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Each Blago misdeed that is exposed proves that Blago's system of corruption busting is working.
I can feel it tingling!
And is her Inspector General even doing anything? At least Blago's is.
I bet that's true. NOBODY is close to Rod. EVERYBODY goes under the bus when Rod gets caught in a duplicious situation. Or is it triplicious or quadplicious, or.... well, um. you know, you get the idea.
Vlado(I love that moniker)the Impaler is skewered by his own words. Gee, I wonder if we will hear more about him saying one thing one day and other things on other days? Pick an issue, the words are there.
Most voters don't realize what a total scam state jobs, Rutan and non-Rutan are. Overpaid, underworked, no accountability, no evaluations, lush pensions and health care most Illinoisians
can only dream of. The voters are paying for what is essentially a welfare state for government employees, except there are no time limits. State employment, for the most part, is
secure as long as the employee wants to stay on and is breathing.
With this breathtaking lack of ignorance of the ultimate taxpayer scam, state employment, why would any voters pay attention to a few hiring irregularities on the part of Repubs or Dems.
The two candidates cancel each other out, given Repub history and Democratic ongoing violation of Rutan.
Brad "Planet Of the Apes" Tusk.
BTW, Cassandra. "This Rutan manipulation stuff" was a pretty big deal when Democrats brought the lawsuit that resulted in the Rutan law. No dulicity with you, tho. And don't ever forget, your boy Rod specifically said he would change the way business is done. But, of course, in your mind there is no duplicity with that either.
"Listen Mike, the buck stops right over there with Bradley Tusk, right Brad?"
To which, Mr. Tusk responds:
"No Governor, that's not quite right - it actually stops right over there with Ms. Ottenhoff."
I'm sorry, they don't pay state press flaks enough dough to put up with this kind of three-ring circus! My heart goes out to Ms. Ottenhoff. That's a rough gig - next drink is on me!
Cassandra's just trying to yank your chain, and apparently she did a good job. You ought to be used to it by now. Who knows, she might just be a self-loathing state employee herself. If I were you, I'd just thank her for helping pay your big fat salary and fund your big fat pension.
It is time for your weekly reminder. You know very little about what you speak, so, SHUT UP!!! Better yet. GO AWAY!!! I put in 16 years working for the state. I resent your attempt to lump all state workers into lazy, do nothing people. You are so wrong. Where do you get your information? From Blago's appointees? BYW. Did I mention I WORKED for the state for 16 years.
It looks like that's a (light-related) shadow on Tusk's face. To his credit, it may not be stubble.
However, his standard business atire is somewhat horrifying. It consists of this: suit, over shirt, absolutely no tie, top two buttons undone, and -- horror of horrors! -- no undershirt.
So yes, if you happen to sit through a meeting with him, or you just bump into him at the JRTC or the Capitol, then you can enjoy the sight of glistening, and completely hair-free, and stark white, chest.
Lovely.
It's not Blago's fault the best and brightest are friends of Blago. He has always surrounded himself with smart people. So what is the surprise these superior people are know applying for state jobs.
I wish you people would quit this far right conspiracy. Maybe if you quit griping and got off your rearend you could get hired for stat jobs, like friends of Rod.
Rod=Freddy
Abby=Daphnie
Rebecca=Velma
I'm still trying to figure out if Brad is Shaggy or Scooby.
Rod's last speech as Fritz hauls him to court:
"And I would've gotten away with it, if it weren't for those meddling kids, er, Reporters!"
Zoinks!
Your typing isn't too bad for a wasted ignoramus. Check back in when PFitz starts to hand out the report cards.
just a guess...
Seriously, Mike Flannery from the CBS – channel 2 news made a comment at the very end of the newscast that spoke volumes. After he summed up his story on Blagojevich, the other female newscaster made a comment that “maybe this will be the end of that.†She is referring to questions on the hiring scandal. Mike states “no, it’s not!â€Â
wonder if our little superstar Bradley will wear a tie to his indicitment to look more dignified?
"Most voters don’t realize what a total scam state jobs, ... Overpaid, underworked, no accountability, no evaluations, lush pensions and health care most Illinoisians can only dream of.
Okay, overpaid, well I know many state employees who earn between 25 and 40 thousand a year, not a king's ransom. After 20 years, my salary is aprox. $40,000. ALso we do not get cost of living raises every year (like many high level state officials do), only when our contract gives them to us. Also fyi, realise that between 10-15 years ago we went without a cost of living raise, and the state started paying our monthly retirement amount (our overall salary did not increase, what any future cost of living rasies would be based on, but our take home did go up some). We did get raises during our last contract, but some of those were offset by us having to start paying our retirement contributions again, and increased healthcare costs.
Underworked, many agencies are asking employees to do more with fewer employees.
No accountability/evaluations, most I know get evaluated once a year.
Also, a majority of state employees retirement is not "lush". Most of them have their pension calculated at 1.67% per year of service, about 2.2% or 2.5% maybe if they have a dangerous job (State Police, Prison guards). I don't know how much the legislative or judicial branches get for pensions. So, for example you could work for 30 years in many jobs, and only be eligible for a pension of not quite 50% of your salary.
On healthcare, yes we get healthcare, we contribute towards it. If you want to go to any doctor/hospital of your choice it's more, if you go HMO it's less per month. Our contributions vary depending on our salary, depending on how much you make, determines how much additional you have to pay. I switched to Hmo insurance because it was going to cost me about $200 a month for just health insurance for me, spouse, and 1 child. The HMO saved almost $100 a month but we had to go to a different doctor as ours stopped taking the state's Quality Care Plan.
I do my job, I try to do it to the best of my ability, I take some pride in it, as do many others. Yes there are slugs who work for the state, just like there are slugs who work in pretty much every other job in the country, or probably even where you work, Cassandra.
If I were you, I wouldn't bother trying to reason with Cassandra. Just tell her you are busy counting your piles of cash that you "earned" while sleeping at your desk, and thank her for funding your big fat state pension that will rival Bill Gates' fortune.
Ottenhoff and the other flacks are paid plenty. Save your empathy for somebody who deserves it -- like the taxpayers, who with each day under this governor, take it harder in the shorts.
What's truly unfortunate is not that Ottenhoff must catch the ball of poop when Blago/Tusk roll it downhill (as I said, she is sufficiently compensated for that), but that the taxpayers get stuck with the bill for this circus.
Neither Blago nor his chief deputy nor his chief flack can explain exactly why they have all changed their stories about how they may or may not have skirted a federal decree limiting the influence of politics over hiring.
They babble and babble and babble some more. They dodge this question, dodge that question.
They roll out a fat contract to a favorite campaign donor. They jog a few laps around the North Side. They kiss some babies and smile for the TV cameras.
Then they go home and -- shamlessly -- collect a check from you and me.
As for Rod's assertion that "Absolutely no wrongdoing has been leveled at anybody who is close to me," what the heck do you call your Chief of Staff, political campaign manager, and old college buddy? An aquaintance? 'Cause it sounds like he was looking at job applications that had people's names on them well into '04.
Take a lesson from Harrison Ford as "Jack Ryan" in 'Clear and Present Danger.' You don't try to throw your friends under the bus, you hold them tight, then there's no story. I could be wrong, but I don't think anyone has ever been voted out of office for standing by their friend.
As for Rod's assertion that "Absolutely no wrongdoing has been leveled at anybody who is close to me," what the heck do you call your Chief of Staff, political campaign manager, and old college buddy? An aquaintance? That's got to make Lon Monk feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Don't forget Sam Flood, another patronage (oh, excuse me, we don't use that term anymore, since we're the reform crew) chief.
Bradley is in charge. He says who lives or dies.
do you understand the type of fellonies they are trying to hide. I do. several of my friends lives were ruined by the ryan cronies cutting bait and letting them twist. nobody ratted soon enough to get a good deal. it appears the blago people are not making that mistake. abby abby abby your back to the wall and face in the pillow.
Sure glad Cassandra caught on to the conspiracy!
"Well, I don't know. I can't speak to that," Blagojevich said at an event in Rolling Meadows yesterday.
Does his line of crap ever end?
For the record, this would've been my answer:
"We make every effort to answer media inquiries as best we can, and that's what we're doing here. Obviously, the AP story came as a shock to us, and now we're reviewing and re-reviewing every scrap of paper to make sure we know exactly what happened, and when we're that certain, we'll have answers for you. In the meantime, we're focused on delivering on the priorities that are important to middle class families in llinois: expanding and protecting health care coverage, strengthening education, and creating good-paying jobs."
Your obviously much smarter than Bradley.
Not only did he look weak and like he’s got something to hide, he look like he hadn't slept in weeks and that he was probably planning a trip to some foreign country that won't extradite him back to the United States to face the inevitable.
Once again, Blago's tendancy to hire out of state advisors is paying negative dividends. What a disaster.