Rod R. Blagojevich is the 40th governor of Illinois. He was elected in 2002 and was re-elected in 2006. On December 9, 2008 he was arrested for attempting to sell President-elect Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat among other accusations.
This scandal has affected teachers and students at Vanguard School in many ways. Bobbie Felfe, school librarian, said, “When so many questions of character exist, you can't govern effectively, so anybody who’s a person of high character would step away from the job. You get stupid when you get greedy.”
Robert Struggles, a senior, said, “When people in power are corrupt, not only do we feel the effects of their individual acts, but they ruin something much more important. They destroy the fabric of society as they sew distrust into the lives of their people.”
Some of the students and teachers are upset with the fact that the man who is supposed to be helping our schools is stealing from them. Tedd Markos, a teacher, said, “Rod Blagojevich took money from Illinois education funds. He said that he planned to add more slot machines in Illinois casinos to compensate for the education fund that he took from. He’s a crook.”
To add on Liz Ojeda, a senior, said, “I can’t imagine why people would vote for a man that is clearly corrupt. He is a great example of someone who let’s power get to his head. It disgusts me that he has been stealing from our kid’s education funds. I hope they lock him up for a long time.”
Chicago is known for its corrupt politicians. Ardis Anzalone, Vanguard secretary, said it perfectly, “It’s a shame that Illinois can’t get out of the shadow of these corrupt politicians (like Rod’s the 1st?!) project to the rest of the country. Who can we trust at the state level? "
Story by Jaclyn Cimarusti
photo courtesy of photobucket
