Illinois Gov. gets big Dem resume enhancement

Blagojevich and Harris, along with others, obtained and sought to gain financial benefits for the governor, members of his family and his campaign fund in exchange for appointments to state boards and commissions, state jobs and state contracts, according to the charges.

"The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering," U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said in a statement.

"They allege that Blagojevich put a 'for sale' sign on the naming of a United States senator; involved himself personally in pay-to-play schemes with the urgency of a salesman meeting his annual sales target; and corruptly used his office in an effort to trample editorial voices of criticism."

Say, does anyone know what political party he belongs to? I don't see it in any reporting---probably Republican.

I do think it would be an interesting study to compare reporting on Blago with, say, reporting on the Cunningham fellow in California, to see who is referred to according to party and how often.

Locally, everyone who lives outside of middle earth knows that Blago is a Democrat. The problem is that in Chicago and Cook County elections, the Democrats are rubber stamped by the public in the general elections. They are corrupt, in my opinion, precisely because they are never held accountable. Blago, while Governor, comes out of this system. The Cook County Board President, Todd Stroger, was effectively given his job from his father, John Stroger, and has managed to raise sales taxes within Chicago (because the cities here can also add to the sales tax rate) to a STAGGERING 10.25%, only to this year complain about not having the money he needed. No kidding.

So OF COURSE Blago is a Democrat. He is an elected official who lives in Chicago. On a nationwide scale, of course, people are less likely to know his affiliation, and I, like you, wonder if the media care to tell them. Still, the local papers have no need to tell us Blago's affiliation--it would only be news if he were not a Democrat.

As far as the former Governor presently occupying a cell, for years he spoke of wanting to get the conservatives out of the Republican Party in Illinois. He said they should break away and form their (our) own party. He was the last Republican in a 25 year Republican streak in the office of Governor in Illinois.

Translation: Sherm's call for more "moderate" Republicans has proven in Illinois a recipe for electoral disaster.

That's because Stroger hired all kinds of incompetent relatives of supporters. I understand he's about to float a bond offering.

Stroger wants the bond already, and the scuttlebut is that he can raise taxes after the next election to pay for it. The bond he wants now is for something like 740 million dollars.

I don't get why anyone still lives in Crook County. Anyone there will tell you that the government is both corrupt and unresponsive, yet they refuse to move out. When they do, they come down this way, and the almost universal thing you'll hear from the expatriates is a frustration with the government.

It's incredible to me. I live now about 65 miles southwest of Chicago. The property taxes rates are about the same but as the median house is about 1/4th the price of Chicago houses, so the bills are far lower. The sales tax rate here is 7% (3.25% less than Chicago's) and yet I see police as often (or more) than I wish. How is it that uneducated and unemployed LaSalle County can operate better than Cook County?