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Standing on principles * UPDATED x1 *

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*** UPDATE - 10:56 am *** WLS ought to lose its license for continuing to allow this corrupt humanoid to spew his goofiness on the public airwaves [/snark]…

Bear Necessities Pediatric Cancer Foundation wasn’t the only charity to turn down donations from Patti Blagojevich’s stint on a reality show, according to her husband.

Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, making his daily call to WLS Radio’s Don Wade and Roma Show, said this morning he believes the other charities were worried they would lose state funding if they teamed up with the Blagojeviches.

“I think they’re prudent in being concerned if they were to take our help they might get punished and penalized,” Rod Blagojevich said. “They might lose state funding or not get more state funding or incur the wrath of some of those lawmakers like [Illinois House Speaker Mike] Madigan, for example, who is the type of guy who would take it out on them.”

Everything’s about Madigan to him.

[ *** End of Update *** ]

* Times are tough, and charitable giving is down, so Bear Necessities deserves a major “thumbs up” for sticking to its principles…

The group announced it would not, even in these tough economic times, accept donations offered by Patti Blagojevich while on her reality TV show stint.

The group is affiliated with Children’s Memorial Hospital — the same hospital former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is accused of shaking down for a $50,000 campaign contribution.

According to federal charges, Blagojevich said he’d hold up state funding for Children’s Memorial if the executive director didn’t donate to his campaign fund.

So Bear Necessities said thanks, but no thanks, to Patti.

Man, that just drips with irony. More…

Krupa said the offer to Bear Necessities was made by Patti Blagojevich’s publicist, Glenn Selig, and the show’s producers on May 26. The charity’s board considered the offer that night, and rejected it May 28.

The offer was for a split of telephone charges incurred by the voting public as they call the show to eliminate contestants, Krupa said. The winner’s charity would get three shares of whatever was earned that way. The runner-up’s charity would get two shares, and the charities represented by every other contestant would get one share, under the arrangement originally outlined to Bear Necessities.

NBC spokesman Gary Mednick confirmed the charity payout plan and said Patti Blagojevich would be competing instead for the Florida-based Children’s Cancer Center.

If you’d like to contribute to Bear Necessities, click here.

* Meanwhile, a former federal prosecutor writes an op-ed in the Tribune about Rod Blagojevich-appointed US Sen. Roland Burris. The pieces uses a familiar “Where’s the outrage?” refrain…

Where is the outrage? Where is the public outcry for Burris to resign the seat he landed by telling these lies? Is our political system so broken that we simply look the other way when a Senate seat — a Senate seat for goodness’ sake — is obtained through lie after lie after lie? Where are the public demands for Burris to step down?

Um, huh?

Where has this man been living the past six months? Sheesh. Has he missed the innumerable editorials, the press conferences, the drama, the polling?

More…

We repeatedly have left it to law enforcement to clean up our messes, or more precisely, the messes made by the officials we elect. Maybe they’ll bail us out one more time, whether we deserve it or not.

True, but that’s what law enforcement is for, whether we “deserve it” or not. They arrest criminals. Oh, and by the way, Burris wasn’t elected.

* Related…

* Blago: I wish I was eating the bugs on reality show : “If I was swept away in the river, I probably would have been swept away forever,” he said.

* Pity Blagojevich?

* Ethics watchdog group says Burris Senate ethics inquiry should be open to public

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Jun 3, 09 @ 9:13 am

Comments

Any thoughts about making donations to Bear Necessities in honor of that gentleman who was killed in Iraq recently?

Comment by OneMan Wednesday, Jun 3, 09 @ 9:22 am
No Rich, Bare necessities deserves a huge THUMBS DOWN for its grandstanding. I share legal guardianship of a severely handicapped adult and if the organization which works to cure her disease were to turn down funds, especially at a time when charity giving is down, I’d be enraged.

Explain the difference to me if it were a baby lying in the road and Patti Blago went out of her way to save it and the parent phoned her and said “NO! You’re immoral! We’ll save it ourselves…maybe…if we can get other people there in time.” The only difference is the expediency.

Comment by lake county democrat Wednesday, Jun 3, 09 @ 9:28 am
To be sure this is unheard of. A charity rejecting an offer at that a very public one. Then again now I’ve just seen the rest of the story. I understand.

Comment by Levois Wednesday, Jun 3, 09 @ 9:30 am
Lake Co,

Presumably the baby lying in the road doesn’t have an affiliation with a “victim” of Patti’s husband’s alleged shakedown. This whole situation might be different it wasn’t apparent that they chose Bear Necessities because of its relationship with Children’s.

As a criminal defense attorney, I too would recommend my client (via his family maybe) attempt to curry favor with a victim prior to trial in hopes of leniency from the victim (i.e. they won’t want to testify or will ask for mercy at sentencing).

I don’t think they ever said they did it from a sense of morality.

Comment by ThreeSheets Wednesday, Jun 3, 09 @ 9:35 am
Could someone please tell me what outrage is supposed to look like? Am I supposed to grab my pitchfork and stand in the street, brandishing garden implements at the sky, wearing a t-shirt that says, Reform Now or I Will Be Quite Vexed! Sheesh.

Comment by soccermom Wednesday, Jun 3, 09 @ 9:36 am
I applaud Bear Necessities. There are so many opportunities to compromise one’s principles in order to get some fast cash. Bear Necessities proved that money “at any cost” is not worth it. Instead, they stuck to their principles and refused to accept money from a woman who is entrenched in one of the most disgraceful legal battles in Illinois history.

Consider this, if Bernie Madoff offered to donate to your favorite charity, would you accept the possibly tainted money? Or would you refuse it on ethical grounds?

Comment by Sewanee Wednesday, Jun 3, 09 @ 9:38 am
I actually think the outrage point is a good one that could be expanded upon. What concerns me is the apathy that practically all of my private sector colleagues show Burris, Blago, Stroger, et al. Basically, they’ve given up on the process…they lack any respect for local government. Sure, they’d answer negatively to a poll, but I wouldn’t confuse that with outrage.

Other than on Capitol Fax and Tribune/S-T message boards, I never hear a word about these officials. And that worries me, because it means that my colleagues and friends have given up on caring.

In Oregon, where I grew up, a misappropriated $1,000 contribution would land you on the front page and become the talk of the town. I think folks here are becoming numb–and that’s not healthy, especially when you have a tax increase to pass.

Comment by Greg Wednesday, Jun 3, 09 @ 9:46 am
Bear Necessities, on a cloudy day you just made the sun shine. Good on you! You just got the money I was going to squander on my next case of beer. This Bud’s for you!

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Jun 3, 09 @ 9:49 am
Wow, she tries to do some good and gets rebuffed. Maybe this is her way of saying sorry w/o inciminating hubby. Bad move, I will accept the money on behalf of my daughters Deb T. and Charity

Comment by Wumpus Wednesday, Jun 3, 09 @ 9:49 am
The “Bear” story was commented on this AM during the “Rod Blagojevich Show”. The hosts expressed outrage that children were being denied medical care becuse of the refusal. Funny, these are the same hosts that were also outraged Monday when Quinn answered each question with a variation of “the poor are out on the street if you don’t pass the tax”. Now they know how to be outraged!!!

Comment by Hank Wednesday, Jun 3, 09 @ 9:57 am
ThreeSheets — by no means am I trying to give Patti any sort of credit or benefit of the doubt. BN could take the money and not even offer a thank you. They could have said “no comment” when reporters asked. But to the funds down on behalf of kids with cancer?! To tweak my analogy, you’d have to say that Rod and Patti GAVE the kids cancer, then offered to give them money for treatment.

Comment by lake county democrat Wednesday, Jun 3, 09 @ 10:00 am
Principles aside, the charity’s rejection has earned them millions in free publicity, and will presumably more than makeup for the declined money.

Comment by Greg Wednesday, Jun 3, 09 @ 10:01 am
Hank, thanks for the insight. The kids will be denied nothing. Good, decent people will just suck it up and do more, like they always do. God bless them.

The vulgarity of the Blagos knows no bounds.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Jun 3, 09 @ 10:03 am
I agree, Greg. They got my money.

Comment by neo state worker Wednesday, Jun 3, 09 @ 10:06 am
Seems to me BN should have asked those receiving their aid if they would like to accept the money. A board of directors can stand on whatever “principles” they want to, but ultimately they should be serving their recipients, and not their own righteous feelings.

Comment by anon Wednesday, Jun 3, 09 @ 10:39 am
Anon 10:39, they’re an ongoing organization that does does noble and very serious work. They chose not to be hijacked or associated with the Blago freak show. Do you recall that Blago tried to shake down Children’s Memorial Hospital?

It’s called honor. It’s a good thing. And they’ll be back doing their good work today and for many years after the Blagos are just an embarrassing memory.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Jun 3, 09 @ 10:50 am
Rich, you missed the Blago revelation that his younger daughter has food allergies and that Madigan (at some unknown time)refused to call a bill somehow related to food allergy to get back at Blago. It’s a circus!

Comment by Hank Wednesday, Jun 3, 09 @ 11:05 am
Hate to be a skeptic, but this was probably the best advertising investment decision they will ever make.

It raises their profile and boosts their perceived respectability. Point being, they are definitely not going to be worse off financially for making this decision.

Comment by Obamarama Wednesday, Jun 3, 09 @ 11:40 am
WLS really has become a joke. What with Drew on with Mancow all the time and Blago on with Don and Roma now…only show I really listen to anymore is Roe in the afternoon.

Comment by Anon in BB Wednesday, Jun 3, 09 @ 11:58 am
It may sound a bit tinfoil hatish when Blago continues to blame Madigan for everything, but there is some truth there. Ita not ridiculous to say that the speaker uses his power to exact revenge on those who cross him. And Blago is definitely not the only person out there saying that mike Madigan is a bad person. Its almost unfair to the speaker that so many are expressing their hatred for this man and his methods. Saying that somebody is a bad person is very serious in my opinion. For the speaker to continue to politicize things as he does, he fuels the fire and gives ammo to those who question his character. Missing the budget deadline isn’t going to help his image either.

I think that Lisa will be a great governor, but I think that the time for the speaker to step aside has definitely come. He has had a herat career, but it is time for a change in leadership.

Comment by anon Wednesday, Jun 3, 09 @ 12:16 pm
Lewis H. Lapham said it best:

Money is like fire, an element as little troubled by moralizing as earth, air and water. Men can employ it as a tool or they can dance around it as if it were the incarnation of a god. Money votes socialist or monarchist, finds a profit in pornography or translations from the Bible, commissions Rembrandt and underwrites the technology of Auschwitz. It acquires its meaning from the uses to which it is put.

Comment by Zora Wednesday, Jun 3, 09 @ 12:20 pm
If you beleive they should take the money regardless of the soruce, then you believe the ends justify the means. By such logic they should deal drugs, set up illegal gambling dens etc so-long-as it meets the end criteria of raising cash! But wait Ghost, you cry, those are illeal activitie and this was a legal offer! Ahh! but your reason for taking the money is that all money should be taken regardless of source, so lawfulness should not matter.

If the source of the money matters, whetehr it be leggal ir illegal, then you are a means justifies the ends person liek bear necessities. I have huge respect for any charity that is willing to recognize that money for the sake of money is not a guiding principal. In fact Blago operated under a similiar beleif, get money where ever and however you can. Given theri relationship to one of Blago’s shakedowns, it would have been worse to take his cash.

Comment by Ghost Wednesday, Jun 3, 09 @ 12:53 pm
Blago: I wish I was eating the bugs on reality show : “If I was swept away in the river, I probably would have been swept away forever,” he said.

The citizens of Illinois are not nearly blessed enough for something like that to happen.

Comment by BigDog Wednesday, Jun 3, 09 @ 1:29 pm
When the pols started giving Rezko’s tainted campaign money to charity did they refuse?

Comment by anon Wednesday, Jun 3, 09 @ 1:44 pm
Zora-Bingo! Now that’s a quote I wish I had known

Comment by steve schnorf Wednesday, Jun 3, 09 @ 2:35 pm
Blago blames who for exacting revenge? Who slashed the speaker’s daughter’s budget by 25%? And who slashed the speaker’s wife’s budget by at least that much? (It couldn’t hurt the speaker’s wife personally, because she draws no salary from the Arts Council.) And who had the speaker’s chief of staff’s wife fired because hiring rules had changed since her hiring 20-some years ago? That list may go on too, but I only know what I read in the papers.

Blago seems to project his own faults onto others.

Comment by Ann O'Namus Wednesday, Jun 3, 09 @ 2:38 pm
==The offer was for a split of telephone charges incurred by the voting public as they call the show to eliminate contestants, Krupa said. ==

First it’s pay-to-play with the Blagos, now it’s pay-to-not-play. Wish they’d make up their minds.

Comment by Anon Wednesday, Jun 3, 09 @ 3:10 pm
What on earth happened at WLS? New program director? Strange brain eating virus infection? The station has been absolutely trashed. “Don and Roma” were always a gig, him crusty, she liberal. Now, totally looney with the Cicero crazy and Citizen Blag. Is there really a market for this??

“Roe” was OK with Jim Johnson as a normalizer. Now Johnson’s out and Amy Jacobson is in. Sean Hannity has always been saliva-test stupid. Rush L. I actually like (when the D’s are in the White House), but only 10 min or so at a time.

What idiot decided to destroy this station? They’re off my car radio this week and for good. Rich is right-pull the damn license…these are public airwaves.

By the way, I’m a conservative R if the advertisers are reading this blog.

Comment by Bobs yer Wednesday, Jun 3, 09 @ 7:26 pm
Flipping channels, just spotted Blago on Larry King. Why?

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Jun 3, 09 @ 8:31 pm