A halt to corruption
Yesterday, after the Tony Rezko conviction was announced, I called on the General Assembly to immediately halt all further chance that Governor Rod Blagojevich would use corruption to harm taxpayers.
Here is the statement:
“Today’s conviction should prompt the Illinois General Assembly to impose an immediate moratorium on the governor’s ability to hand out any further no-bid contracts, bond fees, pension fees or other spoils of the pay-to-play system that has so defiled our state’s reputation. We do not give the car keys to a serial drunk driver and we should not hand hard-earned taxpayers’ money to a governor who has repeatedly abused the public trust by enriching his political friends to fatten his campaign treasury.
This moratorium should go well beyond some of the pending legislation in Springfield and should be the Legislature’s immediate order of business to give the public assurance that someone in state government cares about the integrity of public funds. Urgency is warranted because legislators are talking about massive public works programs, sales or leases of state assets and a purchase of a major league baseball stadium, among other initiatives. All will involve no-bid hiring of high-priced lawyers and consultants through the governor’s office and need to be immediately prevented.
The conviction of Tony Rezko represents a deep stain on the Democratic Party in Illinois. Democrats from top to bottom, including Barack Obama, stood idly by - and in some instances directly benefited - while the massive Blagojevich corruption scheme flourished. They rode into office promising to clean up after the George Ryan scandals and they have taken corruption in Illinois to a new low. They ought to be held
accountable at the polls starting this November.”
–Joe
