What the hell's going on with our country's Governors? Back in March it seemed pretty certain that Eliot Spitzer had the Worst Governor of the Year award locked down. Then along comes Rod Blagoggojevovovich and his belief that someone should pay him $500 every time he takes a crap. Who knew that the worst governor of the year award would be a horse-race? Let's break it down and see who really sucked the most as Governor in 2008:
1. Blago didn't just try and sell the Senate seat. He's being charged for "historical allegations" for selling seats on state boards and commissions, and state contracts. Spitzer just banged whores.
2. Not only did Blago discuss his crimes on phones he knew could be tapped, he talked about the long-term goals he hoped to achieve via his crimes, in one call saying he'd like to earn between $250K and $300K per year from criminal activity. This was a criminal with hopes and dreams for his life of crime. Spitzer just banged whores.
3. Not only was Blago taking kickbacks, he was being hasty about it. He kept a list of people to shake down for campaign contributions in a hurry before a new law took effect that would make those contributions illegal. Spitzer was far more patient, waiting several hours for his favorite whore to travel across state lines via an Amtrak Acela.
4. According to the press release, Blago actually weighed whether it would be better for him to be "indicted as a sitting Senator as opposed to a sitting governor." Spitzer never considered where he'd most like to be indicted. Too busy banging whores, we guess.
5. Spitzer would never have jeopardized his state's Senate representation for financial gain. Maybe he would have done it if it let him bang more whores, but never for financial gain.
6. Blago once suggested he sell the Senate seat in a "three-way deal" involving the labor coalition Change To Win. If Spitzer ever talked about a "three-way deal," he wasn't talking about labor coalitions (high five!).
7. Blago called Obama a "motherfucker" and said "fuck him" for Obama's suggestion that he appoint a Senator who wouldn't guarantee Blago a huge personal windfall. Spitzer to our knowledge never said nasty things about Obama, unless he and a whore happened to be engaged in some role-play, but that doesn't count.
Based on the above analysis, we think it's pretty obvious. The winner for Worst Governor of 2008 is...
Sarah Palin!
(oh come on you knew we were gonna do that!)
Sarah Palin!
(oh come on you knew we were gonna do that!)
Congratulations Sarah, no matter how sucky they might be, you'll always be suckier!
42 comments:
There is a way to get rid of these guys by giving them both what they want: Allow Spitzer to pay Blagojevich for sex.
america's had a governor problem recently for sure. It might have begun in 2003, when Gray Davis was deposed from his job as Governor of California by a legalized coup d'etat, terminated for the crime of essentially being too limp to be effective.
In June of 2004, Connecticut Governor John Rowland was nabbed and eventually put away for spectacular cupidity and denseness.
In November of 2004 Jim McGreevey of New Jersey exploded in a flaming ball of indiscretion too
Don't lump Spitzer in with the crooks! He's so honest he paid for his own prostitutes.
lol
governor problem? More like "our voter" problem.
Governor is an elected office....
And I'll second that, too!!!
and our voters would rather tune into mindless crap on network tv than be informed :(
It seems like alot of these Governors get into office and get a "God" complex...they can do no wrong and they are not responsible for their actions. We have seen the bad side of two Governors in 2008...Palin, Spitzer, and Blago. These Governors think they are above the law...and they throw their power around. It is disgusting. They are supposed to be helping the people in their state...not themselves. Blago believes he is above everyone else and looks out for no one but himself. Palin thinks she is now a "Rockstar" and doesn't have time to do her Governor duties. No longer NY governor, Spitzer now has a job as an online columnist for Slate.com
When a Gov is elected the media scrutiny is all local. They don't engage the national/international barrage of reporters that a presidential candidate will engage. For example who is the best local reporter in Alaska? And what coverage do they get on any given scandal article? (Up until McCain picked Palin that is...)
You need an Exorcist and lots of Holy water, or hire Sarah Palin's Witch Doctor.
Spitzer would have been free... if he had agreed to "not" expose the Wall Street Investment and Credit Crisis crooks. Just saying.
I have no doubt Spitzer was being exposed because he would not have taken NO for answer when he
wanted to investigate the culprits who caused the housing mess. Remember Bush said no!
Bush also said no to the 9/11 investigation and therefore I believe it was an in-house job. Had it not
been it would have been investigated down to the last bit of evidence. Nothing like that occurred.
However, since the deregulation was started when Clinton was still in office I wonder if Spitzer actually
ignored the problem.
Ever since the Patriot Act (a name designed to fool the gullible people into thinking it needed to be supported) was passed, and then we got reports of cell phones being tapped on an industrial basis, I knew that the Bush Administration and Neo-Con fascists were up to no good.
While I do not agree that prostitution should be illegal, unfortunately it is, and therefore Spitzer committed a crime. However, this has too much similarity to the US Attorney firings which were overseen by Cheney and Rove.
There have been enough examples of abuse of power in the Bush Administration over the past 8 years that we now have to closely scrutinize everything they have done. Any concerned American has to ask if there was a political motivation behind this investigation. Why were LEA resources used to surveil and investigate a politician when there are apparently so many "terrorist" boogie men out there who "hate us for our freedom".
If it turns out that the investigation was politically motivated, then this is what's known as OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE ! According tot he law, Spitzer could be exonerated for his "crime" based on the fact that the process used to bring him to justice was illegal.
We should ALL care that the law is respected in this country, otherwise we end up with a dictatorship not unlike the "unitary executive" that Cheney worked so hard to foist over us.
Next thing you're going to be telling me is the Justice Department has become completely politicized under the Bush administration and that they are illegally monitoring the phone calls of political enemies looking for dirt to destroy them. If that were true Bush/Cheney would have to be both impeached and imprisoned, and since Bush is a devout Christian, it would not only be against the law but against the dictates of his faith.... You probably also believe 9.11 had nothing whatsoever to do with toppling Saddam Hussein and building massive military bases in Iraq!! Crazy talk!!
That's just plain crazy talk !
Or, as we call it where I come from, "Sarah Palin giving a stump speech" :)
i remember reading an article that Spitzer published just weeks before him getting busted where he linked the Bush administration to the housing collapse!
So how close was he to revealing the plans to implode Wall Street by the banksters? Too close, apparently.
When do events such as Spitzer's downfall for whoring in D.C. and the Wall Street scandal stop becoming a coincidence of parallel events and actually cross paths.
Of course they were out to get him. He was getting ready to blow the lid on this subprime mortgage scam. Unfortunately, he encountered his own "lid" and "blowing" problems before he could testify.
if this hasn't been said and it hasn't on main stream media is that this corruption seems to be more than about money but about male power. it seems like most if not all of these politicians and corporate heads are white males. it does speak to this definition and use of power within a white male framework, does it not
Gov Blago, Spitzer, any of them...just too greedy & arrogant to believe they can't be touched ! In the end..that is always their downfall. Blago STILL has the power to select a senator. Blago sounds like the Sopranos TV program. Jesse Jackson Jr and others must be scared to death..wondering what else is on the tapes as they were in the Spitzer bust. Crooked politicians in Alaska & Illinois among other states....there's never a dull moment. Greed and arrogance is alive and well in politics..and always will be.
And while we all focus our attention and attacks on Chicago and the state of Illinois, let us not forget our own backyards.
TOP 10 most corrupt states:
Louisiana (1), Mississippi (2), Kentucky (3), Alabama (4) and Ohio (5), Illinois (6), Pennsylvania (7), Florida (8), New Jersey (9), and New York (10).
According to USA Today actually Illinois is number 18. North Dakota is number 1.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-12-10-corruptstates_N.htm
I don't know where Missouri sits in the top 20 or 30 but we do
have some interesting things going on with elected officials.
Pay to play is not just happening in Chicago, it is happening in small towns and cities all around the country. Magistrates, Judges and lawyers DA's, it works it way up thru the system. Republicans are really good at this game
Both parties do it. Greed & lust for power..has no R or D label.
Gov Ryan, now Gov.Blago. Folks like to pretend one party is more corrupt than the other. Not so..If you look thru history..both sides have had their turn. Lust for power and greed is an unfortunate human trait..that some of us seem to have too much of. Keep in mind..some of the crooks haven't even been caught yet.
so..Go DA Patrick Fitzgerald !.
Public servants ? No, mostly they serve themselves. vote their own wage increases,make back room deals, become highly paid for speeches and such, after their ' service' to the country.
But I must admit..I have high hopes for Obama. .Yes even in Chicago..hope springs eternal !
For any politician who betrays the public trust, their punishment should be more severe than to the average criminal (yeah, like there is a difference). Public humiliation does not affect these people. It should hurt them more than it hurts us. not give them jobs at Slate like for Spitzer
It's mighty peculiar to me that Jefferson, Sptizer (closing in on Wall St. corruption) and now Blegovitch were brought down through concerted investigations while Foley and Craig were found out by chance? I'm not defending anyone here, but we have people in the White House that need serious investigation, yet that's being ignored. Why?
Hastert's office knew about Foley for THREE YEARS and didn't report the abuse to the authorities. That's one reason why he stepped down - oh and also he got a freeway to go near some of his properties and "earned" $2 million. Hastert was just as corrupt as Blagojevich.
Then there was John Doolittle, Rowland, Cunningham, Stevens, dozens of other run-of-the-mill Republican politicians - we just don't make hay out of it the way the GOP does.
and don't forget Tom Delay - what a crook!
Yermammy,
It's pretty obvious, Republicans are tenacious in their efforts to inflict "Justice" on others but not so much on their own. They spent, no wasted nearly 90 million taxpayer dollars going after Clinton. Dollars that they are always harping about as government waste, because they are of course so Fiscally Conservative and it's never their fault of course. I wonder how much they feel it will be worth to convict Bush, Cheney and the other miscreants. Not much is my guess.
because with a month left it is not worth the money.......
Spitzer was done in too. He wasn't corrupt - he went after corruption, but the corrupt put him out of business.
If all only Blago did was pay for a prostitute like Spitzer. Blago was the kind of corrupt politician Spitzer would have arrested!!!
Come to NYC if you this think big lawfirms and lobbyist are bad in Washington.
If your rich here and commit any white colar crime in the billions your home free. I have seen it with my own eyes and hoping to expose a nulti billion dollar fraud that the prosecutor made sure would go away. There was lots of proof and because it was federal in the southeren district it was covered up.
Consumers were defrauded in the billions and do not know it yet..
Honest business men all over the world could not compete because of the bribery..
Millions of dollars was laundered to pay off people who comitted the fraud.
NYC is the same garbage as allot of other states and some of the big law firms belong behind bars because they are part of the injustice that we so much hate.
MUKASY did nothing when written and pleaded to. I knew people like him were part of the problem not the solution. This case will not go away and everyone will see how corrupt law firms , federal prosecuters, and goverment really are.
And that's why Bush selected him.
And the comedians were worried about material when Bush the Tush exits stage left.
I don"t think the promise to throw the bastards out is going to work this time any better than it has in the past. Personal integrity is achieved not be threat but by belief. Living under the threat of personal harm is living under the laws of the jungle.
I think we have to deal with the reason things are as they are. The United States is the only nation in the world that was founded on idealism. The founding fathers put in checks and balances to try to deal with the accesses of men but it only works when the goal is believed in. When you abandon the belief in what you are trying to achieve with checks and balances they don"t really work.
So when, from an early age, we teach "it is the squeaky hinge that gets the oil" we are really teaching access will get you what you want. Access will get you ahead in life. Even lying is permissible if it helps to achieve your goal. This belief flows through every venue of American life today.
In a nation that espouses freedom for its citizens there needs to be boundaries on conduct. The way to success is not a pragmatic issue as much as it is a moral issue. Morality trumps pragmatism in the interest of creating a stable society. If we are to stay a free nation, we need to do a better job of defining what it means to be free.
'Twas ever thus. Let's hope and pray that Obama's experience in the politics of my home city, from which he seems to have emerged amazingly unsullied, has prepared him for the cesspool of sharks he's about to enter in Washington. Can he succeed? Yes, he can.
Here's the problem: There are too many people. To correct this I’ve been working on a disease that only kills stupid people. Tests so far show that it only gives Mormons a moderate case of pink eye. I’m working on it.
I sense that B-Rod’s off the rails,
A Gov who starts flirting with Jails,
I’m not a quick mocker,
But he’s off his Rocker,
All logic, each word countervails.
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