All Posts Tagged With: "Blagojevich"
Response to “Clout goes to College”
Today the Trib printed a damaging expose titled “clout goes to college” on the practice of trading on clout to admit unqualified students to the University of Illinois. I encourage anyone who loves the University of Illinois to read the story and take a look at the exhibits.
A Tribune investigation which included FOIA requests uncovered hard, damning evidence that the U of I is admitting unqualified students, while turning away qualified students. The Trib cites a clout list of over 160 students, but even one student getting special treatment is too many.
Leading a state university is a position of public trust. Administrators have a duty to use basic fairness and equality when admitting students. Richard Herman and B. Joe White are accountable to all the people of Illinois–to all taxpayers–not just the ones with clout. Imagine if they were outright selling admission to our competitive law school or business school–trading a seat in the class for an envelope of cash. In truth, trading for political influence isn’t altogether different. Especially when those they are catering to are the same people who set their over-inflated salaries.
While it’s true this practice predates the current administration, it doesn’t excuse our leaders from compromising their principle and tarnishing the integrity of the institution. Whether or not we traded clout for admission in the past, the practice is wrong and must stop. Whether or not other schools do it to, the practice is wrong and must stop.
If Richard Herman and B. Joe White were men of character they would acknowledge that they owe an apology and an explanation to all of the rejected students with credentials superior to the “Category I” admittees.
The Reaction to the Burris Appointment
originally posted at Grumblebear
Mencken famously noted that “No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.” As I recall, at the time he was writing about the advertising industry, but current events confirm its general applicability. Or maybe it’s not intelligence but ignorance that’s the problem.
The ignorance of the American public regarding our history and our government and how it operates has been thoroughly documented, and no better proof can be offered by the headlines of today than the reactions to Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s appointment of Roland Burris to fill the senate seat vacated by President-elect Obama.
I’m a huge fan of exploring all of the different shades of gray, but in this case there is no gray there. There is absolutely nothing to discuss, other than that Blago ought to have done the right thing and stepped aside to let Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn make the appointment. Period. The end.
The U.S. constitution requires that when a senate seat becomes vacant between elections, the governor of that state must appoint a replacement. Until Blagojevich is impeached by the House (accomplished!) and tried and convicted by the Senate, he is the Governor of Illinois. End of discussion.
As for the Senate declining to seat Burris, this question has also been asked and answered by the seminal decision rendered by the Supreme Court in the 1969 case of Powell v. McCormack. Harry Reid should know better!
Blagojevich is an incompetent, immature, unstable, unpopular failure of a governor. His popularity ratings were in the low teens before the federal indictment–the Illinois version of George W. Bush, but without W’s “charm.” I think it’s highly likely that he’ll be found guilty of any number of criminal acts when his case finally gets to court (if Federal Prosecutor Fitzgerald’s early leaking of the indictment didn’t screw the pooch for the prosecution). And, the standards for an impeachment trial being being different from and less stringent than for a criminal trial, there’s no question in my mind that he’ll be removed from office by the Illinois Senate.
But none of that has happened yet. In the meantime, like it or not, Rod Blagojevich is still the Governor of Illinois and still required to appoint a successor to Senator Obama, and the Senate is still required to seat his appointee.
Blago busted
Gov. Blagojevich and his chief of staff were taken into custody by the FBI this morning. The Tribune has the story, as well as the statement from our old friend Pat Fitzgerald (pdf):
Throughout the intercepted conversations, Blagojevich also allegedly spent significant time weighing the option of appointing himself to the open Senate seat and expressed a variety of reasons for doing so, including: frustration at being “stuck” as governor; a belief that he will be able to obtain greater resources if he is indicted as a sitting Senator as opposed to a sitting governor; a desire to remake his image in consideration of a possible run for President in 2016; avoiding impeachment by the Illinois legislature; making corporate contacts that would be of value to him after leaving public office; facilitating his wife’s employment as a lobbyist; and generating speaking fees should he decide to leave public office.
Wow. Never in my wildest dreams did I think he was that stupid.
That may be the most over-the-top part, but there’s plenty of other fascinating details in there. This quote from Fitzgerald is particularly awesome: “They allege that Blagojevich…involved himself personally in pay-to-play schemes with the urgency of a salesman meeting his annual sales target.”
To say this throws a wrench into Illinois politics is a bit of an understatement. Who picks the junior senator now? Will Blagojevich resign? Is there a special election in our future? Will people actually notice Pat Quinn now?
Have at it.
Exclusive: Blagojevich is a Cowboys Fan
Urbanagora has learned from a credible source that Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is a closet Dallas Cowboys fan. Even though he occasionally bets on the Bears, Blagojevich has been known to require interns, even those from Chicago, to clip news clippings about the Dallas Cowboys.
Our source reveals:
When I interned for Blagojevich, in addition to clipping quotes about Chicago and Illinois politics, I was told to pull everything I could find about the Dallas Cowboys. On days I only found stories on current Chicago and Illinois events, I was told to look for Cowboys stories, but I was never asked for news about the Chicago Bears.
How can the people of Illinois, and particularly the citizens of Chicago, home of Da Bears, possibly support a Governor who loves the Dallas Cowboys? The Cowboys are the team you root for when you don’t have any pride or loyalty to your home city, so instead you opt for supporting “America’s Team.”
Curiously, here is a Cowboys fan forum talking about Blago’s ties with Rezko.
This may be the most compelling reason yet for a recall.
Rove: Brooks, Blago, and Gays
From David Brooks today, who was quoted by Greg Mankiw (Mankiw should be required reading for liberals and conservatives who pretend to understand economic policies):
In 2000, McCain ran for president and reiterated his longstanding opposition to ethanol subsidies. Though it crippled his chances in Iowa, he argued that ethanol was a wasteful giveaway. A recent study in the journal Science has shown that when you take all impacts into consideration, ethanol consumption increases greenhouse gas emissions compared with regular gasoline. Unlike, say, Barack Obama, McCain still opposes ethanol subsidies.
Also, Volokh has something to say about our recent gun debates, a topic I personally have little interest in, considering the weight of poverty and disease and lack of education that simply overwhelms significant devotion to gun rights. I had the good fortune of having lunch yesterday with Volokh Conspiracy contributor Dale Carpenter, who presented an excellent case at the law school for why Burkean conservatives should actually favor gay marriage rights. I personally
agreed with his arguments, and I also find legitimate logical support for gay marriage in libertarian thinking and in a progressive moral route.
An interesting NYT article that corresponds with my feeling, that many people are rejecting organized religion, even if they are not rejecting God, “The rise of the unaffiliated does not mean that Americans are becoming less religious, however. Contrary to assumptions that most of the unaffiliated are atheists or agnostics, most described their religion “as nothing in particular.” Pew researchers said that later projects would delve more deeply into the beliefs and practices of the unaffiliated and would try to determine if they remain so as they age.” Furthermore, there appears to be a trend toward convergence between Protestants and Catholics.
Finally, here is some good analysis on the not too surprising revelation of Blago as Public Official A.
You Can’t Win if You Don’t Play
A Lottery is a Taxation,
Upon all the Fools in Creation;
And Heav’n be prais’d,
It is easily rais’d,
Credulity’s always in Fashion;
For, Folly’s a Fund,
Will never lose Ground;
While Fools are so rife in the Nation
– Henry Fielding, 1732
There is a legend about a devout Christian man who prayed to the Lord to let him win the lottery. His prayer continued through years of blue collar labor until the man grew old and weary. Finally, on his death bed, after decades of praying to win the lotto, the man cries out “Lord, I’ve been your humble servant my entire life and I’ve only ever asked you for one thing, why have you forsaken me.” Suddenly, a blinding light shines down from the heavens, God sighs and says in a thundering voice “you know, you could buy a ticket!”
I will freely admit that I have played the lotto a few times. This was caused by an irrational belief in fate, not an irrational belief that playing the lottery is a good idea. I played the long odds that I was meant to win the lottery. It wasn’t in the stars.
Lotteries can be traced back to the Han Dynasty (~200 B.C.). While it may seem like the government recently stole the whole concept of the lottery from organized crime, a lottery actually helped fund the American Revolution.
Many critics call the lottery a “regressive tax” because a disproportionate amount of the revenue generated comes from the poor. It’s funnier, and probably even more true, to call it a “stupid tax.” If you must gamble, you’d have to look hard to find worse odds. Of course it isn’t a tax at all – playing the lottery is voluntary. I would call the lottery a failure of government to justify its policy prerogatives.
A lottery is a mechanism for raising revenue without directly raising taxes. In some states, a lottery provides a mechanism to support programs that the public couldn’t otherwise be convinced to support. In others, it’s a shell game. Lotteries are used to fund programs with broad public support so the funds that should be supporting those programs can be shifted to projects that are not public priorities. The latter is the case in Illinois.
In Illinois our schools are our justification for our lottery. Because the wealthy and the powerful want their kids to learn in palaces, we fund our schools at the local level through property taxes so they can keep revenues local.
Instead of honoring the Illinois Constitution which says the state has the primary responsibility for financing the system of public education, we insist on keeping the funding local. Instead of insisting that students across Illinois have a roughly equal educational experience, the powerful are protected and the poor are given lottery based school funding. The result: Illinois has one of the nation’s largest gaps, in both funding and achievement, between rich and poor public schools.
Governor Blagojevich, looking for another short term fix that will pass our states fiscal problems on to future administrations, wants desperately to sell or lease the Illinois lottery system for a short term pool of cash to balance the budget. This will lead to a smaller percentage of revenues going to fund state programs and likely an overall expansion of Illinois lottery operations. While this could fill a short term budget hole, the policy is a disaster, and a poor substitute for either further cutting spending or modestly increasing taxes.
If I were dictator of the world, I would abolish the lottery. Instead, I’ll make one modest reform proposal. If you take a short drive across Champaign to the other side of Bradley, and interview those who buy lotto tickets $20 at a time, you would likely find many welfare recipients in that $20 dollar club. I’ve met more than a few in my own blue-collar central Illinois town. It is particularly troubling when public funds are gambled/recommitted into lottery system. While I generally oppose tracking technology, I propose creating a state lottery registration card. Everyone who wants to play the Illinois lottery could be issued a card, and those receiving public benefits like food stamps, welfare, or social security disability payments, would have a cap on the amount per month they are permitted to spend on lottery tickets. This could also help curtail counterfeiting and ticket theft. I realize some will likely argue it is protecting people from themselves, but it’s also protecting public funds.
I look forward to your thoughts on this proposal.
You Can’t Win if You Don’t Play
A Lottery is a Taxation,
Upon all the Fools in Creation;
And Heav’n be prais’d,
It is easily rais’d,
Credulity’s always in Fashion;
For, Folly’s a Fund,
Will never lose Ground;
While Fools are so rife in the Nation
– Henry Fielding, 1732
There is a legend about a devout Christian man who prayed to the Lord to let him win the lottery. His prayer continued through years of blue collar labor until the man grew old and weary. Finally, on his death bed, after decades of praying to win the lotto, the man cries out “Lord, I’ve been your humble servant my entire life and I’ve only ever asked you for one thing, why have you forsaken me.” Suddenly, a blinding light shines down from the heavens, God sighs and says in a thundering voice “you know, you could buy a ticket!”
I will freely admit that I have played the lotto a few times. This was caused by an irrational belief in fate, not an irrational belief that playing the lottery is a good idea. I played the long odds that I was meant to win the lottery. It wasn’t in the stars.
Lotteries can be traced back to the Han Dynasty (~200 B.C.). While it may seem like the government recently stole the whole concept of the lottery from organized crime, a lottery actually helped fund the American Revolution.
Many critics call the lottery a “regressive tax” because a disproportionate amount of the revenue generated comes from the poor. It’s funnier, and probably even more true, to call it a “stupid tax.” If you must gamble, you’d have to look hard to find worse odds. Of course it isn’t a tax at all – playing the lottery is voluntary. I would call the lottery a failure of government to justify its policy prerogatives.
A lottery is a mechanism for raising revenue without directly raising taxes. In some states, a lottery provides a mechanism to support programs that the public couldn’t otherwise be convinced to support. In others, it’s a shell game. Lotteries are used to fund programs with broad public support so the funds that should be supporting those programs can be shifted to projects that are not public priorities. The latter is the case in Illinois.
In Illinois our schools are our justification for our lottery. Because the wealthy and the powerful want their kids to learn in palaces, we fund our schools at the local level through property taxes so they can keep revenues local.
Instead of honoring the Illinois Constitution which says the state has the primary responsibility for financing the system of public education, we insist on keeping the funding local. Instead of insisting that students across Illinois have a roughly equal educational experience, the powerful are protected and the poor are given lottery based school funding. The result: Illinois has one of the nation’s largest gaps, in both funding and achievement, between rich and poor public schools.
Governor Blagojevich, looking for another short term fix that will pass our states fiscal problems on to future administrations, wants desperately to sell or lease the Illinois lottery system for a short term pool of cash to balance the budget. This will lead to a smaller percentage of revenues going to fund state programs and likely an overall expansion of Illinois lottery operations. While this could fill a short term budget hole, the policy is a disaster, and a poor substitute for either further cutting spending or modestly increasing taxes.
If I were dictator of the world, I would abolish the lottery. Instead, I’ll make one modest reform proposal. If you take a short drive across Champaign to the other side of Bradley, and interview those who buy lotto tickets $20 at a time, you would likely find many welfare recipients in that $20 dollar club. I’ve met more than a few in my own blue-collar central Illinois town. It is particularly troubling when public funds are gambled/recommitted into lottery system. While I generally oppose tracking technology, I propose creating a state lottery registration card. Everyone who wants to play the Illinois lottery could be issued a card, and those receiving public benefits like food stamps, welfare, or social security disability payments, would have a cap on the amount per month they are permitted to spend on lottery tickets. This could also help curtail counterfeiting and ticket theft. I realize some will likely argue it is protecting people from themselves, but it’s also protecting public funds.
I look forward to your thoughts on this proposal.