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Those of us who toil at the Illinois Statehouse often
feel alone and isolated. State news isn’t important news to most people,
who tend to focus much more on national and local politics than the
goings-on at the Illinois Statehouse. I suppose it’s that way all
over the country. Reporters will bust their humps on a story, only to
see it buried or ignored. Suburban and Chicago legislators are little known
even in their districts because the big Chicago media outlets tend to
overlook them. Their campaigns are rarely covered, and most of their
legislation barely rates a blink.
A top campaign staffer for a state legislative caucus
told me years ago that he figured that voters gave his candidates just 30
seconds a week of thought. That isn’t much. Occasionally news will break through the clutter.
Former Gov. George Ryan’s troubles with the law are widely known,
although some of the jurors picked for his federal corruption trial barely
knew that he existed.
Even though we accept the realities of our own
obscurity, it’s difficult to understand sometimes why voters
don’t pay attention. Many reporters and columnists were disheartened last
year when Rod Blagojevich cruised to reelection despite the stories of
corruption and federal investigations that had swirled around him for
months. It’s not that any of us were hoping that he’d lose;
it’s just that nothing we wrote seemed to have any real impact. And
even though Blagojevich finished a tiny click below 50 percent, he ended up
beating his Republican opponent by 10 percentage points. That’s a lot
in anyone’s book. I’ve been stuck in this sinkhole of a
legislative session all year. I had to drag myself to the Capitol building
all spring, all summer, and into the fall to watch Blagojevich pick goofy
fights with just about everyone under the Statehouse dome. I’ve
waited impatiently for countless hours while the governor met with
legislative leaders, only to discover that the talks actually made things
worse. I’ve seethed while almost nothing of any substance was
achieved except a pay hike for state officials. I watched in disbelief
while the governor complained bitterly about property taxes in his
neighborhood, and proposed a Cook County-only solution, when I’m
paying much more in taxes than he is for my downstate house worth less than
half what his is valued at. I’ve had to explain to my wife why there
would be no summer vacation and that Christmas break was starting to look
iffy because the governor was threatening to call another of his
innumerable “emergency” special sessions that never accomplish
anything.
Then, in late summer, a poll was released that showed
the governor’s approval ratings in the Dumpster. In October, two more
polls were published with essentially the same results, strongly
buttressing those earlier numbers.
A Rasmussen Reports poll taken in mid-October showed
that just 5 percent of likely Illinois voters thought that Blagojevich was
doing an “excellent” job. Another 11 percent said he was doing
a “good” job. Most of the rest, 83 percent, said Blagojevich
was doing a “fair” or “poor” job. Illinois Wesleyan University also released an October
poll showing Blagojevich’s job approval rating at a miserable 23
percent. Those who disapproved totaled 60 percent. The poll numbers were bad for the governor in every
possible demographic. No one, regardless of region, sex, race, age group,
income level, or philosophical position, believes that the governor is
doing an acceptable job. Even his own Democrats have turned on him. The
Illinois Wesleyan poll found that just 38 percent of likely Democratic
voters approve of Blagojevich’s job performance, and 41 percent
disapprove. A whopping 54 percent of liberals and 65 percent of
independents disapprove. Everybody finally seems to get Rod Blagojevich.
I’m not exactly sure what attracted their attention in the first
place. It could be the gapers’ block effect. Voters may simply have
been fascinated by the ugly spectacle of the massive train wreck that is
our state government. The governor’s proposals, like his tax-hike
idea from earlier this year, may have sparked their ire. Whatever the case, many people out there are finally
paying attention. At least my cohorts and I know that we’re no longer
alone. So from all of us, to all of you, thanks. Frankly, though, I could use a little boredom right
about now.
Rich Miller publishes Capitol
Fax, a daily political newsletter. He can be
reached at capitolfax.blogspot.com.
This article appears in Oct 25-31, 2007.
