Governor Rod Blagojevich was declared a
"winner" by the Chicago media after the spring legislative session
ended last week.
Adjourning the session by May 31 while, for a change,
getting along with other Democrats, upholding his promise not to raise taxes,
and coming up with lots of new programs and comprehensive medical malpractice
reform made him look pretty good in many eyes.
"Blagojevich and top Democrats managed to end the
spring legislative session on time and on a surprising high note,"
reported the Sun-Times.
"As he shook hands and gave thumbs-up signals among
Democratic senators, Blagojevich's smiling demeanor was a far cry from only a
few weeks earlier when, battered by criticism of cronyism and mismanagement, he
retreated from public view, his poll numbers sagging," the Tribune noted.
After the session ended, the governor held press
conferences in several parts of the state to play up his new budget's increased
funding for early childhood education. He has found a small foothold and
apparently wants to take full advantage while his window of opportunity is
still open (sorry to mix my metaphors).
That's good politics for the short term, but there are
lots of problems ahead.
Just about every reporter I know who is employed by a
major media outlet is working on at least one big story about alleged
corruption or shady practices within the Blagojevich administration. Not all of
these investigations will bear fruit, of course, but we can expect plenty of
negative reports in the days and weeks ahead. His "window" could
close soon as reporters dig into the shenanigans at the Department of Central
Management Services, the state Lottery and allegedly hinky hiring practices all
over the place.
And then there's the Cook County grand jury, which was
announced shortly after the governor's father-in-law, Alderman Dick Mell,
accused Blagojevich and one of his pals of trading appointments for campaign
contributions. Mell recanted under threat of a lawsuit, but the grand jury went
ahead anyway.
Both of the people who are leading the grand jury
investigation into alleged administration corruption have gubernatorial
ambitions. Attorney General Lisa Madigan doesn't want to run for governor next
year, but Cook County State's Attorney Dick Devine is giving it some thought.
Devine is not a great candidate, but he wouldn't admit
it. He was elected to his first term, in 1996, almost solely because of the
Democrats' hugely successful "Punch 10" straight-ticket voting
campaign. The Dems spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the campaign,
which restored the Illinois House to a Democratic majority and vaulted
no-chance candidates like Devine into the winner's circle. To twist an old
saying, Devine was born, politically, on Second Base and thought he hit a
double.
Devine's innate political skills alone aren't a real
threat to Blagojevich, but his grand jury most certainly is. Far be it from me
to ascribe political intentions to any Cook County prosecutor, but what better
motivation could there be to come up with high-level indictments if a person
could use those potential perp walks to kick off a bright, shiny new
gubernatorial campaign?
The Blagojevich people would do well to convince some
reporters or editorial boards to pin Devine down on what, exactly, are his
political intentions. If Devine wants to run statewide, he probably shouldn't
be investigating the governor.
If the governor's folks don't sideline Devine, then we
could be looking at Jim Thompson Redux. Thompson, you may remember, was a
federal prosecutor who jailed a former Democratic governor (Otto Kerner) and
used that to catapult himself into the governor's mansion in 1976. Then again,
if Devine loses the November election, that would give us a Dan Walker/Mike
Howlett/Jim Thompson Redux. Walker was the incumbent Democrat who lost the 1972
primary to Mike Howlett, who then lost the general to Jim Thompson.
History never repeats itself exactly, but things are
starting to look mighty familiar these days.
Even if Devine doesn't run against Blagojevich in the
primary, that grand jury probe could still do a lot of damage to the governor,
with or without indictments. Cook County grand jury proceedings have been known
to leak in the past. I'm not saying Devine would do it. I'm just saying it's
happened.
So, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. The governor
may be starting to turn a corner. But what went down in the first two years of
his administration may ultimately undo whatever cosmetic changes he makes now.
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Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political
newsletter. He can be reached at capitolfax.blogspot.com.