* Sneed broke the story yesterday…
Sneed hears Governor Blago’s top deputy gov, Sheila Nix, just quit. Is this the beginning of an office bailout now that the feds are fine-tuning their gun sights on Gov. Blago? Stay tuned.
The bailout began before Nix’s departure.
* The SJ-R followed up today…
“I’ve been working for the governor for almost four years, and I told him probably about six weeks ago that … when we finish (the legislative session) in Springfield after the end May, and my kids get out of school the first week in June, that I wanted to have some time with them,” Nix said Sunday. […]
She said her decision had nothing to do with last week’s guilty verdicts in the corruption trial of Blagojevich friend and advisor Antoin “Tony” Rezko.
“In these positions, you have to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in order to be able to do your job,” Nix said. “Obviously, we spend a lot of time in Springfield and I’m away some. It was really more just a situation where I felt like after four years, it was the right time.”
Nix, 46, of Oak Park, laughed about the idea she is leaving her $135,000-a-year job to spend more time with her family, because she knows people think that’s code for getting fired.
“I actually am going to really enjoy spending some time with the kids over the summer and then be ready to move onto something new,” she said.
The Rezko mess undoubtedly contributed to Nix’s work-related stress, but so did the other federal investigations. The timing is odd, of course, but nobody can last in an environment like that forever.
* Rep. Fritchey is not exactly kind with his parting words…
But I have been repeatedly told that Sheila was part of the brain trust that prepped Carol Ronen for her disastrous Chicago Tonight appearance, and who helped conjure up the Governor’s dimwitted and ill-received strategy to try to derail the pay-to-play ban by uttering flat out lies.
Paycheck or no paycheck, the concerted efforts of Sheila, Carol and Rebecca Rausch to aid and abet the Governor’s efforts to prevent ethics and campaign finance reform by conjuring up and mindlessly parroting the party lines were inexcusable and emblematic of the legacy that will mark the Blagojevich era.
The Governor’s need to surround himself with sycophants unwilling to question the misguided wisdom of his strategies, coupled with individuals all too willing to play that role, have done untold damage not just to the Administration, but more importantly, to our fine state.
While Sheila may be the latest out the door, I think that it’s a safe bet that she won’t be the last.
Frankly, I’m not really interested in your own theories claimed as fact for why Nix left. Just a warning.