"Aide: Governor hid from duties," says the front page of the Chicago Tribune.
The Chicago Tribune headlines ex-Governor Rod Blagojevich’s hiding from staff members who were trying to get direction.
Apparently Rod was bored with the top political job in Illinois.
He had the work ethic of a child.
A deputy governor sometimes decided whether bills would be signed or vetoed.
Reassuring, right?
Hiding is not a new attribute for Blagojevich, however.
During the campaign he and Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Ryan conspired to hid from the Illinois League of Women Voters.
The League had set ground rules which said any candidate with 5% of the vote according to an independent poll would in their debate.
My campaign ramped up in August with radio ads and when the Daily Southtown took its early September, 2002, poll, I was over 5%.
JimRod, the Two-Headed Chicken holds a press conference in Springfield's State Capitol.
What did ChickenRod and Bold Jim do?
The two decided to skip the League’s debate and go to Rockford instead. There organizers were happy to have the spotlight for the first debate and to ignore this third party candidate.
The day of the debate, we unveiled JimRod, the Two-Headed Chicken, in Chicago and, then, took the costume to Rockford to taunt the two power party candidates.
Neither were brave enough to enter the auditorium by the front door.
Both hid by going in another door.
It go worse in Springfield where the radio debate was held, sans Libertarian Party candidate, in the Old State Capitol’s House chamber.
Jim Ryan supporters were on the south side of the Capitol, where the Donner Party left for California.
Blagojevich’s fans (and future job hopefuls) were on the north side sidewalk, where my supporters and JimRod, the Two-Headed Chicken, stood.
That’s also where the TV trucks were parked.
The Chicago Tribune's headline is "Aide: Governor MIA."
All of sudden there was a commotion on the street. Blagojevich’s local people surged to there.
But, there was no Rod to be seen.
He had ducked down the stairs to the parking garage beneath the Old State Capitol. He was at the debate, so I guess he came up the stairs or elevator.
Good ‘ol ChickenRod.
Just another example of how candidates act in campaigns may predict how they will behave in office.
There were two more debates, one at WTTW and another at WGN-TV. At both, both Blagojevich and Ryan refused to walk in the front door past me. At WTTW, I had a little chat with Lt. Gov. candidate Pat Quinn, who used to work in Cary at Fox Valley Systems, I think, and to whom I offered advice on how to appeal real estate assessments.
After he took office, a Springfield columnist wrote a piece Blagojevich ducking out of his Capitol office through the back door, taking the elevator to the basement and ducking out the back door next to the dumpsters.
That was in May of 2003, just four months after he took office.