But Would Rod have A Cushion

ArchPundit May 26, 2004 3 Comments

From the Capitol Fax:

THE BUDGET (Excerpt) The governor is screaming about how the Legislature should pass tax hikes that don’t solve the budget problem, and the Speaker is threatening budget cuts that most of his members find abhorrent. Somebody needs to knock their heads together. Soon.

I mean, with all that Blagorgeous hair, would he even notice?

But seriously folks…now The Blagorgeous* is threatening to shut down the government?

Where did this idea come from? Why all of sudden is there a need to shut down the state government?

Here’s an idea. The state has a plane, get your butt on it after preening around the Des Plaines River and meet with the Four Tops. Like today. If you actually bother to meet you might find a compromise.

Here’s a hint–they are in Springfield.

And threatening other Democrats with a shutdown of the government, affects a rather significant force in the Party who will side with them–AFSCME. So unless he thinks he is invulnerable to an intraparty challenge-I’m at a loss as to how he thinks he wins in the end.

Making matters worse-he may have a strained relationship with the father-in-law according to Rich Miller–subscription required for that info though.

Right now the only clear ally that Blagorgeous has is Jones, but Jones isn’t necessarily a reliable ally in the long run. He’s there because it is convenient and he isn’t going to go the distance with Blagorgeous over the unions and everyone else. Running against a Lege is usually a safe bet, but not always. New York in 2001 was looking like a similar situation except that the House Speaker, Sheldon Silver, was a Dem and from a different party. He and Bruno, the Senate President and Republican teamed up to override the Governor on several spending issues. The Governor was saved by 9-11, but ultimately may have faced a real challenge if not for that. I wouldn’t count on the toppling of the Sears Tower to win this budget battle nor a tough primary fight if he actually tries to take on key Democratic constituencies.

The argument the Blagorgeous is probably telling himself is that he can win because he’ll run against the insiders. There are multiple problems with this:

1) he isn’t clean–see the health care fiasco for state workers
2) some of those insiders are rather broad swaths of the electorate like state and local workers
3) he hasn’t set the agenda right

A note on 3. When Clinton pulled it in 1995 he had clear specific proposals including environmental protection to claim to be fighting for. Blagojevich hasn’t offered a similar argument for protecting schools (an analogous issue space for the state) because he refuses to look at substantive reforms beyond demagoguing and Jones just cut his legs out by passing a far different bill than the Governor wanted. He can yell loophole all he wants, but it doesn’t work–trust me–Bob Holden’s been trying it for nearly 2 years and no one is listening in Missouri.

*Shamelessly taken from Austin Mayor in comments

Don’t Feel Bad Oneman

ArchPundit May 17, 2004 2 Comments

Making fun of Blagorgeous is a bipartisan thing

When you Anger the Press Every Week

ArchPundit May 17, 2004 No Comments

It tends to tank your approval ratings….

NOT SO POPULAR (excerpt) When Governor Blagojevich was in Washington, recently, he was reportedly counseled by a couple of congressman to ease up a bit on his harsh rhetoric about the General Assembly. Sources say Blagojevich told the congressmen not to worry – he is briefed twice a week about his polling numbers and he was the most popular governor in the country.

Not so, according to the latest Daily Southtown poll. The survey, conducted last Wednesday, showed the governor’s job approval rating is at 49 percent, down from 55 percent in a Southtown poll taken in March. A mere 10 percent “strongly” approve of his job performance, while 39 percent said they “somewhat” approve, suggesting his numbers are very thin. Even more ominous, 49 percent somewhat (23) or strongly (26) disapprove of his job performance.

The occasional big stand works with the public, but it requires the discipline to stay on message, something Blagorgeous simply doesn’t have. He has three to four big stands a week and people just get tired of hearing about it.

Our Culture of Pandering

ArchPundit May 17, 2004 No Comments

Mike Lawrence makes the point about how much pandering Blagorgeous is doing…

Phil Kadner takes it up on education

And to be fair, Rich Miller points out a good shot that Blagorgeous gave Da Mare.

Even then, there is some juicy points about Blagorgeous

Blagojevich is not a well-liked governor among political insiders. I don’t care much for his leadership style, either, which has more in common with campaigning than actual governance. He is supremely self-centered. He constantly preaches reform, but spends most of his time hanging out with a few chosen lobbyists and other hacks who made their fortunes at the public trough.

Blagojevich also hasn’t grown much in the 14 years he has been in public office. He’s still the details-averse, devil-may-care goof that he was when he first arrived at the Illinois House, courtesy of his powerful father-in-law, Ald. Dick Mell.

While we often expect the Mayor to come out ahead, if the Republicans nominate a conservative candidate for Governor, the Mayor’s best choice will be Blagorgeous. And that will be a painfull pill to swallow. There aren’t any Jim Thompsons or George Ryans who are city friendly in the state GOP except Topinka and she is probably unable to win the primary.

Another Day, Another Shot Across the Bow

ArchPundit May 6, 2004 3 Comments

Da Speaker challenges G-Rod’s school proposal. Even if G-Rod wins the battle, does he really think he’ll win the war?

Bring Back Vallas

ArchPundit May 6, 2004 1 Comment

Kass

So Blagojevich put a guy on the Gaming Board who had a mob boss in the family tree. But his office says pish-posh to questions about Fanning and Andriacchi.

“We deal with reality, not endless hypotheticals about whose sister’s ex-husband’s uncle might have unscrupulous ties,” said Blagojevich spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff.

Abby deserves better than duty as the Democratic Scott McClellan.

G-Rod Letter

ArchPundit May 6, 2004 No Comments

In all of its passive agressive glory, at the Capitol Fax

Do You Feel Lucky? Well Do You?

ArchPundit May 5, 2004 No Comments

By the end of this budget cycle G-Rod is going get along with Steve Rauschenberger better than Da Speaker at this pace. And he doesn’t talk to Rauschenberger.

Da Speaker takes another shot, and a shot for fiscal responsibility, yesterday suggesting he’ll look at Republican plans.

“My recommendation would be reduce – reduce the level of proposed spending so that we meet the constitutional requirement of a balanced budget,” said Madigan.

Speaking before members of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association and the Illinois Retail Merchants Association gathered in the Howlett Building at the Capitol complex, Madigan reiterated his belief that the state is taking on too much debt.

He has asked the House State Government Administration Committee on Thursday to scrutinize Blagojevich’s borrowing proposals and said he expects that panel to produce debt-restriction proposals that may be similar to ideas pushed by Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson, R-Greenville.

“I find most of what they say to be true and accurate,” Madigan said of the Senate Republicans.

The chutzpah award goes to:

John Filan, the governor’s budget director, said Tuesday that he’s open to suggestions.

“If someone has a better solution, we’ll look at it,” Filan said. “But we’re two months away, and we haven’t heard any solutions.”

Hello–you have been dragging it out to hit the end of the session and force your solution. Nice try. Actually not a nice try, but quit your whining.

That Didn’t Last Long

ArchPundit May 4, 2004 1 Comment

G-Rod has already backtracked on the Health Alliance HMO being dropped. Capitol Fax reports on it.

Best bit:

Political Rule Number One: Be very wary of screwing around with retiree health insurance. Those retirees have nothing better to do than stew all day about how the governor is being an unreasonable jerk. And they’ve got plenty of time on their hands to call and write their legislators, CMS, the governor’s office and their friends and family. It’s an unforgiving bunch, to say the least. And they’re all registered to vote.

What Miller leaves out is that it also affected faculty at many institutions, who may work hard, but can push aside much of that work at any given time. And they are quite used to political battles over the smallest of things.

He’s Not Reaching Out, He’s Positioning

ArchPundit May 4, 2004 No Comments

While a little bit ago I claimed the press was seeing through G-Rod’s act, it appears that they are joining in the fun with Crain’s running the headline Blago reaches out to lawmakers. But read the first lines:

Amid growing criticism of his budget proposals, Gov. Rod Blagojevich sent a letter to Illinois lawmakers Tuesday urging them to show “the courage to say no to the special interests” that he says oppose his spending plan.

That isn’t reaching out, that is positioning himself to come out ahead by defining any oposition to an irresponsible borrowing plan as being beholden to special interests, like, ya know, the public good.

It’s just shameless:

“It all starts with us having the courage to say no to the special interests who have benefited at the taxpayers’ expense for far too long,” he said.

He presented the budget debate as a series of stark choices: schools, health care and education vs. special interests, state contractors and big business.

“We can’t afford both. We have to choose,” he said.

What an ass.