With Rod Blagojevich now impeached and removed as the Illinois Governor, many wondered what would happen to his bag of dirty tricks, pay to play schemes, and policy enactment through intimidation.  Many had hoped that these ethically wrong and illegal maneuvers would die an immediate death with the exit of “Governor Blago”.  Apparently, this is not so.  Democrats, never wishing to throw anything valuable away, have recycled Governor Blago’s illicit activities and delivered them to Jay Nixon.

Jay has wasted no time putting these new-found techniques to good use in Missouri.  In order to ensure that his lobbyist  former chief of staff, Chuck Hatfield, was able to deliver his promise to Monsanto that their attorney (Linda Martinez) would be the new Director of the Department of Economic Development, Jay quickly tried out “policy enactment through intimidation”.

When Senator Scott Rupp simply requested assurances from Jay that both he and his appointee would not direct tax credits to any companies that retained illegal workers on their payrolls, Jay went berserk.  First he sent his Chief of Staff, John Watson, to threaten Senator Rupp.  When told by Senator Rupp that he wanted written assurances from the Governor, “Crazy John” Watson exploded – threatening to cancel all monies going to St. Charles County if Rupp did not follow their directives.

However, sources say that was not all that occurred.  Jay then ordered “Crazy John” to call Nixon’s old colleague from the State Senate, Steve Ehlmann (who is now the County Executive of St. Charles County) and personally reiterated his threat of funding cancellations if he did not get his State Senator under control.

Why is the nomination of Linda Martinez so important to Jay and Crazy John?  Do they really owe that much to their lobbyist, Chuck Hatfield?  Or are they planning to allow an invasion of illegal immigrants into Missouri?  Barack Obama has even learned that it is best to admit that he appointed the wrong person and move on rather than have the nominee languish over numerous skeletons in the past. 

Jay should rethink utilizing Governor Blago’s tactics.  But then again, it did get him two terms in office.  Maybe that is enough for Jay.

Related:

KY3 Political Notebook: Without Reassurances, Rupp Will Continue To Delay Martinez

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