Da Speaker suggests Blagorgeous give back the kit and caboodle.
“We played by the rules,” said Cheryle Jackson, Blagojevich’s spokeswoman.
But this is the problem. The Governor has repeated the mantra of changing business as usual ad nauseum and he so damn good at staying on message, none of us can forget it.
He ran on a platform of reform and repeated and repeated it and when anyone challenged them he put them on the side of being against reform.
You don’t think Madigan didn’t have a twinkle in his eye when he said it thinking about how many veiled shots the Governor took at him?
I’m willing to give the Governor a shot at further campaign reform and not be overly cynical about his motives, but he put it on the table and now people are saying yes when he wasn’t ready to accept yes.
He needs to face the fact that he won the campaign. Now he has to govern.
And Cross is right, you can’t keep the money and change the rules in the middle of the cycle. You can give state contractor money back and change the rules or you can keep the money and change the rules for December of 2006. But you set the agenda of reform and the first answer is going to make people a lot less cynical.
What if the effective date of the new campaign finance rules is Decemeber, 2006?
Won’t this still work to Blagojevich’s advantage?
If Contractor A is thinking about giving to the GOP nominee in August, 2006, he has to consider how he will be treated after the election.
After the election the GOP guy–presuming s/he’s elected–won’t be able to squeeze Contractor A for contributions. Therefore, Contractor A may have access to the governor, but he may not too. The governor may shut him out.
So Contractor A has less of an incentive to give int he 2006 cycle even if the effective date is December, 2006.
The fair thing would be for Blagojevich to give the money away to a good cause after all, he seems to think it was raised under ethically tainted circumstances now, right?
“you can’t keep the money and change the rules in the middle of the cycle”
Well you can — but you can’t do it and still pretend to be a reformer.
Probably, but traditionally this is how it passes at the federal level. But that advantage is more an incumbent advantage anyway.
And yeah, I agree on what he should do, but if he doesn’t…the other is second best.
Probably, but traditionally this is how it passes at the federal level. But that advantage is more an incumbent advantage anyway.
And yeah, I agree on what he should do, but if he doesn’t…the other is second best.
Probably, but traditionally this is how it passes at the federal level. But that advantage is more an incumbent advantage anyway.
And yeah, I agree on what he should do, but if he doesn’t…the other is second best.
Yada, yada.
People change rules in the middle of the game all the time.
Some people even change rules AFTER the game so they win.
You act shocked.
Bush makes up the rules, changes them in the middle and then changes them afterward to ensure a win. I didn’t hear Cross cry about that.
This is politics, not baseball.