“Rod Blagojevich’s conduct is a symptom of a much more widespread disease.”

On the Outcome of the Rod Blagojevich Trial

By Rich Whitney, Green Party candidate for Governor

I am deliberately writing this piece before I hear the jury’s verdict on the Rod Blagojevich trial. I am no expert on the federal criminal statutes that former governor Blagojevich was charged with violating. I had no time to follow the trial very closely, let alone listen to all the evidence, as the jury did. I did not hear the jury instructions. Therefore, I venture no opinion as to whether Mr. Blagojevich did or did not commit these particular federal crimes.

The issue for Illinois voters today is not whether Blagojevich is found guilty or innocent by this particular jury of committing these particular crimes. Whether he did or not, there is no question that he engaged in unethical behavior, trafficking in the awarding of political favors in exchange for campaign cash.

From the standpoint of the ruling elite that dominates our current social and political order, it may be that his real “crime” is that he used too much of his political horse-trading for personal aggrandizement, instead of using it solely to benefit them. At the same time, despite his protestations to the contrary, he also didn’t use his political clout to serve the public good. His legacy as governor – refusing to fix a broken tax system, raiding special funds, letting unpaid bills and pension obligations accumulate, borrowing more money, and other “smoke and mirrors” budgeting – is something we continue to suffer under today. And, as was captured on one of his tape-recorded tirades, he expressed his utter contempt for the voting public as a whole.

Yet even that is not the main issue for Illinois voters today. The real issue for Illinois voters today is to address the causes of a corrupt political system that can allow a political trafficker like Rod Blagojevich to get into high office in the first place, and remain there for so long.

Rod Blagojevich’s conduct is a symptom of a much more widespread disease. In his obscene fixation with raising huge amounts of money, we see a stark illustration of what the late Sen. Paul Simon used to call “the politics of pandering.” There is a pervasive mentality – in the corporate media and in the two corporate-sponsored parties — that politics and political success is all about raising money, and almost nothing else. This is a sickness that pervades American politics today.

Blagojevich’s other unethical behavior – rewarding supporters with jobs or contracts, i.e., pay-to-play, ultimately including a U.S. Senate seat as a “golden” prize – all flows from that same premise.

We have to stop this. And through the Green Party, and my campaign, we can stop this. .

This is a systemic problem that demands a systemic solution. The people of Illinois need to mobilize to gain control over what is supposed to be their government. And the way to do that is by building the grass-roots political party that is beholden and accountable only to the people, not the same big-moneyed special interests who have made a practice of buying and selling politicians. It is the Green Party that has stood up for the principle of not accepting any corporate campaign contributions whatsoever, and that has stood firmly on a platform of making serious campaign ethics reform a top priority.

This devotion to grassroots democracy is what makes me and the other Green Party candidates the best choice for voters who seriously want to clean up Illinois government.

As an attorney, I have combated illegal job patronage. As your next governor, I pledge to vigorously enforce the rules of the Rutan decision, that all non-policy-making state jobs be selected on the basis of objective criteria by an independent bureau. I also promise to appoint an Inspector General from an opposition party, to prevent and root out illegal job patronage and help remove the cloud of corruption over our state. I will also fight to create an independent Citizens’ Budget Review Commission, which will conduct a forensic audit of our operating and capital budgets, armed with the authority to subpoena witnesses and documents, to ferret out wasteful pork spending, ghost jobs, inefficient practices and expenditures – and any spending that does not serve a legitimate public purpose.

If elected, I will fight to put some real teeth into the recently enacted ethics and campaign financing reforms by enacting new limits on the transfer of funds from party leadership to candidates, that is, campaign-to-campaign transfers. I will fight to end “pay-for-play” in Illinois by banning campaign contributions from state contractors, their owners and officers — and barring the awarding of contracts to any company whose owners or officers had made such a contribution to an incumbent. Contracts should be awarded on the basis of merit, with consideration given to historically disadvantaged groups and under-served communities. I will also look to the recommendations of the Collier Commission and the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform for further guidance on ethics and campaign finance reform.

I will fight for a public financing option for public campaigns, such as that provided in the Illinois Clean Elections Act.

Despite the ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court in the Citizens United case, we can effectively bar corporate interference in the political process by reinvigorating our corporate chartering laws, and imposing a new requirement: That corporations shall not be chartered, nor foreign corporations allowed to do business in Illinois, unless they agree not to engage in speech aimed at influencing its officeholders or candidates, or provide monetary support to any organization that aims to influence officeholders or candidates.

We the people of Illinois can recover, not only from the Blagojevich legacy, but from the entire system and culture of corruption that created it. But to do so, we the people have to make a dramatic break from the two corporate-sponsored parties that have a stake in perpetuating that system. This campaign is providing the people with just that opportunity.