Column: Betrayal of trust

By Chuck Prochaska

Gov. Rod Blagojevich had an easy act to follow. Former Gov. George Ryan, the King of Corruption, the Sultan of Slime, had disgraced the name of the Illinois Republican Party and betrayed the voters of this great state. As a result, Blago was tapped for the position of governor over Republican whipping boy Jim Ryan, who was the Attorney General at the time. I understood that the doldrums of politics were in full swing. When your party crumbles faster than the 1969 Cubs, people lose faith, get disgruntled and switch to the other game in town (unless you’re a wacky North-sider, and fill the seats regardless of how crappy the team is).

Blago was the perfect alternative to Ryan. Young, energetic and a fan of Elvis, Blago ran as a reformer. Sweeping aside questions about his ties to daddy-in-law Richard Mell, a well-connected and corrupt Chicago political tycoon, Blago promised to clean up the state and restore it fiscally and structurally. But in the end, with the sun seemingly setting on the Blagojevich administration, we see he was really no different than the rest.

His administration has been characterized by broken campaign promises, stalled budgets and shady dealings with Chicago. But few imagined that Gov. Blagojevich was capable of the recklessness displayed last week.

In a story broken by CBS Chicago, Gov. Blagojevich approved the installation of a $720,000 heated driveway for the Governor’s mansion in Springfield. The funny part is that he doesn’t even live there. The sad part is that a different contractor could have completed it for $30,000. Even worse, the state is so broke that it is funding the project with 25-year bonds. After interest, it will total $1.25 million.

A spokeswoman for the governor defended the project as an emergency, because tourists were “endangered by holes developing in the asphalt.” Illinois’ September blizzards aside, it’s terrible that Blagojevich feels that holes in his driveway are more of a liability than the craters pock-marking I-90/94. Another contactor interviewed by CBS laughed at this malfeasance, saying that for the total cost of the project, Blagojevich could have built three miles of asphalt road. Think about how many potholes he could have filled.

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It amazes me that the man with a funny last name and a strange likeness to the kid on the cover of Mad Magazine feels that he has earned the right to so flagrantly abuse tax revenue. Four years ago, pundits elevated Blago’s charisma and wit to presidential candidate hopeful. Now, many would be amazed if he won term two.

There are no winners in this sad story. Democrats can do nothing but say “whoopsie daisy” and run the other way, while Republicans like State Sen. Steve Rauschenberger (R- Elgin) and candidate for governor try to capitalize. But it will take more than a dry driveway in January to beat Blago. I like Rauschenberger, but, with rumors swirling of a “Draft Jim” coalition to bring former Gov. Edgar back to Springfield, it seems that Illinois needs to resurrect this superhero to rescue us from corruption. I can’t help but be discouraged by the damage that Ryan, and now Blagojevich, have done to all honest statesmen.

I’m normally a partisan beast, taking mighty swipes at ideologies differing from mine, 650 words at a time. But this week, I’m driven to utter disgust by both parties. Illinois Republicans allow the same crooked fat cat bosses to sit high on their thrones and command visibly disgruntled and depleting armies year after year. Yet, Democrats can’t get their act together to show Illinois what true civil service looks like. Soon, the credibility of even honest candidates and elected officials will be neglected due to this pattern of betraying voters’ trust.

So long as “the old guard” continues to run the GOP in Illinois, and Chicago’s puppet strings run to the Democrats in Springfield, I fear heated driveways will be the least of our worries.

Chuck Prochaska is a junior in LAS. His column appears every Thursday. He can be reached at [email protected].