Chicago Olympic setback

[Conor Dary]

After the Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich, was arrested today on corruption charges, the US Attorney wondered out loud at the press conference whether Illinois was the most corrupt state in the US. Not a good sign for the Olympics in 2016.

[Daisy]

Re: Chicago Olympic setback

Mr. Blagojevich, 51, now serving his second term portrayed himself as a reformer after the one-term of the former governor, George Ryan, who was convicted of racketeering and fraud in 2006.

Source http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/us/po ... is.html?hp

The weakness of sound bite politics is that you can say anything you want to get elected and no one calls you on it. Or is it that power corrupts? Either way they should throw the book at him.

[gm]

Dog bites man.

[Daisy]

Dog bites man.

Don't they get euthanized?

[Jack Slocombe]

But on the positive side.......PEDs would be winked at with a corrupt local government and we would see some really great new alltime world bests. I mean, come on.....we have some really old world records on the books. Would you not have loved to see Barnes' 79' toss in practice way back in 89-90? We could do it in Chicago.

[Cooter Brown]

The IOC would turn their nose up at corruption? Uh huh.

[Pego]

Blago has been a curse for Illinois for years. That the badly needed third metropolitan airport in Peotone is still being fought over, is in a large part his fault (a lot of blame is to go around, let's be fair). I think, his eventual conviction and subsequent change will benefit, rather than damage Chicago's chances.

[Master Po]

I am worried that the OG could be tainted by association with such things, and that the IOC will instinctively recoil from Chicago's bid because of these local corruptions. As we all know, the OG have never been held in a location afflicted with corrupt local politics. Moreover, Blago's interest in selling or "auctioning" the Senate seat to the highest bidder (to borrow the way some headlines I read summarize the story) is in direct conflict with the practices of securing and hosting the OG, which, as we know, has never involved any such questionable practices of selling goods or the rights to valuable things to the highest bidder.



:wink:


But really, I agree w Pego's assessment of Blago.

[gh]

Where do these guys think they are, Louisiana?

(heard on the radio that Illinois has had 5 indicted governors)

[gh]

ps--on the same radio show (clips from Katie Couric's TV tonite I think) one of the correspondents had a fabulous line someting like this: "When they talk about term limits in Illinois, it's whether the governor is going to get 5 to 10, or...."

[Conor Dary]

Where do these guys think they are, Louisiana?

(heard on the radio that Illinois has had 5 indicted governors)

Yes, it does appear here in the Land of Lincoln like watching Broderick Crawford in All the King's Men.

Starting with Otto Kerner, governor from 61-69, Blago will be the 4th Illinois governor sent to jail. The others are Dan Walker and the illustrious George Ryan.

[kuha]

Americvan democracy is truly inspiring. We should export it to the whole world... Starting with sending some of these characters to Zaire...

[Conor Dary]

Clarence Page in today's Chicago Tribune wrote about another great character in Illinois politics, former Secretary of State Paul Powell, who was found dead in his hotel room in 1970 with 750,000 dollars in a shoe box.

By the way, the local tv stations today are implying that candidate 5, who offered half a million is probably Jesse Jackson Jr.

[Barto]

Where do these guys think they are, Louisiana?

(heard on the radio that Illinois has had 5 indicted governors)

Easy there left coaster! We have reformed. Now we only elect Dudley Dorights down here in bayou country.

[ppalmer]

Clarence Page in today's Chicago Tribune wrote about another great character in Illinois politics, former Secretary of State Paul Powell, who was found dead in his hotel room in 1970 with 750,000 dollars in a shoe box.

By the way, the local tv stations today are implying that candidate 5, who offered half a million is probably Jesse Jackson Jr.

I remember that when I moved here many years ago, I was surprised at first that one wrote checks for car licenses, drivers licenses, etc. to "Paul Powell, Secretary of State" rather than "Secretary of State" or such like generic term I was used to. I used to wonder why. After he died, we found out.

Pat Palmer