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| GOP Rips Ill. Governor's Use of Prison Workers to Monitor TV Newscasts |
| By Chicago Sun-Times |
| Published: 08/06/2003 |
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A top aide to Gov. Blagojevich defended the practice, saying it was an inexpensive means for him to stay abreast of all state news aired on local TV outside the Chicago area. But at a time when the prison agency work force has shrunk by nearly 2,500 because of layoffs and early retirements, Republicans ridiculed the initiative, saying it is a device designed to appeal to the Democratic governor's 'vanity.' 'With this budget as it is--you've got the attorney general laying people off, the treasurer laying people off--and you've got state employees monitoring TVs to see how the governor is doing. This smacks of hypocrisy,' said Jason Gerwig, an Illinois Republican Party spokesman. The sniping comes amid a bitter squabble between Blagojevich and other state constitutional officeholders, upon whom he imposed budget cuts. State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, who has assailed Blagojevich for his recent budget-cutting, is chairwoman of the state GOP. Blagojevich spokeswoman Cheryle Jackson cast aside criticism of a program designed to inexpensively apprise the governor of local issues affecting all corners of the state. She said there is no cost to taping or shipping tapes. 'We're in here bringing change to an old way of doing business. We're making government more accountable, more transparent and more responsible to the people of Illinois,' she said, when asked the purpose of the taping. Under the taping program overseen by Blagojevich's director of special projects, Seth Webb, a supervisor reviews taped television broadcasts each day and ships pertinent state-related news to the governor's office in Chicago or another office in Springfield. While previous governors have done the same thing, monitoring of TV news has intensified under Blagojevich, a prison system spokesman said. 'I wouldn't tell you we were taping all these newscasts under other administrations, not as many as now,' said Sergio Molina, an Illinois Department of Corrections spokesman. Molina could not specify a cost for the manpower expended through the program or say how it related to the prison system's main mission, guarding inmates. |
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