My two cents: Gutless wonders. A month ago, every last one of them vowed to not seat anyone Rod Blagojevich appointed. But they let race baiting tactics scare them into submission.

These same critics will be all over them for letting a corrupt governor appoint a corrupt former Illinois pol.

Blog Peoria commenter Mahkno left the following comment in a previous post:

Museum folks ran a very push orientated poll this eve. Had a good 30 second to full minute intro about how great the education benefits would be, how much revenue it would bring in (14 million), how many jobs it would create (150 union jobs), its 86% paid for so far, and how low a burden it would be (25 cents per…).

Would you support a sales tax increase? Mmm no.

What if it were tied to other public service like firefighting and police? Mmmm… no.

What if the tax were only temporary, to expire at some point? LOL… Civic Center? … MMmmm No…

Done.

Trouble is, the only people who want public money to pay for this damn thing are the people who are in the professional economic development racket, and politicians like Dave Koehler, Aaron Schock and Gov. Rod  Blagojevich.

And what’s this about it being 86 percent paid for? I call bulls***. If this thing was 86 percent paid for, they wouldn’t be having to swipe pennies from little old ladies and single mothers at the checkout line at the dollar store.

UPDATE: Oh, yeah. I just noticed. C.J. is shamelessly swiping my site’s content. Well, imitation is a form of flattery.

Worry no more. The Journal Star asked two of ‘em.

They said they didn’t.

Whew.

Rahm Emanuel doesn’t need me to defend him.  But I’d be shocked if if someone from the Obama camp wasn’t talking to Blagojevich about his appointment.

And according to The Hill, Rahm Emmanuel and Obama may come out of this looking like goody-goodies:

Many believe Emanuel makes his own appearance in the criminal complaint, showing up as an unnamed adviser to Obama. Blagojevich curses the unnamed adviser in conversations with aides because, he says, the adviser seems unwilling to meet the governor’s demands.

In other words, Obama was unwilling to help Blago line his pockets.

But it doesn’t matter. Obama and Amanuel are “linked to” Blagojevich. Ooga booga booga. Whatever.

And Rich MIller (hat tip) makes the following observation:

Unless Rahm was wheeling and dealing with Governor Blagojevich on that Senate seat, promising favors like jobs and campaign cash, then this has absolutely zero real impact on Emanuel or Obama, especially since the feds are saying he’s not a target.

And I remain continually astounded at how willfully ignorant many commenters seem to be about Illinois politics. I caught five minutes of Michael Savage last night. In addition to pronouncing “Blago” line “Blaggo,” he kept insisting that Obama was a member of the Chicago Machine. This is true, because he is from Chicago.

But Edgar played the game, albeit a bit more quietly than most.

But I am going to agree with some of the points Edgar made in this interview with the Daily Eastern News: 

Edgar said Blagojevich should resign, but concluded he probably will not quit as governor.

“I’ll be surprised if he voluntarily stepped down,” he said.

He said the voter population should have been more critical when Blagojevich was re-elected in 2006. The media did an adequate job of bringing out and discussing the ethical issues Blagojevich had prior to 2006, Edgar said. He was surprised when Blagojevich was re-elected, he added.

Folks, this is what I have been saying. We, the voting public, have to accept responsibility for Blagojevich. Sure, he ran as a reformer the first time. But by 2006, we knew he was under investigation. We knew he couldn’t govern. We suspected he was a nutcase. But we voted with our wallets. We listened to politicians say he’s still doing good things. He swallowed the lies he told on his television ads. We closed our eyes, covered out ears and hummed loudly to ourselves to convince ourselves that we weren’t seeing and hearing what was right in front of us.

We constantly complain about smarmy politicians who run on charm, good looks and lies. But we vote for them anyway because we cannot take our eyes away, and because we’ve convinced ourselves that honesty and integrity doesn’t matter as much as making sure we get a taste.

We are stupid voters.

Yesterday, the headline on the Journal Star was “State of Shame.”

Absolutely right. We ought to be ashamed of ourselves. 

And as is usually the case, Ray LaHood gets a nod in this Washington Post’s list of possible candidates:

LaHood, who is leaving Congress after seven terms, always seems to be in the mix for statewide races. But, smart Illinois Republicans don’t see him actually pulling the trigger this time around.

I don’t see it either.

I’d suggest that Aaron Schock might toss his hat in the ring, but he doesn’t meet the age requirement.

Koehler is “dissapointed” and “distressed” and finds the whole thing “embarrassing.”

But does Koehler support impeachment?

No.

Koehler said he has heard some passing talk about impeachment, but said that it is premature.

“That’s an option,” he said.

“But, the case needs to go forward with the judiciary first.”

Here’s the thing: It took years for “the judiciary” to convict George Ryan. And if you look at the Illinois Constitution carefully, it states that the impeachment process is not part of the criminal justice system. It’s a decision through which elected officials can remove a politician for cause. There is no obligation to wait until he’s put on trial, or to wait until it concludes.

If we wait for “the judiciary” to “move forward,” then we are stuck with this guy — who was caught on tape shaking down a children’s hospital, for God’s sake — for at least two years.

Koehler has been a strong supporter of both Blagojevich and State Sen. Emil Jones.

Like I said, there’s no way Blago gets impeached.

UPDATE: Bartels writes that State Rep. David Leitch says there’s an impeachment petition is being circulated.

UPDATE 2: You know that unnamed candidate for Obama’s seat with whom Blago is accused of trying to secure a job on Obama’s cabinet in exchange for the appointment: Rich Miller thinks it’s Senate President Emil Jones. You know. The guy who would have to approve any impeachment proceedings. Perhaps Dewayne can get Koehler on the phone and ask if he’s distressed, disappointed and embarrassed by this as well.

We in the Illinois Green Party are deeply troubled by the arrest of Governor Rod Blagojevich and his chief-of-staff John Harris. The Governor is charged with attempting to personally profit from his
power to appoint a person to the U.S. Senate. While we recognize that the accused are innocent until proven guilty, we must also admit that we are not surprised by these allegations. We have seen a long
pattern of pay-to-play from Blagojevich, and indeed, a long pattern of pay-to-play throughout Illinois politics for years. The long sordid history of corruption in Illinois must finally come to an end.

The Green Party has always stood for accountability, transparency, and clean government through clean elections. We reject all corporate campaign contributions, advocate for public financing, and have long pushed for at least caps on individual contributions, so that our elections will no longer be pay-to-play.

We call on the Illinois General Assembly to hold an emergency session to:

1) Develop legislation to give the people of Illinois the ability to recall their public officials;

2) Consider the impeachment of Governor Blagojevich;

3) Amend Illinois statute to provide for an open process for filling this and future U.S. Senate seats, preferably through a special election, as the process for filling the current vacancy has been irrevocably tainted;

4) Reform the campaign finance system, banning all corporate campaign contributions, and installing caps on individual contributions;

5) Further reform the campaign finance system to eliminate pay-for-play, by barring or severely limiting contributions from political appointees, and mandating that political committees return donations made from individuals subsequently appointed to public office, boards, or commissions.

These are the first steps which need to be taken to help instill integrity, transparency, and accountability to our state government.

Phil Huckelberry
Chair, Illinois Green Party

My two cents: The only one of these suggestions that disturbs me is the proposal to further limit personal contributions. I smacks of a limit on the personal freedoms of millions of people because of concerns that some of them will be giving cash for bad reasons. As long as there’s full disclosure and transparency, I see no problems with people donating money to support the candidates of their choice.

Good catch, DeWayne, and a good use of the blog.

Jones earned my ire by pushing the University of Illinois into dumping the chief. It’s hardly the worse outrage he has perpetrated on the state, though.

His long-time hold of the state senate demonstrates how desperately we need a Constitutional Convention to establish limits on how long anyone can serve in a leadership position, as well as limits in how established candidates can spread around campaign cash to build their own power.