Be sure to vote on Tuesday

I try to use the process of elimination to decide who to vote for. First of all, if they are related to another politician, I usually vote against the candidate. That is one reason why I will not vote for Lisa Madigan for Attorney General. Her father is Michael Madigan, Speaker of the House of Representatives in Springfield. In addition, she has very little experience compared to her opponent, Joe Birkett. Nepotism is a cancer in our politics. It gives a politician an edge based on who they know and where they came from rather than on their personal qualities.

I also try to determine the candidates personal qualities. The reason I will vote for Jesse White to remain as Secretary of State is because I respect his ability to overcome the disadvantage of being a black man and becoming a successful businessman before he entered politics. In other words, he was not a politician in the beginning. He proved himself in another field first. I guess my rule of thumb is that the longer you were a success in something else before you decided to enter politics, the more I respect and trust the candidate. Again, Lisa Madigan loses out on this count. I guess I should mention that I think Jesse White has done a good job as Secretary of State.

The other thing that I look for is to see if the candidate came up through the ranks of the good old boy system. If he did, I tend to vote against the person. That is the reason we have a mess in Springfield now with Governor George Ryan. He was from the old school of politics where decisions are made in smoke-filled rooms. Where you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. It is really a disgrace for the State of Illinois to have elected a person who still embraced neanderthal politics. His unabashed recruitment of contributions from state employees for his political campaign, his awarding of a contract to build a prison in his own home district near Kankakee, the license bribery scandal under his watch as Secretary of State are just a few of the tainted episodes in his political career.

Judging the two candidates for governor, I have to give the edge to Jim Ryan over Ron Blagojevich. Blagojevich's father-in-law is powerful Chicago Alderman Dick Mell. Right off the bat, this tells me that Blagojevich is subject to influence from the big city bosses in Chicago. That does not bode well for downstaters. I have to admit that Blagojevich has done well in his 43 years coming from the streets of Chicago rather than from an affluent suburb.

I wish that we had other choices for candidates for governor. I think that the political parties in Illinois should try to nominate candidates from downstate Illinois to give the state some political balance to offset the overwhelming political representation from the Chicago area.

Regardless of who wins, there will probably be no earth shaking changes in the way things are handled in Springfield. It seems to me that once politicians are in office, that they are influenced more by lobbyists than they are by the average voter. It seems that issues that affect a certain group are more likely to be addressed than general issues such as the education funding crisis. It is easier to just give money to a special interest group because they know what they want and the money or special breaks that the group receives will not noticeably affect the budget. However, if you add up a thousand of these types of special interest concessions, you are talking big money.

If the Republicans retain the governship, they had better clean up after the mess left by George Ryan real quick and leave the impression that cronyism and special favors to special interests will not be tolerated. Illinois has a long history of graft and scandal. Two former governors and an auditor have spent time in prison for graft and corruption. I have been told by a state employee that whenever election time rolls around, the employees in certain departments in Springfield are expected to donate money towards the election of their boss.

I also have a friend whose brother-in-law has made a career of serving as heads of various state departments in Springfield. It seems to me that he was appointed to these different positions not because he had the competency or qualifications for the department but rather on his connections and his part of being included in the good old boy system.

This type of neanderthal politics has to stop. Whichever party gains control in Springfield should decide once and for all to quit business as usual and strive to bring honesty and integrity back to state politics and treat the people of Illinois with respect rather than contempt.