Here.
There’s a lot more to the story of The Blagorgeous attack on Lege members, but most of that is in the Capitol Fax which is doing a bang up job on the story.
As a Democrat, every Democrat should be ready to have the Governor’s scalp on this one.
There is a lot more to say.
The Governor’s approach to building a legislative coalition is unexplainable. What makes it more astounding is that Gov B’s best skill was being a nice guy, someone who can get a whole bunch of different people into the same room and hammer out an agreement.
One of his major accomplishments was going to Serbia to negotiate the release of an American POW with Karadzic.
As Governor all he seems to be able to accomplish is alienate people. I don’t get it.
Then there’s the back story that — IMHO — is actually a huge and important fight over policy and governance. In a nutshell, Madigan knows that revenues (yes, taxes) have to go up. The debate should be about the size and scope of a tax increase, not about the need for it.
It’s fight that (right now) the Speaker stands to win. Gov. B’s political instincts/advice that he wins re-election and the Presidency by holding the line on taxes is — again, IMHO — outdated and wrong.
We have a ballooning federal deficit, increasing demand for social services, and a growing sentiment that under Bush the wealthiest do not pay their fair share. Providing good governance is the road to the White House, and I don’t see it from the current Governor.