Jim Ryan is in fight mode. He wants to govern the fifth-largest state in the nation, so that’s to be expected. What’s surprising is that he’s playing defense.
For Ryan, and for his Republican Party, the battle over rights to the governor’s office has turned into something of a nail-biter, at least through the early rounds. And this has party strategists sweating. What’s more, as the GOP’s leading contender, Ryan shoulders substantial responsibility for the success of his party’s entire statewide slate, and much will depend on his ability to draw supporters to the polls on Election Day.
But this has been an unexpected come-from-behind match for Ryan. The early odds seemed to favor his chances. After all, Republicans have held the Executive Mansion since 1977. And a year ago, few would have predicted the two-term Illinois attorney general, who enjoys positive name recognition throughout the state, would now be considered the underdog against Democrat Rod Blagojevich, a congressman who before this race was little known outside his North Side Chicago district.
Yet the Republican nominee is behind in fundraising, in major endorsements and in most polls. He faces some fairly daunting challenges before November 5.
The biggest is one he inherited: He’ll have to find a way to overcome the negative images that continue to cling to prominent members of his own party, among them the GOP incumbent governor, George Ryan. Throughout Ryan’s tenure in the Executive Mansion, the federal government has continued to investigate corrupt activities alleged to have taken place in the secretary of state’s office while it was under Ryan’s control. Though the governor has not been accused of wrongdoing, Operation Safe Road, as the investigation is called, has produced 57 defendants and 47 convictions. Jim Ryan, no relation to the governor, says George Ryan should explain his role in alleged corruption or step down.
But Operation Safe Road is not the GOP’s only problem. Illinois House Minority Leader Lee Daniels resigned as chairman of the state Republican Party this summer amid allegations his legislative staff did campaign work on state time.
The GOP’s challenges are clear. A poll released in late August put Ryan more than 14 points behind Blagojevich.
The survey of 814 likely Illinois voters, conducted by Utica, N.Y.-based Zogby International for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, found that 48.6 percent of the respondents would vote for Blagojevich compared to 34 percent for Ryan.
Just as telling, in the same poll, Gov. Ryan registered a 69 percent disapproval rating. A more recent poll conducted by the Chicago Tribune underlines one of Jim Ryan’s problems. That poll, also conducted in August, shows a 17 percent gap in Blagojevich’s favor until the distinction between Jim Ryan and George Ryan is made clear, when it narrows to 10 percent.
“It’s unfortunate that Gov. Ryan has had the difficulties he’s had,” says former Republican Gov. Jim Edgar. “If that wasn’t here, I think Jim Ryan would have a 10-point lead in the polls. There’s no doubt in my mind.”
Of course, what troubles the Republicans boosts the Democrats. “If a ‘time for change’ argument is going to work anywhere, it’s going to work in Illinois,” says John Kohut, gubernatorial race analyst at the Washington-based Cook Political Report. The report favors Blagojevich, he says, because Jim Ryan has been unable to get his message heard over coverage of Republican Party-related scandal. “It’s like Ryan just can’t get a break.”
Blagojevich’s remarkably strong showing is an advantage rarely enjoyed by past Democratic candidates for governor. And as the perceived front-runner, he’s positioned to attract even more money and support. In politics, this perception tends to become a self-fulfilling
prophesy. Especially when it comes to the money. At the end of June, the Blagojevich campaign had spent $8.6 million over the course of the past year, while Ryan’s campaign spent $8.4 million. But these numbers may be more to the point: Going into the official start of the campaign, Blagojevich had $3.8 million left in the bank, while Ryan had $689,809. Both campaigns say they are raising more.
Those dollars likely will go toward paid media as both campaigns attempt to dominate the air waves in the final weeks before Election Day. But for the most part the candidates’ strategies seem set. And, in that regard, Ryan, a former Golden Gloves boxer, has been forced to assume a defensive posture.
One of Ryan’s central themes is that voters should support him and the rest of his party as a way to prevent Chicago Democrats from controlling state government. The success of this message, which has played well in past statewide campaigns, rests on stoking voters’ fears. Ryan struck this chord last summer at the Illinois State Fair, the unofficial launch of Illinois campaigns. During a live sit-down interview, Ryan suggested to Sports Radio 1450, an AM station based in Springfield, that voters should be on guard. Democrats, he noted, run the Illinois House, where Chicagoan Michael Madigan is speaker. Democrats are poised to win the Senate, too, where Chicagoan Emil Jones is in line to become president.
Painting Democratic control of the Senate — and therefore the entire General Assembly — as all but certain, Ryan said, “Right now, with reapportionment, we’ll probably lose the legislature. That’s the likelihood.”
Further, Chicago Democrats Jesse White and Dan Hynes hold the secretary of state’s office and the comptroller’s office, respectively. Chicago Democrat Tom Dart is running a strong race for state treasurer. Sen. Lisa Madigan, the speaker’s daughter and another Chicago Democrat, is a candidate for attorney general. And Democrats hold five of the Illinois Supreme Court’s seven seats.
Portraying the Democrats as greedy, Ryan said, “Now they want the executive branch.”
Then he suggested Chicagoans would focus on Cook County’s needs but neglect those of the remaining 101 counties. “Now I love Chicago,” he said, “and believe me, I’m not trying to pit one part of the state against another. But come on, there’s not one member of the Democratic state ticket that’s even from [suburban] Cook County. Well, what about the other 101 counties?
Who will be representing them?”
Of course, the GOP candidates for statewide office don’t hale from every major region of the state, either.
The party’s candidate for lieutenant governor, Sen. Carl Hawkinson, is from Galesburg. And Kris O’Rourke Cohn, the party’s nominee for secretary of state, lives in Rockford. The remaining candidates, including Ryan, live in the suburban region around Chicago.
Yet Ryan hits the partisan bottom line: “We need a Republican governor, frankly, to veto legislation that will be bad for the state.” He puts the former Structural Work Act in that category. The law, repealed in 1995 when Republicans controlled both chambers of the legislature, provided construction workers in “extra-hazardous” conditions with avenues of compensation for injuries outside worker’s compensation. Blagojevich supports re-enacting the law.
Jim Ryan does have a compelling story to tell, though he faces difficulty in getting that story out. He’s a more seasoned campaigner and a more experienced officeholder. Ryan ran for statewide office three times previously, losing his first race for attorney general in 1990 to Democrat Roland Burris. He won election to the post in 1994 and was re-elected in 1998. Before becoming chief legal officer for the state, Ryan, who lives in Elmhurst, served three terms as DuPage County state’s attorney.
A string of personal tragedies does appear to have struck a chord with voters, as well. Last November, he was diagnosed with his third bout of cancer in five years. A growth behind his right ear was removed and was determined to be a form of lymphoma, though less aggressive than his earlier lymphomas. His doctors reported that his condition has been treated.
In 1997, Ryan lost his 12-year-old daughter Anne Marie to an undetected noncancerous tumor at the base of her head and faced the near-death of his wife, Marie, to a cardiac arrest.
“I want my life to count,” Ryan says. “I’ve had a lot of adversity in my life.
I can make a difference in this job of governor.”
Gary MacDougal, the new chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, adds, “Here’s a guy you can trust. He’s got the character, whether it came out of his upbringing or the battle with cancer, or whatever. He’s a guy that wants to make a difference.”
Ryan has used his position as the state’s chief legal officer to try to make some difference on a few fronts. One was an anti-trust lawsuit against Microsoft Corp., which he joined. His office also issued an opinion last year that prevailing union wages must be paid on Illinois First infrastructure construction jobs. He caught heat from the business community in both instances. Still, the Illinois Chamber of Commerce endorsed him and his running mate, state Sen. Carl Hawkinson, in this race.
Ryan also followed the lead of other states by joining a landmark lawsuit against the tobacco industry. Illinois won an expected $9.1 billion settlement that has helped fund property tax rebates and a series of public health initiatives. On that issue, though, he continues to face criticism for his handling of the legal fees. One of the outside law firms he hired was Freeborn & Peters, where Ryan’s friend Fred Foreman is a partner. The attorney general initially agreed to pay Freeborn & Peters and other outside lawyers representing the state 10 percent of whatever Illinois got in the lawsuit, which would be as much as $910 million. He now argues outside counsel are entitled to no more than the $121 million in fees they received from a national arbitration panel. The dispute over roughly $800 million in fees remains in court.
Not long after taking office, he demonstrated a willingness to buck forces within his own party. He blocked GOP Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka’s plan to settle more than $40 million in outstanding state loans for $10 million. The state loans in question had been given to powerful Republican fundraiser William Cellini and bipartisan political donor Gary Fears to develop hotels in Springfield and Collinsville in the early 1980s. But after a lengthy period of skipped loan repayments, Topinka argued the investors should be allowed to pay what she believed the hotels were worth by her calculations. Ryan halted that agreement, producing estimates by the University of Illinois that valued the hotels at closer to $20 million.
The hotels remain in operation, but the state has yet to be repaid.
Similarly, this summer Ryan threatened to stand in the way of a settlement between the Illinois Gaming Board and Emerald Casino Inc. The board denied the company’s application for a license after accusing its officers of lying to the board and selling shares to mob-connected investors. Ryan objected to a provision in the proposed settlement that would have let Emerald recoup profit from its sale of the license.
A subsequent settlement calls for all of Emerald’s investors to get their money back and for some Emerald creditors to be repaid. Ryan indicated support for this agreement. But Rosemont, the village that expected to host Emerald’s casino, sued to void the settlement.
Meanwhile, Ryan’s efforts at getting his proposals through the General Assembly and past the governor’s desk have had mixed results. He succeeded in winning the Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act, which permits the state to keep convicted sex offenders in civil confinement indefinitely. And he successfully promoted a law requiring repeat rapists to serve life in prison.
But in the past year, he’s been unable to win approval of his anti-terrorism package. The bill would create several new crimes and enhance the investigatory powers of law enforcement officials. It has passed the legislature twice since last year’s terrorist attacks, but the governor vetoed it in both instances. The sticking point: a provision that would make terrorists who kill eligible for the death penalty. The governor wants lawmakers to first consider recommendations for reforming the administration of the death penalty that were advanced by his commission. He tacked some of those recommendations onto the bill and sent it back to lawmakers.
The attorney general says he will do his “utmost” during the legislature’s fall veto session to get his own provisions into law.
As a manager, Jim Ryan gets good marks. He evidently was effective in reorganizing the office he inherited from Burris.
The state auditor general reported in a routine audit that the office, under Burris’ command, mismanaged $716,070 worth of computer database contracts. All told, auditors said the office either did not meet mandates for performance or violated accounting principles in 11 instances.
When Ryan took over in 1995, the office abandoned the database projects, created a new position with responsi- bility over contract management, and enhanced its contract review process. The most recent audit, published last summer, reported no findings of noncompliance.
Yet controversial policy decisions do seem to follow Ryan. The longest-running criticism stems from his career as a prosecutor. In his previous post as DuPage County state’s attorney, Ryan presided over much of the prosecution of Rolando Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez, who were convicted and sentenced to death for the 1983 murder of Jeanine Nicarico. Both men later were cleared of the crime, providing important fuel to Gov. Ryan’s morator-ium on state executions.
Jim Ryan was not implicated in wrongdoing. And the Cruz case has not played a prominent role in the gubernatorial race. Nor has the ongoing battle over tobacco legal fees. Instead, Blagojevich has kept heat on him for not investigating allegations of corruption in George Ryan’s secretary of state’s office. Ryan responds that he didn’t want to impede a federal investigation.
When he does take the offensive, he’s fond of citing a Chicago Tribune report that Blagojevich missed more than half the votes in the U.S. House last spring. “If you missed work every other day, would your boss give you a promotion?” Ryan asks. “I don’t think so.” The Blagojevich camp responds that the congressman is dividing his time between Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.
Rod Blagojevich, who also is a former Golden Gloves boxer, has made a name for himself in Washington, D.C. He pushed for a national sales tax holiday and voted for an airport security plan that makes screeners in most airports federal employees.
He has focused much of his effort in Congress on gun control, including his call for a ban on civilian sales of .50-caliber long-range military sniper rifles. He helped get $1.25 million allocated to trace guns found at crime sites. And he filed legislation requiring gun show promoters to perform background checks on gun purchasers.
In 1997, he blasted the U.S. Navy’s plan to ship napalm through the Chicago area. The plan was cancelled.
But Blagojevich, who is of Serbian descent, is perhaps best known for traveling to that country in 1999 with the Rev. Jesse Jackson to negotiate the release of three American soldiers.
Still, Ryan’s camp points out that since Blagojevich won his first of three terms in Congress in 1995, only one bill for which he was the lead sponsor has been signed into law. That bill, approved two years ago by former President Bill Clinton, renamed a post office in Chicago.
Blagojevich aides respond that the congressman co-sponsored numerous bills and amendments. They note that, with Democrats in the U.S. House minority, major legislation leaving that chamber tends to be sponsored by Republicans. “That’s a reflection of the way the system works in Washington, as much as anything, when you’re a relatively new member of the minority party in the House of Representatives,” says David Stricklin, chief of staff in Blagojevich’s congressional office.
In Springfield, where Blagojevich served two terms in the Illinois House, he was one of the first state lawmakers to push for a truth-in-sentencing law, under which the worst violent offenders must serve 85 percent to 100 percent of their sentences. He was a Cook County prosecutor before joining the General Assembly.
Indeed, Blagojevich has all but usurped Ryan’s status as the candidate most dedicated to law enforcement. Ryan is a career prosecutor who also was a proponent of truth-in-sentencing. Yet the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police, the state’s largest police organization, endorsed Blagojevich and his running mate, former state Treasurer Pat Quinn of Chicago.
FOP leaders argue Blagojevich is a strong proponent of hiring more police, buying more equipment for them and boosting their pensions.
Ted Street, the group’s president, says Ryan’s decision not to investigate alleged corruption in the secretary of state’s office was among the FOP’s considerations in choosing Blagojevich. The attorney general, who won the group’s endorsement during his race last spring, called FOP leaders “union bosses” who sold out members.
Blagojevich faces a few controversies of his own. Chicago Ald. Dick Mell, a powerful North Side ward boss and Blagojevich’s father-in-law, is widely believed to be pulling the strings behind Blagojevich’s primary campaign. Thus, the congressman has been forced to defend his independence.
“Why should people believe that Rod Blagojevich, who basically learned his politics at the knee of a Chicago ward boss, is gonna change the political culture of this state?” Ryan asks. “I don’t buy it.”
But the success of Blagojevich’s primary race, and his current campaign, do not rest on Mell alone. The congressman also has support from such high-profile figures as U.S. Rep. William Lipinski, a Chicago Democrat. Sub-sequent to the March primary, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley signed on as Blagojevich’s campaign chair.
Labor organizations, including the Illinois AFL-CIO, also are behind him. “We’ve said [in previous election cycles] we can do it this time,” Margaret Blackshere, the union’s president, told a crowded Democratic rally, referring to a potential Democratic sweep this fall. “Folks, brothers and sisters, we can do it this time.”
And Blagojevich’s support spans the state. Democratic officials in the Metro East region, including state Rep. Jay Hoffman of Collinsville and U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello of Belleville, also play an integral part in Blagojevich’s effort. That region, across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, is the state’s largest Democratic stronghold behind Chicago.
But Gov. George Ryan has affected this race to a great degree. Both candidates are defining their campaigns, to some extent, in relation to his administration. In addition to promising to raise “ethical standards,” they both say the state budget, which grew by $14 billion to almost $52.5 billion over Gov. Ryan’s term, contains wasteful programs and should be reprioritized. (It should be noted that while “all funds” appropriations, which encompass a variety of appropriations and reappropriations, grew $14 billion from Edgar’s last budget to the current one, general funds appropriations, which include only state spending, grew less than $3 billion from $19.9 billion to $22.3 billion.)
Both also are critical of so-called member initiatives — unspecified projects that are divided among individual members. But on this and other matters, the candidates offer vague proposals for change. For example, they suggest that a widely publicized $300,000 appropriation for a livestock show run by a former classmate of Madigan’s was irresponsible when lawmakers struggled last spring to balance the state budget.
“Those member initiatives are precisely the things that should be on the back burner and are not the kind of priority that I would make if I were governor,” Blagojevich says. “The decisions I would make would be focused on improving schools, growing our economy and making sure that we protect our public properly.”
And both candidates say they would oppose increases in the state sales or income tax. “We have to spend less and save more,” says Ryan, who wants to create a panel to examine how to improve the budget.
Ryan and Blagojevich say they support the death penalty but that the governor’s moratorium is appropriate while the system is being examined. And they each vow to make education and health care funding top priorities.
Then there are the differences.
The candidates don’t agree on how to expand Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. Blagojevich supports expansion consistent with an agreement between Gov. Ryan and Chicago Mayor Daley, which would add new runways and reconfigure existing runways. Jim Ryan does not support displacing homeowners in Bensenville, which would be required to implement that agreement.
The centerpiece of Ryan’s economic development plan is easing business growth with business-friendly laws. “Government does not create jobs,” he says repeatedly. “Business creates jobs.” Blagojevich’s plan comes down to collecting and pumping venture capital into Illinois.
Both oppose legal recognition of same-sex marriages, though Blagojevich supports extending insurance benefits to domestic partners of gay public employees.
And both have positions they don’t want to talk about.
Ryan opposes abortion except in cases where the mother’s life is at risk. But he plays down this position, saying the governor cannot overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. Blagojevich supports abortion rights.
For his part, Blagojevich sponsored state legislation to raise the fee for a firearm owner’s identification card — an unpopular move among gun owners. The bill died, but Blagojevich has difficulty making this footnote go away. He says he would no longer support such an increase.
Of course, running the executive branch is more complex than the candidates portray it to be. When the governor wants to affect policy, he must deal with two chambers of the legislature. All the while, he must navigate other political currents and a national economy no governor can control.
Gov. Ryan, infuriated with the candidates’ focus on him, says, “If Jim Ryan gets elected governor, he’ll find out what it takes to be governor and have a better understanding of what it’s all about. And I think that’s true with Rod Blagojevich as well.”
For at least the next two months, though, the candidates will be focused on winning, not governing. At the State Fair, the political parties collected their candidates and rallied their troops before the fall campaign season.
But as the Democrats consider the prospect of winning the governor’s mansion — and the Republicans consider the possibility of losing it — there were stark differences in tone between their respective supporters.
The Democrats, in a rally on the lawn of the fair director’s home, displayed an energy not seen in recent history. Even the usually reserved House Speaker Madigan, chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party, took to the stage to pump a broom over his head, a symbol of sweeping the other party out of office.
In contrast, the GOP’s gathering on the director’s lawn resembled a support group meeting as much as a political rally. Two former GOP governors used their time on stage to help Republicans feel better about their chance at victory.
Edgar told the crowd not to be discouraged by poll numbers. He said that historically in Illinois, one gubernatorial candidate has a “big lead” going into the fall, but that lead diminishes by November. “No matter what the polls may say right now, come November, this is gonna be a tight election and it’s gonna be decided by a few thousand votes.”
He encouraged supporters to help GOP campaigns by rousing friends and neighbors. “Television commercials are nice, newspaper stories are good, but personal endorsements are still the most important thing in Illinois politics,” he said.
And former Gov. Jim Thompson urged Republicans to look beyond scandal: “We all need to pull together between now and Election Day. We all need to look past the controversy and cynicism and suspicion and focus on the positive message of our candidates and our party.”
In a strange move, he apologized for Jim Ryan’s serious disposition. “Sometimes people say to me, ‘That Jim Ryan, he’s not very exciting, is he?’ I say I don’t know whether he is or isn’t. He’s not me; he doesn’t jump onto people’s porches and grab beers out of their refrigerators and run from one end of the parade to the other and do silly things from time to time. But I’ll tell you what’s exciting,” Thompson said, striking a solemn tone. “His ideas are exciting.”
But then, Blagojevich isn’t especially funny either. When introducing Demo-crat Daniel Hynes, state comptroller and one of youngest constitutional officers in state history, Blagojevich said he’s “a young man, just got out of high school a couple years ago.” About Dart, the Democrat running for treasurer and Blagojevich’s former Springfield roommate, he said: “He didn’t do the dishes; he never made his bed.”
Still, while Blagojevich careened around the fairgrounds, shaking hands and kissing babies before television cameras, Ryan’s sense of humor was the subject of a former governor’s pep talk.
Ryan makes no excuses for being a serious character, though. He told Sports Radio 1450, the Springfield station, that Edgar’s similarly sober personality didn’t prevent him from being successful as chief executive. He added that as attorney general, he deals with “serious” issues such as murder and fraud. “And to be smiling about these issues doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
Then he concluded, without so much as cracking a grin, “I’ve raised six kids.
I think I have a good sense of humor. Don’t you think I’m a funny guy?”At that, Sam Madonia, the radio show’s host, grabbed his chest and nearly fell from his seat.
Illinois Issues, October 2002
