Blagojevich must address corruption
Firmly perched on his high horse, Gov. Rod Blagojevich recently chastised the media for focusing on the corruption scandals that threaten to swallow his administration:
"You want to cover tangential, collateral things that have no impact or relevance to people."
It's amazing how time changes one's views. A 2002 candidate named Rod Blagojevich issued a never-ending stream of press releases and attacks on then Attorney General Jim Ryan for failing to stop the culture of corruption that flourished under George Ryan when he was Secretary of State.
Indeed, Blagojevich's 2002 campaign largely hinged on the "tangential" topic of public corruption and not once did he criticize the media for their extensive coverage of George Ryan's corruption implosion.
Furthermore, Blagojevich spent much of 2006 trying to convince voters through commercials that George Ryan's corruption scandals were not mere "collateral things that have no impact or relevance to people" but rather a central reason to stay away from Judy Baar Topinka and vote for him.
Campaign commercials cannot hide the reality that the parallels between George Ryan and Blagojevich are becoming more pronounced every day. Both suffered from aggressive federal investigations of their administrations. Both had close colleagues indicted. Both increasingly hunkered down to avoid the media. Both have appeared as "Public Official A" in federal prosecutors' court filings.
Blagojevich should drop his cheap media criticism, stop his pointless and mindless attacks on the General Assembly and instead come clean with the public about the roles his indicted friends Chris Kelley and Tony Rezko had in his administration and his campaigns.
Citizens are waiting for Blagojevich's response because public corruption affects real people, real tax dollars and real policies.
Public corruption is not a tangential or collateral issue. It is unfortunately still a significant part of Illinois' deeply flawed and compromised political system.
Tiresome diatribes won't change that fact.
Jay Stewart
Executive Director
Better Government Assn.
Chicago