Donuts and theology
Wonder what Blagojevich's recent invocation of God and Moral Imperatives for Illinois's Budget means for Donuts on the Tollway.
An Illinois doughnut mogul forged ties last year to Gov. Rod Blagojevich, through campaign donations and a real-estate deal involving the governor's wife, while seeking to expand his Dunkin' Donuts business into the state's tollway oases, according to a Tribune investigation.Blagojevich must have looked out at all those Illinois faces on that bus tourer and just seen a sea of chumps.
As federal investigations into influence peddling swirl around the Blagojevich administration, the developments raise new questions about the governor accepting money—personally or politically—from those seeking favor with the government he leads.
Amrit J. Patel, 60, one of the largest and most influential Dunkin' Donuts owners in the Chicago area, says he was not trying to curry favor by hosting a fundraiser for the governor at his Northbrook home or through his family connections to a private property deal that paid Blagojevich's wife more than $30,000 in real estate commissions.
H.L. Menken not my favorite guy, but you have to wonder if what Lew Rockwell quoted below isn't true of Illinois,
The purpose of government is to allow those who run it to plunder those who don’t. As the great H.L. Mencken sagely observed, "[I]f experience teaches us anything at all it teaches us this: that a good politician, under democracy, is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar. His very existence, indeed, is a standing subversion of the public good in every rational sense. He is not one who serves the common weal; he is simply one who preys upon the commonwealth" (from "The Politician" in Prejudices: A Selection, edited by James T. Farrell).
18 comments:
Read the whole story. Dunkin' Donuts never got a single slot in a tollway oases. There's no quid pro quo if there's no quo.
You know if the Governor was going to use fundraising as an excuse to put a donut stand on the tollways, the least he could do was take more donations from Krispy Kreme.
Again, Dunkin Donuts did not ever get a tollway slot. I don't know what the story is here.
Contemplate a bit anon and you might experience a revelation.
Perhaps the rambling remarks by Gov. Sleazy are an effort to lay the groundworks for a future insanity defense when the feds finally nail him in court.
Dunkin Donuts does have the best coffee.
Blagojevich may not have seen a sea of chumps, because he is a sociopath and may, at least temporarily, believe his own lies--he is delusional, a pathological liar, and sociological.
Milorat Blagojevich would use anyone to get ahead.
The only consolation is that everyone knows that now, and he will be indicted.
Bill, I've got to agree with Anon. What is the specific "revelation" that we're supposed to experience if the shops didn't ever actually get into the Tollway?
Someone should INVESTIGATE Jack Hartman, John Mitola and Brian McPartlin.................
There's a lot being covered up over at the Highway To Hell.
WTB,
Let's see, shaking down donors and not delivering the goods is frowned upon in Illinois Politics. Sort of like selling the Brooklyn Bridge, or a seat on the Illinois Healthcare Facilities Planning Board, still illegal, even if you cannot technically sell such a thing.
JBP
Don't stand to close to Blagojevich--lightning may strike.
Hartman is the key--so is CK1, CK and CK2
What is the specific "revelation" that we're supposed to experience if the shops didn't ever actually get into the Tollway?
It's pay-for-play way of running Illinois. Just because a player paid big and didn't the play they wanted, doesn't mean there wasn't a game going.
And, Bill, despite no real evidence, no actual payoff, you are sure there was a game going. You're really something.
Sure, we don't have to have a crime for something to be bad for Illinois.
That political donors seek to do business with the State, not to mention the Gov's wife, is a conflict. It's not a criminial conflice based on what the Trib's given us, but it's a nasty practice for Politicans to engage in.
Go to a private corp and see if the Chief Purchaser Officer is allowed to have these kind of relations with vendors.
A lot of what financially transpires over at the Illinois Tollway originates in their engineering department. It's money laundring central in Illinois. The Illinois Tollway has become a true maverick state operation, thanks to the Blagojevich adminstation.
All the media has to do is start asking questions, which they've failed to do to date. Hartman, McPartlin and Mitola have and are still hiding much. They're not that smart believe me!
Illinois Tollway's Brian McPartlin is the weak link.
I don't see any big deal in this at all. A donation from someone who is also a competitor for a state contract he didn't get.. Unless someone shows me more than that, I'm ignoring it. It's a poster child for the Gov on no relationship between giving and receiving.
Question: Why do you think Jack Hartman bailed from the Illinois Tollway?
Answer: He was and still is very nervous about his actions as Executive Director at the Illinois Tollway.
He thinks he's safe over at RISE Group.
Oh my! I didn't know the Indo-Pak Mafia was in Illinois already. Rod better watch his back if he doesn't deliver the donut slots.
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