I joined the editorial board of The State Journal-Register three months before the election of Rod Blagojevich as the state's first Democratic governor in 26 years. Blagojevich's predecessor, George Ryan, finished his single term under a cloud as federal investigators looked into wrongdoing in his administration and during the time he served as Secretary of State. Hopes were high in Illinois that Blagojevich, who campaigned on a theme of ending "business as usual" in Illinois, would help the state shake its reputation for political corruption. Needless to say, Blagojevich didn't live up to that promise and I wrote reams of editorials during his tenure. I will be posting many of those as I continue to build this site. For now, here is what I did just after his arrest in December 2008.
