The job Rod Blagojevich leaves behind
The dispensation of justice is always cause for relief but rarely cause for satisfaction. So it is with Monday’s conviction of Gov. Rod Blagojevich on 17 of 20 corruption counts he faced for actions during his tenure as Illinois governor.
The relief here is that justice at last is served. A governor tried to use the power of his office to make self-serving deals involving, among many other things, campaign contributions and an important political appointment, and the justice system called him on it. He didn’t get away with it. Beware, all ye who would follow a similar path.
And yet.
And yet, state government in Illinois — to use a favorite Blagojevich idiom, “business as usual in Springfield” — continues to wear the stain of ignominious repute. It shows in cynically partisan congressional and legislative maps rushed through the paces of government. It shows in a process that blatantly uses casinos as rewards and lures for obviously flawed legislation that will besmirch the personality of the state. It shows in legislative leadership that, despite making important strides on ethics, continues to cling to the one campaign practice — targeted leader contributions without limits — that can protect the power of the entrenched.
This is not a happy day. And it is not Blagojevich alone who has brought its dark clouds. Blagojevich has heard the verdict on his behaviors. Soon, he will be sentenced to prison for them. And perhaps we’ll all proclaim to the world, “Look what happens, when you take lightly the public trust in Illinois,” as if that will change something.
The fact is that political corruption was an issue the day Blagojevich was inaugurated for his first term of office. The fact is that the example of George Ryan, Blagojevich’s immediate predecessor, hovered before him and everyone else in the state throughout his first term and into his second. The fact is that some of his best friends already had been indicted and convicted on corruption charges. And yet, then-Gov. Blagojevich thought it was a natural part of the process, of “business as usual,” to cultivate deals for the appointment to a U.S. Senate seat, to offer his official signature in trade for campaign contributions.
Rod Blagojevich may have played on Illinois’ culture of secretive deal making. He may even have been a product of that culture. But he alone did not define it, nor does it end with whatever justice is meted out to him.
No, that job — the job of ending that culture — rests with the politicians who follow him, and, do not forget it, with us, the voters who set the standard for them through our choices at the ballot box. Do not think of this day as bittersweet. There is nothing sweet about it. The relief of justice in this case brings with it a harsh reminder not just of what has happened in the past, but of how much remains to be done in the future.