Dirksen certainly was a political giant. Probably the last giant to come out of Illinois...unless you want to include Hillary. <gg> I am actually in Park Ridge today, birth place of Ms. Rodham.
There are two articles in today's Sun Times that may elevate your blood pressure.
First, Blagojevich may continue to make Chicago his primary residence.
suntimes.com
Blagojeviches not sold on Executive Mansion
November 8, 2002
BY DAVE MCKINNEY SUN-TIMES SPRINGFIELD BUREAU
SPRINGFIELD--Soon available: 147-year-old mansion, move-in condition, lushly landscaped, five-car garage, fenced-in yard, top-notch security system, loaded with antique furniture, perhaps haunted.
It's not a real estate listing that often pops up in Springfield. But Jan. 13, this prized piece of property smack in the middle of the historic capital city will lose its current occupants and be available to Rod Blagojevich--if he wants it.
For now, the state's 40th governor hasn't decided whether to move his family to the Executive Mansion, which has housed governors since the 1850s, or remain a full-time resident of Chicago.
During a stop in Springfield, the midpoint in a statewide fly-around, Blagojevich said his preference would be to live full-time in the mansion. But he said wife Patti, who is pregnant with their second child, will have the final say.
"I'd like to have my family here with me. That would be my preference. But I must say, in our household, there's a weighted vote process. There are two votes on this issue, and my wife has got a heavier weighted vote than me," he said.
In the last 30 years, three of the five Illinois governors lived in the mansion full time, including Republicans Richard Ogilvie and Jim Edgar and Democrat Dan Walker. Gov. Ryan and Republican Jim Thompson lived at the executive residence part time.
Like many governors before them, the Ryans have used the mansion primarily as a social venue, hosting many parties and other events, including most recently a fund-raiser for two Springfield area pilots facing court-martial for the friendly-fire deaths of Canadian servicemen in Afghanistan.
Ryan made waves, however, when shortly after taking office in January 1999, he pondered whether he could come up with enough money to build a pool on the mansion grounds for his grandchildren. Criticized for the thought, Ryan quickly backed off.
In Blagojevich's case, the decision on whether to move in will hinge largely on the needs of the couple's 6-year-old daughter, Amy, who attends a Montessori school on Chicago's North Side.
"She's 6, she's in school, and she's comfortable there and likes it there and has her friends there," Blagojevich said. "But my preference would be to be here for the full time."
Certainly, it's not the biggest item on Blagojevich's to-do list, but he said it likely will be something he and his wife take up soon.
"We haven't thought that through. The reality of all this now is starting to settle in," he said. "I suspect over this weekend we'll have a chance to discuss this further."
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Secondly, some of Chicago's former aldermen, now ex-felons, want to run for office again. As you know, jailing politicians is a popular sport in Illinois. Like shooting fish in a barrel. Certainly more entertaining than the Bears this year.
suntimes.com
Another ex-con ex-alderman wants seat back
November 8, 2002
BY FRAN SPIELMAN CITY HALL REPORTER
Five years ago, convicted Ald. Jesse Evans (21st) went on a three-week hunger strike in a failed attempt to protest "illegal evidence" in his City Hall corruption case.
He lost 18 pounds, gained a few of them back, then went off to Oxford federal penitentiary where he ran into convicted Ald. Ambrosio Medrano (25th), a City Council colleague and fellow target of Operation Silver Shovel.
Now, Evans and Medrano could be reunited once again, this time back in the City Council chambers.
Like his fellow Oxford alum, Evans wants to reclaim the office he sold if only Medrano can convince a judge to overturn the state law that prohibits convicted felons from holding municipal office.
"If an alderman [who's an ex-felon] can run in Country Club Hills, why can't an alderman run in Chicago?" said Evans, 65. "The system has labeled me as a felon, but the voters do not see me as a person who betrayed the public trust. If they did, I don't think 185,000 voters would have embraced my candidacy for the Water Reclamation District [in March]. Nearly 10,000 of those votes came from the 21st Ward."
In yet another black eye for a City Council that has become famous for them, Evans was convicted in June 1997 of influence peddling and bribery. He was captured on audio and videotape pocketing four cash payoffs totaling $7,300 from an undercover FBI agent posing as a corrupt city contractor.
In return for the money, Evans sent city street sweepers to regularly clean near a construction site in his South Side ward. A federal jury also convicted him of extorting $10,000 in exchange for his support of an unpopular rock-crushing operation. He was further convicted for obtaining a new tile floor in the basement of his home from a grocer seeking a liquor license.
On the tapes, replayed again and again on Chicago television stations, Evans once said that politics was like "running a business. . . . You respond to those who respond to you." If someone who fails to respond dares to seek his help again, Evans said, "I pull their record. I say, 'Hey, man, you're batting zero.' ''
U.S. District Judge Elaine Bucklo chastised Evans for "selling out his constituents for personal gain" and sentenced him to 41 months in prison.
A deeply religious man, Evans served as chapel clerk during his 2-1/2 years at Oxford. He coordinated seven Bible studies, organized choirs and counseled fellow inmates.
Even so, Evans emerged from prison in June 2000 as unrepentant as he was on the day he went in.
"I'm not the perpetrator. I'm the victim. Silver Shovel was an absolute illegitimate operation. The crime was created by the federal government and the system to eliminate blacks and Hispanics in certain powerful positions," Evans said.
And what about that cash that he was caught on tape stuffing into his pockets?
"It was a campaign contribution, just as simple as that," Evans said. "The money went to help finance my trip to South Africa. It didn't go in my pocket for personal use."
Ald. Leonard DeVille (21st), 67, was Mayor Daley's handpicked replacement for Evans in a clout-heavy ward that delivered 19,529 votes--the highest total in the city--for Governor-elect Rod Blagojevich. It's a ward that includes West Chatham, Chicago Ridge, Brainard and Washington Heights.
Echoing what Ald. Danny Solis (25th) said last week about Medrano, DeVille said he can't believe Evans would have the audacity to seek the trust of voters he betrayed. "He's telling everyone that he was framed. I don't buy that. How can someone frame you if you don't let them? My character and integrity means more to me than anything. Either you're honest or not. If you do it once, you could do it again,'' DeVille said.
If the state law is overturned and Medrano and Evans reclaim their jobs, DeVille said it would be a black eye like this city has never seen.
"Chicago is already considered a syndicate city to many people with all of those who have gone to jail. That would just add more fuel to the fire that Chicago hasn't changed from Al Capone--that it's so corrupt a city that it's willing to be duped twice,'' DeVille said. |
