* Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s interview by the State Journal-Register didn’t cover much ground, but it leaves you with the clear impression that Blagojevich plans an all-out political war over the capital construction plan…
“The game is on now, and these are all little skirmishes along the way in the big war to create jobs for people across Illinois,” Blagojevich said at his Statehouse office. “Unfortunately, there shouldn’t have to be a war. It should be easy.”
* The story itself is kinda light, but you can listen to audio files from the interview at this page.
Here’s an interesting quote…
“Everybody, virtually, is on board except for one man” [the governor said about Madigan and the capital plan.]
Hmm. Let’s see. Mayor Daley opposes the gaming proposal and the governor wants to seize control of the decision over which Chicago schools get capital money, which the mayor also opposes. That means more than “one man” opposes the capital package. And deliberately jabbing Daley does not make this process “easy” in any way. But that fact wasn’t tossed back at him.
* Here’s another quote I found somewhat entertaining…
“You can’t go to Madigan because he doesn’t talk to anybody or meet anybody. For sport, I’ll just arbitrarily pick up the phone and call him, leave a message. I’ve been doing this for months, knowing I won’t get a call back.”
Actually, Madigan does talk to people. The governor refuses to just walk up to Madigan’s office, like governors have done for years (and not just to see Madigan - Pate Philip was well known for not returning gubernatorial phonecalls). Blagojevich did this once last year, at my urging, but spent most of his time with Madigan talking about sports. It was a wasted opportunity. Also, the guv surely knows where Madigan eats dinner almost every night in Springfield. Just drop by. Others do.
* The governor does have a point when he says that if Madigan switched his position, so would lots of rank and file House Democrats. But check out this quote from the story…
“We’ve just got to get the rank-and-file members to stand up for something that’s more important than their allegiance to one man,” Blagojevich said
Not. Gonna. Happen. Stop dreaming.
Note to governor: You have a 13 percent job approval rating, making you the least popular governor in the US of A. The US Attorney has several open and active investigations of yourself, your office, your friends and your campaign. You’re not going to make all that go away by fighting a war to the death with Mike Madigan.
…Adding… To clear things up in commets, this is from Speaker Madigan’s press conference yesterday…
“I don’t attend meetings with Gov. Blagojevich because I’ve come to the view that my presence in meetings with Gov. Blagojevich is not productive for the meeting. I’ve been fully represented in meetings with the governor by Rep. Currie… and Rep. Hannig. They’re excellent legislators, they’ve done excellent work in those meetings.
“But don’t take it from me. Ask others that have been involved in these meetings with the governor. There’s something about my presence in the room with the governor that just brings on a whole new personality from the governor. Clearly not productive.”