Untitled Document
The reasons House Speaker Michael Madigan’s
campaign staff produced a memo for candidates about how best to call for
the impeachment of Gov. Rod Blagojevich are pretty sound. The execution,
however, left something to be desired. Emily McAsey is the House Democrats’ candidate
against state Rep. Brent Hassert, R-Romeoville. Hassert has refused to
publicly criticize Blagojevich in the past several weeks. He spoke against
a proposal to recall the governor, and he has slammed Madigan for allowing
his own dislike of Blagojevich to derail the massive $34 billion capital
construction plan.
Hassert’s exurban district leans slightly
Republican, and Blagojevich isn’t exactly the most popular politician
in those parts. Actually, the governor is probably horribly unpopular in
just about every district where Madigan is attempting to unseat Republican
incumbents. Just about every House Republican incumbent has gone
on record demanding that Madigan put his personal differences aside and
allow the governor to oversee a $34 billion capital spending plan, which,
by the way is funded by a lease of the state lottery and a new casino for
Chicago.
So Madigan has decided to position the Republicans
between his own candidates and the embattled Blagojevich. If the
Republicans think Blagojevich is OK, Madigan will tie the governor around
their necks. Several days ago, right on cue, candidate McAsey called for
impeachment proceedings against Blagojevich to be started.
One of the biggest reasons Republicans suffered so
much in the wake of George Ryan’s humiliation was that they never
really abandoned the man. They’ve paid a high price for their
loyalty. So it makes perfect political sense for the
Democratic speaker and state party chairman to dump on the Democratic
governor. The more the public believes that Blagojevich is an unfortunate
abnormality and not the party’s standard-bearer, the less impact his
troubles may have on Democratic candidates this fall. The House Republicans say Madigan is dreaming, but
the Republicans have put themselves in a bizarre position of defending yet
another embattled, unpopular governor. The weirdest part? This time
they’re defending a Democrat.
The Democrats’ memo on impeachment talking
points, however, is a bloody mess. If the House Democrats had simply focused on a
handful of valid reasons for impeachment and the constitutional and
political mechanics of how it might take place, the memo would’ve
been a much stronger document. Instead, much of it reads like an
excruciatingly long list of “Things That Rod Did to Make Mikey
Mad.”
An addendum titled “Blagojevich’s
Misdeeds and Malfeasance from High to Low (A Far from Complete List)”
includes items such as “Gross receipts tax” and “Having
no involvement with the mass transit issue, until springing seniors
ride-free at the last second,” and on and on. It’s all pretty
silly.
Five pages are devoted to a “Questions and
Answers” section designed to help the candidates with queries from
reporters and opponents.
“So, neither Madigan nor his staff has had any
involvement with you or preparing you to make this announcement?” was
one question. The suggested answer has already been pounced upon by
Republicans and the governor’s allies alike as a blatant
encouragement to lie: “I’ve researched the issue on my own and
after careful consideration believed that now is the right time to do
it.”
As a result, it might be just a little more difficult
to use the impeachment issue as a bludgeon against Hassert and other
Republicans. They can just claim that the Democratic candidates are simply
parroting the Madigan line. But the Madigan impeachment memo includes a suggested
answer for that charge as well: “This has nothing to do with Mike
Madigan. I’m doing this because, after carefully considering the
facts and thinking about what is in the best interests of the state, I am
convinced that it is the best course and now is an appropriate time. As far
as I know, the Speaker has been resistant to the idea of
impeachment.”
Rich Miller
publishes Capitol Fax, a daily
political newsletter, and
thecapitolfaxblog.com.
This article appears in Jun 12-18, 2008.
