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| Blagojevich, from back in the days when being governor was fun. Photo provided by state of Illinois |
THE
CHICAGO TRIBUNE – the newspaper that was so opposed to the concept of a “President
Donald Trump” that they endorsed a Libertarian candidate for president – came out this week with an editorial stance saying (in essence) “Hell, No!”
They
literally wrote in an editorial urging Trump to back off the issue, “We have…concluded
that the sentence he earned not only is fair. It’s fair warning to other
criminal pols in Illinois, the State of Corruption.”
Yet
the Chicago Sun-Times, the newspaper that proclaims itself to be that of the
workingman and was solidly behind Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful presidential
bid of 2016, came out with an editorial stance headlined, “Trump schemes aside,
Blagojevich deserves shorter sentence.”
The
newspaper that at one time called itself, “The Bright One” says that having Trump
commute the Blagojevich sentence to time already served would essentially mean
the one-time governor would have lost the past six-and-a-half years of his life
to federal incarceration.
WHICH
IT SAYS is fair in that it would mean Rod would have done about the same amount
of prison time as former Gov. George Ryan got for his criminal convictions
dating back to actions he committed as an Illinois secretary of state.
Each
newspaper has managed to take an opposing stance on the same issue, which I’m
sure is part of their efforts to differentiate themselves from each other – and
from other newspapers in existence.
It’s
part of what gives a publication its sense of personality, and what will be
lost if those people all eager to dump the printed-on-paper word for ramblings
published on the Internet (including this very weblog) wind up seeing their
vision prevailing in the not-so-distant future.
And
yes, it will stir up resentment among many. Since I don’t doubt there are
people so unsympathetic to Rod Blagojevich that they want him to suffer – and don’t
particularly care that the sentence he is now serving (scheduled for release
sometime during 2024) might be a tad too long.
ALL
I KNOW is that if the two remaining metro daily papers in Chicago can get this
worked up over Blagojevich’s future, I’m anxious to see how they wind up
weighing in on the upcoming gubernatorial elections coming Nov. 6.
Back
during the primary, the Tribune was the paper that found its way to endorse Gov.
Bruce Rauner in the Republican Party primary over Jeanne Ives, while picking
Christopher Kennedy’s failed bid for governor over that of ultimate winner J.B.
Pritzker.
Their
editorials made it rather clear they didn’t think much of the idea of a “Governor
Pritzker” and that they were buying into much of the line of logic that Rauner
presents that he needs ideological allies to do what he wants (particularly on
issues related to organized labor) if Illinois is to improve.
While
the Sun-Times backed Pritzker’s primary bid in ways that made it clear they don’t
have a problem with him being governor – particularly if it means that Rauner
winds up out on his keister come Inauguration Day in January 2019.
HOW
VOCIFEROUS WILL the editorial rhetoric become?
Will
we have to make the editorial pages a “must-read” in coming months? Will we have
to snicker at those people who insist on saying they “don’t read” editorials,
because it shows they don’t know what they’re missing?
Will
the biggest loss to our city’s local news scene on that future date when there
are no more dueling newspapers be that we have a lone editorial voice pompously
trying to tell us what to think?
Because
by reading the editorials these days, it’s quite clear there’s only one thought
overwhelmingly held by all of us – nobody (and I mean nobody) wants Rod
Blagojevich back in any form of electoral office!
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