July 17, 2008
The Communication Breakdown Between Governor and Mayor -- in Illinois
Glenn Reynolds is looking at this as a gun-control story, however, for Rhode Islanders, it serves reminder that tensions between Governors and Mayors can be more than simple partisan politics. …
Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) on Wednesday raised the possibility of bringing in state troopers or even the Illinois National Guard to help Chicago combat a recent increase in violent crime -- an offer that Mayor Richard Daley(D) didn't know was coming….Governor Blagojevich and Mayor Daley are both Democrats.
Blagojevich said Daley had not asked for help and he had not talked to the mayor about offering it, adding he would call Daley after he met later in the day with the state police, National Guard and others.Daley's office said the mayor did not know anything about Blagojevich's comments and did not know he was going to make them.
Sometimes, urban mayors just have different views about what’s important and what’s successful than do statewide officials.
The Illinois State Police are physically present in Chicago all the time,but they stay on the tollways.Unlike RI,there are lots of Illinois State Police.
The last time the National Guard was on the streets of Chicago was exactly 40 years ago,in August 1968 at the Democratic convention.Everyone knows how that worked out.Of course these National Guardsmen are war veterans,not the draft dodgers of those times.
I remember watching the Chicago debacle on tv at some relative's house in LA where I was spending my last week before shipping out for Vietnam.I was rooting for the cops.What else?
It was just a little rougher than Mineral Spring Avenue last August.