Given all that, I posed this question to her: What if, say, Illinois Senator Larry Bomke, who already lives in the Springfield area, were to become governor? Would we demand he live in the governor’s mansion? Would Bomke want to live there or would he prefer to commute to his current home? Hmmm. After all, he comes from the district most resentful of Governor’s not using the mansion (well, governor’s named Blagojevich; Thompson for some reason got a pass).
I say he would keep his current residence and turn it into a positive by saying he will save the state money by not running up the utilities in mansion, etc. Mrs TEH however thinks he would move into the mansion as it is the proper place for the governor and Bomke would honor that given the uproar Blagojevich has caused by not living there.I suppose the answer would depend a lot on Bomke’s own feelings and neither of us really knows the man beyond his occasional appearances in the local media. Still, as a political matter, who’s right? Would it be smarter for a (very, very) hypothetical Governor Bamke to live at home or move into the Governor’s Mansion?
3 comments:
I think the governor should live in the Mansion, just like the President should live in the White House.
It is true that Thompson and his wife officially moved back to Chicago when their daughter, Samantha, was about 3 or 4 years old. (Samantha was born right here in Springfield and did live in the mansion for the first few years of her life.)
However, Thompson DID continue to stay at the mansion during session days and host a lot of get-togethers there for legislators and others. He didn't insist on flying back and forth to Chicago every night, or on staying at the Hilton or the Crowne Plaza when he could have stayed at the mansion.
I think neither I nor most other Springfieldians would mind if the governor and his/her family had an official residence somewhere else, as long as he or she didn't let the mansion go totally to waste. Thompson didn't. Blago does.
Come on, give Blago a break, he is just doing his business from the Chicago Ranch, now watch this drive.
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