Could charges spark GOP turnaround?

Propelled by a wave of scandals engulfing the administration of former Gov. George Ryan, Illinois Democrats six years ago seized control of both houses of the state legislature and won the governor's office for the first time in 26 years.

With Tuesday's arrest of Gov. Rod Blagojevich placing the shoe squarely on the other foot, Republicans may be looking to the state's latest political scandal as their best hope to recapture some of their lost influence in Springfield.

"Many years ago, our leaders lost their way, became corrupt and the voters threw them out, rightly so," Illinois Republican Chairman Andy McKenna said. "Now it's happening to the other party and I think the voters are going to hold them accountable."

The state GOP already is making hay with Blagojevich's arrest, running fundraising ads on a couple of prominent Web sites that read: "Had enough of corrupt politicians like Gov. Rod Blagojevich?"

State Rep. Mike Tryon, a Crystal Lake Republican, said the charges unveiled Tuesday affirms what he and fellow Republicans have been saying about Blagojevich for the past four years. Those complaints, he said, have gone ignored by some Democrats, particularly the governor's allies in the state Senate.

"The reflects terribly on Democrats in Illinois," said Tryon, who also chairs the McHenry County Republican Party. "This makes George Ryan look like a piker."

"The Republican call for reform is much stronger than it was (before the arrest)."

Others, however, question whether the GOP can capitalize on Blagojevich's woes.

Paul Green, director of the school of policy studies at Roosevelt University, said in most places the chances of the GOP benefiting from a Democratic governor's arrest would the equivalent of making a three-inch putt.

"It should a tap-in," Green said. "But these are the Illinois Republicans."

Infighting among state Republicans, Green said, could prevent the party from taking advantage of the sizable opportunity that Blagojevich's arrest, and potential trial, is giving them.

"It should be good news for them," he added. "But with the Illinois Republicans, I'm just not sure."

Democratic State Rep. Jack Franks said party lawmakers should be more insulated from Blagojevich's troubles than Republicans were from Ryan's.

Most, he noted, have distanced themselves from the governor's administration while others, like himself, have become some of its harshest critics.

"When everything was going on with Gov. Ryan, no Republicans stood up and did or said anything about it," Franks, of Woodstock, said. "That buried the Republican party.

"I don't think this will be as tough on the Democrats as (Ryan's scandals) were on Republicans."

Indeed, widely publicized federal probes of Blagojevich, the conviction of fundraiser Tony Rezko and his lack of popularity had little impact on last month's state elections.

Democrats retained a strong majority in the General Assembly even with the governor's minuscule 13 percent approval rating.

McKenna, however, believes the public mood will change by the 2010 elections.

"I think (Blagojevich) will be an issue in 2010, in part because so many Democrats were so late to call him out," he said.