Illinois Republican Party

Madiganville is the Bain of Obama’s Existence
7/23/2012

Excerpts From Quad-City Times Editorial:

Obama suffers an association with the Illinois Democratic Party. Obama’s ascendency in Illinois came with the blessings of a party elite with a record that - like Bain’s - suffers under scrutiny.

Reporters have found direct connections and dealings between Obama and Rod Blagojevich bag man Antoin “Tony” Rezko, still serving his 10-year-term at a prison camp near Pekin, Ill. Federal prosecutors went after Blagojevich himself for trying to sell Obama’s vacated U.S. Senate seat while it was still warm.

Obama has convincingly denied being influenced by Blagojevich and his henchmen. But he can’t deny his political ascendency in a party that has held ironclad control over the legislature during Illinois’ fiscal and ethical descent.

House Speaker Michael Madigan has controlled the legislature over three decades of spiraling debt, rising taxes and gambling that can’t seem to expand fast enough.

Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass in June wrote that Madigan’s leadership isn’t governance, "It's a political protection racket.”

“There are no ideas in Illinois," Kass wrote June 6. "A state run by political bosses isn’t about ideas. What matters here is who gets what, as decided by Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, boss of the Democrats and boss of Illinois.”

Obama is not Michael Madigan. But, like every Illinois elected Democrat, he owes his Illinois political career to Madigan

CLICK HERE TO READ COMPLETE EDITORIAL

< Back to News