Prison Blackmail

Rich Miller’s column this weekend hit on a bit of melodrama playing out between Blagojevich and Frank Watson.

The merits of the case to close the prison are beyond me. I have little opinion in that case, but the politics are pretty clear and they aren’t very pretty for Blagojevich. The prison is a major employer in Watson’s district–a district that is having a hard time making it.

Going after Watson might make political sense, but it doesn’t make sense in terms of being fair to a hard hit area. Watson can’t stop the Governor in most cases–let him and the Republicans sit out the budget again and again and again and instead pick off a couple choice defectors. But leave the prison guards out of it.

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