Too bad Illinois Gov. "Lightning Rod" Blagojevich didn't take any questions at his proclamation Friday that he is innocent of trying to peddle a U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder. Most proud Illinoisans would have liked to hear why he thinks he shouldn't have been arrested by the FBI. It took 10 days to come up with a portion of a poem from Rudyard Kipling and his statement? He must be a slow writer. And, who are these "powerful forces" trying to oust him? Illinois voters?
Instead, the governor came out swinging, like a member of the battling Blagos flying out of a rugby scrum. "I will fight. I will fight. I will fight until I take my last breath," the governor said breathlessly to an assemblage of reporters. How many times have we heard that from pols caught by the feds? Let's see, you do the math: There has been about 1,000 Illinois officials indicted for official corruption in the past few decades.
The Hound will lay odds now that Blagojevich will never take the witness stand in his own defense if the case goes to trial. He'll let his paid mouthpiece tell his side of the story rather than subject himself to a grilling from federal prosecutors.
And, with the defiance in the governor's voice during the short press conference where he took no questions, it would appear Blago is going nowhere fast. Or at least not leaving the governor's post. Looks like we're stuck with him for quite a while, maybe even until 2010. Oh, the horror!
The Hound watches with amazement as President-elect Obama is packing his cabinet with two more Illinosans. This in the midst of the state being the butt of every late-night comedian. Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Arne Duncan was tabbed Tuesday as education secretary, while retiring Republican Congressman Ray LaHood of Peoria is expected to be named transportation secretary today.
But, The Hound is more interested in Mr. Duncan, who has run the CPS for the past seven years. Let's all bring what we've learned in the Chicago school system to Washington, D.C. This is a school system where kids get shot going to and from class; where state Sen. James Meeks told students to boycott classes this fall because funding is nowhere near the levels of suburban schools, most notably New Trier High School.
Of anyone, Duncan should know that if Chicago parents could enroll their kids in suburban schools, they'd do so in a New York minute. The district is top-heavy with administrators and beholden to the teachers' union. Sort of like the U.S. Department of Education.
The Hound is certain there were probably more-qualified candidates for the education job --- like Paul Vallas, Duncan's former CPS boss who also has headed Philadelphia and New Orleans school systems. But only the Harvard-educated Duncan plays a mean hoops game, which the new president enjoys engaging in. Let's see if Duncan can slam-dunk the nation's educational problems.
Looks like Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran would rather switch than fight, as he bolted to the Republican Party on Monday. Bet county Dems are really, really perturbed. And can it get any whackier when County Board member Bob Sabonjian, a Waukegan Democrat declares himself an independent. Is he the next Joe Lieberman?
Surrounded by a roomful of Republicans at the party's Libertyville headquarters, Curran left the Democratic Party and is now a rock-ribbed GOPster. With him leaving the party of Obama, Curran joins Circuit Court Clerk Sally Coffelt in making the switch. Coffelt was elected as a Democrat in 1980 and became a Republican in 1982.
Odd how in just two years, joining the Republican Party becomes a matter of conscience, as the sheriff listed as the main reason for jumping to what Demskywalkers consider the "dark side". But the crimefighter pointed to the corruption apparently rampant in Democratic circles, or at least those whose last names begin with Blagojevich. The Hound also bets the sheriff didn't like Gov. "Lightning Rod" Blagojevich's cursing a lot while being wiretapped by the FBI.
While losing Curran to the GOP is a blow, county Dems might consider it an even trade with Sabonjian dumping the party and going his own way, which he normally did. Who's next in line to jump ship?
For some time there has been a feeling in this country that language discourse has dropped to a level befitting Cro-Magnon men and women. Teachers have blamed television for this and now have a new culprit in the cell phone and text messaging. Yet, they need look no further than our politicians.
Consider the salty language used by "Lightning Rod" Blagojevich as heard by FBI agents who taped the governor's devious and many shake-down conversations. Talk about your f-bombs. Several longshoremen at the Port of Chicago were appalled at the governor's art of swearing. Even U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald parsed the "bleeping" words during his press conference earlier this week.
While certainly our public officials can swear with the best of them, it is slightly shocking to hear our governor call our next president a dirty name. He has to do something bad to get called that name. The Hound has heard George Bush called nasty names on numerous occasions by people whose IRAs and 401 (k)s are sinking faster than the soon-to-be-ex-president's legacy.
But it seems not only does the governor --- a graduate of Northwestern University --- have a potty mouth, but so does his lovely wife, Patti. Hope they don't use that type of foul language around their kids. That would be a real class in language arts .
The Hound has never been a laughingstock. Well, there was the time of mixing Red Bull with a high-octane beverage, and then butchering "My Heart Will Go On" from "The Titanic." But that was only at a karaoke bar in the county's nether regions. But Gov. Rod Blagojevich will be a laughingstock for some time, as will the State of Illinois.
Blagojevich, along with the state and us by proxy, were pillioried Tuesday night by David Letterman, Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, Conan O'Brien and Stephen Colbert, to name just a few. Wonder what "Saturday Night Live" has in store for Gov. Rod "This seat's for sale" Blagojevich?
The late-night talk show hosts probably will continue on Blagojevich who was nailed by the FBI for trying to peddle the open seat of President-elect Barack Obama for some six-figure coin. Guess he must have watched "Rome" on HBO. The Romans used to sell Senate seats to the highest bidders, so the guv figured he could get away with it, too. Except this isn't Rome. Heck, it's not even Rome, Ga.
His coming indictment will bring more shame and guffaws about Illinois and our corrupt governors and public officials. What's not funny is we deserve it. We're the buffoons who keep electing these political grifters.
You know the "Land of Lincoln" slogan on Illinois license plates? The Hound suggests we replace it with "Land of Thieves".
It's more appropriate, don't you think, especially after Gov. Rod "The Mod" Blagojevich was charged Tuesday with criminal conspiracy, mail fraud and anything else the U.S. attorney's office can muster between now and when Blago and his chief of staff, John Harris, go to trial.
The Blago charges are the latest in what makes The Hound proud his doghouse is in the Prairie State and not in Wisconsin. What fun do they have in the Badger State with their politicians? How many of their governors or ex-governors have done jail time? Hah! Take that Packer fans.
So to advertise our support for continued political corruption in Illinois, we should all lobby Secretary of State Jesse White, who probably will never be indicted, to change the license plate slogan to "Land of Thieves".
While some may cluck-cluck over the governor's charges of allegedly trying to sell the open U.S. Senate seat of President-elect Obama to the highest bidder being a new low in Illinois politics, The Hound says we tout our sprees of corruption proudly. There's no better place to do so than squarely on an Illinois license plate.
Besides, The Hound thinks "Land of Thieves" has a better ring than "Land of Clout".
The Hound has been watching retread Clintonistas being appointed to cabinet posts in the Obama administration with a jaundiced eye. After all, if you wanted a third Clinton administration, we should have elected Hillary, right? But, finally, the president-elect tabs a winner in retired Gen. Eric Shinseki to be the new secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs. It's a good pick.
And, at the same time it is vindication for the former Army chief of staff. It was Shinseki, the 38-year Army career man, a decorated and wounded veteran of the Vietnam War, who warned that several hundred thousand troops would be needed to secure and keep the peace once Iraq was defeated. That warning caused him to be swift-kicked by such warriors Vice President Dick Cheney, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Secretary of Defense, Illinois' own Don Rumsfeld.
Neither of those three went to West Point, nor did they ever have boots on the ground in any infantry capacity. Shinseki also cautioned to "beware a 12-division strategy for a 10-division army." For such forthrightness, Shinseki was not reappointed by the Bush administration to a second tour as Army chief of staff and forced into retirement. As we all saw, those happy warriors in the Bush administration had to eat crow and put more troops into Iraq in what now is known as The Surge.
Now, Shinseki has to go into the VA and straighten out another mess leftover from the Bush administration --- providing benefits and medical care to veterans, and especially the nation's newest veterans coming home from the Iraq War. At a time when budget constraints are even greater.
The Hound would expect the new secretary to be easily confirmed by the Senate and probably will be in Lake County to tour the soon-to-be-ready Lovell medical center in North Chicago, the first sharing of VA and Navy facilities. He will be heartily welcomed.
