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The hits keep on coming

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Illinois

I’m not sure how long the governor’s keno plan will be sucking wind.

The Tribune’s latest editorial, entitled “Keno and business as usual” certainly didn’t help,

This is getting to be a tired old story with Blagojevich, who campaigned as a swashbuckling reformer dedicated to cleaning up Springfield’s insider dealings.

Yet there has been a long stream of revelations about the governor’s friends’ links to state contracts and jobs–the same kind of insider favoritism and pay-to-play politics that he complained about when he was a candidate.

Blagojevich estimates that keno would net about $80 million annually, with the proceeds used to pay debt service on $500 million in bonds for the school construction portion of a broader public works initiative. Gambling revenues can be notoriously unsteady, though, making them a shaky foundation for a bond debt revenue stream. Adding keno to the mix of legal games of chance also runs the risk of cannibalizing revenue the state already gets from the lottery, casinos and horse racing.

All reasons to think this is a bad bet for everyone, except the governor’s friends.

Ouch. I contend in my column that some of this stuff is overblown, but I fully admit that this is a political nightmare for the governor.

The Tribune’s Rick Pearson made many of the same points in a recent analysis that I did last week.

By introducing keno wagering at thousands of bars and restaurants into the funding mix, Gov. Rod Blagojevich has turned an already fractious legislative discussion about his multibillion-dollar plan to build and repair roads and schools into a debate about more gambling in the state.

“People aren’t calling me saying they heard the governor’s got some capital construction bill and that they hope we can get this and that done,” Sen. Dale Righter (R-Mattoon) said. “They’re saying they don’t want the keno machines in their local restaurants.” […]

But it’s not only Republicans who are balking at Blagojevich’s plan.

Last week, four Democratic Latino state senators from Chicago told the governor in a letter that his proposal was “unacceptable,” in part because “our residents already spend too much of their hard-earned dollars on games of chance.”

Meanwhile, the House Republicans want Attorney General Lisa Madigan to step into the debate.

House Republicans moved Tuesday to draw Attorney General Lisa Madigan into the debate over whether Gov. Blagojevich can authorize keno wagering in bars and restaurants without legislative approval. […]

“This action of trying to unilaterally bring keno to the public is improper,” said Rep. Mark Beaubien (R-Wauconda), who was among those seeking Madigan’s intervention. “This is a matter for the Legislature to debate and not for the governor to do on his own.”

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Jan 18, 06 @ 7:54 am

Comments

Who cares what the newspapers, residents, or low level representatives thinks?

What do ‘the four tops’ think? They are the only ones that matter and will decide for all of us what is best.

The four tops should pass this. The three should then silently stand by while the blame is put on Blago (the fourth ironically, and the one who proposed it) by the media and voters come election time. They can then laugh while they are using the proceeds to borrow money to spend on state contracts that shore up their cronies & support base.

All putting the blame on Blago will do is force him to spend more of his own warchest come election time. He’ll get re-elected, the status quo will be maintained, and everyone will have much more money to spend.

Comment by Sheesh Wednesday, Jan 18, 06 @ 8:20 am
I hope no one is holding thier breath waiting for Madigan to get into this.

Comment by DOWNSTATE Wednesday, Jan 18, 06 @ 10:53 am
If I were Republican, I would keep the Keno fiasco on the table and draw this thing out. Getting Madigan involved was a good move. Every way you look at it, Blagojevich appears the corrupted fool to voters.

Blagojevich has established and reinforced a media story that will lose votes but is too easy and interesting not to follow. Everytime this guy opens his mouth, the media will continue with the saga of how this reformer became corrupted while in power. They will show how each deal went down, remind voters of how other deals went down, and continue spinning the story to Rod’s disadvantage. Uncovering corruption is orgasmic to reporters and they just can’t help themselves when a governor makes it so easy with announcements like his Keno proposal.

As I mentioned last Friday, Blagojevich is in a media death spiral of his own making. He is trying to change the subject by grabbing Daley and going after assault weapons, but this news, like AllKids, is worth only one week at the most. If Republicans and Eisendrath don’t take the bait, the focus will once again be on our corrupted reformer’s fall from grace.

Its too easy and juicy not to focus on it. The accusations fit a pattern and the Blagojevich story too well not to remember it.

The governor needs to continue throwing smoke screens, hope raising divisive issues will steer the focus away from him and claim he is just doing his job. He has to also hope Eisendrath faulters somewhere between now and March.

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Jan 18, 06 @ 11:05 am
Politics as ussual, Chicago Style!

Exactly!!!

Comment by Captplaid Wednesday, Jan 18, 06 @ 4:57 pm
So, you will be able to gamble away your grocery money in a Chicago tavern, just don’t light up! I guess if tavern patrons have to give up one vice they really should be able to replace it with another.

Comment by puzzler Thursday, Jan 19, 06 @ 7:49 am