Do citizens of this state have a right to know whether
their governor and his administration are under criminal investigation?
According to the governor, the answer is no.
Around the same time as this year’s campaign
season moved into full swing, the governor’s state press operation
stopped answering questions about whether the office had received subpoenas
from federal or state prosecutors or even about the existence of new or
ongoing investigations.
Politically, that appeared to be a smart move. There
are somewhere around nine or 10 separate federal and state investigations
of the governor’s office right now (that we know of), and some of
them are really starting to heat up, so it’s natural that the
subpoenas would be flying in the door. It’s also natural that the
administration wouldn’t want to confirm information that reporters
had dug up. Without confirmation, some stories undoubtedly haven’t
been published or broadcast because reporters may not have had enough other
sources.
But the governor’s refusal to directly answer
whether he is under investigation led to a bizarre reaction last week.
The Chicago Tribune reported that the governor’s top legal adviser
had sent a letter to a dozen state agencies requiring them to disclose all
personnel records back to 2003, when the governor was sworn in. The order
applied to everyone, all the way down to the lowliest intern.
The Tribune claimed that its sources said the letter was a result
of a federal investigation into the governor’s hiring practices. The
probe goes back to at least last year, when the governor’s office
admitted that three agencies were subpoenaed by the feds (back when the
governor’s office was admitting those things). Because FBI agents
don’t usually just ask for government documents over a friendly cup
of coffee at the local diner, we can safely assume that more subpoenas have
been issued.
The Tribune story appeared the same day that Blagojevich was set
to announce his new All Kids program, so he had no choice but to answer a
few questions from the assembled throng of reporters.
His refusal to confirm or deny the existence of
investigations and subpoenas put him in a bit of a tight spot, however. If
the Tribune story
was untrue (highly unlikely), he couldn’t just denounce the paper,
because, when a true story came along, reporters would insist that he
verify that one, too. And if the Tribune story was true (highly likely), he couldn’t
confirm it or risk putting his press staff in the same situation every time
a reporter heard a rumor about a new subpoena.
Instead, he took a deep breath and blamed his troubles
on . . .
Are you ready for this one?
George Ryan.
Yes, George Ryan is to blame for an ever-widening
federal probe into Rod Blagojevich’s administration.
How, you may ask?
Let’s allow the governor’s own words to
explain.
When asked about the letter written in response to the
federal probe, the governor said it was “an example of what
we’ve been doing for three years, and that is making sure that we
clean up the old practices of the previous administration that had bloated
state payrolls, incompetent employees, people hired for all the wrong
reasons.”
Yeah, I don’t get it, either. I understand why the feds are keeping a close eye on Illinois: Our recent history justifies it — and you can certainly blame George Ryan for much of that. But you’d think that if the Blagojevich administration was completely clean and the governor really was the “un-Ryan,” the feds would have looked closely at those initial three state agencies, including the governor’s own personnel office, then folded the books and gone home. Instead, they apparently issued subpoenas for the hiring records of 12 more agencies. That’s not George Ryan’s fault. The people have a right to know as much about their government as is possible, and that includes the right to know whether their federal government suspects their state government of being corrupt. Blagojevich should reverse his decision to not confirm the existence of subpoenas and stop this ridiculous game of blaming George Ryan for everything that he screws up. And, for his sake, I hope he’s being a lot more honest with the U.S. attorney’s office than he is with Illinois voters. Bad things may happen if he’s not.
Yeah, I don’t get it, either. I understand why the feds are keeping a close eye on Illinois: Our recent history justifies it — and you can certainly blame George Ryan for much of that. But you’d think that if the Blagojevich administration was completely clean and the governor really was the “un-Ryan,” the feds would have looked closely at those initial three state agencies, including the governor’s own personnel office, then folded the books and gone home. Instead, they apparently issued subpoenas for the hiring records of 12 more agencies. That’s not George Ryan’s fault. The people have a right to know as much about their government as is possible, and that includes the right to know whether their federal government suspects their state government of being corrupt. Blagojevich should reverse his decision to not confirm the existence of subpoenas and stop this ridiculous game of blaming George Ryan for everything that he screws up. And, for his sake, I hope he’s being a lot more honest with the U.S. attorney’s office than he is with Illinois voters. Bad things may happen if he’s not.
