We in Boston take such great pride in our municipal corruption, but we are mere pikers compared to this “crime spree,” as the U.S. attorney described it. Illinois’ big-time crooked governors trump our small-time crooked House speakers.
[From King Con Blago puts our hacks to shame - BostonHerald.com]
One of the reason the Blogojevich story is so big is that it gives everybody else a chance to point and say, "See, they're even bigger crooks than ours are."
Illinois does have a pretty impressive record for busting governors. Even one I campaigned for, way back then, wound up in the slammer - although by the time they caught up with him he was no longer governor. He was a banker, so no big deal.
When I worked in Atlanta, back in the late 60s, I edited an employee newspaper that covered the southeastern states. One election year I set out to do an election piece and wrote to all the gubernatorial candidates for a mug shot and a bio. Over in Alabama that year, George Wallace was trying to finesse a term limits law by running his wife, Lurleen, for governor. The Wallace campaign sent me a photo of the candidate with George standing right behind her, grinning over her shoulder, and the instruction "Do Not Crop." Cropping any reasonable way would have been pretty difficult anyway - it would have left a mystery ear floating next to the candidate's head. So I ran it as instructed with the caption, "Lurleen Wallace and Friend."
They lost, but maybe that's not why.
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