Blago's sleaze reached into the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library

Governor Rod Blagojevich event taints the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield.

The Springfield Journal-Register caught up with Rick Beard.

The former director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum says hiring under Gov. Rod Blagojevich was "all about who the governor's office wants to anoint.'

"Any pretense that you’re hiring the best person necessarily, that you're conducting a search or that you’re really trying to hire quality and that's all that matters is absolute nonsense," said Rick Beard, who was fired from the museum post after being accused of shoplifting.

In one case, Beard said, the governor's office basically ordered that a one-time neighbor of a top Blagojevich aide from Decatur get a key marketing job.

But Blago closed one Lincoln site last month, and cut the hours of others in a budget cutting move.

Just in time for the Lincoln Bicentennial.

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