exerpt from www.miniluv.com:

This may have been the governor’s first year attending the Illinois State Fair, but he did learn to love pork.

Illinois Governor Blagojevich condemned the funding of the pet projects of legislative members while on the campaign trail. Now that he is in office, things are different.

As reported by the Tribune's Christi Parsons, Blagojevich has approved approximately $140 million in project requests. Most of it has gone to House and Senate Democrats, or for the governor's own priorities. Some lucky Republicans who went along with the governor's programs got a piece. But there has been an emphasis on political spending, not fairness or value.

One special project that didn’t get a piece of this $140 Million is the White Hills clean up project

Make no mistake, this was politically motivated pork. Consider the so-called White Hills in Downstate Livingston County. The hills are actually piles of gypsum left behind by an abandoned fertilizer factory. The hills feed highly acidic material to surrounding ponds--which have turned a surreal shade of green--and threaten to kill the fish and contaminate the Vermilion River.

Sen. Dan Rutherford (R-Chenoa), who represents the district where the White Hills are located, opposed much of the governor's legislative agenda. So the $1 million state grant that locals were hoping to receive to begin cleaning this toxic site suddenly went puff.

While the governor neglected the health of the water and wildlife in Livingston County he did fund other initiatives for his supporters such as an Opera House in Woodstock IL, a veteran’s memorial in Oswego IL, and the beautification of an intersection in Burbank IL. Livingston County is just where Chicago sends its garbage. Woodstock, Oswego, and Burbank on the other hand are all Chicago suburbs. Of course we aren’t insinuating Governor Daleyojevich would give Chicago preferential treatment.

The people of Illinois don’t have much money to spend during these trying economic times. We depend on the environment for their biggest industry, agriculture. The people of Illinois need clean land to grow their crops. We don’t like Opera and we don’t like Governor Blagojevich’s political punishment and rewards.