...Her opponent, Gov. Rod Blagojevich, has presided over an administration of
unparalleled venality, and for that reason alone we cannot endorse him.
A man who ran as a self-styled reformer four years ago has taken the state's
pay-to-play system to new heights. His campaign promise to "end business as
usual" in Springfield has been kept only in the sense that payola politics
now far exceeds what had been usual before he took office.
Gov. Blagojevich allowed his top political fund-raisers to dole out state
jobs and steer state contracts as rewards for campaign contributions. In so
doing, he made it clear that state government is for sale.
Now a trail of indictments is working its way toward the governor's office,
forcing him into the last refuge of the political scoundrel: claiming
ignorance of what goes on in his own administration.
In sum, Gov. Blagojevich has disgraced himself and the state. Nothing he may
have accomplished in office can erase that taint or entitle him to another
term. Voters must send a strong message that Illinois will no longer
tolerate the corruption his regime has fostered.
The Democratic incumbent portrays himself as the champion of the little guy.
But the working people of Illinois bear the ultimate cost of pay-to-play
politics. When the state is for sale, those without cash are excluded.
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