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Illinois' lost decade
Chicago tribune ^ | 15 mar 2012

Posted on 03/15/2012 6:36:22 AM PDT by rellimpank

Ten years ago — it was March 19, 2002 — Illinois Democrats nominated Rod Blagojevich as their candidate for governor. The percentages should have humbled him: 37 for Blagojevich, 34 for former Chicago schools CEO Paul Vallas, 29 for former Attorney General Roland Burris. But rampant scandal under Republican Gov. George Ryan had chased him into retirement, and tipped Illinois Democratic in the Nov. 5 general election. On the night of that victory, an emboldened Blagojevich solemnly declared: "Illinois has voted for change."

Change didn't come. On Dec. 7, 2011, a federal prosecutor would crisply synthesize Blagojevich's tenure as governor: "He was corrupt when he took the oath of office. He was corrupt until the day he was arrested."

(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Government; US: Illinois
KEYWORDS: blago; obama
--there's a name missing in this--starts with an "O"--
1 posted on 03/15/2012 6:36:29 AM PDT by rellimpank
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To: rellimpank
But rampant scandal under Republican Gov. George Ryan had chased him into retirement

Corruption is a time-honored practice in IL and especially Chicago. It's how things get done out there.

2 posted on 03/15/2012 6:39:03 AM PDT by ScottinVA (A single drop of American blood for muslims is one drop too many!)
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To: rellimpank

With the exception of one elected official, maybe two now I would say everyone elected to office in this state should be on the bus with Rod. It is about the worst bunch of criminals in the history of the democracy


3 posted on 03/15/2012 6:40:43 AM PDT by Why So Serious (There is no cure for stupidity!!!)
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To: rellimpank

I would bet that Rod is thinking that his sentence will only be 10 months, as that is when Obama leaves office and will probably pardon Rod for keeping his mouth shut!


4 posted on 03/15/2012 6:42:44 AM PDT by Why So Serious (There is no cure for stupidity!!!)
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To: rellimpank

They protesteth too much. The smarmy white libs benefitted greatly from the Blago reign of crime, it enabled the ponzi scheme known as Chicago. Chicago is a livable city and not a Detroit because of the actions of Blago and Daley who bribed and flattered a large portion of the Democratic voting population either out of the city or bought their votes so the rich developers could gentrify large swaths of the city. Basically they engaged in some very expensive social engineering to save Chicago and to enrich themselves.


5 posted on 03/15/2012 6:43:41 AM PDT by junta ("Peace is a racket", testimony from crime boss Barrack Hussein Obama.)
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To: Why So Serious

“I would bet that Rod is thinking that his sentence will only be 10 months, as that is when Obama leaves office and will probably pardon Rod for keeping his mouth shut!”

I haddn’t thought of that. Here’s hoping “Big Willie” makes Blago his “girlfriend” early on.


6 posted on 03/15/2012 10:06:59 AM PDT by vette6387
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