Democratic Gov. Blagojevich and Republican challenger Judy Baar Topinka questioned each other’s ethical credentials Monday night in a debate reflecting a campaign that has focused on the issue of who can gain voters’ trust.
Topinka contended candidates across the Nov. 7 ballot were facing public cynicism as a result of the actions of Blagojevich and his predecessor, disgraced former Republican Gov. George Ryan.
Blagojevich defended his administration’s record on ethics by creating an investigative inspector general, and he labeled Topinka “Gov. Ryan’s treasurer” for not standing up to her fellow Republican during his scandal-tarred tenure as governor.
Topinka again contended Blagojevich is the unnamed “Public Official A” cited in a plea agreement involving allegations of corruption related to the state’s teacher retirement board, something he has denied.
“If she wants to talk about Public Official A, it’s Treasurer Topinka. She was absent when George Ryan did all of those things, didn’t say a word, never lifted a finger, was asleep at the switch,” Blagojevich said.
“You have the most investigated administration in the history of the state of Illinois, bar none,” Topinka responded.
Noting Blagojevich’s 4-year-old campaign promises to clean up government, she said, “I don’t know that you’ve really done what you promised, and you did promise.”
Meeting face-to-face for nearly an hour in a statewide radio debate sponsored by the Illinois Radio Network and broadcast from Millikin University, Blagojevich and Topinka spent the first 10 minutes trying to link the other to Ryan, who was sentenced to 6Q years in prison last month on federal corruption charges.
Blagojevich has sought to tie Topinka, the three-term state treasurer, to an old-guard Republican establishment that embraced Ryan’s candidacy for governor eight years ago. Topinka has contended that myriad federal and state investigations into hiring, contracting and fundraising under Blagojevich threaten a repeat of Ryan’s scandal-tarred tenure.
“You have to remember how bad things were four years ago–Gov. Ryan was our governor. It’s pretty obvious all of the things that happened to him,” Blagojevich said. “Four years later, I think we’re a much better place, largely because we passed landmark ethics legislation at the end of my first year as governor.”
But Topinka called Blagojevich’s actions as governor “disgraceful” and said he has done little to fix corruption.
The two major candidates for governor also disagreed on issues ranging from the state’s questionable fiscal health to how to improve education and health care.
In a rare moment of agreement, both Blagojevich and Topinka said they felt the General Assembly should have a special session to freeze a planned hike in electricity rates that’s supposed to increase electric bills by more than 20 percent in Chicago and 50 percent Downstate.
A third candidate on the Nov. 7 ballot, Green Party contender Richard Whitney, was not invited to participate in the debate. The Carbondale attorney joined a few dozen supporters outside the debate site to protest his exclusion. “I have better ideas than they do,” Whitney said prior to the debate.
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Coming up
A second debate between Gov. Blagojevich and challenger Judy Baar Topinka is scheduled for Oct. 26, to be broadcast by PBS (WTTW-Ch. 11).
