Blago and Jesse Jackson, Jr.

It is too bad for former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich that he engaged with the likes of Jesse Jackson, Jr. It was a trifling that cost him his freedom.

On Dec. 7, the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt to proclaimed that day to be one that would live in infamy. It certainly will for Blago, because that was the day he was sentenced to 14 years in prison. 

Was that a fair sentence when compared to his predecessor George Ryan who was sentenced only to 6 1/2 years?

In my mind, it wasn't but then I make my assessment based strictly on the character of the man rather than strict legal terms.

I took this picture of Blagojevich during happier times--on a campaign stop in Joliet while running for re-election. I wasn't enamored with him for his stance on the Peotone Airport. While he served as governor, he gave the airport plenty of positive lip service, but never really followed through. That was probably because there was nothing in it for him. 

Blago also taught us that size does matter when it references ego. Other than that, his tenure in the state house, or his Chicago house, from which he did most of the state's business, was not as upsetting to me as some of his predecessors--cold-blooded oportunitsts. I found Blago to be more of the warm-blooded variety. Even though he often put himself first, he did try to help others as well. 

I would not say he was a bad governor, as Illinois governors go.

Had it not been for that vacant Senate seat issue, would the state have even had a case against Blago? 

To me, and I admit some partiality in my opinion, Jackson is the one that should be taken to task. I hope the Senate Ethics committee looks deeply into their investigation of Jackson. His ethics are indeed in question, at least in my mind. 

I agree with a recent op-ed piece posted in several local newspapers about why the Senate Ethics committee should continue looking into Jackson's behavior. Congressman Jackson has had a pattern of immoral behavior This blog is quoted within it. 

Just before Blagojevich was sentenced, the House announced it would continue to investigate Jackson.

I can't speak to Jackson's other deeds in congress, but I know he has misrepresented the facts surrounding the potential of a regional airport at Peotone as well as the potential of utilizing the existing airport at Gary, Indiana. That has been my focus for the last twenty-five years. 

Jackson's latest action is in an attempt to gather support for the Peotone project far from ground zero where knowledge, and information is lacking. According to newspaper reports, Jackson is taking his pro-airport dog and pony show to Woodridge, a DuPage County community far from Peotone where so little is known or frankly cared about, that Jackson can get away with saying whatever he pleases without being challenged. He did just that recently in a visit to a village board meeting where he reiterated his fantasy that construction on a new airport could begin in six months. He fails to mention that the project has not yet been approved by the FAA, or that studies will preclude a decision for at least two years.

Jackson will never stop spewing misinformation to get what he wants. Perhaps, in this election year, it is time the people with ballots stop him instead.