by Daniel Zanoza, Executive Director
If anyone believes Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich dreamed up all of this corruption which may now put him behind bars of a federal prison for many years, I have a bridge I'd like to sell them for a very low price.
The fact is Blagojevich was weaned in a political cesspool which is centered in the city of Chicago. Chicago politicians for the most part have been given a pass by many local journalists because if you didn't play along with the game and asked too many questions, your access to information would be cut off and the same could be said for your employment. So, writers for the Chicago Sun-Times and the long bankrupt Chicago Tribune simply looked upon the city's one-party approach to government as business as usual.
Everyone who lives in or near Chicago understands this fact. It's like a dirty little secret akin to the family that puts on airs for public consumption, but is torn asunder by private strife. Let me take that back. Chicago Machine politicians were corrupt and they didn't care who knew.
If you didn't play the political game the correct way, as a resident your garbage might not get picked up. Or if your Alderman bucked the Daley Machine, your Ward's streets would never see repair and you might not see much police presence either. And Heaven forbid if you had the nerve to put up a Republican sign in your front yard. The Lord only knows what would happen by demonstrating such blatant disregard for Big Brother.
However, we have primarily been talking about the everyday citizens of Chicago--up until now. The real juicy wheeling and dealing takes place behind the huge doors of City Hall, in those now smoke-free back rooms where deals are cut, patronage is rewarded and nepotism is just a way of doing business.
Rod Blagojevich didn't learn how to be a crooked politician over night. He was taught by the best of the lot and, for that matter, so was Barack Obama. Blagojevich's only problem was he didn't play the game the way the Daley Machine wanted him to and some believe the beleaguered Illinois Governor was cast to the wolves, something like a human sacrifice without the blood and gore.
You see, Richard M. Daley was irked when Blagojevich didn't go along with the Chicago Mayor's plan to turn Lake Michigan's Navy Pier into the Las Vegas of the Midwest. This combined with the fact Blagojevich refused to jump through Daley's political hoops every time he cracked his whip, led to some frosty relations within the Chicago Democratic Machine and when Richie gets mad at someone, heads will roll. Even Blagojevich's own father-in-law, the very powerful 33rd Ward Alderman Dick Mell, rolled over on Blago.
The incestuous Chicago political machinery was grinding Blagojevich to a pulp and the now indicted Illinois Governor must have felt like he had nowhere to turn. His phone was tapped by the feds who obviously were tipped off by someone in the Democratic inner circle and Blago was served up like a Thanksgiving turkey with all the trimmings.
Now Americans are expected to believe Barack Obama--who ran with this same pack of political wolves--had hands that were cleaner than a newborn babe. Obama hardly knew convicted wheeler-dealer Antoin "Tony" Rezko. Obama probably wouldn't be able to pick Blagojevich out of a line-up, if that's the way our political criminals were identified.
Everyone who lives in Chicago knew how the game was played and all Obama's wide-eyed denials won't mislead us a bit. Folks, that's the way things are done in Chicago and that's the way they have been done for years.
But there was one interesting aspect of the Blagojevich indictment that caught my attention. Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois and the lead prosecutor in the case said there was a piece of legislation sitting on Blagojevich's desk awaiting the Governor's signing which was connected to a $100,000 contribution to the defendant's campaign fund. Can someone please tell me what the thousands of lobbyists who work in Washington, D.C. and the capitols of every state in America do every day of the year? Legislation is passed, campaign contributions are made, but nobody goes to jail or is even faintly accused by charges of impropriety. I guess it's all how you play the game, isn't it?
No, I am not excusing Rod Blagojevich's behavior. I simply addressed the fact that Blagojevich learned how to play the game from the best in the business. He was a sacrificial lamb, given up by forces which had him in their sights.
And one more thing. The media should drop all the "aw shucks, what a tragedy" stuff. You didn't have to live in Chicago to know it was a den of political thieves. The national media is looking a bit pale right now because in their zealotry to get Barack Obama elected, there was very little vetting of a man who quickly rose through the ranks of the Chicago political machinery.
If the whole situation weren't so sad, it would be laughable.
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