Launching his second term, Democratic Gov. Blagojevich on Monday pledged an “activist government” concerned with the needs of working families and promised a major expansion of affordable health-care coverage without raising taxes.
In a day of pomp and restrained celebration, Blagojevich used his second inaugural to convey an understanding of the problems facing those who voted for him Nov. 7. He called his re-election victory “a mandate for action” and said he would work to reform a “regressive and unfair” tax system that favors corporations over people.
“You elected me four years ago to change things and focus our state government on the needs of people, and we’ve done that,” Blagojevich said. “I don’t believe you re-elected me to reverse course.”
Blagojevich listed his first-term accomplishments, including increasing minimum wage, expanding affordable health care and improvements in education. He said his administration has “turned things around” and “changed a system of government that was more interested in serving itself than the people it was supposed to serve.”
Notably absent from the governor’s address was any discussion of ethics, unlike his first inaugural. In his address four years ago, Blagojevich declared he would “govern as a reformer” following the scandal-scarred years of his predecessor, George Ryan. But Blagojevich now finds his administration the focus of several investigations into alleged wrongdoing.
Blagojevich’s speech led the inauguration of a slate of Chicago Democrats who swept statewide offices on Election Day.
Also inaugurated for new terms were incumbents Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan, Secretary of State Jesse White and Comptroller Dan Hynes, and the lone freshman, Alexi Giannoulias, the new state treasurer.
But even as the state’s one-party political leadership was formalized, it wasn’t unified.
House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President Emil Jones, both Chicago Democrats, are at odds over how to deal with electricity rate increases and legislative pay raises. Madigan, also state Democratic Party chairman, has feuded with Giannoulias, who was not the party-endorsed candidate for treasurer. Lisa Madigan, Michael Madigan’s daughter, has had differences with Blagojevich. And Blagojevich has, at one time or another, alienated virtually every prominent Democrat.
On Monday, the House speaker questioned whether the governor’s stated ambition to have Illinois lead the country “out of our national health-care crisis” amounted to another high-profile, potentially expensive Blagojevich program when the state’s finances remain shaky.
“I want to provide health care for everybody,” Madigan said. But, he added, “I recognize in Illinois there’s a constitutional obligation to balance the budget.”
Health care was a dominant part of the Blagojevich re-election agenda. Not only did he talk about his desire to push the state toward a broad, universal health care program, but he used his campaign and government offices to promote All Kids, a program he developed to provide state subsidized insurance for children.
“We can expand access to health care so that not just kids get coverage, but every family member has access to affordable, quality health care,” Blagojevich said.
