How a Governor Self-Destructed: Blagovejevich

[Warph]

Time Magazine:  http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1865876,00.html
The Fall of the House of Blagovejevich:

How a Governor Self-Destructed:

Wednesday was Rod Blagojevich's 52nd birthday, but you can bet it was not a happy one. After having been charged by federal authorities with trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat President-elect Barack Obama vacated, the Illinois governor spent most of the day hidden from view, inside the state office building in downtown Chicago. The few allies he had left have vanished. And anyone who might have been among the unnamed Senate candidates in the detailed charges against Blagovejich have been busy putting distance between the governor and themselves. Among those were Congresman Jesse Jackson Jr., who has hired a lawyer to accompany him to a meeting with federal prosecutors on Friday.

But it is Blagojevich who continues to be the target of public outrage. Talk radio hosts in the state fielded calls from citizens who wondered how the governor could attempt anything so brazen amid what were clearly ongoing federal investigations into some of his activities. "It's as if it didn't register [to Blagojevich]," says Jay Stewart, executive director of the Illinois Better Government Association, in Chicago. "Even by our crass, low standards in Illinois, it's stunning." Most polls had the governor's approval rating in the low two-digits, from 16% to the mid-20s; but one recent survey had Blago (as the Illinois public has grown to call him unflatteringly) at an incredible sub-basement level 4%.

Six years ago, Blagojevich, the son of a Serbian-born steelworker, had seemed to have an almost inspiring resume. He worked as a dishwasher to pay for college. After graduating from Pepperdine University's law school, he eventually found work as a prosecutor in Cook County, which includes Chicago, frequently handling domestic abuse cases. He married well; his wife Patti, was the daughter of an influential Chicago alderman, Richard Mell, who used her father's political smarts to help Blagojevich win elections, first to Illinois' General Assembly in 1992, then, four years later, as U.S. Representative from the 5th district of Illinois, representing parts of Chicago's North Side.

Then, in 2002, Blagojevich ran for the governorship, casting himself as a populist, tax-cutting antitdote to Illinois' long tradition of corrupt politics. Indeed, the last governor, George Ryan, was fighting that reputation and in 2003 would be charged and later convicted of corruption. Blagojevich had a striking public image to go with his reformist politics. Short and fit, with a shock of dark brown feathered hair, he wore sharply cut suits that some of his admirers said looked pulled out of GQ. He also had his father-in-law's help with strategy, and he became the first Democrat elected governor of Illinois since the 1970s. He also had a bit of luck. His Republican opponent's last name was also Ryan (though Jim Ryan was not related to the disgraced former governor, George Ryan), which helped tar the GOP candidate with the outgoing governor's problems. Even so, Blagojevich won with a relatively narrow 52% of the vote.

In 2006, Blagojevich won reelection by investing heavily in television advertising that again linked his Republican opponent to George Ryan's sins. But by then, his reputation as a clean-government reformer was already sullied. Even the haircut and GQ suits were looking out of date.

As a governor, he showed some serious political shortcomings. Officials who worked with him say that Blagojevich could appear disengaged and never truly expert in any of the policy discussions he participated in. Jim Duffett, executive director of Illinois' Campaign for Better Health Care, contends that Blagojevich's attempts at health care reform failed largely because of his prickly, grandstanding personality that alienated lawmakers and would-be allies. If anything got passed, says Duffett, legislators "knew the governor would get credit for it." There was also the misguided audacity of his political tactics. He tried to fund his healthcare plan, for example, in a budget that included one of the largest proposed tax increase in Illinois history. He lost that battle in humiliating fashion, garnering not a single vote in the state House of Representatives. His attempts to privatize Illinois' downtown office property failed miserably as well.

Blagojevich also alienated his powerful father-in-law. Mell had been given a lot of the credit for helping Blagojevich win the governor's office, so much so that one local publication called Mell "the governor-in-law." But petty arguments mushroomed into a major falling out, including Blagojevich shutting down a landfill owned by a Mell relative who allegedly boasted he had clout with the governor. Blagojevich then publicly belittled his father-in-law, saying, "This is the kind of thing that I think frankly separates the men from the boys in leadership. Do you have the testicular virility to make a decision like that knowing what's coming your way? I say I do."

According to news reports, Blagojevich also said of his father at the time: "There's a method of operation by people like him and they've been doing politics for years and they like to leverage and probe and threaten and bluster and bully until they get their way." Political observers say there was a brief attempt at reconciliation between the two men after the death of Mell's wife. But the feud resumed. As the scandal broke this week, Mell barely mentioned his son-in-law as he publicly comforted and defended his daughter.

But the governor's feuds went beyond family. He fought with almost everyone: the Mayor of Chicago (who has called him "cuckoo"); the state's attorney general; the speaker of the Illinois House — all fellow Democrats. For months, Republicans have been talking about impeaching Blagojevich. He has earned the opprobrium of preachers by snubbing a meeting with them, apparently because of their political links with another of his enemies, the Rev. James Meeks, a state senator with ambitions for the governorship. In a February 2008 article in Chicago magazine, reporter David Bernstein wrote, "nearly everyone I spoke to agrees that Blagojevich is facing a career-threatening political crisis."

At the time, the scandal that appeared most likely to bring him down involved one of his fundraisers, Antoin "Tony" Rezko, who faced charges of trying to extort money from companies dealing with the Illinois state government under Blagojevich. It was a case that threatened to pull in President-elect Obama as well, though Blagojevich, who denied any involvement in Rezko's schemes, appeared to be in more immediate peril. In the end, Rezko was convicted on federal fraud and bribery charges without direct fallout on Blagojevich. Yet the governor faced several other probes, according to Chicago magazine, involving hefty contributions to his wife Patti from political fundraisers and even money given to his seven-year old daughter.

Now, the scandal that appears likely to end his career has come. Arriving at court on Tuesday, Blagojevich entered from a side door, wearing a Nike blue and black running suit and keeping his head low after a quick sweeping look into the crowded gallery. His appearance was rather haggard, his normally brushed bangs a bit unkempt, a striking contrast from his co-defendant, chief of staff John Harris, 46, who was dressed tidily in a suit and tie.

After Tuesday's court proceedings, Blagojevich returned to his modest, brown house on Chicago's North Side. For much of his tenure as governor, he has spent more time in Chicago than in Springfield, the state's capital. Blagojevich has thus far refused to resign, and he still holds the power to fill Obama's vacant U.S. Senate seat. But it's doubtful any credible candidate would accept a nomination that came from his hand. To try to circumvent the scandal, there is some talk of the Lt. Governor appointing Obama's successor in the Senate.

Despite the calls for his resignation, from Obama among others, and a move in the state legislature to start impeachment proceedings, observers don't expect a quick resolution to the scandal. "These calls for Blagojevich to resign, they're very sensible, but you can't force someone to do so," says Dick Simpson, a former Chicago alderman who now heads the political science department at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "Impeachment hearings would take a long time, months, and the call for a special election needs his signature, which the legislature would then have to override his veto. It's not a quick process." And given his pugnacious history, the governor could fight until the bitter end. With reporting by Eric Ferkenhoff/Chicago

[Dee Gee]

This sure makes our Governer Kathleen Sebelius look good.

[Wilma]

Quote from above, "inside the state office building in downtown Chicago".  When did Chicago become the state capital of Illinois?  Did I miss something?

[Catwoman]

I wish I could feel sorry for him but he's his own worst enemy...he has done the same thing that many people do...they make the mistake of believing that they are above the 'rules' of society...and I'm not just referring to the laws of the land.  I'm referring to those who believe that they, in their comfort of being in the 'in' crowd, are above having to follow the same social morays and standards as the common man.  People will get away with whatever they're allowed to get away with...thank goodness this idiot is having to account for his actions.  However...his behavior begs the question...if the current IL senate seat was considered to be up for sale this time...was it up for the sale the last time?

[Catwoman]

Quote from above, "inside the state office building in downtown Chicago".  When did Chicago become the state capital of Illinois?  Did I miss something?

I think there is a state office building in Chicago...it states in the article that the capital is Springfield.

[W. Gray]

http://repositories.cdlib.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1199&context=ced/places

See the Chicago State Office Building, above. The information said it was built for state government but it certainly looks out of place for that purpose.

[Warph]

Quote from above, "inside the state office building in downtown Chicago".  When did Chicago become the state capital of Illinois?  Did I miss something?

Governor Rod R. Blagojevich felt that capital, Springfield, IL, was a little too tame for his type of politics so he decided to move his office to the State Office Building in Chicago where the action was.  People were quite upset about the move along with his silly blunders.  This is why he has a 4% approval rating with the people of Illinois.

State Office Building, Chicago:
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/jahn/illstat1.jpg

Gov. Web Site:  http://www.il.gov/gov/