Mayor’s Row…….by Ned Mitchell
What do Joe Cini, Christopher Kelly, Tony Rezko, Dawn DeFraties, Michael Casey and Stuart Levine all have in common? They are all in the mix concerning the reformer/unreformer and his legal problems with the U S Attorney. Cini is the mastermind guru who puts the finger on hiring for the governor’s office, Kelly and Rezko have raised millions of questionable campaign contributions for the governor, DeFraties and Casey are fired state employees, and Levine, well he is the guy who for a long period of time wore a wire and secretly recorded conversations with those he talked to.
A very good inside source of mine from Chicago tells me that big things are going to happen involving this administration within the next two weeks. This person has never been wrong before, so we’ll see how good this information turns out. At least two people that I know from Springfield also are friends with DeFraties and both have told me on separate occasions that she did not leave that office empty handed when she was fired. They both tell me she is a very bright woman and one who would keep evidence that could clear her of wrong doing in the future. The same sources revealed to me that Joe Cini had no idea the reformer/unreformer was going to throw DeFraties under the bus until it happened. Cini’s comments after the press conference were said to be so rough that no publication could print them. I am told that Cini knows exactly what DeFraties has on the governor and his minions. Now the governor comes forward and admits that over 2,000 people were hired under political pressure. Not pressure from him, but from DeFraties and Casey. They surely must have a wide circle of friends if they alone could hire over 2,000 people. Think about it, that is a lot of resume work and test scores to grade.
Levine is the guy who is key to this investigation. He has already been indicted and now it is revealed that he is cooperating with federal investigators. It was reported last week that federal investigators have over 1,600 telephone conversations tape recorded during the past two years. Then the bomb shell hit that Levine has for months now been wearing a wire to record conversations. I’m telling you there are a lot of nervous people out there right now. You know the feds have been sending Levine out to talk to specific people and you also know he was not asking questions about their grandkids and such. It was all business and not much idle chit chat.
You know I always have a theory about a lot of things and so I’ll just go ahead and run this one by you taxpayers who are being bilked at an alarming rate in this state. Mike Madigan, Speaker of the House and state democrat party chairman has announced that he will not be on the Unity Stage at the Springfield state fair due to his guy losing the primary race for State Treasurer. Come on Mike, be a stand up guy. Both times when I was dealt a defeat by your thugs in a primary I was expected to live and let live. Get over it I was told and back the democrat ticket. I did just that, not because of Mike, but because I have been raised that way, it was the right thing to do. Voters made a choice and each of them had a reason why they voted the way they did. It was not up to me to question their choice, I needed to live by their decision and not look back.
Soon after Mike announced he would be at the fair but not on the stage, along comes daughter and governor wanna be, Attorney General Lisa Madigan who also announces she will not be on the Unity Stage because the reformer/unreformer governor is under federal investigation and it would not be right for her to appear with him. Honest folks, I cannot make this all up. A lot of influential people I know think Blagojevich will be re elected as governor, and surprise, surprise, I happen to agree with them. The republicans have put forth the weakest candidate they could possibly find in Judy Barr Topinka.
Now here comes the theory. Even though I tend to agree that withstanding some federal indictment coming before the election, Blagojevich gets the nod again. Democrats have been out of this office for far too long and they are not going to jump ship on this one. But what happens if the higher ups in the democrat party sense that after the election Blagojevich does get indicted? If Blagojevich is forced out of office there is Lt. Governor Pat Quinn waiting in the wings. Quinn is the guy that democrats love to hate and right now he is in the driver’s seat. Quinn is absolutely a reformer and one that both democrats and republicans know they cannot “do business” with. So if Quinn ends up Governor by default, he could run for two terms and my thinking is that he would be very hard to beat.
On the other hand, if democrat leaders think Blagojevich is going down the tubes, will they pull the proverbial rug out from under him? I know for a fact that democrat leaders think they can “do business” with Topinka and that may be what happens. I don’t think for a minute that Madigan and the powers that be really want a democrat in the governor’s chair for the next four years. Whoever is elected will have to raise a lot of money to pay the bills or will have to cut costs tremendously to make ends meet. Either way, it will be no picnic and Madigan knows this. What better scenario than to have a republican in office whom makes it known she only wants one term as governor, to do the dirty work and then along comes Mike’s daughter Lisa to save the day. I can see it all happening. I suppose I do have some idle time on my hands to be able to conjure up such a conspiracy but as I always like to say it keeps me out of the pool hall. We will see!
I have been told by a good friend that my thoughts on a deal being cut for the Associate Judge seat were unfounded. A well known and respected trial lawyer informs me that what happened is the good folks in the White County area got to thinking that Franklin and Jefferson Counties were trying to control too much in the circuit political arena and convinced enough democrat judges to vote for a republican from White County and not for a democrat from Jefferson County. The last time I checked the majority of the votes in that circuit were in Franklin and Jefferson Counties. Why shouldn’t they control appointments? This one will get very touchy before it is all over. The alleged mastermind behind the plot to appoint a republican according to my sources is none other than Judge Sutton from White County who also happens to be in the precarious spot of needing Franklin and Jefferson County voters to retain him in his office this fall. The bad part of that is Jefferson County Judge Wexstten is also up for retention. It will be interesting to see if Franklin and Jefferson County voters pay enough attention to whack Judge Sutton and save Judge Wextten. Of course there is no way to know the real way in how the votes were cast, but it is very strange that 12 democrat judges and 3 republican judges can come up with a republican for the spot. There had to be a terrible split among democrats. I can report to you that local democrats are fuming about how the ordeal went down and some of them are out to make an example. I am assured that Franklin County judges stayed with the democrat party and I believe that. Beyond our borders I have no idea other than the proof is in the pudding. Twelve democrats were out voted by 3 republicans some how. If you can figure it out, I would like to know how!
If you need us in Sesser call 625-3611 or 625-5322. Write to nedmitchell@verizon.net or www.sesser.org or P. O. Box 517, Sesser, Illinois 62884. You can even do the old fashioned thing and drop by for a visit, we are not hard to find!
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