A scathing audit released this week on one of the state’s most powerful agencies bolsters the impression that the Blagojevich administration is taking on the hue of its predecessor. The audit found so many troubling practices regarding how contracts were awarded and managed that Auditor Gen. William Holland turned the findings over to the Illinois attorney general to investigate.
This mess comes amid a growing list of cases in which the governor’s favored people seemingly have been beating the odds to get rich.
Unlike the state’s slot machines, blackjack tables and lottery tickets, this new game isn’t regulated … at least not on the surface.
A soup line of clout-heavy insiders profited from the bond work generated by a $10 billion pension deal Blagojevich pushed through the legislature.
Blagojevich’s campaign political director, John Wyma, has cashed in on his close relationship with the governor. Since being hired by Lehman Brothers to help land business in Illinois, Wyma has scored $400,000 for himself and nearly $2 billion for Lehman in state-connected bond work, according to filings with a government bond oversight board.
Lucrative rights to operate restaurants in revamped tollway oases have been granted to firms with ties to two members of Blagojevich’s kitchen cabinet. Both have raised oodles of campaign money for the governor.
Other close advisers-turned-lobbyists have been hired by hospital groups to influence action by a state board that the governor appoints. There are, however, supposed to be restrictions on lobbying of that board.
Blagojevich usually responds to these questions about insider-deals by attacking the messengers. This time, he should try something more credible and concrete. He should clear out the advisers who are making money off of him. And he should get the state to put all state contracts, including bond work, out for competitive bid.
