Down here in Texas we often make jokes about the day to day tolerance of political corruption in Louisiana. Up in New England they joke about the inbred machine politics of Rhode Island. In the mid-Atlantic states they poke fun at West Virginia's backwoods, populist good-old-boy system. Out on the west coast they point the naughty finger at Nevada. But today we all stand in awe of the magnificent pinnacle of unassailable perfection in the art of political corruption which is the state of Illinois.
With the state's last governor still serving his six and a half year sentence for bribery, kickbacks, extortion, fraud, and money laundering, you would think that Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich might think twice about getting involved in any kind of political scandal. Yet it's almost as if he took former governor George Ryan's remarkably corrupt term as a challenge to see if he could commit even more crimes in the same time period before getting dragged away in handcuffs. What's more, Blagojevich knew from early in his administration that relentless Federal Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was investigating him, and that even more eyes were on him with the impending institution of Illinois' strict new ethics law. Yet it apparently never occurred to him that someone might be listening when he started soliciting bribes, trying to extort money from charities and opening what amounted to a private auction to sell the Senate seat vacated by president-elect Obama to the highest bidder.
Illinois does have a history of producing some great and honorable politicians, including the Great Emancipator Abraham Lincoln, Stephen Douglas, who preferred being right to being president, progressive era icon John Altgeld, and Adlai Stevenson, the indefatigable champion of liberalism. But the state does have a history of political corruption centered around the Daley machine in Chicago, founded by notorious and ruthless Mayor Richard J. Daley and continued by his sons, including current Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley and influential Democratic power broker William Daley who is on the Obama transition team.
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— go to most recent comments1 - Ruvy
Yet the state capital at Springfield seems to be a sort of roach motel for corrupt leaders,
That wasn't a nice thing to say. You've insulted Springfield, Ill., cockroaches and motels all in one sentence.
Looking at it from where I am, I cannot wait to see Olmert led away in cuffs for theft, and Peres led away in cuffs for his involvement in Iran-Contra. I can dream, can't I?
2 - Mark Eden
It's the Capon gene introduced by the alien designers as an experiment around the turn of the last century. Not sure how Stevenson slipped through.
Good stuff, Dave.
3 - Michael J. West
Just one small point:
There was discussion of impeachment, but apparently Blagovich's behavior was close enough to the norm and certainly familiar enough as part of state tradition, that the legislature never followed through.
Actually, there was tremendous bipartisan political support in the legislature and in the populace for impeachment. The reason the legislature never followed through is that they had no legal basis for it. As you said, his criminality wasn't a known factor at the time, and incompetence (which nobody disputes in Blagojevich) isn't an impeachable offense.
4 - Jet
Does the Bush administration have all Democratic Governor's offices bugged. I mean I'm not defending nor condoning their actions, but first New York and now Illinois?
5 - Mark Eden
Jet, maybe they're employing that new hush hush technology developed to pinpoint the insurgerents in Iraq.
Mark
6 - Dave Nalle
Michael. Blago's involvement in the Rezko affair was already well established when impeachment was being discussed. And the legal standards for impeachment area lot more flexible than for conviction in a regular court.
As for Iraq, maybe we should send Blago to work for al Qaeda. He'd probably have the whole organization on its knees in a year.
Dave
7 - Clavos
Does the Bush administration have all Democratic Governor's offices bugged.
By the looks of things, if they don't, they should.
8 - Dan(Miller)
Democratic Governor's offices bugged? Is Blago a (gasp) Democrat? Perhaps that is something to be inferred from the absence of any mention of his party affiliation in the article or, indeed, in many of the other reports and commentaries on this matter.
Rather dastardly, I think, to mention party affiliation even in that context.In fairness, despite any mention in the article of Blago's party affiliation, this did slip out:
Dan(Miller)
9 - Baritone
So, Dan, it's the party that's at fault here?
B
10 - Hope and Change?
Blagojevich should have "called out Gay" and maybe this wouldnt have happened...
11 - Glenn Contrarian
I notice the conservatives on here are conveniently forgetting that Blagojevich's predecessor, Republican Governor George H. Ryan, is presently serving a 6-1/2 year sentence for, you guessed it, corruption! They might even get neighboring jail cells!
If I see anyone else here try to insinuate that Blagojevich is a shining example of Democratic corruption, I'll post a list of Republican crimes and scandals for the past eight years...and the list is MUCH longer than any corresponding period for Democrats.
12 - Mooja
Way to go Glenn C. That will really fix the corruption problems.
13 - Dan(Miller)
Baritone,
Why no. Of course not. There is no corruption in the Democratic Party, which has no blame at all for anything bad. Everyone knows that the Republican Party is the Party of Corruption. Just ask anyone.
Do you remember, back in the bad old days, when crime reports in many newspapers noted the race of the culprit only when he was Black? That was a bad thing, because it resulted in stereotyping Blacks as criminally inclined. Perhaps there is an analogy to be made here.
It seems obvious that there is corruption in both parties, and that there are several Augean stables to be mucked out. What troubles me is that there seems to be a lot more willingness to identify party affiliation when the corrupt politician is a Republican than when he is a Democrat.
Why do you suppose that is? Or, perhaps, why do you think that's not the case? Or is it quite acceptable?
Dan(Miller)
14 - Dan(Miller)
Glen, you say,
I haven't seen any insinuation here that Governor Blagojevich (D-Ill) is a "shining example" of anything.As to posting your list, it might be interesting. Perhaps we can later have a contest over whose dog's poop on the rug smells the worst. Not as useful an exercise as cleaning up the poop, unfortunately, but arguably more fun.
Dan(Miller)
15 - Dave Nalle
I didn't want to use it in the article, but in this century there have been 12 Republican governors of Illinois and only 1 went to jail. There have been 8 Democratic governors and assuming Blago goes to jail, four of them have been criminals. So that makes the Democrats 50% corrupt and the Republicans 8% corrupt.
Dave
16 - Glenn Contrarian
Mooja and Dan -
Is it unfair to point out that the Republicans have been involved in a significantly greater number of crimes and scandals than Democrats? I'm sorry, but that's what the numbers show. If either of you can show that the Democrats actually have even close to an equivalent level of corruption, I'll sincerely apologize and happily change my tune - and Dan, I think you know that's not an empty statement, that I'm not afraid of publicly eating crow.
But WHY would Republicans have a higher level of corruption? Are they somehow more or less human than the Democrats? Of course not...but there is a good, logical reason why the Republicans DO seem to become involved in higher levels of corruption - and the mainstream media has nothing to do with it.
The reason, people, should be well-understood by anyone who has served in the military. What happens to a group of men when the regulations to which they are bound are NOT enforced? They will IGNORE those regulations and they will get in trouble, and unit discipline fails.
That's why in the military one gets 'busy work', assignments that are apparently designed to keep you busy even if there's no true benefit - but that's the point: if the men are kept busy, then they're too busy to do that which is wrong.
That's the human way - the less oversight a man has in ANY walk of life, the more that man will try to get away with stuff.
And what does this have to do with Republicans?
Which is the 'party of deregulation'?
Which is the 'party of less government'?
Which party has striven to weaken, nullify, or simply ignore oversight laws and regulations in business, environment, and a host of other areas?
THAT, sirs, is why the Republican party sees more than its share of scandals. The party believes in LESS oversight...and a man who knows that no one's looking over his should is FAR more likely to do stuff that he shouldn't do.
Don't get me wrong - there IS such a thing as too much oversight, too much regulation...as anyone who is trying to start a business can testify. But less oversight always, always, ALWAYS brings with it more corruption.
17 - Dan(Miller)
Glen,
No, there is nothing wrong or unfair about pointing out "the facts." Should you do so, however, perhaps it would be useful to do so qualitatively as well as quantitatively. All (well, nearly all) crimes are bad -- that's why they are crimes. However, some are more harmful than others, and any comparative analysis which focuses only on absolute numbers seems futile and pointless.
As to notion that "idle hands are the Devil's workshop," it's probably true. However, hands that are busy dipping into the till would probably be better off idle. The politicians now in focus were very busy. However, that does not seem to have kept them out of trouble.
Dan(Miller)
18 - Glenn Contrarian
Dave - let's look not just at Illinois, but at the nation as a whole.
IIRC, I'm limited to three links in a post...so I'll make two posts. The first link is to what is probably the most comprehensive list - if you print it out, the list of scandals is something like sixty feet long. But the others are fun, too.
Hugh's list of Bush scandals
The Daily Kos' list of Republican Sex Scandals (I did NOT know that Strom Thurmond fathered a child with a sixteen-year-old black girl!)
Another list of Republican Sex Scandals
Isn't it interesting to note that since Barney Frank came out back in the 90's, there have been NO Democratic sex-scandals with someone of the SAME sex? That, sirs, has since been the SOLE province of Republicans....
19 - Glenn Contrarian
Dan -
If group A commits significantly more crimes than group B, such an observation is 'pointless'? Please take no offense, but that kind of rhetoric is IMO an empty excuse, more of a 'talking point' than a reason. Yes, both groups should be held accountable...but significantly more attention should be given to the group that commits significantly more crimes, as in why is that group committing more crimes? Sir, I should think that this would only be common sense to anyone involved in law enforcement.
The last three list's I'll link to for now:
Another list of Bush scandals, perhaps more user-friendly than the Hugh's List.
Salon's list of 34 scandals just from Bush's first four years
Another LONG list of Bush scandals.
I could post more...but let's see if there's a list of Democrat's scandals that even comes close. Again, everyone should be held accountable for their crimes, but significantly more attention should be given to the group that commits significantly more crimes.
20 - Glenn Contrarian
Dan - one last thing. Yes, the guys who committed crimes were indeed busy...but they also believed that they would get away with it. Such a belief only comes when a man has the perception that no one's watching what he's doing (insufficient oversight) or that even if people know, that he won't be prosecuted for it (refusal to enforce standing regulations). Which party is the one that believes in less oversight, and has flatly refused to enforce standing regulations in many, many instances? You know the answer....
21 - Glenn Contrarian
Oh, another list of Republican sex scandals, but this one is very well-indexed. I didn't know that Ted Bundy was appointed to the Seattle Crime Prevention Advisory Committee after working for the Republican governor Dan Evans' reelection in the state of Washington....
And BEST OF ALL is this list of examples of Republican hypocrisy on moral values. There is something about watching the powerful hoist on their own petard....
BUT HERE'S A LIST of Democratic scandals going back as far as Chappaquiddick...there's quite a few...but it's pretty small compared to, say, the Hugh's list of just the past eight years of the Bush administration....
After searching around for more lists of Democratic scandals (and lists of Democratic sex scandals), they all go back to the 80's and even to the 70's...and not one even approaches the number of scandals of the Bush 43 administration alone.
BTW - there of course were quite a few Democratic sex scandals (power IS an aphrodisiac, after all)...but the lists were each perhaps a quarter of the length of the lists of Republican sex scandals. Wonder why that is? I've got my own suspicions, but I'll wait to see what the rest of you say first.
22 - Jet
I don't consider Barney Frank coming out a scandal, in fact I'm rather proud of him, considering how many people have tried to throw mud at him that didn't stick.
He is a professional, intelligent and knowledgable member of our government, and obviously his constituants agree or they wouldn't have reelected him as many times as they have.
23 - Matthew T. Sussman
"Isn't it interesting to note that since Barney Frank came out back in the 90's, there have been NO Democratic sex-scandals with someone of the SAME sex?"
None? Not even Jim McGreevey? But your point is made.
24 - Matthew T. Sussman
"I don't consider Barney Frank coming out a scandal"
Nobody on this thread asserted otherwise.
25 - Jet
Suss, comparing McGreevy to some of the GOP sex scandals is like comparing Nixon's impeachment to Clinton's.