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| DALEY: Path finally clear for campaign? |
Only
the most politically parochial of Bridgeport neighborhood natives didn’t gag at
the very thought of so much power being put in one family.
IN
FACT, THE people who take seriously the thought that William Daley will run for
governor of Illinois come the 2014 election cycle use as their primary talking
point the fact that Rich is no longer mayor.
As
though now it would be appropriate for the one-time Commerce secretary and
White House chief of staff to assuage his own ambitions for an elective office
(all of his political posts have been by appointment from Bill Clinton and
Barack Obama).
So
if even the Daley types realize there is only so much power that can be put
into one person’s hands, then perhaps that ought to be a lesson that we all
ought to learn from.
Such
as the thought that Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan may be considering
her own gubernatorial bid next year out of a belief that having a governor whom
Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, would not see as a threat
would mean we’d have a combination that would be capable of accomplishing
things for the good of the people of Illinois.
NONSENSE!!!!!!!!!!
This
particular commentary was motivated by the Capitol Fax newsletter out of
Springfield, where publisher Rich Miller used his website this week to askpeople if they thought a Madigan/Madigan combination was good for the state.
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| MADIGAN: Could '14 be a political family feud? |
As
of the last I checked, two-thirds thought it was not good, while one-third
thought it was. And rather than post a comment on his site, I’m using my own
weblog to issue my wordy, overwrought response.
The
very thought of those latter people scare me even moreso than the guy whom the
Springfield State Journal-Register newspaper captured on video at a recent
Statehouse gun rally saying, “I am a gun-toting, God-fearing, Bible-reading
Christian, let’s make that clear.”
THAT’S
A LOT of contradiction crammed into one expression – which may mean he doesn’t
have a clue as to what he really is.
But
back to political power. Quite frankly, if the only way our government can work
is if the deck is stacked, if the game is rigged, so that all opposition is
weeded out, then it is a failure.
If
anything, that is the very reason why I have always mocked that period from
1995-96 when all of the state constitutional officers and the General Assembly’s
leadership were Republicans.
Because
it became obvious back then on so many issues the only way they could operate
on anything was if anyone with a difference of opinion were forced to just shut
up about it!
THAT’S
NOT DEMOCRACY.
And
the idea that the only way the speaker of the House of Representatives will
behave responsibly is if he has a vested interest in making his eldest daughter
not look weak and foolish, then perhaps we ought to be looking twice at the
long-time speaker’s conduct.
Even
though he often acted like a buffoon, perhaps Rod Blagojevich wasn’t completely
in the wrong with the way he tried to stand up to Madigan during their political
brawls of the mid-Aughts that often bordered on deranged.
And
perhaps instead of going around denouncing Gov. Pat Quinn as the least popular
governor in the nation, we ought to consider that interference from his own
political party ally is just as responsible for much of the nothingness our state
government accomplishes these days!
THE
IDEA OF a pair of Madigans is just a bit much – which may well be the reason
why Lisa has not tried running for anything more than the attorney general post
that she has held for three terms already.
Perhaps
even she sees that the appearance of too much power in one family is gaudy.
Then
again, there are some issues (including many of the social ones) in which the
two Madigans disagree. It
would be tragic if some of those causes were to suffer because “Mr. Speaker”
felt compelled to let his governor-daughter know who the real boss is.
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