Fox reports Blagojevich will appoint Emil Jones to U.S. Senate

Fox News reports Gov. Rod Blagojevich will appoint Emil Jones, Jr., former president of the Illinois Senate, to be Illinois junior U.S. Senator. This vacancy was created when former Senator Barack Obama resigned in preparation for becoming the 44th President of the United States.

I get the impression Fox News is less than 100% sure that the decision will stick. Read the last two sentences of the article and make your own judgment.

Other potential replacements mentioned are state veterans official Tammy Duckworth and Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias.

While Blagojevich has given no indication of whom he will appoint to the seat, he has said that he wants to make an announcement before the end of the year.

Archpundit, aka Larry Handlin, has called Blagojevich a "madman" in the context of trying to figure who he would appoint to the U.S. Senate.

Of the candidates to appoint Jones would be the least surprising in some ways. He's a close Blagojevich ally. Many people consider Blagojevich obligated to appoint an African-American since Blacks comprise 12.3% of the U.S. population (or more if the 2000 Census under-counted African-Americans) and Obama was the only Black U.S. Senator (and along with Edward Brooke, III and Carol Moseley Braun one of three Black Senators since Reconstruction).

The Proviso Township angle for this appointment is that it won't lead to any changes, promotions or upward mobility for Proviso politicians.

If Fox has the story right, congratulations Emil Jones.

Because of Jones advanced age (73 years old) and his reputation as someone who used politics to enrich his family and friends, many observers assume Jones will not run for re-election in 2010. This will leave the position open and it could draw more than one strong Democratic candidate.

KLEPT, Blago administration gives Senate President's wife big pay raise

Pantagraph (John O'Connor, AP):

Soon to marry one of Illinois' most powerful politicians, Lorrie Rickman Stone was promoted to a new state job in September 2005....

The Blagojevich administration created a special salary class for her position alone, so the psychologist - now Lorrie Rickman Jones - saw her pay rise from $116,460 to $186,000, a 60 percent increase, The Associated Press found after a review of state documents.

Emil Jones is on my naughty list for supporting complete deregulation of electric utility rates when there is no competition in Illinois.

He's a greedy hack. The Senate Democrats should dump him. Emil Jones has shown no loyalty to the people and is primarily concerned with his own wealth and power.