Rod Blagojevich Quotations

A successful economic development strategy must focus on improving the skills of the area's workforce, reducing the cost of doing business and making available the resources business needs to compete and thrive in today's global economy.

One of the greatest challenges in collecting child support is that deadbeat dads move from job to job and state to state. it's hard to keep track of them.

I know each fund has its supporters, and that some will not want to see the surplus go to schools. But, in tough times, you have to set priorities. And our priority is education.

Health care is not a privilege. It's a right. It's a right as fundamental as civil rights. It's a right as fundamental as giving every child a chance to get a public education.

Our children's health and well-being are dependent on our commitment to promoting food access and good eating habits at home, at school and in the community.

Let's put aside the politics and trust the people. Let's embrace the unique opportunity we all have; take the heat and make the hard and difficult decisions, knowing that we're doing it to make things better for the people of Illinois.

Ask any woman and she'll tell you: health care for women is more expensive than it is for men. In fact, during their reproductive years, women spend 68% more on health care than men do.

Whatever happened to a sense of idealism and embracing an idea that will help people and, in this case, children?

Parents don't need government to raise their kids. That's their job. But government can help them protect their children from influences they may not want their kids exposed to

Kids today are technologically sophisticated. In many families, they are far ahead of their parents

Part of protecting our homeland means being less dependent on foreign countries for our energy.

We're just not going to sit back and continue to allow the big, powerful pharmaceutical industry to price gouge the senior citizens and working people of our state. People should be able to afford the medicine they need and they should be able to get the best price they can for it.

We have a rich heritage in Illinois, and feel these properties deserve to be placed on the nation's most prestigious listing of historic places. They greatly enhance our appreciation of where we've been and foster a sense of pride in our communities.

I don't know who A, B, C or Z is, ... All I can tell you is what was written in that document does not describe how we do things. We don't operate that way. No one who is associated with me operates that way, and if they did, they understand I wouldn't tolerate that for a split second.

help out in the campaign in any capacity.

He's a superstar, ... and I'm delighted that Mike agreed to stay with us.

I support the governor's decision on the moratorium. I think he is right to review all of the cases on a case-by-case basis. I think that is a moral obligation. He's been right to do that. But I disagree with his decision to provide blanket clemency. I think a blanket anything is usually wrong. There is no one-size fits all approach to this. We're talking about convicted murderers. And I just think that -- that is a mistake.

Parents don't need government to raise their kids. That's their job, ... But government can help them protect their children from influences they may not want their kids exposed to.

I think Pat is capable, qualified, very smart and very honest. What's wrong with that?

Whether it's Gov. Edgar or somebody else, it's never mattered to me, ... If I make a decision to run for governor, I'm going to run for the office of governor.

We are now in a position. Our fiscal house is in order, and we are poised to seize this moment, right this time, to give every single child in the state of Illinois access to complete and affordable health insurance,

We're trying to martial all of that good will, and martial all of the big hearts the people in Illinois have and try to coordinate that to help the families from New Orleans, Louisiana, Mississippi, and the other affected areas,

When parents are healthy, they're better able to deal with the challenges of raising their children, and are more productive at work.

We will do for our kids in Illinois what our country decided to do 40 years ago for our senior citizens under the Medicare program. We will guarantee access to health care for our kids,

We need to restore the public's faith in our state pension systems and send a message that those responsible with investing public dollars have to be held to the highest ethical standards, ... When they fail to do that, as we've seen in recent weeks, they undermine the system and breach the public trust.

This was a big step, ... Tomorrow, we hopefully can close the deal.

We gave it a pretty good effort, ... Maybe in the future.

To have that reunifying moment in a place like that I think is symbolic of the need to change some of the policy so there's more sensitivity,

These children deserve to go to school, where they can learn and just be kids, ... It will take months and maybe years for their communities in the Gulf states to rebuild, and until they do, if they need us, we will provide a quality education for them in Illinois.

After years of problems and unacceptable results in the state's child support collection efforts, we have taken major steps during the past two-and-a-half years to turn the system around, and our efforts are paying off.

This is going to waste precious defense dollars while providing very limited military rewards. While we were successful in keeping the bulk of the arsenal intact, we will continue our fight to keep this mission and others located at this historic military installation where they belong.

America is a place where anything is possible, but it's easier to reach those heights if you get a good, quality education,

That means regular doctors visits. That means going to the dentist. That means having your eyes checked. That means coverage for the medicines children need,

That's the best way to do it, versus taking money away from our schools, taking money away from providing health care for people,

Taking the F-16s out of Springfield would compromise our ability to protect the people of Illinois and will impact the safety and security of the entire Midwest, ... This indefensible decision would make our homeland less secure and cost our taxpayers $10 million.

I've got news for the president, ... This is America and these people are not refugees.

That means they can't see a doctor when they need to, can't get the medicine they need, can't get the care they need,

The federal government has failed to act, ... So it's time that we do.

I'm going to make this announcement because our budget director is on vacation; he's out of town, ... I was thinking, too, when I was on this stage, why not make a change? I'm not even going to call the budget director or call the staffers and see whether or not we can afford it. We're not going to just double the funding, I'm going to increase it tenfold.

impact the safety and security of the entire Midwest.

I have no involvement whatsoever in anything surrounding the alleged corruption at the teachers retirement system, and nobody close to me does either,

I think a blanket anything is usually wrong. We're talking about convicted murderers, and I think that is a mistake.

I can't think of anything more important, ... (It's) something . . . that no state anywhere in America is currently doing, and that is to provide health care to every child.

I consider an approval of a reverse auction procurement process of market-based rates for wholesale power either a serious neglect of duty or gross incompetence by the ICC,

Health care is not a privilege. It's a right, ... It's a right as fundamental as civil rights. It's a right as fundamental as giving every child a chance to get a public education.

The truth is, we do things honestly, ethically and legally and we're doing it completely different from what some of our predecessors did, ... Some of this could very well be the result of spillover, as well as the sort of growing pains of change that have been going on with how we do things in a different way to keep the trust of the people.

the idea of not running hasn't crossed my mind.

And just as important, it proves that government is supposed to exist for the good of the people, not the other way around, and certainly not for the personal enrichment of those who hold public office.

The children of working families are the children who are falling through the cracks, ... It's not supposed to be that way in America.

Biofuels are the future of energy in this nation and around the world

I'm blacker than Barack Obama. I shined shoes. I grew up in a five-room apartment. My father had a little laundromat in a black community not far from where we lived. I saw it all growing up.

I don't believe there's any cloud that hangs over me. I think there's nothing but sunshine hanging over me.

We will meet our challenges head on and we will do it by rejecting the politics of mediocrity and corruption. You voted for change; I intend to deliver it. ... I will govern as a reformer.

I should say if anybody wants to tape my conversations, go right ahead, feel free to do it. I appreciate anybody who wants to tape me openly and notoriously, and those who feel like they want to sneakily, and wear taping devices, I would remind them that it kind of smells like Nixon and Watergate.

I think the most important thing is [to] restore a sense of idealism and end the cynicism in state government. Bring to the job a desire to really make things happen and help people and give confidence back to the public.

If you don't take enough math classes or science classes or writing intensive classes, you're not going to be prepared to compete in college or the workplace -- no matter what your diploma says.

We have to be sure [students] understand that racial, national, ethnic, and religious hatred can lead to horrible tragedies.

Each proposed B-2 stealth bomber costs three times more than it would if every part of the plane were made from solid gold. The cost is $2.3 billion each.

For the same reason we don't allow kids to buy pornography, for the same reason we don't allow kids to buy cigarettes, for the same reason we don't allow kids to buy alcohol, we shouldn't allow them to go to stores and buy video games.