Ray Hanania might want to read the Illinois Constitution:
They pushed Blagojevich into a corner. He was elected by Illinois voters to lead this state, twice, and yet Daley, Madigan and even Quinn think that they, not the voters, should decide what’s good for the state.Blagojevich has certainly made his mistakes. His relationship with the humiliated sweetheart deal contractor Tony Rezko, remains. But outside of that, Blagojevich has shown that he can make the right decisions that are in the best interests of the state. And sometimes that means cutting pork barrel spending driven by clout rather than need.
For too long, Madigan has run the state, not for the benefit of the state’s residents but for his own benefit. Political. Personal.
Madigan is the Speaker of the House. He is not the governor. Madigan has limits on his power but wants to extend those limits and make the office of governor irrelevant. But the reality is that he is NOT the governor and he should let the governor do his job.
Madigan had a shot at ousting Blagojevich in the last election. He took it and he lost. He may have risen in the ranks fo the Democratic party over the past 25 years, but the reality is Madigan often elevates himself above not just the interests of the state but above the interests of the Democratic Party.
What Madigan is doing is no different than what disgraced and now indicted sleazy former Chicago Alderman Edward R. Vyrdolyak did when Harold Washington was elected mayor of Chicago back in 1983.
Now, many of Blagojevich’s critics are not terribly sympathetic themselves, but they do have the Constitution behind their positions. The people are sovereign in the United States and that sovereignty is represented by the General Assembly that passes laws and appropriates money. The Governor’s job is to execute the law and spend the appropriations according to law. Suggesting that the Governor has more moral authority to be the representative of the people is an incredibly silly argument. The Governor’s job when it comes to legislation is implementing or vetoing the legislation, but he doesn’t get to pass it. In fact, he is very limited in his veto power because he can be overridden by the General Assembly.
The Governor cannot remove the General Assembly nor any individual members. The Governor cannot set rules for the General Assembly. The General Assembly can legislate control over the Executive Branch.
Madigan is elected by the voters. As are the other members of the Legislature, few of whom are happy with Blagojevich and not because of some desire to give Mike Madigan more power. The Governor is not elected to legislate, he’s elected to run the executive branch according to the law of the state–the law the legislature passes.
I’d never heard of this Hanania clown before your post. What an idiot he is.
Madigan had a shot at ousting Blagojevich in the last election. He took it and he lost.
?????
What is he talking about here? There was no Madigan-back primary challenge to Blagojevich in the last election, and while he was unenthusiastic, Madigan did support Blagojevich in the general.
And here’s where Hanania’s argument falls apart: Blagojevich did not campaign on a health care plan financed by a gross receipt tax. If he were explicit about this plan, and then won the election, Hanania might have a point about defying the will of the voters. (He’s still be wrong about deferring to the executive, but whatever.) Instead, Blagojevich was pretty adamant about running on a platform that he would not increase general taxes, and never mentioned a word about Illinois Covered and the GRT.
The voters aren’t psychic, so it’s tough to see how they were backing the GRT and Illinois Covered.