The Tribune has the full clout list on its web site. (PDF file.)
Coming on the heels of Blagojevich’s clout list, which may or may not be a fake, here’s the question: what about the people left off?
One of the great ironies about the ethics problems faced by Blagojevich is that the big complaint among Democratic operatives in the first year was that they did not have access to state jobs. (Full disclosure: I fall into that category.)
The new administration’s hiring process was chaotic, and many Democrats who has worked with and around state government were locked out. Their names do not appear on the clout list. Conversely, many of the names on the clout list are unknown to long time operatives. And downstaters who had been locked out of state jobs by Republicans complained that they still could not get access to state jobs.
The Daley list, on the other hand, seems to be about right in terms of who should have been “rewarded” after the successful Daley campaign.
In retrospect, it seems that the chaotic hiring should have been the first warning sign of the biggest failure of the Blagojevich administration. Say what you will about his politics, Daley knows how to run the city. Blagojevich, on the other hand, has done a lousy job in the day-to-day running of the state.
It seems that their respective levels of managerial competence can be seen in how they handled their first challenge: who to reward after a successful campaign.
UPDATE: Illinois is not the only place where patronage is being investigated.
ArchPundit