The Really: Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich calls his hairbrush "the football" according to the New York Times.
And yet, Mr. Blagojevich, 52, rarely turns up for work at his official state office in Chicago, former employees say, is unapologetically late to almost everything, and can treat employees with disdain, cursing and erupting in fury for failings as mundane as neglecting to have at hand at all times his preferred black Paul Mitchell hairbrush. He calls the brush “the football,” an allusion to the “nuclear football,” or the bomb codes never to be out of reach of a president.
As Rod's hairbrush might say: "Follicle You!"
I am remembering The Old Mayor Hizzoner's friend Paddy Bauler's infamous quote: CHICAGO AIN'T READY FOR REFORM!
ReplyDeleteIs Chicago ready yet? Is Illinois?
A few weeks ago I heard someone on radio mention that Obama got the US senate seat because Chicago pols wanted him out of the state instead of in the Illinois governorship -- they didn't want him playing in their back yard anymore.
The Blago office-selling flap raises interesting questions.
Let's all watch to see if any dots appear between ethics changes that Blago wanted and the US senate seat 'scandal'.
Chicago has seen much worse than the sale of political office, and in fact speaking of sale of political offices, if local pols are so offended about the sale of a senate seat, where were they when Mayor Daley held back Cook County's vote talley the night Cook County elected Jack Kennedy? And which judge promised Joe Kennedy his kid would be elected by Chicago?
This paragraph from the ethics change story is something that for sure would set Chicago machine policians' hair on fire:
"Blagojevich last month used his amendatory veto power to expand the contractor donation ban to lawmakers and all state officeholders. He also tried to change how pay raises would be voted on, bar lawmakers from holding most other government jobs and require them to more fully disclose lobbying work"
With lawmakers and state office-holders' 'donations' from contractors, self-voted pay raises, and other sources of off-the-books income in jeopardy, you better believe that the whole state legislature, not to mention every Chicago machine politician past, present, and future would want Blago gone.
From the 'reform' story: “Let’s go ahead and give the people of the state of Illinois what they want and what they deserve,” Fritchey said
Oh yeah. And he was using the one-finger salute to let his audience know exactly what he meant.
Cynical? Yes, but I've been living in and near Chicago since Hizzoner was king...er, I mean Mayor.
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"Is Illinois ready for ethics?
The House undid in about two minutes the sweeping ethics reform rewrite Blagojevich spent two months putting together.
The House voted 110-3 for the original version of House Bill 824 that lawmakers passed in May. That version would bar people with state contracts worth $50,000 or more from making political donations to state officeholders overseeing the contracts.
Blagojevich also issued an executive order effective Jan. 1 barring people with high-dollar contracts with agencies under his control from giving donations to any state officeholders or lawmakers.
Blagojevich last month used his amendatory veto power to expand the contractor donation ban to lawmakers and all state officeholders. He also tried to change how pay raises would be voted on, bar lawmakers from holding most other government jobs and require them to more fully disclose lobbying work.
Rep. John Fritchey, D-Chicago, said lawmakers should consider the changes in separate bills that he filed Wednesday, not in a take-it-or-leave-it vote.
“Let’s go ahead and give the people of the state of Illinois what they want and what they deserve,” Fritchey said.
The vote came just hours after Blagojevich had urged lawmakers not to override his changes because he fears they will be stalled if they’re put into separate bills.
If the measure isn’t voted on in the Senate within 15 days, the entire bill and the changes die."
What could be wrong with a city that elects the mayor for life?
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