Sunday, April 23, 2006

Paul Green: Oregon of the Midwest

From today's Daily Herald's Is Illinois' corruption worst of all states?

What do you all think? I kind of agree.

Paul Green, long-time political observer at Roosevelt University, believes people overreact to events like Ryan's conviction. His view is Illinois has, from its beginning, been home to people who take risks. Sometimes those risks produce scandal.

In short, the corruption that comes to a head now and then is part of what makes this state more interesting than others.

"Not many great political writers have come out of Wisconsin," said Green. "The city of Chicago and the state of Illinois were not built by great planners, they were built by great speculators, people who risked a lot to do a lot. That mentality is still here today. And that's what we get periodically as the price of getting things done."

"I'm personally sad for Gov. Ryan," said Green. "But let's not go overboard and start wringing our hands and trying to become the Oregon of the Middle West."
Guess Bob LaFollette doesn't count or way too long ago. I knew Frank Zeidler too but that was also long ago. Respected him very much but he might fail excitment criteria although he could give a surpizingly thumbing speech.

7 comments:

Anonymous,  6:30 PM  

It was Sunday, and 70 degrees outside....Bill, get a life.

Bill Baar 7:37 PM  

Laptop and a bottle of beer on the porch... on a nice day... papers by my side... my sacrifice to give you something to comment on anon.

It's a small price I pay.

Levois 7:59 PM  

I kind of wonder where the brief reference to Oregon came from.

Anonymous,  8:01 AM  

Oregon voted against Gay Marriage and they are a more liberal state

They have some interesting euthanasia and health care policy too

some natural beauty in Oregon

Anonymous,  8:11 AM  

That makes me sad Bill.

Skeeter 9:15 AM  

No way. Texas is WAY more corrupt than Illinois.

Calling in the Dept. of Homeland Security to get a quorum?

We can't play in that league.

In Texas, they LAUGH at our petty attempts at corruption.

Anonymous,  11:51 AM  

Green is a Chicago machine wanna-be. He idolizes the late Mayor Richard J. Daley. He considers big city corruption as part of the lay of the land, always has. He has no concept about any model of local or state government success without massive corruption, despite innumerable examples. For example, state government under Reagan was not corrupt, and that was the model for Reagan's eventual successful Presidential run.

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