If you think Gov. Rod
Blagojevich gets bad press now, imagine how harsh the coverage would be if we
knew what he was hiding.
For instance, we know from
sources that the governor's own office and his various agencies have been
served with dozens of federal subpoenas involving countless criminal
allegations, but Gov. Blagojevich won't even confirm receiving a subpoena. He
won't say how many subpoenas he's received. He won't say what the FBI is
looking for.
Attorney General Lisa
Madigan is supposed to issue a legal opinion on whether the governor has to
comply with reporters' Freedom of Information Act requests on the subpoenas. As
of this writing, though, her office has been silent.
Just think of the nuclear
explosion that would result if voters could finally see the details of what the
feds are looking for and who they're looking at.
Like I said, his coverage
is tame compared to what it could be.
And then there's the
infamous check. The governor is hiding all sorts of things about that check.
The "check," you
certainly know by now, was for $1500 and was supposedly given to the governor's
daughter by the governor's longtime friend Michael Ascaridis.
Beverly Ascaridis,
Michael's wife, told the Chicago Tribune that she found the canceled check,
became suspicious and took it to the FBI. Mrs. Ascaridis was given a state job
right around the time her husband wrote the $1500 check, even though she
reportedly failed the state job test.
The governor's office and
Mr. Ascaridis initially claimed that the $1500 was for Amy Blagojevich's
college fund and was given to her as a birthday present.
Then, after almost two
weeks of silence, Gov. Blagojevich himself finally held an impromptu press
conference and made everything even more confusing. He implied, but didn't come
right out and say, that the check might have been for his other daughter's
christening.
When asked whether the
check was deposited into his daughter's college fund, Blagojevich would only
say he reported on his state forms that "all of the kids' money for
college goes into a mutual fund for college." That's what's called a
non-response. An emphatic and simple "Yes" would have quelled a lot
of questions.
And if we can't even get
him to answer whether or not the $1500 check was deposited, imagine what his
office says when asked for supporting evidence, like a receipt, that the check
was actually put into his daughter's college account.
Gov. Blagojevich won't say
if he and his family have received other large cash gifts. He stonewalls when
asked how Mrs. Ascaridis got the state job even after failing the state test.
He won't say why she was given a position in far western Illinois' Whiteside
County which was then moved back to the Chicago area, perhaps to avoid military
veterans' hiring preference laws. He won't say what she did for the month she
was reportedly listed as working in Whiteside County when she told the Tribune
she didn't even know where that county was.
He won't say why he
amended his state ethics statement to include the Ascaridis gift after the FBI
interviewed him. In fact, he won't even admit that his amendment came after the
FBI interview even though that is clearly the case.
Big things, little things.
This guy hides just about everything.
I assume that the
governor's campaign is calculating that if they spend more money on a few
kabillion more TV ads that they can weather almost any media storm. After all,
reporters have a notoriously short attention span and Judy Baar Topinka isn't
exactly setting the world on fire with her campaign. Blagojevich might just
bury her, even if the last poll released had her gaining on him.
So, fine, let's say he
does win the election. But at what price to this state? Shouldn't voters know
how many federal criminal investigations a governor is hiding before they cast
their ballot? Shouldn't they know if there is a simple explanation for a large
check that some consider a bribe? And shouldn't they see the proof?
Open government may not
always be honest government, but at least voters would know what they're
getting. Right now, all we have to rely on is the governor's ubiquitous TV ads
about how great he is and what a crook Topinka is for once dancing the polka
with George Ryan.
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Rich Miller also publishes
Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and thecapitolfaxblog.com