The Associated Press reported this week that Blagojevich, his family and guests have taken hundreds of flights on taxpayer-financed airplanes with no clear business purpose. Tax experts said the Internal Revenue Service could consider the flights taxable fringe benefits.

The AP review estimated the value of the flights could add at least $225,000 to Blagojevich’s income and leave him with a tax bill of $60,000 or more.

And the Governor's reaction?

“That is the most ridiculous thing that’s ever been written,” Blagojevich told reporters at a Tuesday appearance in Mattoon.

Evidently the Governor doesn't do much reading. 

The Lieutenant Governor has some sage advice for the beleaguered Governor:

Blagojevich’s own lieutenant governor, Pat Quinn, said it would make sense for Blagojevich to seek an outside expert’s advice.

“The best way to go is for the governor to have a sophisticated tax lawyer take a look at the issue and answer any, any questions,” Quinn said Monday.

But isn't that exactly the problem with Governor Blagojevich?  He refuses to consult with or listen to anyone.

Snark Alert:  The Governor is missing out on a tremendous opportunity to begin addressing two issues that might help his administration.  First of all, he needs to consult with a tax professional and, in so doing, prove that he can seek and take advice that may be contrary to his own opinions.  Secondly, if he does in fact owe $60,000, he can further bolster his Democrat bone fides in his continuing yet one-sided battle with Speaker Madigan for the mantle of "most authentic Illinois Democrat" by paying all taxes owed to the federal government.

“It will be ridiculous to have Mr President and Madam President in the White House,” he said. “We’re the United States of America. How can we say to President Mubarak [of Egypt], ‘You can’t hand off the presidency to your son, it’s got to be your wife’ or, ‘Hey Syria and North Korea, you’ve got to knock this stuff off and be like us’.”

Norquist has commissioned lawyers to draw up a constitutional amendment that would ban family members from succeeding one another to elected and appointed office. If passed, it would not apply to the Clintons as a Bush was elected in between them. But Norquist believes that it will alert voters to the perils of dynasty. “Americans don’t like to go back,” he said.

This got me thinking.  Why not adopt a similar provision to the Illinois Constitution, except expand it to include not only the Governor's Office, but seats in the General Assembly as well?  The practice of handing a retiring or deceased state legislators seat to their offspring or spouse has long-irked me.  It has happened several time over the last few years alone.  Just some examples:  Senator Denny Jacobs retired and installed his son Mike.   Senator Vince Demuzio passed away and the local party apparatus appointed his wife.  Representative Frank Mautino was appointed to his seat upon the death of his father.   Representative JoAnn Osmond was appointed upon the death of her husband.  I'm sure there have been others going back further in time for both parties.

I fully support the proposition that, although family dynasties cannot be ended as long as people are allowed to vote their conscious in free and fair elections , they can at least be more difficult to begin.

Previous Post:  More Nepotism in Illinois Politics? 

A Chicago pharmacist first told state police in 2005 that he made a $25,000 contribution to Blagojevich as a form of protection from a state Medicaid probe.

The Illinois State Police told the Tribune last month they had already investigated those allegations and determined they were unfounded.

But after repeated inquiries from the Tribune about the thoroughness of that investigation, state police said last week they were taking another look.

The agency formally denied the newspaper's request for documents in the case on the grounds it would "obstruct an ongoing criminal investigation."

"Certainly, that case has been reopened and it is being actively investigated," Lt. Scott Compton, the agency's chief spokesman, said Friday. "That's all I can say at this time."

Compton, the state police spokesman, confirmed that Patel told an investigator he felt pressure from Bhatt to contribute to the governor and Bhatt offered to intervene with state regulators on his behalf in exchange for the money. Compton also confirmed Patel said he immediately felt pangs of regret for writing a $25,000 check to Friends of Blagojevich and ordered his bank to stop payment.

According to state disclosure forms, the Blagojevich campaign reported Patel's donation on June 27, 2005 and then reported on July 8, 2005 that the check didn't clear.

"We were told by Patel there were other instances where Bhatt solicited payments and that he had documents to corroborate those payments," Compton said last month. "Mr. Patel failed to provide those documents after numerous attempts by the state police."

This decision on the part of the state police to revisit the case breathes a whole new dimension into the story.  It's no longer just about whether the Governor's Office is willing to help big donors skirt the law in exchange for campaign cash.  Now the integrity of the state's top law enforcement agency may be called into question.  It should raise eyebrows that the state police investigation didn't even include an interview with key parties involved with the accusation:

The state police likewise dismissed as unfounded the allegations of improper political influence in Bhatt's own case after what the agency described as a thorough investigation. Both Bhatt and the pharmacy regulator said they were never interviewed by state police about interference allegations. Both deny any wrongdoing.

Doesn't sound like the state police engaged in much of an investigation.  The Trib isn't done trying to get to the bottom of things:

The Tribune has appealed the denial of its records requests to state officials.

Here's the Tribune's initial report that appeared on October 16. 

Why all the qualifications?  Well, I'm going to offer a bit of a criticism, but want to be clear about how I view Rich and what he does lest my critique be wrongly interpreted as some kind of personal attack.  Far from it.  This is strictly on the merits.

I have for years believed that Rich tends to have a sympathetic bent toward the Democratic Party.  There's nothing wrong with that, as I don't consider him as vying to be an "objective journalist" in the same respect I would expect an employee of a major newspaper to be.  He's really carved out his own niche as, more or less, an avant-gard information maven.  When you think about it, he's been "blogging" with his Capitol Fax before blogging was even a part of our lexicon.  Pretty smart guy!

Will you get around to it already!  Alright, while it's no big deal to have sympathies one way or another that may from time to time come out in your coverage, such sympathies can color your perceptions of what is actually happening or might happen.

That's where my critique of Rich's latest article begins.  As I understand his column, Rich is essentially arguing that most Illinois voters are so upset with the Governor and the dysfunction in Springfield that they are just itching to take it out on somebody.  I agree with this general point.  He then states the following:

There will be an opportunity for Illinoisans to vent their rage next year without voting for a Republican, however. And, no, I'm not talking about the Green Party candidates.

The build-up to this sentiment is how voters have Bush fatigue and are angry with the President and, by extension, the national and state Republican Party.  Look, nobody is contesting that the Republican Party in Illinois has had, putting it rather kindly, a very bad run of luck in recent years.  Many of the problems are self-induced and many result from significant shifts in voter demographics.  I do believe it to be a bit of hyperbole to contend that dissatisfied Democrats and Independent voters in Illinois definitely wouldn't vote for Republican candidates in 2008.  That may be the case for hard-core ideologues, or perhaps those who inhabit the circle of folks Rich runs with, but isn't necessarily applicable to "soft-Democrats" and self-styled Independents.  These voters, joined by "soft-Republicans" are almost always up for grabs and candidates spend millions of dollars trying to woo them into their camps.

Back to Rich's argument.  He implies that, since there's just no way non-GOP voters can vote for Republican candidates because they're so mad at President Bush and his "brand" (despite the fact that a new nominee will be the face of the Republican Party on election day), Illinois voters will direct their anger at the Governor and statehouse dysfunction through the only possible recourse available.  What is that?  How about something as esoteric to average voters as a constitutional convention.   Maybe he's right, but I'm skeptical.  Discussing the pros and cons of a constitutional convention is an insiders game, and most voters simply aren't insiders. 

Rich didn't mention another possibility voters have to register their anger at their own party.  Short of voting en masse for the other party -- sometimes they stay home.  Many elections are won and lost based upon which side showed-up at the polls and which side threw up their hands and remained at home in disgust.  This is a very real possibility.   

Rich also didn't discuss the myriad of other factors that will be at play.  President Bush may not be registering very high in the polls, but there's a Democratic Congress in Washington with an even lower approval rating.  The Democratic base isn't exactly thrilled with the Nancy Pelosi-Harry Reid Congress.  There's also a chance that the Democratic Party could nominate the very polarizing Hillary Clinton for President -- a development some view as a potential drag on the Party nationally.  Finally, and although it may be anathema for Democrats to want to admit it, the situation on the ground in Iraq has markedly improved from where it was just one year ago.  Don't believe it?  Ask yourself why Iraq has curiously vanished from the headlines over the past few months.  One more thing to consider.  What if Republican candidates for the state legislature run television ads where their opponents morph into Governor Blagojevich?

Factoring in these scenarios, what Rich has essentially concluded is that despite an historically unpopular Democratic Congress, a Governor with a frighteningly low approval-rating, a state legislature completely controlled by Democrats that is enveloped in the dysfuntion, a possible Democratic presidential nominee who polarizes the electorate and a possible Republican presidential candidate who will be a "fresh face," that non-GOP Illinois voters will most certainly not vote against Democrats on their ballots and probably wouldn't stay home.  That may be what Rich wants to believe will happen, ergo the previously mentioned bias, but it simply strains credulity.

I'll also offer a possibility that may actually embolden Democrats to look past the problems in Springfield.  There's a slim but very real chance that favorite son Barack Obama could overtake Hillary for the nomination if, as with Howard Dean, voters decide she is unelectable.  If Obama is heading the ticket next year, there could be a strong and enthusiastic showing for Democrats. 

One more point about a blue state like Illinois electing Republicans.  Louisiana, another blue state with a Democratic-majority and tradition that richly exceeds more recent trends in Illinois, just elected a Republican governor as voters exercised their outrage at a corrupt and dysfunctional political class that did them no favors following Hurricane Katrina.  I'll even bet at least a few Democrats voted for the new guy. 

The Chicago Tribune's Eric Zorn believes that former Governor Jim Thompson's efforts on behalf of Ryan have tarnished the legacy of the four-term governor:

Yes, Thompson was one of Ryan's lawyers, and lawyers should act and speak forcefully on behalf of their clients. There's no shame in that.

And yes, Thompson is a friend and former close professional and political associate of Ryan's, and friends should provide support in times of trouble and need. There's no shame in that, either.

But Thompson is not an ordinary lawyer, nor is he an ordinary friend.

He's an elder statesman. The dignity and respect of the office of governor of Illinois are both his burden and his advantage in life, no matter what positions he goes on to hold.

Thompson owed it to the office he once held to keep the sort of serene distance from Ryan's troubles that has been kept by ex-Gov. Jim Edgar, the fellow Republican who served in the eight years between Thompson and Ryan.

And Thompson owed it to his record as a corruption-buster -- a record that launched his wildly successful political career that, in turn, launched his wildly lucrative legal career -- not to come out so publicly for a politician accused and then convicted of just the sort of official misdeeds he once crusaded against.

"Jim Thompson is a gigantic figure in state history," said Jay Stewart, executive director of the Better Government Association. "But this full-throated defense of George Ryan and his crimes is tattering his reputation around the edges."

Zorn has a point in that Thompson, like Ryan, was certainly not a change-agent in Illinois politics.  Like Ryan, he was a prolific deal-maker all to willing to play in the swampy morass of Illinois politics without demanding that the cesspool be cleaned out. 

The Daily Southtown expresses a cynical but accurate view of Illinois politics: 

We say: Given Illinois' sorry political history, we have little optimism that Ryan will be the last politician to walk through prison gates.

Ryan still maintains his innocence.

"I got screwed," he told a recent visitor to his home.

He's got it all wrong. It was he who screwed the people of Illinois, the people who entrusted him to be their secretary of state and later their governor. Rather than serve in those posts honorably, Ryan allowed corruption to run rampant with him as a willing participant. Documents and witnesses made that abundantly clear at his trial. And some of the state's top legal minds, who were working for free, couldn't pull enough legal tricks out of their hat to convince the government to cancel Ryan's reservation in Oxford.

As much as we'd like to believe that, and as much as we'd like to hope that Ryan is the last Illinois politician who will end up in prison, we can't be too optimistic given the current climate. We unfortunately don't think all politicians are ready to abandon those good ol' days.

Prosecutors, it appears, are equally suspicious. Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration has caught the eye of investigators, though the governor himself has not been accused of wrongdoing.

Fact is, Illinois has a long way to go before becoming a poster boy for good government.

A political ethics bill has been collecting dust in Springfield for months. The House unanimously approved it, but the Senate president refuses to call a vote on it. The governor isn't pressuring him to do so. Their excuse is that the bill isn't strong enough.

Their concern would overwhelm us if it weren't for things like the $70,000 pay raise the Senate president's wife got for her state job or the real estate commission the governor's wife received for handling the sale of the home of a man who later received $10 million in no-bid state business.

We'd like to think Ryan's entry into prison closes the book on bad government in Illinois. The cynic in us believes it's merely the transition from one sorry chapter to the next. This state is far too corrupt, and until voters demand more from their leaders - and stop accepting political corruption as a way of life - there are bound to be more George Ryans in the future - maintaining their innocence as the bars slam behind them.

Despite all the focus on Ryan's incarceration and the misdeeds that brought it about, the Illinois culture of corruption appears as strong as ever:

The Ryan case and other investigations - some still continuing - have spurred calls for reforms in Illinois.

Yet Illinois Senate President Emil Jones still refuses to call for a vote two major reform measures, House Bills 1 and 3, which overwhelmingly passed in the House and are co-sponsored by a vast majority of the Senate.

Jones said earlier that the reform measures - dealing with restrictions on campaign donations by state contractors, among other things - are not strong enough. But he hasn't offered any alternatives or even suggested how they could be made stronger.

Some may shrug that off as "politics as usual" in Illinois.

But Illinoisans are tired of "politics as usual," tired of seeing their governors violating the law and tired of the monetary waste and bad government resulting from "politics as usual."

Let the sound of the cell door slamming shut on the former governor wake up present-day politicians to the need to strengthen ethics rules and follow them, both in spirit and by the letter of the law.

If there is nothing to hide, then there should be no fear of reform.

Illinois has a rich history, as well as a more contemporaneous experience, with corrupt and arrogant politicians.  Irresponsible backroom deal-making, nepotism, graft, egotism, race-baiting and feather-bedding are part and parcel of political life in Illinois.  Someday, someway, it is my fondest hope and aspiration that these kings and courtiers of corruption will be shown the door.  Louisiana just elected a reformer as governor.  Hopefully Illinois isn't far behind. 

If you're tempted to feel sorry for this 73-year-old grandfatherly figure, save it. Remember the evidence the jury had before it. Remember the fat wads of cash he always carried, even though he withdrew just $6,700 from his bank over a decade. Remember the contracts he steered to his friends. Remember the vacations and gifts he accepted from them. Remember the state workers who were pressured to raise money for him and work on his campaigns.

Finally, remember the license-for-bribes scandal, which, more than anything, tarnished Ryan's long record of public service. Remember that one of the drivers who paid a bribe to get a license from Ryan's secretary of state's office was involved in the fiery crash that killed six children of Scott and Janet Willis. And remember how Ryan and his also-convicted pals shamefully thwarted an investigation into that crash and its connection to the license scandal.

But Ryan has never admitted his guilt, and he has offered only a half-hearted apology for letting the state down. He finds fault with his jury's tumultuous deliberations, not his own actions. His day of reckoning is here, and he has no one to blame but himself.

From the Chicago Tribune:

But Ryan has never admitted his guilt, and he has offered only a half-hearted apology for letting the state down. He finds fault with his jury's tumultuous deliberations, not his own actions. His day of reckoning is here, and he has no one to blame but himself.

He was lying. By the time he gave that speech, Ryan had committed multiple crimes against the citizens who had given him their trust. He had mocked state government's mission to protect Illinoisans. Ryan's underlings accepted bribes for between 1,000 and 2,000 trucker's licenses -- and some of that blood money made its way to his campaign coffers. At least nine innocents died in crashes blamed on fraudulent Illinois truckers.

There was so much more betrayal from Ryan -- just as self-serving if not as lethal. He gave his cronies such free rein over state business that they collectively pocketed $4.77 million in sweetheart deals. He steered improper gifts and favors to members of his family, allowing his corruption to wash over them as well.

In short, Ryan diabolically put the enrichment of himself and everyone around him ahead of state government's crucial responsibilities. U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald put it crisply when he issued Ryan's indictment four years ago: When Ryan was in office, "the State of Illinois was for sale."

The Trib takes a look forward with this sentence:

That oft-quoted sentence gave birth to Illinois' unofficial state motto: "Who's next?"

From the State Journal-Register:

At best, Ryan’s entry into prison can let us derive satisfaction that the system prevailed; that even corruption as entrenched as the kind practiced by Ryan’s political circle ultimately can be uncovered and prosecuted.

But even that sense of satisfaction is greatly muted by one fact: Ryan has never admitted to any wrongdoing. He reports to prison today believing he is an innocent man, a dedicated public servant who was loyal to his friends and ultimately was done in by their misdeeds — of which he claims ignorance — and by overzealous prosecution.

“I believe this decision today is not in accordance with the kind of public service that I’ve provided to the people of Illinois over 40 years,” Ryan said on April 17, 2006, after the federal jury convicted him. “Needless to say, I am disappointed in the outcome, but I feel confident in our appeal, and there will be an appeal.”

Many people in this town benefited from Ryan’s political career, which he built on a foundation of deal-making and favor-swapping. His defenders here are many, and they — like Ryan himself — still view him as a victim of his loyalty, and an unfair victim at that. To these people, Ryan was merely working the system as it had long been worked.

The warning signs of Ryan’s political machine running amok were there for years. When Pat Quinn ran unsuccessfully against Ryan for secretary of state in 1994, he made it an issue.

“George Ryan has behaved like the sheriff of Nottingham, standing by while his army of inspectors squeezes more and more campaign money out of honest businesses,” Quinn said in December 1993.

Some 11 months later, on the very day Ryan beat Quinn, a part fell off a truck on a highway near Milwaukee, striking a minivan that burst into flames, killing six children. The driver of the truck, Ricardo Guzman, was driving on a license issued from the Melrose Park license facility that had become a clearinghouse for licenses issued in exchange for contributions to the Ryan campaign. Nearly five years later, an official with Guzman’s trucking company admitted he had paid a bribe to fix Guzman’s license test score.

Ryan has consistently affected an air of detachment when speaking of this case. It’s a tragedy, he has said. Likewise did he respond to so many other charges in his lengthy trial. Other people did things they shouldn’t have. Maybe I should have been more diligent. How was I to know? Look at all the good I have done.

Maybe the reality will set in starting today, when the gates close behind him in Oxford. We doubt it.

It would be interesting to see what the poll result would have been if it had canvassed likely voters -- always a better demographic for polling purposes.  Still, the results of the poll clearly indicate that the Governor's act has worn thin in the eyes of a seemingly aware Illinois citizenry. 

I'll provide a link to the poll if and when it becomes available.

HT: Capitol Fax 

Readers of my blog are probably aware that I fervently believe that one of the worst, if not the worst, public policy problem facing Illinois is the growing pension debt within the public pension systems.  Not just the 5 state-funded systems, but defined benefit pension plans that provide retirement benefits to public employees at various levels of government.  Organizations like the Civic Federation do a tremendous job analyzing not only the poorly-funded state systems, but the multitude of defined benefit pension funds set up for employees who live and work in various government capacities throughout Chicagoland.

Why is the growing pension debt so important?  Because as the pension debt gets larger and larger in these funds, the state and other units of government will have to dedicate more and more revenue toward debt service instead of vital public needs like capital infrastructure, education, public safety, public health and parks and recreation.  In other words, the state and any other affected levels of government will be saddled with a structural deficit.  Imagine a monthly credit card payment.  If the card user occasionally spends a little more than he or she should have, the credit card payment is probably manageable.  If the person is a wild spender and only makes the minimum payment, the debt begins to spiral upward to the point where the minimum payment keeps getting larger and larger.  It can quickly go from 5% of an individual's income to 10% to 15% to 20% and so on.  This obviously leaves less money each month for other necessities.

Here's where the analogy breaks down for these police and fire pension funds.  According to the analysis, the Illinois General Assembly has on several occasions increased the retirement benefits for police officers and firefighters.  And get this...the state legislature that increases these benefits for municipal police and firefighters puts absolutely no money into the funds to keep them solvent.  Nope.  They leave that to the taxpayers of each municipality that has these funds. 

Back to the credit card analogy.  Now imagine that someone had a credit card debt they were earnestly trying to pay down.  Their credit card bill arrives in the mail and, to their shock and dismay, hundreds of dollars in new purchases they didn't make are on the card and they can't get the credit card company to remove them.  That's essentially what's happening with these local police and fire pension funds.  

So what's going on?  A poorly-designed system leaves these funds at the mercy of politics and election cycles.  Hundreds of cities throughout Illinois have police and fire pension funds.  Local taxpayers pay property taxes into these funds.  State legislators receive political contributions and campaign assistance from police and fire unions.  Once elected, these legislators repay the police and fire unions by sweetening their pensions without using any state money.  Each pension increase creates expanded debt overnight for which no money had been set aside.  Why is this debt created so suddenly?  Because the pension increases aren't restricted to new hires, but apply to anyone in the system.  Someone close to maxing out on their pension and retiring gets an upgrade for all previous years of service even though the upgrade hadn't been funded for all those previous years.  Individual cities have no say in this matter, but find themselves having to levy more and more property taxes for the funds.  And local taxpayers, well, they get stuck with the tab and will be on the hook for these funds if they go belly-up.

The state legislature and various Illinois governors are largely responsible for the funding crisis afflicting the 5-state funded pension plans.  It looks like they can add the municipal police and firefighter pension funds to this glowing resume.

Daley said he would slice his property tax request from $108 million to $83 million, meaning the cost to homeowners would be a little less steep than it would have been under the mayor's original plan.

Daley had pushed the bottled water fee as an environmental initiative to help defray the costs of non-biodegradable plastic containers clogging landfills. But instead of a dime on each bottle, Daley said he will seek to charge 5 cents.

The Chicago Tribune is conducting an investigation into a real estate deal involving the wife of Governor Blagojevich and a businessman who has received approximately $10 million in no-bid contracts from the State.  

Patti Blagojevich reportedly received a commission estimated at somewhere between $26,000 and $39,000 on the sale of a condo that sold for $650,000.  Here's a little something about the condo's seller:

The seller was Mark T. Wight, owner of Wight & Company, an architecture firm that won three new contracts with the state's toll highway authority after the 2005 sale. The buyer was John R. Wyma, Wight's tollway lobbyist and a longtime Blagojevich insider.

Even the buyer, John Wyma, has strong Blagojevich connections:

Wyma and Blagojevich have shared a close personal and professional relationship for more than a decade. Wyma became the first chief of staff for Blagojevich after he was elected a Northwest Side congressman in 1996 and soon became one of Blagojevich's closest political advisers.

The two remained close even after Wyma left in 2000. About a year later he returned as political director for Blagojevich's 2002 campaign for governor. After the victory, Wyma registered as a state lobbyist while remaining a member of Blagojevich's "kitchen cabinet" of advisers and one of the biggest fundraisers for the governor's campaign fund.

Wyma has repeatedly turned up as the lobbyist for groups that would benefit from some of the governor's most high-profile proposals, from new gambling to expanded health care.

One might conclude that this was a transaction put together as a result of Mrs. Blagojevich tapping into her personal social network and matching a buyer and seller.  That would be a customary business practice on its own, but it's not exactly what happened.  What really raises eyebrows is that Mrs. Blagojevich was not involved in the transaction but received a commission anyway:

Real estate records show the Wicker Park condominium was never officially listed for sale on the Multiple Listing Service, a nationwide market listing commonly used by agents.

Patricia Blagojevich had been house-hunting for Wyma for months. But Wyma and Wight found each other without Blagojevich's help. Still, Wight said, he decided to pay her the commission anyway.

My, how generous of him!

Then there's an issue of timing:

The deal closed Jan. 7, 2005.

The day before the closing, the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority approved a no-bid, $2 million contract with Wight & Company for various tollway design services. That contract was later increased to $2.5 million.

This isn't the first suspicious business dealing involving state contractors and Patti Blagojevich:

It is the third time the Tribune has disclosed similar commissions earned by the first lady and her home-based real estate business, revealing a steady income to the Blagojevich household from key political supporters, fundraisers and state contractors.

Patricia Blagojevich's real estate deals with power brokers close to her husband first came under scrutiny in 2005 when the Tribune disclosed her eight-year business relationship with Antoin "Tony" Rezko, a Chicago developer who became one of the governor's top fundraisers and a member of his kitchen cabinet.

Rezko was indicted last year on unrelated federal charges of soliciting kickbacks from firms seeking state business.

She also earned more than $113,000 in real estate commissions in 2006 through Anita Mahajan, owner of a now-defunct drug testing company, who has been indicted on charges she defrauded state taxpayers of more than $2 million.

Mahajan's husband, Amrish, is a Chicago-area banker who has helped raise more than $500,000 for Blagojevich's campaign fund.

Of course the lackeys at the Illinois State Tollway Authority are shilling for the Governor:

Tollway spokeswoman Joelle McGinnis said Wight has been a tollway contractor going back 15 years and said the latest contracts had nothing to do with the real estate deal. Rather, she said, the company got more work because of its good reputation and because the tollway was embarking on a major expansion.

Wight has seems to be doing pretty well under this Governor:

Wight also has received about $2.5 million in contracts from agencies that report directly to the governor since Blagojevich took office. His firm has donated nearly $100,000 to Blagojevich's campaign since 2002.

It wasn't too long ago that Governor Blagojevich had pledged to end "pay to play" and "rock the system" with ethics reforms.  There has barely been a tremor, and Illinois voters are still waiting.