The Combine Endorses Topinka
Ex Governor Edgar is frequently seen on TV endorsing Topinka running for Governor, saying that she’s the best person for cleaning up corruption in government. Consider how strange this really is.
When George Ryan was running for Governor, the US Attorney at the time, a Democrat, issued a statement saying George Ryan was not a target of his investigation. Well we all know that when we got a good US Attorney in there in the person of Pat Fitzgerald, George Ryan got indicted and convicted. That same Democrat U.S. Attorney also failed to continue with any prosecution of Governor Jim Edgar in the famous MSI scandal where state contractors got their service contracts modified extensively so they became instant millionaires in the second year of the contract. During the trial that resulted in the conviction of those contractors, Edgar was called to testify in that case but couldn’t seem to remember if he ever met with these fellows when in fact he’d gone out to dinner with them numerous times, they were heavy donors to his campaign and they had given him a computer for his home worth $15,000.00. Apparently Edgars gratitude for all these things fell victim to his short memory
It must be said that Edgar was not convicted of anything even though these were somewhat strange circumstances, but the fact that this hung over his head may have had something to do with his decision not to run for Governor again.
In the absence of any official legal consequences, Edgar’s public reputation seems unsoiled to many Illinoisians. So now he’s using it in this effort to overcome the very negative opinion that the public has of Topinka for Governor.
People sometimes speak of honor among thieves. This is a mistaken description of the fact that crooks have a mutual culpability which prevents them from ratting out on each other. This same culpability can be found among unethical or illegal activities by politicians as well. According to Tribune columnist John Kass, there exists in the State of Illinois a “bipartisan culture of sleaze” where you’ve got a great many politicians in both parties who have been working together to re-elect each other no matter what strange circumstances may be puzzling the public voters at the time.
A great many politicians have already been convicted by US Attorney Pat Fitzgerald and there’s quite a string of them that are among the as-yet-unindicted co-conspirators. There are also many others whose activities could be called only unethical and not exactly illegal. In the public’s opinion, all this unethical and illegal mess of politicians has given them nothing but high taxes and very poor services. That is why they have a very low opinion of all of these politicians. While public opinion on this is very clear, it’s also notable that very few of these highly placed politicians in either party will dare speak out against the miscreants in their own party. Republican candidates are glad to speak about the foibles of the Democrats but can’t bring themselves to say that we have some very un-Republican candidates that messed around with the public for years. They can’t bring themselves to say that those Republicans aren’t really following the Republican platform.
It’s really disappointing to see Governor Edgar trying to salvage Judy Baar Topinka’s reputation and rescue her from being held accountable by the public. Edgar diminishes his own reputation by this foolish endorsement of Topinka. Yet when Senator Peter Fitzgerald was coming up for re-election, Edgar never came to his rescue or defended him against the political insiders that didn’t want him to stay in that office. Nothing unethical or criminal was ever mentioned regarding Fitzgerald, but the sleazy insiders wanted to get rid of him for bringing in Patrick Fitzgerald (no relation) as U.S. Attorney.
In defending Topinka, Edgar identifies himself squarely among this bunch of ethically-challenged dinosaurs that will certainly be no help in cleaning up the mess in Illinois politics. Reform-minded voters will have to just concentrate on their local elections and hopefully we will be rid of these people at the top that have perpetuated the problems in this State. After tomorrow, Topinka and the remains of the old combine will hopefully pass into history.
When George Ryan was running for Governor, the US Attorney at the time, a Democrat, issued a statement saying George Ryan was not a target of his investigation. Well we all know that when we got a good US Attorney in there in the person of Pat Fitzgerald, George Ryan got indicted and convicted. That same Democrat U.S. Attorney also failed to continue with any prosecution of Governor Jim Edgar in the famous MSI scandal where state contractors got their service contracts modified extensively so they became instant millionaires in the second year of the contract. During the trial that resulted in the conviction of those contractors, Edgar was called to testify in that case but couldn’t seem to remember if he ever met with these fellows when in fact he’d gone out to dinner with them numerous times, they were heavy donors to his campaign and they had given him a computer for his home worth $15,000.00. Apparently Edgars gratitude for all these things fell victim to his short memory
It must be said that Edgar was not convicted of anything even though these were somewhat strange circumstances, but the fact that this hung over his head may have had something to do with his decision not to run for Governor again.
In the absence of any official legal consequences, Edgar’s public reputation seems unsoiled to many Illinoisians. So now he’s using it in this effort to overcome the very negative opinion that the public has of Topinka for Governor.
People sometimes speak of honor among thieves. This is a mistaken description of the fact that crooks have a mutual culpability which prevents them from ratting out on each other. This same culpability can be found among unethical or illegal activities by politicians as well. According to Tribune columnist John Kass, there exists in the State of Illinois a “bipartisan culture of sleaze” where you’ve got a great many politicians in both parties who have been working together to re-elect each other no matter what strange circumstances may be puzzling the public voters at the time.
A great many politicians have already been convicted by US Attorney Pat Fitzgerald and there’s quite a string of them that are among the as-yet-unindicted co-conspirators. There are also many others whose activities could be called only unethical and not exactly illegal. In the public’s opinion, all this unethical and illegal mess of politicians has given them nothing but high taxes and very poor services. That is why they have a very low opinion of all of these politicians. While public opinion on this is very clear, it’s also notable that very few of these highly placed politicians in either party will dare speak out against the miscreants in their own party. Republican candidates are glad to speak about the foibles of the Democrats but can’t bring themselves to say that we have some very un-Republican candidates that messed around with the public for years. They can’t bring themselves to say that those Republicans aren’t really following the Republican platform.
It’s really disappointing to see Governor Edgar trying to salvage Judy Baar Topinka’s reputation and rescue her from being held accountable by the public. Edgar diminishes his own reputation by this foolish endorsement of Topinka. Yet when Senator Peter Fitzgerald was coming up for re-election, Edgar never came to his rescue or defended him against the political insiders that didn’t want him to stay in that office. Nothing unethical or criminal was ever mentioned regarding Fitzgerald, but the sleazy insiders wanted to get rid of him for bringing in Patrick Fitzgerald (no relation) as U.S. Attorney.
In defending Topinka, Edgar identifies himself squarely among this bunch of ethically-challenged dinosaurs that will certainly be no help in cleaning up the mess in Illinois politics. Reform-minded voters will have to just concentrate on their local elections and hopefully we will be rid of these people at the top that have perpetuated the problems in this State. After tomorrow, Topinka and the remains of the old combine will hopefully pass into history.
posted by JackRoeser | 2:43 PM
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