Source: http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/982592,blagoweb060208.article

Blagojevich's political troubles turn radioactive

The now-concluded spring legislative session proved Rod Blagojevich is a far weaker governor than he was a year ago.

His marginalization accelerated in recent months because of damaging testimony in Tony Rezko’s corruption trial that has sparked impeachment talk in Springfield.

Throw in the fact that Blagojevich isn’t trusted, and it’s clear why nothing on his legislative checklist came to fruition, and he could do little more than watch as his major ideas got chewed up and spit out at the Statehouse.

Topping the futility list is the defeat of his $34 billion public works program that was his chief priority. Then add the failure of his $300-per-child tax rebate that was a cornerstone of his February budget address. The list goes on and on.

Blagojevich couldn’t convince legislators to borrow $16 billion to ease the state’s crushing pension debt, lease the state lottery, cut business taxes or expand health care.

He couldn’t secure $150 million in anti-violence funds inspired by a spring wave of violence in Chicago. He couldn’t find $7.7 million to renovate the Northern Illinois University lecture hall where five students were shot to death this year. And his idea for the state to take over Wrigley Field, home of his beloved Cubs, was a legislative non-starter.

What this bitter spring brought Blagojevich was a bloated 2009 state budget that will force him to make perhaps $2.5 billion in politically unpopular cuts. And he got an ethics bill designed to shut off the fundraising spigot to his campaign from state contractors — a proposal he has threatened to rewrite in a way to attack his legislative enemies.

The governor achieved some other things this spring that he’s unlikely to advertise. His work behind the scenes defeated a drive to change the Constitution so voters could recall inept or corrupt state politicians — again, something his own political missteps motivated. Blagojevich’s stealth mobilization against the recall amendment was in clear contradiction to his public statements last year in support of the plan.

The governor also managed to fend off impeachment, but that threat continues to lurk in the legislative weeds. House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) revealed Saturday his top lawyer, David Ellis, had studied the rules governing impeachment extensively this spring.

"He's a very conscientious lawyer," Madigan said of his chief counsel. "He took it upon himself, because we started talking one day about impeachment, and he volunteered he’d been busy, busy reading the law books."

Madigan went on to describe Ellis as "just chock-full of conclusions and thoughts" about impeachment, a knowledge base Madigan said allows the House Democratic brain trust "just to be prepared, that’s all." The topic hasn’t been on the speaker’s radar screen, he said, for "several weeks."

The speaker declined to say whether Blagojevich would face impeachment proceedings or even had committed an impeachable offense based on testimony at the Rezko trial. Madigan also wouldn’t take the bait on whether the governor would be indicted.

But seeming remotely to acknowledge all of those possibilities, Madigan would only say "I have no idea" when asked if he thought Blagojevich would be able to finish his term through January 2011.

As was the case last year when Madigan and House Democrats bucked the governor's legislative agenda, Blagojevich has the ability to call lawmakers back to Springfield to try to force them to give him something off his wish list.

But given the threat of impeachment, even his allies don’t believe Blagojevich will play the special-session card in the coming weeks after last year’s draining summer-long budget impasse when little was achieved but ill will.

"He knows what’s going on," said Sen. Donne Trotter (D-Chicago) said of the governor. "From what I’ve heard, he certainly doesn’t want to stir up the natives and have them start talking about impeachment and all this other kind of stuff."

Impeachment aside, a perfect illustration of the narrow swath Blagojevich cuts in Springfield these days came Saturday night when he strode unannounced onto the House floor to lobby resistant House Democrats to support his stalled $34 billion public works program.

From Jim Thompson to George Ryan, it’s been a time-honored practice for governors and lower-rung statewide officeholders to go to the House or Senate floors to champion a pet piece of legislation in a show of strength before a favorable vote. Usually, officeholders are welcomed with gusto the moment they arrived.

But in Blagojevich’s case, he was in the House for 20 minutes Saturday before anyone in Madigan’s chamber bothered to announce his presence, an announcement greeted by only brief, tepid applause.

And as if that breach of protocol wasn’t enough, while Blagojevich was chatting a few feet away, he got belittled in a fiery floor speech by Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock) for failed leadership and not being at the Capitol enough to shepherd the capital bill.

Putting the best face on what clearly was a losing spring, Blagojevich said his feelings weren’t hurt by the episode in the House or by the perception of being Springfield’s least-trusted figure.

"This is a rough and tumble business," the governor said with an awkward laugh. "I know some people say certain things, and there’s a lot of rhetoric in the business. But in the final analysis, it’s what we do for people."