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I was probably more surprised than anyone when I was
invited to tag along on Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s road trip last week.
The governor toured the state to push his universal health insurance plan
and his gross-receipts tax on business. I was on the bus with him for three
days, and we talked for countless hours. I had a cordial relationship with Blagojevich back
when he was in the Illinois House, but that was a long time ago. Over the
years, the governor granted interviews to almost every other news bureau in
the Statehouse, but I was excluded. He has visited just about every
editorial board of every major (and quite a few minor) newspaper editorial
boards, but I was kept away. During one press conference a few years ago,
Blagojevich refused to answer any questions from me at all, so I whispered
my questions to a couple of willing Chicago TV reporters who relayed them
on my behalf, knowing that he couldn’t ignore them. That’s not unusual. I wasn’t given much
access to George Ryan. One of Ryan’s top aides once threatened to put
my political newsletter out of business. I was granted almost no access at
all to Jim Edgar, and one of his former aides once helped draft a piece of
legislation designed to put the company I wrote for back then out of
business. The part of the tour that most impressed me was just
how much the governor thrives on a tough fight. He draws strength from
negative press coverage, intransigent political opponents and booing
crowds. He was practically ecstatic after a stop in Quincy, where he was
severely heckled by more than half of the audience over his
gross-receipts-tax proposal. The boxer analogy often employed by Statehouse
observers (the governor fought in Golden Gloves) is right on the money: He
loves a fight. He joked at one point that he misses Judy Baar Topinka, but
I think he misses last year’s long campaign brawl more than he misses
her.
That lust for battle often leads to problems, of
course. Blagojevich jabbed the Rev. Jesse Jackson hard after Jackson turned
against the gross-receipts tax, attacking Jackson’s motives by
claiming that he was listening to his “contributors.”
Going in, I had given Blagojevich the benefit of the
doubt that he was absolutely committed to providing some form of universal
health insurance, and that was confirmed during the trip. He is convinced
that the lack of health care is the biggest problem facing the nation
today, and he’s not fazed at all by the fact that state legislators
aren’t getting many calls from people who believe as he does. Regular
folks, he said, don’t call their state legislators. Besides, he
asked, what does that say about legislators if they only respond to the
concerns of people and interest groups who seek them out? That’s a good point, but it underestimates the
level of sheer panic in the General Assembly about this tax-hike plan. If
he wants to get something done by the end of the scheduled legislative
session, then he has to do something soon to calm the nerves of thousands
of anxious business owners. He does seem to grasp the political dangers of the
gross-receipts tax. He admitted knowing that his proposed $7 billion tax
hike could make him another Richard Ogilvie, the Illinois governor who was
ousted in the 1972 election after imposing a brand-new income tax.
Blagojevich said that he was willing to “wear the jacket” and
take all of the blame for his tax increase.
If Blagojevich’s approval rating were higher,
that would be a much easier task. Legislators could simply hide behind his
political skirts. But because his ratings are so low, particularly
downstate, he can’t provide legislators much, if any, cover. He may
be willing to lose his job over this tax hike, but most of them
aren’t. So does this bus trip change the coverage Blagojevich
will get from me in the coming weeks, months, and years? I’m sure it
will. I now have a much better understanding of where he’s coming
from — and, frankly, he gets a lot more blame than he should on some
things and not nearly enough credit. He ought to bring more reporters in for a long, close
look. There is definitely a “there” there.
Rich Miller publishes Capitol
Fax, a daily political newsletter. He can be
reached at capitolfax.blogspot.com.
This article appears in Apr 12-18, 2007.
