4/3/2008

Blago's Deputy Gov channels Sgt. Schultz: "We know nassing!"

Is there nothing that Rod Blagojevich's administration doesn't not know?

After all, the Gov doesn't know anything about the Tony Rezko trial, and is in fact not even following the developments. And if you believe that he's not following the developments of a trial where he's a daily topic and where some speculate that he could himself be on the receiving end of an indictment, then Blago has some real estate to sell you as well. Or maybe just the state's lottery.

In addition to knowing nothing about a trial involving one of his biggest financial contributors - that also threatens to swallow, or at least mar, Presidential candidate Barack Obama - Gov. Blagojevich's administration also, like Sgt. Schultz, "hears nothing, sees nothing and knows nothing" about this botched state grant:

Deputy Gov. Louanner Peters on Wednesday spent more than an hour dodging questions from an Illinois House committee investigating a $1 million grant that wound up going to a troubled private school instead of a church because of what Gov. Rod Blagojevich has called a "bureaucratic mistake." ...

... "It was more of the same from the governor's office: stonewalling, not giving any answers at all, hiding behind procedures, not admitting to anything," said state Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock), chairman of the House State Government Administration Committee.

The hearing to probe the grant came after the Blagojevich administration steered $1 million to the private Loop Lab School to make good on the governor's pledge to help Pilgrim Baptist Church rebuild after a fire. Instead of giving to the church, the money went to the school, which rented space from the church.

The grant came as state and federal authorities were trying to collect thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes from the school, the Tribune reported Wednesday. Other potential roadblocks also were cleared to make the grant possible: The governor gave a rare and swift pardon to the school's director, a convicted felon; the school registered as a charitable organization for the first time in its 25-year history; and the school filed three years' worth of required state tax documents in one day.

For more on this story, State Rep. Jack Franks joined WLS-AM 890's Don Wade & Roma this morning to explain:
In a political environment that offers so little stability, it's good to know that we can always count on the Blagojevich administration to have no recollection of what they've done.

A final aside: Kudos to Gov. Blago for this tremendous turn-of-phrase while stalling for time to answer a Rezko trial question:

The answer the governor gave last night to reporters: "Let me answer that question with an answer. I'm not a party in that trial."

Answering a question ... with an answer. When you consider the story above, I guess that's quite a revelation. But, we're sorry to all those disappointed Blagojevich won't be answering the question with a flugelhorn solo.

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Filed Under: Illinois Politics

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