Going to be a new wing........

[fish-fighting-illini]

 ........in the Federal prison just for Illinois governers!

 Geez well we do have Chicago in our state so it shouldn't be a surprise.

 I wonder how many others are sweating over this arrest who might be implicated as a plea?

Time will tell

[roadwarrior]

When you have the Governer by the short-hairs,

I doubt the feds are after anyone "higher", they've

got the Don!

8-)

[atx_newbie]

Nothing is worse than Louisiana politics.  Here is a joke that my Louisiana History told us in 8th grade, and it's stuck with me.  I describes LA politics pretty well:

The mayor of Shreveport, LA decided that the stairway and main entry to city hall needed to be remodeled, so he started taking bids on the job.

The first bid was from a contractor in Shreveport.  His bid came out to $2,000 for materials, and $6,000 for labor, for a total of $8,000.

The second bid was from a contractor in Lafayette.  His bid was the same as the contractor from Shreveport, though he added $1,000 for travel expenses for his crew, so his total was $9,000.

The last bid that the mayor got was from a contractor in New Orleans.  His bid came out to $18,000.

The mayor was pretty upset about this bid, and demanded that the contractor explain himself.  After all, travel from New Orleans to Shreveport shouldn't cost the extra ten grand.  The contractor says, "Well, it's pretty simple actually.  It works out to be $5,000 for me, $5,000 for you, and we pay the guy from Shreveport to do it!"

[tyrius.]

Nothing is worse than Louisiana politics.

Hmm, our last governor is in jail for racketeering and fraud.  Our current governor will be sharing a cell with him.  I think that one wins.

Chicago corruption is also much worse than any other place that I've heard of (even worse than the state!!!).  They took your example of kickbacks and added to it.  The city of chicago contracted with trucking companies to provide trucks but didn't have anything to put in them so the drivers got paid to sleep in their trucks.  This went on for a LONG time too.  At least you got new stairs!!!   ;D

[atx_newbie]

Haha I guess that's a plus.  But if those stairs were like our roads, they didn't last long!

Fun fact:

Since becoming a state in the early 1800's (around 1815), the state constitution of LA has been rewritten a lot.  Not amended, but rewritten.  Every time a new party took control, everything was completely changed.

I don't remember the exact number of times, but it was something ridiculous.  Like 150 times or something.

[roadwarrior]

Geez...

Debating whether LA is more corrupt than IL

is like arguing over which smells worse:

rotting pork or rotting beef!

8-)

[tyrius.]

Geez...

Debating whether LA is more corrupt than IL

is like arguing over which smells worse:

rotting pork or rotting beef!

8-)

Now that's a true statement!!  

[tyrius.]

Haha I guess that's a plus. But if those stairs were like our roads, they didn't last long!

Fun fact:

Since becoming a state in the early 1800's (around 1815), the state constitution of LA has been rewritten a lot. Not amended, but rewritten. Every time a new party took control, everything was completely changed.

I don't remember the exact number of times, but it was something ridiculous. Like 150 times or something.

Our state motto is "Vote Early and Vote Often!!!"

[Muddy]

Tehy should have a Fed called ; THE GOVENOR"S MANSION, NY , Illinois and Louisiana could just move their state legislators to one place then to cut expenses!

Louisiana does take the cake, Gov convicted, Son becomes Gov. , Pardons dad, then dad runs again AND GETS RE_ELECTED, just ask Sam and Catt they can verify that story

believe his name was EDWARDS?

[roadwarrior]

Tehy should have a Fed called ; THE GOVENOR"S MANSION, NY , Illinois and Louisiana could just move their state legislators to one place then to cut expenses!

Louisiana does take the cake, Gov convicted, Son becomes Gov. , Pardons dad, then dad runs again AND GETS RE_ELECTED, just ask Sam and Catt they can verify that story

Okay, that takes the cake!

[aceman387]

im from illinois also and it just irks you the level of greed. the poor working guy is scared about his job and scared to spend any money and you have a  guy like this running the state who has tons of money and has to have more  and more.

[tyrius.]

Louisiana does take the cake, Gov convicted, Son becomes Gov. , Pardons dad, then dad runs again AND GETS RE_ELECTED, just ask Sam and Catt they can verify that story

believe his name was EDWARDS?

If that's true, his name wasn't Edwin Edwards

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Edwards

However, Edwards IS currently in prison.    

Score one for Louisiana!!!

[Dan:]

What about DC? Marion Barry was busted while acting as mayor for cocaine possession ( "B*#&h set me up!" comment) in 1990. He decided not to run for reelection after those charges. Later, he was busted again for testing positive for cocaine, and failure to pay state and local taxes. Then he ran again for mayor in 1994 AND WAS REELECTED!

[bilgerat]

Here in New Jersey it's no better.

All they'd have to do is put up a fence and some razor wire around the state house in Trenton to make our "politician's prison"

[IDbasser]

just dumbfounding!!

[tyrius.]

What about DC? Marion Barry was busted while acting as mayor for cocaine possession ( "B*#&h set me up!" comment) in 1990. He decided not to run for reelection after those charges. Later, he was busted again for testing positive for cocaine, and failure to pay state and local taxes. Then he ran again for mayor in 1994 AND WAS REELECTED!

At least he wasn't trying to extort a $50,000 campaign donation from the director of a CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL!!!

[bassdocktor]

Not that is goes in the corruption bin but the budget for the IL state scholars got  cut the year I was going to college.

It'll be interesting to see what else they find as more and more is discovered.  

The one good thing I can say about the govenor is he is partly responsible for me being in pharmacy school. I wanted to work for the IL DNR but he kept cutting jobs and funding. I figured I just might want a job when I graduated so I started looking else where.

[Long Mike]

Illinois may be conducting business as usual, but I think there could be light at the end of the tunnel for Louisiana. Jindal, the new Governor, appears to be a breath of fresh air amongst the ongoing stink.  I no longer live in Louisiana, so I will have to leave it up to my fellow Cajuns for their input.

[atx_newbie]

I have to admit, as I learn more about this recent Illinois scandal, that I've never heard of anything quite to that extent in Louisiana.  I mean seriously, selling a senate seat and extorting the president-elect?  That's a new low for any level of government, anywhere.

As far as Jindal goes, don't get me started.  I won't say much about him, because I can't without getting political.  Just go to the fact check websites, look at some of the bills that he has passed and the comments made about certain issues, and make your own decision.  Not many of my friends back home think much of him, and they are all die-hard republicans.  I will say one thing positive about him--he learned the lessons of Katrina and is determined not to let it happen again.  Earlier this year, as Gustav was approaching, he closed every public school in Louisiana and sent over 1,000 school buses from around the state to New Orleans and other areas that were evacuating.