Blago bits

I don't really find the Blagojevich business very funny, living in Illinois as I do. I know it's the source of high comedy in the rest of the country, and to some extent in the rest of the world, but the entertainment value is limited if you are actually represented by this clown. The saddest part is that this circus has come in the wake of an election that has energized the nation; all the hope we've invested in Obama and the possibility that the system will change has been flushed as we've seen the venality of one governor and the blithering incompetence and inconsistency of our U.S. Congress. And Roland Burris, who should have faded into obscurity as a go-along get-along guy who never accomplished anything of merit, has been exposed as the egotistical clod he has, apparently, always been.

That said, since it's Sunday, I'll link to an Eric Zorn post where he collects some of the greatest hits in the Blagojevich rhetorical repertoire. I'll quote just one (I'll let you read the rest, I barely had the stomach for it):

“I must confess, I kind of wish I could do just about everything by myself, because I feel Illinois would be a heck of a lot better.” ... January, 2008

I remember hearing that at the time and thinking he was joking. I was wrong.

Over the top

As an Illinoisan, I'm not taking quite the pleasure in the travails of Governor Blagojevich as people in the rest of the country. While Hot Rod is finally getting the national attention he's always wanted (who ever thought we'd see his name on the cover of TIME?), there's really nothing positive about it.

However, this headline on an AP story is a bit much:

Ill. sinks deeper into chaos over scandal

There are, apparently, some practical concerns in paying our bills, but, as we who live here know, there are always problems paying bills (ask some doctors who have trouble getting Medicaid reimbursements). The governor isn't getting too much done? Hey, that's just business as usual here.

It's hard to explain just how dysfunctional this governor's administration has been. If we've survived six years of utter fecklessness, we can survive a few more days or weeks.

Sheila's drunk the Kool-Aid

Where does accountability lie for public officials? Last night WTTW, our PBS station, spent their full news hour on the Illinois transit funding crisis. Anyone reading this who is not from Illinois probably doesn't care too much; it is enough for me to say that it is the typical problem of high pension obligations and benefits, funding neglected for far too long, and political wrangling that has prevented a solution until now (maybe).

I won't go into the remarkable political sclerosis that has prevented an earlier solution, but no public official has come out looking good. In particular, the governor, Rod Blagojevich, has seemed particularly feckless, pandering to public opinion while accomplishing very little of consequence.

At any rate, he sent his deputy governor to be questioned on WTTW last night (he rarely rouses himself to take real questions). She came on and, essentially, every answer she gave was some variation of, "The governor is working hard for the people of Illinois."

But don't we pay her? Isn't she supposed to serve us, not the PR interests of the governor? I don't understand why the accountability of highly-paid officials goes more toward the person who hired them, rather than the people.

[Accuse me, if you will, of being hopelessly naive or deliberately disingenuous. I think, however, that occasionally we need to put on our naive hat and look at the world as it is, not as we have forced ourselves to accept. Of course Sheila Nix is blindly loyal to the man who made her career, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't approach it with outrage, at least once in a while.]