Ill. Gov. Blagojevich's office hides new subpoenas

The mandate we claim today from the people of Illinois and for the people of Illinois is simple and clear -- no more business as usual. Governor Rod Blagojevich from his 2003 inauguration address.

Blagojevich, metaphorically speaking, was pointing his finger at his predecessor, Republican George Ryan.

Could it be, however, that Blago meant that corruption in Illinois would get worse under his watch?

From today's Chicago Sun-Times:

Gov. Blagojevich's administration has been hit with new subpoenas in a federal probe of its hiring practices but is concealing them from its own department heads and voters as election season heats up.

After the new subpoenas began arriving in late June, the governor's top lawyer, William Quinlan, sent internal memos asking agency chiefs and other top officials for lists of all human resources employees and computer equipment they used. He also ordered them to preserve a wide range of computer backup devices that "must not be deleted, overwritten, destroyed or modified in any manner."

But the June 28 memos made no mention of the subpoenas, even though both sets of documents asked for similar information. The Chicago Sun-Times reviewed language in the subpoenas and obtained copies of the memos from sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Chicago Democrat is up for re-election this year; he's referred to as "Public Official A" in legal documents generated by the office of US Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald. Not good.

I guess "no more business as usual" meant to Blagojevich that his pals, not George Ryan's, would benefit from the largesse of Illinois government.

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