SPRINGFIELD — Elected as a reformer, Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich spent the better part of his two successful campaigns eviscerating his predecessor, Republican George Ryan.

On Thanksgiving, however, Blagojevich had a far different message. Ryan should be given a break, Blagojevich said, as he endorsed the idea of President George W. Bush commuting Ryan's 6 1/2-year federal prison sentence even though he has served less than 13 months.

Letting Ryan out of prison early, Blagojevich said, would be a "fine decision."

Long a study in contrasts, Blagojevich's words take on new meaning after the Tribune's disclosure last week that federal authorities had secretly taped him in a corruption investigation, and that one of his closest confidants, John Wyma, has been cooperating with authorities in the probe.

As Ryan holds out hope of being home by Christmas, Blagojevich's future grows cloudier.

"Clearly, we have an ongoing political crisis in the state and a corruption scandal that only ramps up," said Cynthia Canary, director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. "The feds are closing in," Canary said. "It's not secondhand, it's not third-hand. . . . This [taping] is a situation of the governor there sitting at the table."

The contents of the taping have not been disclosed, and the governor's office reiterated Friday that he had committed no wrongdoing. Blagojevich has not been charged with a crime. Nor has his wife, Patricia, whose real estate deals have come under the federal microscope as part of the probe of pay-to-play politics. Wyma has not been charged, either.

So far, though, 13 people have been indicted or convicted in the festering scandal, including prominent Blagojevich fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko, who faces sentencing, and the governor's former chief fundraiser, Christopher Kelly, once the governor's point man on gambling issues, who stands indicted on tax fraud counts linked to his betting activities in Las Vegas.

"I think we have to look at the inner core of the governor's sanctum and who those players are," said Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock), a longtime critic of Blagojevich. Franks has pushed for legislators to do a preliminary investigation on whether they should launch impeachment hearings.

In the last year, Franks championed a measure to allow citizens to recall statewide officials, a proposal that won House support but died in the Senate.

The split verdict is a metaphor for the governor's reign. Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) leads an Illinois House that often opposes Blagojevich, while the Senate led by outgoing President Emil Jones (D-Chicago) stands by him. .

When things don't go Blagojevich's way—and they often don't, such as a proposal for a $7 billion business tax increase—his comments can be baffling.

The concept of a gross receipts tax that he passionately pushed was crushed in the House 107-0. Despite the resounding defeat, Blagojevich characterized it as "basically an up."

Although he espoused ethics reform, he opposed a law aimed at curtailing the governor's prolific fundraising from government contractors.

This year, a Tribune investigation outlined an exclusive club of Blagojevich donors who contributed $25,000 to Friends of Blagojevich. It included hundreds of men, women and companies who enjoyed favorable state rulings, contracts or appointments after their donations. Many of those donations came from fundraisers thrown by Wyma.

Blagojevich has pledged to eliminate pork-barrel spending, but has used it to help get support from lawmakers for budget deals.

He has rolled out populist programs with great fanfare, but critics have questioned whether he benefited more than the public.

"I worry about the end result," Blagojevich has said. "If I have to ruffle a few feathers along the way, so be it."

While advancing an agenda of more money for schools and better access to health care for children, he has vigorously opposed state sales or income taxes and fought in court to expand health coverage beyond what a judge says the legislature gave him the authority to do. Now he faces a multimillion-dollar budget hole, and he cannot come to an agreement on a massive construction plan even as the state's unemployment rate soars.

He has accused lawmakers of spending "like a bunch of drunken sailors," attacked the state school board as a "Soviet-style bureaucracy" and proclaimed he had the "testicular virility" to confront his estranged father-in-law, Ald. Richard Mell (33rd). Mell once accused Blagojevich of trading campaign contributions for jobs—a comment he recanted under threat of a lawsuit.

And when the Tribune began looking into Patricia Blagojevich's real estate business, Blagojevich swiftly reacted by calling the reporters "Neanderthal."

Often, however, Blagojevich ducks for cover rather than answer questions from reporters. At the Capitol, he has dashed through rarely used fire exits and basement tunnels to get into his black SUV waiting by a loading dock. Once asked about pay-to-play revelations in the Rezko trial, Blagojevich surrounded himself with schoolchildren touring the Capitol.

"Kids, where are you when . . . I need you?" Blagojevich said.

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