Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich gets a $720,000 heated driveway

"Taxpayers To Pick Up Tab For Governor's Driveway" (warning: loads video) informs us that the governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, is spending almost three-quarters of a million dollars to install a heated driveway at the governor's mansion, "even though he doesn't stay there much." The state is picking up the cost with a 25 year bond, making the final tally well over $1 million.

In news from 2003:

Gov. Rod Blagojevich has signed legislation entitling illegal aliens who live in Illinois to subsidized in-state rates at public universities. The law is expected to cost Illinois taxpayers about $3 million a year and affect some 2,000 illegal aliens attending Illinois' public universities. In signing the bill, Blagojevich acknowledged that mass illegal immigration is a problem, "But that's no excuse to deny an American dream..."

Someone with oversight powers should look into his dreams in a bit more depth. Perhaps it's the relatively small things that could lead to him being replaced. From the driveway story:

A road builder we spoke to laughed at the project's cost, saying that for the same price, the governor could have either built a mile of concrete highway or more than three miles of asphalt road.

A Chicago area firm that installs the heating mechanism quoted us a price of $30,000 for a 100-yard driveway. The actual contractor – R.D. Lawrence of Springfield – is billing the taxpayers half a million just for the heating mechanism.

Politics · Tue, 09/13/2005 - 18:59 · · Importance: 1