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Illinois Republican Party Chairman Andy McKenna today called on Governor Rod Blagojevich to oppose County Board President Todd Stroger’s plan to raise the Cook County sales tax.

“Governor Blagojevich has spent years in Springfield grandstanding against higher sales and income taxes while secretly raising fees and other taxes,” said McKenna.  “If Rod Blagojevich is to have any credibility on this issue he needs to tell his friend and ally Todd Stroger that Cook County families simply cannot afford this type of tax increase just to fund their lavish government spending.” Continue Reading

-Illinois Republican Party

Bashing the legislature is one way to get elected governor. It’s a lousy way to govern.

Blagojevich ran by railing against a “culture of corruption” and chose not to let up after taking office. During his first year, he characterized legislators as “drunken sailors” unable to curb their free-spending habits. He seemed surprised that they took offense but kept up the heat. For more than four years, he has acted in the belief that he can generate momentum toward change through public relations campaigns, rather than by cultivating legislative leaders, or even fully briefing them about his plans. Continue Reading

-Governing Magazine

Their bickering means many of the most pressing issues to come before the General Assembly are still up in the air.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D), who isn’t afraid to use his hefty campaign chest to promote his bold liberal ideas or to savage political opponents, has focused his fire on veteran House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, a Chicago ward boss widely regarded as Illinois’ premier political tactician. Continue Reading

-Stateline

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A high-ranking official in Gov. Blagojevich’s office spent nearly two years in a federal prison for refusing to aid a government terrorism probe into a series of bombings in Chicago and New York City.

Steven Guerra, Blagojevich’s $120,000-a-year deputy chief of staff for community services, was identified by federal prosecutors as a member of the Puerto Rican separatist group, FALN, which was behind a wave of violence and killings in the 1970s and early 1980s. Continue Reading.

-Chicago Sun-Times