Rod "rocks"?

Blagojevich has created quite a buzz by making big claims about bold political "reform" legislation.

Rich Miller of Capitol Fax has thoughtful commentary.

I got a kick out of the Jack Franks quote Miller got from The Peoria Journal Star (Mike Ramsey):

"[Blagojevich is] the kind of politician who would cut down a redwood tree so that he could stand on the stump to talk about conservation," Franks said. "His rhetoric doesn't match his reality when it comes to campaign finance."

Here's the meat Miller's analyis:

The [Blagojevich] proposal, as I understand it now, is designed to give himself political cover so he can veto a real reform bill while posturing as a reformer. That way, nothing changes. He scares everyone off with a way-over-the-top reform bill that nobody can vote for and never has to alter his own behavior....

Same old, same old. Blame the bad, bad Legislature while painting himself as a reformer.

And Miller quotes the State Journal-Register approvingly:

But our concern is that he not stymie important reform by demanding only his reforms.

This is a case where the perfect could be the enemy of the good.

Here's my contribution to the discussion.

Dr. Ron Faucheux once told me the history of campaign finance reform is the history of incumbents passing rules to make it harder for challengers to unseat incumbents. Think about it. What goo-goo reform was ever enacted that didn't help the incumbents?

So what if Blagojevich is perfectly sincere about wanting to "clean-up" Illinois politics?

Doesn't he have a $10 million head start in the race? (More if you count Blagojevich having superior name recognition to his likely opponents.)

My analysis is slightly different than Miller's. I agree Blagojevich is probably being cynical. Miller thinks Blago's not willing to enact rules that limit contractor contributions. I suspect Blagojevich may be willing to enact this kind of limits, but he's motivated by keeping his potential GOP opponent from raising money from contractors in the general election.