03 Oct 2006

Paper Should Clear Up Check Confusion

By Rich Miller

Governor Rod Blagojevich and his staff have attempted to muddy the waters on the question of that now-infamous $1,500 check from his friend by seizing on the flip-flopping of the friend's wife, Beverly Ascaridis.

Mrs. Ascaridis, you will recall, got a state job about the same time that her husband, Mike Ascaridis, wrote the governor a check for $1,500. The governor has admitted to directing his chief of staff to find Mrs. Ascaridis a job, but claims that the check was for his daughter Amy's college fund. He has so far refused to provide any supporting documentation that the check was ever deposited into a college fund, however.

26 Sep 2006

Lots of Questions but Few Answers on Federal Investigations

By Rich Miller

If you think Governor Rod Blagojevich gets bad press now, imagine how harsh the coverage would be if we knew what he was hiding.

For instance, we know from sources that the governor's own office and his various agencies have been served with dozens of federal subpoenas involving countless criminal allegations, but Governor Blagojevich won't even confirm receiving a subpoena. He won't say how many subpoenas he's received. He won't say what the FBI is looking for.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan is supposed to issue a legal opinion on whether the governor has to comply with reporters' Freedom of Information Act requests on the subpoenas. As of this writing, though, her office has been silent.

12 Sep 2006

With a Stacked Deck Against Her, Topinka Hangs on

By Rich Miller

After spending millions of dollars on unanswered television ads, Governor Rod Blagojevich has only an eight-point lead over Judy Baar Topinka, according to the latest poll.

The Research 2000 poll of 800 likely voters was conducted August 28 through 31 and had a margin of error of 3.5 percent. The poll found that Blagojevich was leading Topinka 47-39.

05 Sep 2006

Democrats: Prepare to Be Tarred with Blagojevich

By Rich Miller

As President George W. Bush's job-approval ratings continue to slump, Republican incumbents almost everywhere are running away from him as fast as they can. It's gotten so bad that even U.S. Representative Tom Reynolds, the chairperson of the National Republican Congressional Committee, doesn't have the word "Republican" on his campaign Web site's front page.

22 Aug 2006

Fair Offers a Grim Preview of the Fall Campaign

By Rich Miller

If you wanted to get an idea of how downright negative the governor's race will be this fall, all you had to do was hang around Republican Day at the Illinois State Fair last week and check your e-mail from the governor's campaign.

One speaker after another ripped into the Democrats during the Republicans' annual event. The speakers focused mainly on Governor Rod Blagojevich and the harm he has allegedly done to Illinois.

08 Aug 2006

Legal Woes Mount, But Governor Has Piles of Cash

By Rich Miller

Every day for four years I got down on my knees and thanked God for sending me Governor George Ryan. I knew that no matter how slow the news day was, I could always count on Ryan's various scandals and antics to provide enough interesting fodder to fill up sufficient white space.

Reporter: "Governor Ryan, are you ‘Official A'?"

Ryan: "I don't believe I am. I sure as hell don't think I am."

Like I said, the man consistently provided solid-gold material.

25 Jul 2006

The Polls Speak: Incumbent Governor Takes Solid Lead

By Rich Miller

Rod Blagojevich and Judy Baar Topinka don’t agree on much, but their campaigns concurred last week that Governor Blagojevich is leading in the polls.

The Blagojevich campaign says its latest poll shows the Democratic governor leading the Republican treasurer 47-31 – a seriously large advantage. Topinka’s campaign has Blagojevich ahead 44-37 – a far narrower margin.

Meanwhile, the latest poll from an independent source, The Rasmussen Report, had Blagojevich leading 45-34, which is about right in the middle of the two candidates’ poll results. Still, Topinka’s polling during the spring primary matched up almost exactly with the Chicago Tribune polls, which turned out to be pretty accurate come primary day.

18 Jul 2006

Conviction Means No More Politics as Usual

By Rich Miller

"I've researched this pretty carefully," confided a very high-level Blagojevich administration official this spring over late-night cocktails. "For any of this to be illegal, somebody has to profit. There has to be money involved."

The official was responding to my questions about the swirling allegations of state contracts and jobs handed out to political insiders. Since there was no personal profit, nobody was in any serious legal danger, he claimed.

This month's verdict in Robert Sorich's trial, however, proved that person to be dead wrong.

27 Jun 2006

Third Party Could Finally Break Through the Ballot Barrier

By Rich Miller

I'm not a big fan of third-party candidates.

It's not that I'm ecstatic about the two-party system. Too many "mainstream" candidates are poll-driven media robots to the point that they make me a little batty.

I wouldn't mind having another choice, if only to force the other candidates to stop acting like automatons and start speaking like human beings again.

The problem is that third-party candidates are usually a bit, um, goofy. Two words: Ross Perot. Need I say more?

13 Jun 2006

Governor Leads in Poll, but Corruption Issue Looms Large

By Rich Miller

Is Governor Rod Blagojevich's administration just as corrupt as or even more corrupt than former Governor George Ryan's crew? A new poll finds a plurality of Illinoisans would answer "yes" to that question.

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