Senator Silvertongue strikes again

In the Dispatch/Argus:

Rhetoric is the lifeblood of Illinois politics, but it's not often you hear a state senator promise to kick someone in the keister.

But that's what Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline, did Thursday when he told a reporter from KWQC-TV6 that not only does he believe the Thomson prison might soon open, but that he's committed to making sure it happens.

"If that prison doesn't open in 2007, I'm going to make it my business to put my size 12 up somebody's tail end," he said in the televised report.

Jacobs stood by his colorful comments Friday, saying it figuratively illustrates he's going to keep fighting to open the $143 million, maximum-security prison that was completed in 2001, but never opened.

"I am what I am and I say what I think. Would I be better off to sanitize my quotes? Maybe, but that's not what I'm here for," he said.

Paul Rumler, Jacobs' primary opponent, wouldn't comment on the statement, saying only that he supports any effort to open Thomson.

Jacobs contends that could be coming soon. Gov. Rod Blagojevich's office has released a statement listing the project as a priority. As the state's economy improves, finding $50 million a year to operate the prison gets more likely, Jacobs said.

"We believe in the year 2007, we will have the money to open the facility," Jacobs said.

Rep. Mike Boland, D-East Moline, said Blagojevich may be getting more pressure to open the prison, but he hasn't heard of anything definite yet.

That's because it's still too soon to make a decision, said Becky Carroll, spokeswoman for Blagojevich's Office of Management and Budget. "We are hoping to open it. We are in favor of that."

However, she said, "No decision has been made as yet. It's just too early in the budget process."

But Carroll said things are getting better and the state now is at a place where it can begin to look at the prospect of opening the Thomson facility.

It's apparent now what our senator's literary and television viewing tastes are. He evidently looks to Dr. Seuss's Horton the Elephant and Popeye for his philosophical guidance, though he kind of muddled the two together with, "I am what I am and I say what I think."
(a senator's faithful, even if the plant stinks)?

And the "size 12" up someone's posterior line is a direct rip-off from the very popular program "American Chopper" where father/business owner and tough guy Paul Teutel Sr. frequently issues the same no-nonsense threat to his sons, and yes, it's a "size 12".

Unless Senator Jacobs' happens to wear that size, it proves for whatever it's worth, that he's getting his supposedly off-the-cuff, "I am what I am" campaign talking points from an cable program about building custom motorcycles, cartoons, and Dr. Seuss.