completely untrustworthy and should be ignored, bowled over and cut out of the loop shows just how far Blagojevich has sunk. Almost every ally he’s had is bolting for the exit doors.

The unions are also bankrolling a new advertising campaign on black radio stations in Chicago that starts out, “I voted for him, but the man is wrong.” The ad is about the governor’s adamant refusal to support an income tax increase for schools. The spot is running in heavy rotation beginning this morning. The fact that organized labor chose to slam Blagojevich in his most loyal voting base shows just how far away labor has drifted from this man.

Even the Daley clan is getting into the act. Bill Daley, the brother of Chicago’s mayor, wrote an op-ed for the Chicago Tribune last week comparing the governor to the unbendable, unpopular President Bush. Daley urged Blagojevich to drop his expensive universal health insurance idea (which Blagojevich is demanding in return for keeping the government open), stop the sniping, demonstrate thoughtful leadership and start compromising on other issues in order to earn a second chance.

I don’t know how Blagojevich thinks he can effectively govern for the rest of his second term if he stays on this crazy course. It’s like he’s taken every goofy trait from his first term and magnified it tenfold. Maybe when he finally winds up truly alone, he’ll begin to take notice.

Read the whole thing, then discuss.

* And here is a budget and end of session news roundup, compiled by Paul…

* Tribune Editorial: A wink and a nod on ethics reform

* Vote on budget up in the air

* Illinois is days away from running out of money

* No break in IL budget impasse

* Chambers: Budget stalemate reveals an absence of will

* Sun-Times Editorial: Bridge the budget divide

* $852,775 and we’re counting

* Opinion: Ego vs. Compromise

* Clout Street: What would Confucius do on the state budget?

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 8:15 am

Comments

All Blagojevich’s actions and reactions seem to stem from a desperate man running from something.
Wonder if the Feds are drawing closer?

Comment by Quicksilver Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 8:23 am
Rich, I thought you covered news. Governor Blagojevich has been treating his “friends” like this throughout his tenure, just on a smaller scale. This isn’t news. (read the sarcasm, please. )

Comment by Fan of the Game Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 8:23 am
I am beginning to believe that the Gov wants a government shutdown. We all know he has political aspirations beyond Illinois. A government shutdown will bring in the national news and get his mug on TV. He can crow that he has been trying to pass a healthcare plan and increase education while the Illinois legislature opposes him. Again, the Gov is thinking of himself and throwing everyone else under the bus. Same old, same old….

Comment by Holdingontomywallet Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 8:28 am
Rich, I have to take issue with your statement in Cap Fax today about gaming. You and others always say gaming sinks under its own weight after it gets to big. I think it is just the opposite. It sinks because it doesn’t get big enough. Somebody is always left out or unhappy with the details and they end up killing the bill (existing boats, Emil’s south suburban boat, Link’s boat, racetracks, horsemen, Chicago, video poker, etc.)
The anti-gaming people are going to be against a gaming bill whether they add just one new slot machine in Elgin or they allow a major expansion. So they might as well do what generates the most revenue and fight over how to spend the money.

Comment by JK Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 8:40 am
The Governor has completely completely isolated himself and alientated everyone who counts politically by his “executive “filibluster” and “burn your bridges/scorched earth” political strategy and tactics. Labor’s break with the Governor signals his political demise - he willl never be re-nominated in the next Democratic primary. If notindicted, he will never be re-elected Governor.But he can still wreak lots of havoc between now and the next election, if he unwisely chooses to do so.

Governor,ask not,”for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee” and thine political career.

Comment by Captain America Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 9:22 am
“For the AFL-CIO to essentially admit that the man they’ve supported since before the 2002 primary is now completely untrustworthy and should be ignored, bowled over and cut out of the loop shows just how far Blagojevich has sunk. Almost every ally he’s had is bolting for the exit doors.”

So where will these allies go? Do they think that they will find a better reception by the Illinois Republican Party, or will they be looking for a truly progressive alternative?

“The unions are also bankrolling a new advertising campaign on black radio stations in Chicago that starts out, ‘I voted for him, but the man is wrong.’”

It’s nice to be able to say, “I did NOT vote for the man, and the man is wrong.” It just goes to show you, if you vote for the lesser of two evils, you still end up with an evil.

Comment by Squideshi Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 9:34 am
The Tribune “wink and nod” editorial effectively called Senator Jones” and the legislature’s bluff on the various ethics reforms bills bottled up on the Senate. Vote in favor of ethics reform, knowing that it will never pass.

I am sorry to see that Senator Jeff Schoenberg has become a pawn in this strategy (I know Jeff believes in ethics reform - he’s apparently simply a sincere dupe of the non-reformists.)

I can hear it now - the budget impasse was so severe, and the political climate was so poisoned, and we were so exhausted by the summer-long legislative session, that the legoslature just couldn”t get around to passing the ethics reform initiatives.

Illinois voters are disgusted by the widespread political corruption at all levels of government and are ready for reform, but the legislature is not. Senate President Emil Jones has got to go - he should be ousted as Senate President by the Democratic caucus after this session.

It’s reformism, not racism, bedeviling Senator Jones.

Comment by Captain America Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 9:46 am
The Governor’s staffers appear to be a bit short on experience and political savvy, but they are bright and well-meaning. However, these probably aren’t the people he actually listens to, if he listens to anyone. He needs to start listening to SOMEONE, preferably someone different than the person or persons who have been advising him this year. Examples of BAD strategy abound. Just a few: (1) Staying out of the electric rate negotiations; (2) Making the healthcare proposal his initiative instead of the Adequate Healthcare Task Force’s initiative; (3) Offering the GRT as a means to fund Illinois Covered instead of pushing the healthcare proposal first and then developing the funding piece in collaboration with key legislators; (4) Continuing to adamantly oppose increases in income and sales tax to fund vital educational and social services.

His approach to governing (if you can call it that) is very similar to Bush’s: Stubborn refusal to admit mistakes, questionable ethics, determined to fight transparency at all costs.

Recall? No, but he is becoming less and less relevant to the governing process due mainly to his own actions or inactions.

Comment by Will County Wiseguy Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 9:47 am
In reponse to an inquiry I posted about the evil genius’s advising the Governor several weeks ago, Rich Miller suggested there aren’t any.

According to my interpretation of Rich Miller’s remark, the Governor marches o a differnet drummer than the rest of us, and listens/acts/governs on a “me, myself, and I” basis. Apparently he doesn’t listen to anyone but himself and maybe his wife.

Comment by Captain America Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 10:07 am
Oh-oh. With the AFL-CIO dropping support of the Guv there are about to be some job openings at DCEO.

Comment by Papa Legba Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 10:10 am
If Tom Cross does, indeed, return his present
to the gov, Blago may be able to “regift” it
through what will, hopefully, be his last term
in office.

Comment by Esteban Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 10:35 am
After reading the Springfield Journal Register editorial, Ego vs. Compromise, and recalling the editorials from major newspapers last week, I can’t help but notice:

Even though the Governor’s staff told him to “‘butt out,” when Comptroller Dan Hynes speaks out forcefully about the budget impasse, people and editorial writers listen.

Thanks for telling the truth, Dan! That’s genuine, red-blooded, true blue, all-American “testicular virility” - speaking truth to power.

Comment by Captain America Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 10:36 am
If the Senate and House Rules stated that members’ pensions would be decreased 1% for every day that the legislative session goes into overtime, do you think they would have come up with a budget by now?

Comment by I Wonder Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 10:56 am
When Patrick Fitzgerald announces ARod’s indictment, his bizarre behavior will make sense. He’s definitely a man on the run from the press, afraid he will be questioned firstly about subpoenas and secondly about all the other crazy stuff he has been doing. He can’t think on his feet and without being scripted. Inept is a flattering description of this guy. It will all become crystal clear and there will be a resounding chorus of “Oh Yeah” throughout the entire state.

Comment by Little Egypt Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 11:39 am
CHICAGO (AP) - Governor Rod Blagojevich is dismissing the claim that Illinois needs a budget in place by Wednesday to avoid financial harm to state employees and schools waiting for government aid.

The Democratic governor called that an arbitrary deadline during an appearance in Chicago today.

– Oh, you crazy Gov’nuh.

Comment by So Ill Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 11:56 am
Speaking of AFL-CIO how did Blaggo The Blunder Boy
do at his Chicago press conference this a.m.?
Word is he has his bash machine on

Comment by Mr. W.T. Rush Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 11:59 am
The Confucious saying in the article reminds me of only one leader in Springfield. Read the saying and you’ll know who:
“The art of governing is to keep its affairs before the mind without weariness and to practice these affairs with undeviating consistency.”

Comment by cicero Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 12:45 pm
Miller,

Have you given thought to retracting or revising your diagnosis of the governor as perfectly sane?

If he’s not crazy, or delusional, or some variation of not playing with a full deck, what is he?

Maybe he is too simple-minded to absorb and process details and, in any case, too ADD to focus on them; so arrogant that he believes (or at least used to believe) that he is above the law; and so totally disorganized and incompetent that he can’t possible plot a strategy for more than half a day at a time.

Oh, and he has no trouble whatsoever lying, lying lying when he believes that it will carry him successfully through the next moment in his world.

But not crazy?

Comment by DeepFriedOnAStick Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 1:06 pm
“I don’t know how Blagojevich thinks he can effectively govern for the rest of his second term if he stays on this crazy course.” He hasn’t governed effectively to date. Why start now?

Comment by CJ Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 2:15 pm
The AP is reporting that Blago has directed the Illinois Finance Authority to make $175 million available to the state’s 900 school districts if no budget is settled this week in no-interest loans from the state.

State schools Superintendent Christopher Koch wrote to local schools Monday to say the state would pay the interest once there’s a budget agreement. The money available for loan is more than what would go out in state-aid payments. Checks for the first August payment are scheduled to be written Friday

Interpretation:
#1 - School districts would be wise to get a signed contract from Blago that he will pay the interest.

#2 - Blago is ready to throw the State employees under the bus, i.e. State shutdown and no paychecks, in order to hold out for what he wants in a budget.

#3 - Blago doesn’t plan on attending the State Fair Twilight Parade on Thursday knowing full well what kind of reception he will get.

Comment by Little Egypt Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 2:17 pm
#4 - Blago will be too busy doing the State’s business to attend the State Fair parade and/or the State Fair at all.

Comment by Little Egypt Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 2:18 pm
State Rep. Jay Hoffman, his confidant, will be sinking with the Governor.

Comment by Larry Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 3:39 pm
Are legislators paid their per-diem for the special sessions if they don’t show up for the roll call?

Comment by southern man Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 4:32 pm
Hey Rich,

There is some road project lists circulating from the Gov’s office. Pretty interesting distribution of funds. If you find one of the Operators I think they can fill in on the deal Cross/Watson made with the Guv. Big time $.

Comment by Nickname Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 4:39 pm
Aha
The mythical Cross/Watson deal with BlunderBoy rises from the mud again. Anybody asking if they both have 15 or more votes each for gambling increasesing?
History will tell us:
1. they don’t have the votes
2. BlunderBoy will cold feet and pull the plug (ala the famous disappearing Chris Kelly)
3.they can get a “real” guarantee on projects
and the expansion goes poof!

Comment by Mr. W.T. Rush Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 4:57 pm
I wonder how many school districts would actually need these loans. Aren’t most public schools funded primarily by local taxpayers, with the goal of local control. I believe many school officials have said they can manage easily if the aid is delayed. If they can’t, perhaps somebody should take a look at how the local school board is managing its money.

Comment by Cassandra Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 5:00 pm
“I wonder how many school districts would actually need these loans. Aren’t most public schools funded primarily by local taxpayers, with the goal of local control. I believe many school officials have said they can manage easily if the aid is delayed. If they can’t, perhaps somebody should take a look at how the local school board is managing its money.”

I would assume it depends on the district, in some counties were the local property taxes were late going out, they might face the duel problems of both the local and state payments being late.

Comment by RMW Stanford Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 5:25 pm
What effect will this budget impass have on companies thinking of moving to Illinois? such, as say,…that new generation company who is thinking about locating here or in texas? If the Dummycrats cant even come up w/a budget when they control state government, what could it possibly mean when the republican become relevent again? If it was a company I owned…. these jamokes would have made my decision for me as far as locating my business in Illinois.

Comment by Dago Red Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 5:36 pm
Assuming the GA does pass an approriation bill Tuesday or Wednesday, does anyone think the Governor will sign the bill as soon as he gets it? Won’t he have to study it to death first, like he’s doing with the ComEd-Ameren bill?

Comment by General Assembly Watcher Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 6:19 pm
I heard the Governor say this evening that if the budget is not passed there will be no hardships.
Does he not know that we are in our second month of FY 08 and none of the vendors have been paid. Many are small business’. Chicago schools have no idea what there budget is therefore they can not plan their school year.
CTA is going to start laying off workers and shortening schedules.
Healthcare workers will not be paid and the list goes on and on.
What is he thinking.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 8:08 pm
I believe the budget cloud hanging over the Capitol has begun to take on an ominous green hue with strong rotation and a funnel shape….

Comment by Lainer Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 9:51 pm
“Who Ya Gonna Call?” Blago Busters ! Mike and Emil et al.

Comment by A Citizen Monday, Aug 6, 07 @ 10:41 pm
Now here is a question….

Assume that a paycheck is late, so you get a no-interest loan from the credit union.

If (and I don’t know if they can) a state employee is giving to a 401K and the payment is late could the state be liable for any demonstrated loss of investment gains.

That is if I normally buy the ‘I retire in 2030′ mutual fund at on day X it is selling for $5 but since my paycheck is delayed so I don’t buy until day Y when it is $5.10 a share. So therefore I am able to buy less shares. Seems to me there might be a liability there.

Second case, if the state has a 401K program and you can take loans on it, the payment that is made on the loan will be late (normally taken out of a paycheck) is the state liable for that interest as well?

Comment by OneMan Tuesday, Aug 7, 07 @ 8:19 pm