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Our co-Plaintiff, John Tillman, is quoted in the Wallstreet Journal's Political Diary.
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December 15, 2008
In today's Political Diary
McCain Returns to his 'Base'
Is John McCain trying to re-ingratiate himself with the national news media that was so critical and hostile during his campaign against Barack Obama?
On ABC's "This Week" program yesterday, Mr. McCain failed to back up officials at the Republican National Committee who have been pounding Mr. Obama for his associations with corrupt Illinois political figures such as Governor Rod Blagojevich. Mr. McCain said the criticism was ill-timed and off-base. "Right now, I think we should try to be working constructively together, not only on an issue such as this, but on the economy stimulus package, reforms that are necessary," he told ABC's George Stephanopoulos. "I don't know all the details of the relationship between President-elect Obama's campaign or his people and the governor of Illinois, but I have some confidence that all the information will come out. It always does, it seems to me."
It's certainly true the main focus of Americans right now is the faltering economy. But Mr. McCain should remember that his own campaign consistently brought up Mr. Obama's ties with unsavory types. In October, Mr. McCain told a Milwaukee audience Mr. Obama's associations with what a questioner called "the people that he has hung with" was a legitimate issue. That was part of a broader issue of honesty. A few days later Mr. McCain launched a TV ad attacking Mr. Obama's association with Weather Underground organizer William Ayers that accused the Democratic candidate of "blind ambition" and "bad judgment."
That is essentially the critique the RNC is making in suggesting that Mr. Obama's ties to elements of Chicago's political machine and his failure to speak out against its corrupt practices are legitimate questions that the President-elect didn't fully answer during the campaign.
Perhaps Mr. McCain should first acquaint himself with the "details of the relationship" between Mr. Obama and his aides and Governor Blagojevich before he engages in more backseat-driving critiques of his party's post-election activities.
-- John Fund
Hot Rod Was a Big-Time Spender
CHICAGO -- Political insiders in Illinois say Governor Rod Blagojevich will be lucky to make it to the end of this week before having to resign from office in disgrace. Although the legal case against Mr. Blagojevich could get tricky with a good defense team, he has become a national laughing stock, with Saturday Night Live featuring him as a conniving and gutter-mouthed deal maker. Democrats both in the state of Illinois and around the country now regard him as a millstone around the party's neck.
Conservatives in the Land of Lincoln will be especially happy to see Mr. Blagojevich bounced from the governor's office for another reason that most in the media have overlooked. Mr. Blagojevich is not just crooked but has been a fiscal disaster for the state. The Cato Institute's well-regarded "Report Card on the Governors" recently ranked Mr. Blagojevich the second worst governor in America in terms of controlling spending and taxes. Cato economist Chris Edwards describes Mr. Blagojevich as "relentless in his support for higher taxes on business." In October, Cato gave him the grade of F for his performance since he entered the Illinois executive mansion in 2003.
After winning reelection in 2006 -- a victory that, by the way, showed what a pitiful force the Republican Party in Illinois has become -- Mr. Blagojevich advocated a $7 billion tax hike to pay for health care expansions and other new government programs in Springfield. Most of the money was to come from a gross receipts and payroll tax on businesses. There would also have been additional taxes levied on refineries, the gaming industry, and computer software companies. Cato's Mr. Edwards says that "Blagojevich endorsed the biggest tax increase of any governor" in 2006 and 2007.
"We're obviously embarrassed in this state by Blagojevich's corruption," says John Tillman, president of the Illinois Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank. "But he has also been one of the most fiscally incompetent governors in the land and he has steered the state into a fiscal crisis." Mr. Tillman is one of the lead parties in a lawsuit filed on Friday to have Mr. Blagojevich removed from office. "There is a clear and present danger that the governor will continue to abuse his power," Mr. Tillman complains.
There are plenty of opportunities for such abuse. With all the fattened budgets and lucrative contracts approved on Mr. Blagojevich's watch, one has to wonder what other "pay to play" activity may have enriched the governor and his wife's bank account. There's a lesson here: High taxes and spending and corruption invariably go hand in hand.
-- Stephen Moore
Quote of the Day
"Whatever the outcome [of the auto industry bailout efforts], Bob Corker has emerged as a Senate star. As a former businessman who ran his own construction company and built shopping centers, and a former chief operating officer for the state of Tennessee, Corker knows finance and the economy. He even was a long-time union member -- beginning as a 19-year-old bricklayer -- and a trustee of the carpenter's union fund in his home state. So while Mr. Corker may have lost this battle, he will be heard from again" -- CNBC host and former Reagan economist Larry Kudlow, writing about GOP Senator Bob Corker, author of a failed Detroit bailout compromise that would have required UAW concessions to meet competition from non-union auto factories in the South.
Say, That Bridge Really Did Lead to Nowhere
House GOP leader John Boehner met last week with Alaska Rep. Don Young to deliver some unwelcome news. Mr. Young would be losing his post as the most powerful Republican on the Natural Resources Committee -- a major blow for a Member from an oil rich state. Mr. Young has also been bounced from the Republican Steering Committee, which helps set the GOP agenda.
One by one, Republican ranks have been purged of those most associated with the worst symbol of GOP pork excess in years, Alaska's notorious "Bridge to Nowhere."
The first to go was Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski, who was unseated by Sarah Palin in 2006. Then came the dispatching of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, who was found guilty a few weeks ago of taking improper gifts and defeated by Democrat Mark Begich. Mr. Young at least still has his job in Congress, but his removal from his committee perch was a signal that the odor of pork had become too much for fellow Republicans. And worse may be coming for Mr. Young, who is believed to be under federal investigation for inserting an earmark into a spending bill allegedly aimed at raising campaign contributions when he was chairman of the Transportation Committee from 2001-2007.
That earmark, known as the "Coconut Road" earmark, had the effect of redirecting $10 million originally designated for widening Interstate 75 in Florida to build a new freeway interchange instead. It just so happens the interchange would have benefited a family friend who owned property near the proposed site.
Mr. Young recently hired a top law firm in Seattle -- a $20,000 expense -- under the apparent assumption that he will need a good defense counsel. He managed to fend off a strong primary challenge in August by Sean Parnell, Mrs. Palin's lieutenant governor, but was re-elected with little more than 50% of the vote in November. Mr. Young may not be headed for the dustbin of history quite yet. But after this week, he's definitely headed for the back benches.
-- Brendan Miniter
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