Same As It Ever Was

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It’s stuff like this that makes me think running against “corruption” in Illinois is a fool’s errand.

SPRINGFIELD - The key message of Republican Judy Baar Topinka's campaign for governor is that the Democratic incumbent has allowed political money to corrupt his administration and dictate who gets state jobs and contracts.

But while she spreads that message to voters, Topinka is accepting political money from banks and other financial institutions doing business with the state treasurer's office that she has run for three terms.

Although Topinka insists donors get no special treatment from her office, Gov. Rod Blagojevich's re-election campaign accuses her of hypocrisy.

A government watchdog group said Topinka, like Blagojevich, is fueling the public perception of Illinois as a state with no real separation between government and politics.

The Blagojevich camp has a point here. All politicians claim (falsely, I think) that their campaign donations result in “no special treatment”. However, corporations aren’t known for throwing money at something that doesn’t get them something in return, so I’m not buying that line.

The Topinka campaign may also be enjoying Blagojevich’s political hiring scandals but don’t EVEN try to tell me there won’t be political hiring going on in a Topinka administration (even if its not as egregious as that going on under Blagojevich). This goes on administration after administration. It wasn’t invented by Blagojevich and it will continue long into the future. That’s not to say it is right, just somewhat inevitable.