Governor-elect Rod Blagojevich has spent the days since his election reaching out to other state Democratic leaders, including a 2 1/2-hour lakefront lunch Friday with Mayor Richard Daley that included advice for Blagojevich’s transition team and discussion of transportation issues.
The pair emerged smiling and laughing Friday afternoon from a light lunch at the Chicago Yacht Club, where talk ranged from economic development to using Blagojevich’s remaining tenure as congressman from Chicago’s North Side to leverage more federal transportation dollars for Illinois.
But a leading topic was how Blagojevich planned to build his transition team, the mayor and the governor-elect said.
“I wanted to certainly pick his brain on how he was able to put together his administration, where he found some of his good, capable and quality people,” Blagojevich said.
“Like anything else,” Daley said, “you need quality people.”
Whether that included raiding members of Daley’s own administration–such as outgoing city Chief Financial Officer Walter Knorr, whose last day with the city was Friday–remained unclear.
“If people see opportunities [they go],” Daley said. “People go into the private sector, go to other public sectors, and I’ve got people leaving me. There are a lot of good people out there.”
Blagojevich also said he had talked at least once by phone with Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) and predicted he would have no trouble dealing with fellow Democrats in the legislature.
But, adding that he also hoped to work with state Republicans, Blagojevich said he felt his election was a mandate from Illinois voters to end bickering in Springfield, whether with the GOP or between leaders of the Democratic Party.
“I think the people of this state–the voters–gave us a direction Tuesday, and they said change that system,” Blagojevich said. “And that’s not just a message to me, it’s a message to the different leaders in Springfield, irrespective of their political parties.”
