Roll over Honest Abe, Land of Lincoln sinking lower
That whirring we hear coming from Springfield isn't the sound of a well-oiled political machine. It's Honest Abe reacting to the Land of Lincoln's latest corruption case.
"The conduct would make Lincoln roll over in his grave," U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said Tuesday in detailing the "appalling" and "staggering" crimes with which the Feds charged Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The Democratic governor was elected on a campaign to clean up the criminal cesspool left by George Ryan, our last crooked governor. Fitzgerald, in sending that Republican governor to prison, said Ryan set "a low-water mark for public service."
Until now.
"Governor Blagojevich has truly taken us to a new low," Fitzgerald said Tuesday.
And Illinois knows low. In the last 50 years, the Chicago Cubs (Blagojevich's favorite team) have won more playoff games than Illinois has had unindicted governors. Three of our governors went to prison and now Blagojevich faces felonies.
• Republican George Ryan, who was governor from 1999 to 2003, was convicted in 2006 of the same types of charges Blagojevich faces. Ryan has served one year of a 61/2-year prison sentence, although Blagojevich is on the record saying President Bush should commute Ryan's sentence.
• Democrat Dan Walker, governor from 1973 to 1977, went to prison on bank fraud charges that, in what qualifies as a shining moment in Illinois politics, took place after Walker left office.
• Democrat Otto Kerner, governor from 1961 to 1968, went to prison for accepting bribes. Dying of cancer, he got out of prison early.
Gov. James R. Thompson, an attorney who prosecuted Kerner and defended Ryan, joins Richard Ogilvie and Jim Edgar as the only living Illinois governors who haven't spent time as criminal defendants.
"Illinois now ranks 50th in states with integrity," Congressman Mark Kirk of Highland Park told another Daily Herald reporter.
"If it isn't the most corrupt state in the United States, it's a hell of a competitor," said Robert Grant, the FBI agent who woke Blagojevich with a phone call breaking the news. "Even the most cynical agents in our office were shocked."
The FBI office that once said Ryan stuck a "for sale" sign on the governor's office, now charges Blagojevich with selling that "for sale" sign. Even President-elect Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat is for sale, according to the criminal indictment. It quotes Blagojevich calling Obama an expletive and saying his Senate seat is "(expletive) golden, and, uh, uh, I'm just not giving it up for (expletive) nothing."
Is that as low as Illinois can go?
"The breadth and volume of the problem in this state is absolutely without compare," said Cindi Canary, director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. And that was after Ryan's conviction.
"Many, including myself, thought that the recent conviction of a former governor would usher in a new era of honesty and reform in Illinois politics," said Grant on Tuesday. "Clearly the charges announced today reveal that the office of the governor has become nothing more than a vehicle for self-enrichment, unrestricted by party affiliation and taking Illinois politics to a new low."
Not everyone feels Illinois' pain, however.
"For Louisiana, it is time for celebration," reads a story on www.BayouBuzz,com. "No longer are we the most corrupt state in the nation."
Sorry about that, Mr. Lincoln.