“We’ve said from the beginning that we’ll look for ways to change and improve the system, and we remain committed to doing that,” Ottenhoff said in an e-mail message Monday. She would not respond to specific followup questions. (Chicago Tribune)
TRANSLATION:
It’s the old bait and switch. You do really corrupt/illegal things, gain advantages from that, and then “clean” everything up and look like a reformer. Millions of dollars more than Topinka says it’ll work.
The governor adamantly has denied the Cari accusation, calling it “triple hearsay.” Neither he, Kelly nor Rezko has been accused of criminal wrongdoing. (Chicago Sun Times)
TRANSLATION:
“Triple hearsay” sounds a lot better than “three cooperating witnesses” or “three corroborating testimonies”.
“Enough is enough. I really think the people of Illinois deserve a straight and honest answer about your investigations and your legal bills,” Topinka, the state treasurer, said of Blagojevich. “This is a law firm that has a reputation for being very good at white-collar crime, so considering what we’ve just gone through with George Ryan, then you see this huge bill, it leads one to suppositions.” (Chicago Tribune)
TRANSLATION:
What the hell do I have to do to get people to notice that their governor is even being illegal about the way he fights his crimes in court. How am I losing to this guy??
“To the best of my knowledge, Winston & Strawn does not have a contract with the state of Illinois,” said Rebecca Rausch, a spokeswoman for the governor’s office. “Any other questions stemming from the financial information disclosed by the campaign needs to be directed to” the campaign. (Chicago Tribune)
TRANSLATION:
We’re guilty, guilty as sin.
“Every day there’s been another press release which has personal vitriol — 80 percent of them have nothing but venom directed toward me, toward my family…you called me King George. You said standing up to me was like fighting tyranny. Last time I checked, Tom, we hadn’t taxed any of your tea.” (New York Times)
TRANSLATION:
I don’t know why he’s so mad at me. I guess I shouldn’t have called his mother a terrorist whore. I should rethink my position on the legalization of marijuana.
“From what I can see, what happened to Con Ed was not deliberate…it is a company that has a national reputation as a very good utility that provides a very reliable service in the context of 8.1 million people in a very difficult underground environment.’’ (New York Times)
TRANSLATION:
I don’t have to run for re-election and I can say whatever I want.
“Reed left quickly but stopped to say he was pround of the race he ran. He said he had no plans to run for office again right now.”
http://politicalwire.com/archives/2006/07/18/in_georgia_reed_concedes_defeat.html
TRANSLATION:
I have a much better shot of landing in jail than of being elected to office at this point..
”The fact that our inspector general is finding wrongdoing is a good thing,” he said.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/elect/cst-nws-gov05.html
TRANSLATION:
The only way to defend the corruption in my administration is to be completely brazen and not look defensive in the least. It’s working so far…I’m killing Judy by 10 points.
