Tune of the Week for 02/02/09 -- Megadeth, Symphony of Destruction

This post's about the whole Illinois governor mess.

I could say a whole lot about Blogagagoyuck. I could talk about the nefarious way he got into politics to begin with (yeah, we in Illinois had to watch this dork go from "husband of woman whose daddy was important" to frickin' governor of our fine state). I could talk about watching him go from bad, to worse, to criminal. I could talk about how he totally snubbed Pat Quinn, then lieutenant governor, and was never even seen with him in public.

But instead, I'm going to talk about our new governor, Mr. Pat Quinn. The dude is awesome. I can actually say that, were I to telephone him and say, "Mr. Governor, this is Dave Snyder," he would know me. We worked in the same building for a couple of years, and I sometimes found myself in his neat office-the-size-of-a-closet, asking him for advice on a property tax appeal. He did the same kind of work I did and was as approachable as anyone I've ever known.

In fact, the very day after he lost his run for U.S. Senate and lost to Dick Durbin (in an insanely unfair, underfunded, and misrepresented election), Pat was back to work. I ran into him on the way out of the bathroom, and he was his same old self. I asked him how he was feeling after the loss, and he said, "No big deal. I've got work to do."

Mr. Quinn, among other things, is the founder of the Citizen's Utility Board (CUB), an agency that protects Illinois consumers from corporate greed (it forced AT&T, for example, to offer a low-cost plan that didn't require customers to sign up for services they didn't want). At a casual luncheon I once attended with him, he said to me with mouth half-full of hot dog, "Dave, we've gotta go after these utility companies. They're getting out of control." That was when he had just started CUB, and it's amazing what has happened since then because of his vision.

If Pat runs for governor after this term, I am seriously thinking about working for his campaign (if our online business has become successful by then), and I've never worked for such a thing before. But I believe in him that much. I mean, the guy drove a frickin' VW Rabbit to work! And it certainly wasn't new.

This tune is for the now, outgoing XXX-governor, with high hopes following closely behind for our state and also for our country. God bless Pat Quinn and the few other men and women like him!