AM Feed - April 18: Corruption in Illinois
Hot Topics
- It looks like rampant corruption hasn’t been limited to Congress: Former Illinois Governor George Ryan (Rep.) has been convicted on 18 counts of racketeering, mail fraud, making false statements to FBI agents and income tax violations. The bulk of the charges against Ryan stemmed from a “licenses for bribes” scheme while he was secretary of state. The investigation into Ryan’s unethical behavior has taken eight years. Ryan has announced plans to appeal the decision. [link]
- President Bush is taking the most heat for his failed policies regarding Iraq, but his over-hyped Medicare plan has been a colossal failure as well. The plan, which includes massive handouts to big drug companies, hasn’t been embraced by low-income Americans. According to Bush administration estimates, roughly 7 million eligible Americans have not signed up for the Bush plan – and outside estimates place that number as high as 14 million. “The whole purpose of this drug benefit was to get drug coverage in the hands of all Medicare beneficiaries. Where are the people? That’s the question,” said Dan Mendelson, president of Avalere Health. [link]
- While President Bush has been busy defending Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, his new Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten has been busy paving the way for a staff shake up in the White House that everyone in the administration has denied was coming. Yesterday Bolten stated that it was time to “refresh and re-energize the team,” and invited White House staffers who were thinking of leaving to do so immediately. Bush has repeatedly denied any news of a shake up, but Bolten’s latest announcement appears to have set the wheels in motion for further changes. [link]
Morning Snark
- Grover Norquist has been so instrumental in setting up communications between conservatives – is he the natural choice to organize some sort of new prison pen-pal program?
Comment
- Illinois has had so many governors and Secy of state as well as congressmen go to prison that it is an apparant retirement home when you leave Ill politics, Remember Orville Hodge, Secy of State Powell. Gov. Dan Walker, Dan Rostenkowski and many others. They usually have already hid the money. We are an equal opportunity state. Democrats and Republicans get prosecuted. I’ll wager Ryan will be remembered for the pardons from the Death Penalty that he granted long after the corruption is forgotten. I didn’t vote for him but I respect him for getting it right on that. The USA kills more people in the name of justice than any other country in the “Free World”
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— Rosalie Stern Apr 18, 13:50 # - Well, with oil now over $71 a barrel and $$$ lining the pockets of Cheney and the Bush families, I guess they are grinning from ear to ear that their policies have worked, i.e., the war in Iraq, the saber rattling against Iran, the war of words with Chavez in Venezeula, the tax credits and breaks handed over to the oil companies in the last big energy bill and their refusal to stop the auto producers from making gas guzzling vehicles have all worked to drive the price of gas sky high. And he still has 36 percent of Americans thinking he’s doing a bang up job!!
— jen Apr 18, 17:00 #
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