“Firm that made toll signs also a Blagojevich donor”
That’s what the Daily Herald state government reporter John Patterson discovered.
What a surprise.
Actually, the idea of checking out such a connection flitted through my mind yesterday, too, but I didn’t follow through. I’m glad Patterson did, because the public ought to know that
Western Remac Inc., based in Woodridge, gave $1,200 to Blagojevich’s 2002 bid for governor.The company has been a tollway vendor for 20 years, a tollway spokesman told him.
What the contribution shows--at minimum--is that vendors think it is in their best interest to contribute to Governor Rod Blagojevich’s campaign fund.
Or should that read, “Rod R. Blagojevich,” as the sign says?
Maybe, since gubernatorial contributions are only shown to Friends of Blagojevich after the primary election in 2002, it shows how nervous this long-time vendor was that he would lose his connection to the tollway.
Or maybe the owner is just a Democrat that one of Blagojevich supporters hit up.
All of its contributions are to Democrats (Lisa Madigan, Richard M. Daley and John Schmidt), except the most recent of $250, which went to the man who took control of Cicero--Larry Dominick.
32 of the $15,000 signs have been ordered.
It takes 37,500 forty-cent tolls to raise $15,000 to pay for one sign.
It takes 1.2 MILLION passes through the automatic toll lanes to pay for all 32 signs.
Pretty expensive for campaign signs.
Read yesterday's story on the signs, including what Tribune readers think about it, go to McHenry County Blog.
4 comments:
$15,000 for a blue and white sign!?... and for 32 of them!! I'm sure the rush is on to show that this included "installation." (like that makes a difference)
Why, the nerve!! That money could have been used to puff up at least 5-10 Public School Adminsitrators' salaries from $90,000 to $150,000, so that they could retire early to "consult" and "headhunt" for school districts at $14,000/head.
This state is run by pigs, and it is getting eaten by pigs. (pigs in both parties, BTW)
If you take away the trough from one set of pigs, another set of pigs will get access to it.
Shrinking the trough is the only solution, but too much of the population has already been converted to pigs.
Some (too few) across the country are saying "enough is enough." But in Illinois, the question is "I'm a pig too! Where's my pig through?"
If this story (and others like it)gets enough airplay, Topinka will get her shot at doling out goodies to her pigs. But they'll still be pigs.
I'd say it's time for some mass civil disobedience to protest this massive waste of our money. Get enough people to stop paying tolls by driving through the I-PASS lanes and they'll be so over-worked trying to catch people they'll never be able to keep up. And only stop the civil disobedience when Blagojevich pays back the state from his campaign account. Boston Tea Party meets the Illinois Tollway Party. Don't be a sheep, boycott Blago's signs on the toll roads.
OK. You first.
I've already been boycotting the toll roads for years. Of course, it helps I'm in Peoria and not in Evanston any more. But I'll be sure to do it next time I'm there. Maybe everybody should do it on election day.
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