Rod Blagojevich
Rod R. Blagojevich Audio file "Blagojevich.ogg" not found (born December 10, 1956) is an American politician from the state of Illinois. A moderate Democrat, Blagojevich served as a representative of Chicago in the United States Congress and was later elected Governor of Illinois, an office he holds today. He is the first Serbian American to be elected governor of any state of the United States. Blagojevich is married to the former Patricia Mell, daughter of Chicago Alderman Richard Mell. The couple has two daughters, Amy and Anne. Anne was born just months after her father was sworn in as governor.
Education
Blagojevich was born and raised in Chicago's northwest side in a working-class family. His father was a former Chetnik who immigrated to the United States and found work as a steel plant laborer. Blagojevich spent much of his childhood working odd jobs to help the family survive. He was a shoe shiner and pizza delivery boy before working at a meat packing plant. In order to afford college, Blagojevich worked at the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline System as a dishwasher. When he was not at work, Blagojevich found time to become an accomplished Golden Gloves boxer. Upon graduating from a local high school, he enrolled at Northwestern University in suburban Evanston where he obtained his bachelor's degree in 1979. He briefly left the state to attend Pepperdine University Law School where he obtained his doctorate of jurisprudence in 1983. Upon his return to Chicago, Blagojevich entered the legal profession in the public sector. He served as Cook County Assistant State's Attorney, prosecuting domestic abuse crimes and felony weapons cases.
Legislator
With the backing of his father-in-law, Dick Mell, Blagojevich ran for a seat in the Illinois General Assembly and won in 1992. Most of his legislative accomplishments centered around crime and justice issues. He took from his experiences as a prosecutor to pass laws that he argued would strengthen the state's judicial system and cut down on crime.
The Fifth Congressional District, in which Blagojevich lived, had long been represented by powerful Chicago Congressman Daniel Rostenkowski, who served as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. However, following his loss in the 1994 Republican Revolution (Rostenkowski had been plagued by ethical issues), the overwhelimingly Democratic district was represented by Republican Mike Flanagan. However, in 1996, Blagojevich defeated Flanagan with support from his father-in-law, and went on to serve three terms in the United States House of Representatives. (Following Blagojevich's ascencion to the governor's office, the Fifth District elected former Clinton aide and 1992 financial chief Rahm Emanuel. Emanuel was chosen to head the DCCC for the 2006 election cycle.)
Representing the state's fifth Congressional district, Blagojevich continued to champion anti-crime measures, especially with his authoring and sponsoring of gun control legislation. In general, though, he was not known as a particularly active Congressman. Blagojevich was thrust into international prominence in the late 1990s when he traveled with Jesse Jackson to Belgrade in the former Yugoslavia to negotiate the release of American prisoners of war with dictator Slobodan Milosevic.
Governor
In 2002, Blagojevich ran for his party's nomination to become governor. Blagojevich won a close primary campaign against former state Attorney General Roland Burris, whose base was African American voters, and Chicago Public Schools Superintendent Paul Vallas, whose base was white liberals. Blagojevich won the primary by dominating among downstate Democrats.
In the general election, Blagojevich defeated Republican Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan handily. Ethics scandals had plagued the previous administration of Republican George Ryan (no relation to Jim), and Blagojevich's campaign focused on the theme of "ending business as usual" in state government.
After the 2002 elections, Democrats had control of the House, Senate, and all but one statewide office. Blagojevich has since signed numerous pieces of progressive legislation such as ethics reform, death penalty reform, a state Earned Income Tax Credit, and expansions of health programs like KidCare and FamilyCare. Blagojevich signed a bill in 2005 that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, housing, public accommodations, and credit.
Despite an annual budget crunch, Blagojevich has overseen an increase in funding for health care and education every year without raising general sales or income taxes. Still, many critics claim that he is simply passing the state's fiscal problems on to future generations by borrowing his way to balanced budgets. Indeed, the 2005 state budget called for paying the bills by shorting state employees' pension fund by $1.2 billion. Republicans say the Governor has imposed too many new taxes on business and has failed to do enough to curb spending. Many Democrats say the Governor should solve the state's long-term budget problems by supporting a more progressive tax code.
A major event of 2005 has been Blagojevich's feud with father-in-law Mell. The feud went public when Blagojevich shut down a landfill owned by a distant cousin of Patti Blagojevich for envoirnmental problems and it was revealed that Mell had served as an advisor to the cousin. Legislation was eventually passed giving the Illinois Envoirnmental Protection Agency more authority over landfills and preventing relatives of top Illinois officials from own landfills. In June, Mell served as honorary co-chairmen of an event for state Representative Jack Franks, a longtime Blagojevich critic and rumored primary challenger.
Future
Blagojevich is considered a skilled campaigner who may have presidential ambitions. With the defeat of John Kerry in 2004, Blagojevich was one of many Democrats mentioned as a potential presidential contender in the next election. Blagojevich has not commented publicly on this possiblity.
In the months since the Democrats' presidential defeat, Blagojevich has faced tumbling approval ratings in Illinois, and his name has gradually slipped out of the spotlight of potential Democratic candidates for president, while others, such as Mark Warner, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden have asserted themselves much more as presidential candidates. Many believe Blagojevich may be a candidate for vice president on the 2008 Democratic ticket.