Word: topinka
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...politicians frequently return to the campaign trail on behalf of grateful candidates seeking an electoral boost. But former Illinois Governor George Ryan has become the focus of that state's current gubernatorial race in a quite different way. Both Democrat incumbent Governor Rod Blagojevich and GOP challenger Judy Baar Topinka, the three-term state treasurer, are scrambling to show that their opponent most closely resembles the disgraced one-term Republican now facing six and a half years in federal prison for corruption and fraud...
...evidence is scant that either politician is benefiting from the tactic, which lately has all but squeezed out meaningful discussion of issues like taxes, education and health care. Instead, in relentless TV ads, Blagojevich and Topinka have tried to impugn the ethical standards of the other by invoking Ryan, the current poster boy of scandal in a state where questionable patronage practices have rarely before been a political liability. Blagojevich uses old footage of Topinka, a former member of the Ryan administration, practically swooning as she praises the former governor as "a damn decent guy." Topinka, who has never been...
...Judy Baar Topinka, the current state treasurer and Blagojevich's Republican opponent in November's election, is not surprisingly among those who isn't buying the promises. "They present these program and plans, but the Governor's office jealously guards many details, leaving many in the legislature and others unclear about the real stakes here," said Topinka spokesman John McGovern. The critics' chief complaint is not that Blagojevich wants to insure all children or provide them with early education, but rather how it would be paid for at a time when the state is struggling financially...
...prosecutors throughout the state are hoping a change at the Governor's Mansion this fall can usher back the death penalty. While Democratic incumbent Rod Blagojevich has said Ryan's moratorium should remain in place, at least for the foreseeable future, his Republican challenger and state treasurer Judy Baar Topinka has hinted that enough safeguards have now been put into place for the death penalty to be reinstated...
...time to have a Governor who exercises authority in the way it was intended," said Topinka's running mate Joseph Birkett, the state's attorney in Republican DuPage County, who helped author some of the reforms in Illinois. "People felt betrayed by what Ryan...