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Saturday, March 17, 2018

Marathon Pundit: The 14 worst leaders from Illinois

John Ruberry talks about them on Da Tech Guy Blog. I feel as if I should comment on some of them, though it's Ruberry's list. He's made it, and he has his reasons to include certain people on this list.

Why is Hillary Clinton on this list? Well she's from the Chicago suburbs and then got married to a future young governor of Arkansas. The rest is history and she's had more than a few scandals which includes the scandals while she was US Secretary of State that ultimately doomed her presidency. Something that she still can't seem to get over...

Until the election of the current governor Bruce Rauner in 2014, George Ryan was the last Republican governor of Illinois serving from 1999-2003. He's known for commuting all death row sentences near the end of his term and as a result of scandals that took place when he was Illinois Secretary of State he chose not to run for a second term. He was also sent to prison for them. My assessment of Ryan was that he was the last most effective governor of Illinois, however, his legacy was marred by his acceptance of old school politics. Certainly he didn't recognize that by the time he became governor, the old school was falling out of favor. It didn't help that one recipient of license for bribes was involved in an accident that fatally affected a family on an Illinois highway.

Been years since I've seen that name Tony Rezko. Most of the people on this list were elected officials. Rezko is a fundraiser known for his ties to not only Rod Blagojevich - who is on this list himself - also his ties to the first Black POTUS Barack Obama. His ties to Blago ultimately sent him to prison for corruption and wire fraud.

Carol Moseley Braun that woman crashed and burned in public life. Back when she first became a US Senator in 1993 I wasn't as understanding of politics and I am now. I was often told that what helped usher Braun into her prestigious US Senate seat were affluent suburban women - read between the lines here. Ruberry mentions her boyfriend who had ties to an infamous Nigerian dictator and was alleged to have harassed female campaign workers. There were some other scandals he mentioned bottom line is that it seems she suffered for it. After running for President during the Bush years and a run for Mayor of Chicago where she imploded it doesn't look as if a comeback is likely.

Now we have Michael Madigan. I respect Madigan's political acumen often stated he has his mind on power and it's been said he doesn't really have an ideology. Ruberry views him as the man behind the fiscal fiasco of this state which certainly includes the issues of pensions in Illinois. Bottom line is that Madigan is a poster child for what has happened after enactment of the cutback amendment during the 1980s.

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