From The Southern:
Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been ousted from office, but concerns regarding his appointments to the Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees remain prevalent.
Gov. Pat Quinn, who replaced Blagojevich after the state Senate removed him from office, said Friday his administration would take a serious look at all appointments to state boards made by his predecessor.
“We are going to look at everything,” Quinn said. “We are taking it one day at a time and one issue at a time, but we’re definitely going to take a look at that.”
Members of the Southern Illinois community continue to ask questions about board members and the campaign contributions they made to the legally embattled Blagojevich, as demonstrated by a letter from Laraine Wright of Carbondale on today’s Opinion page.
“These people are chosen to do the best they can do for the public university,” said Wright, who’s attempting to rally residents to Thursday’s board meeting. “That’s a lot of money, a lot of responsibility, and they need to take it seriously.”
An Associated Press article in January linked Frank William Bonan II, the board’s newest and youngest member, to $30,000 in campaign contributions his father and uncle netted for Blagojevich at a fundraiser in November, less than a month after his appointment to the board.
Bonan declined to comment when approached by a reporter for The Southern on Wednesday.
Other board members – including Chairman Roger Tedrick and trustee John Simmons – donated a total of at least $25,000.
None of the contributors are accused of wrongdoing.
An internal review conducted by the university’s general counsel determined all the board appointments were clean and not connected to contributions. SIU President Glenn Poshard said Thursday he understood where concerns would come from but said the university completed its duty in the investigation.
“I recognize the environment we’re in where everybody’s under suspicion if they gave anything,” Poshard said. “We did the due diligence that we could do in talking to our board members and asking the questions.”
Poshard said he and the board members have no say in new appointments and that responsibility rests in the hands of the governor. All the members of the board have professional qualities and excel in their respective industries, which could be a basis for appointment, he added…
Poshard. If due diligence existed at his university, his plagiarism would have disqualified him from SIU’s presidency.
Best friends from way back with Blago, Poshard is just the man to oversee this dumping ground for political hacks.
February 8th, 2009 at 9:33AM
Glenn Poshard spent his entire career in the same smoky backroom that Blagojevich was so unceremoniously ousted from. I didn’t know that anyone ever thought he ended up as SIU’s president any other way. Why is anyone asking him?
Due diligence exists in Illinois (Southern too), it’s just not permitted above a certain level of power.
February 8th, 2009 at 9:37AM
Yes, indeed, Pat The Reformer Quinn will get right on this, just as Rod The Straight Arrow and George The Crusader Ryan did.