Blending Politics and Government, UPDATED X1
1 comment January 29th, 2008
Chicago Sun-Times columnist Lynn Sweet got Gov. Blagojevich’s attention when she noted on Monday that Blagojevich was the sole Illinois constitutional officer not appearing at an event for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, the presidential contender and this state’s favorite son.
She suggested the Obama campaign didn’t want the governor around because of the heat regarding his connections to indicted fundraiser Tony Rezko, who was arrested Monday. Rezko was a top fundraiser and adviser for Blagojevich. (Obama also enjoyed support from Rezko, as did many Chicago-area politicos.)
Later, Sweet reported that she received a quick response from Blagojevich’s press office, which she also posted on her blog.
Blagojevich spokesman Abby Ottenhoff called to say that the Obama campaign has given Blagojevich an assignment, to woo six Democratic governors for Obama.
She also said that a new poll from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch shows the governor has better ratings than the legislature and asked that this be noted.
So much for Blagojevich’s taxpayer-funded staff not handling political matters. Isn’t there supposed to be some divide between politics and government.
But there was Ottenhoff, the governor’s taxpayer-funded spokeswoman, responding by noting two clearly political points — the governor’s “assignment” from the Obama campaign and the poll. Where was Blagojevich’s campaign spokesman, Doug Scofield?
Oh look, here’s Rebecca Rausch, the governor’s other taxpayer-funded spokeswoman, weighing in on the same matter.
Instead, they said Blagojevich was asked to call Democratic governors who’ve yet to endorse a presidential candidate and lobby them to back Obama. Blagojevich got that assignment because it’s something only he can do among the statewide officers, governor spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch said.
Ottenhoff and Rausch did not respond to requests for comment.
UPDATED X1 :
Jay Stewart, of the watchdog group Better Government Association, returned my call last night, but I had already left the office. Here is his take on it:
Stewart said while spokespeople such as Rausch and Ottenhoff can respond to questions from the press about political topics, they should probably refer the question to the politician’s campaign.
“If they get a question about it, it doesn’t mean they can’t talk about it. It just means they should refer it to … the Friends of Blagojevich (campaign),” Stewart said.
But he said taxpayer-funded spokespeople who actively reach out to the press about political subjects have crossed a line.
“To the extent they start answering the questions about political activity and not referring to the Friends of Blagojevich, they are probably getting into some uncharted territory,” Stewart said. “To the extent that they are reaching out to reporters to spin them on it, that strikes me as you’ve crossed the line.”
Sweet mentioned in her blog that she received a call from Ottenhoff about her post, but it is unclear whether Rausch was simply responding to questions from the Chicago Tribune.
