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My reaction to the arrest this morning of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich on corruption charges: No surprise. Except maybe that it was the feds who finally got him. The rumors I've been hearing thus far had been from state people.

What's really sad is that Illinois now has two back-to-back tainted Governors. I was in the room when George Ryan made his infamous "I am what I am" comment to the press. Now, he's a convicted felon (one of my buddies from the punk era, now a prosecutor, helped to convict him). Then, he was merely a business as usual politician, known for cutting back room deals.

I've never met Blagojevich, although I've heard some really interesting stories from people who knew him in his college days. They're hearsay unfortunately, and todays allegations remain exactly that so far, so I'll keep this to myself for now. All I'll say is that his administration has gutted IDNR, and that resource conservation has suffered as a result of political appointees replacing experienced and competent people there.

Oh for the days of the Jim Edgar administration, perhaps the only spotlessly clean one there in recent memory.

It's not my tax dollars going down the drain anymore, I've been gone for almost eight years. But the people of Illinois should be ashamed of themselves. It's time to clean house, throw the bastards out. It's time to stop assuming that corruption is inevitable, to take back the state.

As for Blagojevich, for such an allegedly smart guy, he's sure looking not very bright today.