Henry Was Ahead of the Game
Over at OneMan, Henry had this to say about the AFSCME non-endorsement
I think this might actually help Blagojevich in the general election.
He can show that he is in fact no friend of government and government
employees and he is being careful with state funds. He can rail against
bureaucrats and the like and talk about how he has shrunk government.
Trib’s editorial on the non-endorsement
That’s not the view here. What
Blagojevich did was right and it was essential. State government had to
become leaner and more efficient precisely so tax dollars would be more
carefully directed at state services.It will be worth watching
to see if other candidates try to wink and nod their way to support
from the state’s largest public employees union. The state can’t start
reassembling the vast workforce it once had. Blagojevich won’t be abl e
to trumpet an AFSCME endorsement in his campaign ads. But 12,000 job
cuts and $800 million in savings? Now there’s something he can run on.
January 26th, 2006 at
Sorry, but Blago didn’t cut government intelligently. He cut it without thinking about what services were necessary; he froze funds that were later released for necessary construction projects, and the delays wasted money; he cut funding to state universities that forced tuition higher than it would otherwise be; he stole money from pension funds; he refused to live in Springfield, and so wasted money by flying down from Chicago; and on and on.
He’s the worst governor in our history. He needs to go.
January 26th, 2006 at
The votes of the 12,000 state employees he let go, most of whom vote, may not matter to him, but combine that with the rest of the union membership, PLUS their friends and family and the friends and families of the laid off workers and pretty soon you’re talking about real numbers of votes.
Ego and arrogance are not a substitute for good governing. You need to have something to back up the cocky attitude and it’s just not there. Just because his handlers say it, doesn’t make it so.