Saturday, September 20, 2008

While I Meant What I Said...

It's hardly a secret that the Governor and I don't see eye to eye. In fact, for reasons mostly unknown to me (yet not regretted), there has always existed a tension between us, both political and personal, even when we initially campaigned in unison back in 1995-96.

His style of governance, juxtaposed with my belief in the way government should function, has only served to deepen the rift. And my sponsorship of the pay-to-play ban, in light of its obvious impact on his fundraising abilities, has pretty much brought the conflict to a head.

So yesterday, when the Governor repeated false allegations in a thinly-veiled effort to justify his refusal to sign the pay-to-play ban, I didn't hesitate to respond:

"The governor has resorted to an all-new low, even for him. His allegations are pathetic and border on pathological," Fritchey said.

At the same event, the Governor threw in his latest creation, namely that Obama was being duped into not supporting the Governor's 'real ethics reform', prompting others to weigh in on the Governor's statements as well:

Cynthia Canary, director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, called Blagojevich's comments "delusional" and "loony." Her group opposed the governor's changes and asked Obama to speak with Jones.

"He doesn't care about his political party or the course of this nation," Canary said of the governor.

Obama's campaign declined to comment on Blagojevich's remarks. But Sen. Terry Link of Waukegan, a close Obama friend and former state legislative colleague, said the governor was attempting to kill the original ethics measure,

"It's just so obvious what's going on," said Link, the Lake County Democratic chairman. "It's ridiculous."

Now the point of this post isn't to retract my statements. I stand by everything that I said. But that being said, I sincerely think that it is unfortunate that the situation has devolved to the point where our state's Governor is routinely vocally derided by people from across the political and geographical divides of our state.

I'm unsure why, but I somehow feel compelled to reiterate the respect that I have for the office of Governor. In fact, it is likely that respect, coupled with my frustration at what is happening to our state, that piques my critiques of how the office is currently being run. And while I would never venture to speak for others who have criticized this Governor, I am confident that they would tend to be of the same mindset.

But in any event, I want to publicly say that if my comments somehow are taken to be disrespectful to our state, they are intended to be anything but. I believe in our state, and I believe that we deserve better. I want to believe that the public knows the passion that underlies my statements, but I feel better making sure that there is no doubt.


6 Comments:

At September 21, 2008 at 9:01 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Our state motto was The Sucker State, and actions speak louder than words so as long as we keep electing the bozos and crooks we do, the state should be disrespected.

 
At September 21, 2008 at 10:09 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

You have always made your points clearly and pretty much without hesitation. I find this quite disheartening on how low this goes. As you know I work with many other legislators from around the country who at times have one thing or another to say about their governors. When I tell them about our current occupant in the governor's office, they tend to start feeling better about their governors. How many days until the 2010 primary? Perhaps by 2011 I'll be able to tell boring stories of balanced budgets, capital programs, bills being paid on time and no federal investigations.

 
At September 22, 2008 at 9:20 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm still trying to understand why this legislation only extends to the governor's office and why attorneys in this state are allowed to contribute to judge's they appear before. I'm glad Senator Obama "made the call" to Jones and hope that your bill gets passed into law because goodness knows its better than nothing. But when the state legislature starts crowing about how they "did something" about corruption in government forgive any ensuing rudeness (it's not disrespect for the state :-) )

 
At September 22, 2008 at 9:55 AM, Blogger Rep. John Fritchey said...

LCD,

The short answer is because every other constitutional officer had the decency to enact this over their own offices via Executive Order.

Maybe that's why we don't have Public Officials B,C,D,E and F.

 
At September 23, 2008 at 9:18 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

RJF:

I wasn't only talking about "constitutional officers" and, again, lawyers in this state are allowed to give money to judges and then appear before those same judges. The state has pleanty of Public Official B's and C's, it's just that we've become so numb to it that they can go by their own names.

 
At January 5, 2009 at 8:53 AM, Blogger VucubCaquix said...

Representative Fritchey, I have to say that it actually warms my heart a bit to read that you could tell our Governor was not on the level, especially in light of the current circumstances.

As your constituent, I wish you the best of luck in throwing that bum out of office!

 

Post a Comment

<< Home