Judge to Deadbeat Guv: Time for Waffling Has Passed...

December 11, 2006

As reported recently by GamePolitics, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has failed to order payment of more than a half-million dollars to the video game industry.

The money represents the cost of legal bills the ESA and EMA ran up defending Blagojevich's ill-fated Safe Games Illinois Act, which was ruled unconstitutional by Federal District Court Judge Matthew Kennelly more than a year ago.

Now, the Associated Press is reporting that Judge Kennelly seems to be losing patience with the Governor. Earlier today Judge Kennelly ordered Blagojevich and the Illinois attorney general to explain by next Monday how they plan to repay the video game industry.

Judge Kennelly said, "...the time for waffling has passed," and accused the Illinois guv of giving the game biz "the run-around."

The Chicago Tribune has more.

Posted in Court Cases Politics & Legislation

Comments

Submitted by Warren Lewis (not verified) on Mon, 12/11/2006 - 14:57.

mmm...waffles.....:)

What will happen if he doesn't pay?

- Warren Lewis

Submitted by Jabrwock on Mon, 12/11/2006 - 14:59.

Damn you! That picture made me hungry! Mmmmm, waffles. ;)

Maybe Blagojevich is still trying to scrounge up loose change to pay the ESA with. I seem to recall him having spent all the taxpayers money on pizza or something. ;)

-- If your wiimote goes snicker-snack, check your wrist-strap...

Submitted by BlitzFitness on Mon, 12/11/2006 - 15:47.

Kennelly is actually being very active in this, and keeps chopping away time and opportunities from the Illinois guv because he feels (correctly, I believe) that the time is being squandered and nothing is being done.

I'm really starting to like this guy.

Submitted by hayabusa75 (not verified) on Mon, 12/11/2006 - 15:59.

Good for Judge Kennelly. Apparently the oily jerk thinks he can get away with jerking the game industry around. I'd like to think Blago-fool is sweating it out in his office right now, desperately wondering how he's going to produce the money. Out of pocket's got my vote.

Submitted by AlteredBeast (not verified) on Mon, 12/11/2006 - 16:33.

$500,000 can buy a helluva lotta waffels.

Submitted by Daniel (not verified) on Mon, 12/11/2006 - 17:52.

Let's hear it for the judge. They have to pay the video game industry and, actually, I think it's good that they're not because that gives anti-game activists a bad name. This judge diserves a lot of praise and the governor is doing a great job of dragging anti-game activists name through the mud. As time goes on, and the losses mount for Jack Thompson, and his friends, it's looking less and less like they're going to ever win anything and I hope they keep losing.

Submitted by Robb (not verified) on Mon, 12/11/2006 - 18:16.

I believe failing to comply with a judge's order is contempt of court and you can be jailed for that. That's a stupid thing to go to jail for since it's the State that owes the money, not the Governor.

Submitted by Brer (not verified) on Mon, 12/11/2006 - 18:32.

I have a friend whose father is in the state legislature for IL, and the last I heard from them (I've fallen out of touch, I'm sorry to say) the state budget was not in the best of shape, and it was mostly Blagojevich's fault. The reason he may be stalling is that the state can't -afford- half a million without some serious adjustment of the current budget. I know that the state is a billion dollars over budget on its medical programs, -not counting- the new ones Blagojevich created, and that Blagojevich's main plan for balancing the budget in 2005 was to just cover the difference by taking 1.2 Billion out of the state employee pension fund.

Submitted by PHOENIXZERO (not verified) on Mon, 12/11/2006 - 18:36.

I think he's trying to sweep this under the rug, bury his head in the sand and hope it goes away.... I'm willing to bet one reason it hasn't been paid out is because it was a election year. The ESA/EMA should have a guy go to his office, dressed as a pimp and smack him up while yelling "where's my money b****h?!"

Submitted by konrad_arflane (not verified) on Mon, 12/11/2006 - 18:50.

@brer: Well, if they're already $1 billion over budget, what's $500,000? Though I suppose that kind of thinking won't go over well with the taxpayers.

Submitted by CaptainZM (not verified) on Mon, 12/11/2006 - 20:26.

Good Old Democracy.

THIS, is a Leet version of what will happen.

Judge: You got Pwned.
Lawyer:OMG.WTF. Invincible Bill suxxors...
ESA:Pwnage! Woot!!
Dead Beat Govener: Omg. *Buries Head in Sand*
Voters:WTF! *New Govener*

Submitted by Salen (not verified) on Mon, 12/11/2006 - 21:13.

Damn, now I'm hungry for waffles, and its like... 8pm. And no wafflehouse within 5 miles. *murfles*

On the plus side, I'm still glad to see the judge slapping the governor around to make sure that future governors don't try this stuff.

Submitted by Thefremen (not verified) on Mon, 12/11/2006 - 21:49.

I want some waffles and fried chicken. That would really hit the spot.

Submitted by sabin_blitz (not verified) on Mon, 12/11/2006 - 22:01.

Please, people. No more talk of waffles or any other form of food. I'm already feeling nauseous as is from some unknown source and the last thing I need to think of is food. Either way, way to go, judge! Take Blagojevich to task for the legal fees HE incurred.

Submitted by Bissel (not verified) on Mon, 12/11/2006 - 22:07.

Justice is justice is justice. Doesn't matter who is who if someone is in the wrong, neh?

Submitted by Benji (not verified) on Mon, 12/11/2006 - 23:25.

Seems the Gov had too much on his plate with this bill, and now he's got egg all over his face. Sure, Hot Coffee was bad, but defeating this legislation was a piece of cake for the industry - they certainly are on a roll. Things aren't peachy for Rod now, and if he keeps up his waffling he might end up being toast.

Submitted by Kyouryuu (not verified) on Tue, 12/12/2006 - 01:11.

He fights under the disguise of defending morals, and when the time comes to pay up for his mistake, he does the immoral things. Brilliant. We could learn a lot from a dummy like Blagojevich.

Put this guy away, Illinois.

Submitted by -Jes- (not verified) on Tue, 12/12/2006 - 02:03.

Damnit Benji...

Now I'm hungry again! D:

Submitted by lordlundar (not verified) on Tue, 12/12/2006 - 02:14.

Nice one Benji! :)

Now you see, THIS is how you get effective results! You don't make baseless threats, you make promises and act on them.

Submitted by Thefremen (not verified) on Tue, 12/12/2006 - 03:04.

Justice is blind, but has an awesome sense of smell when it comes to breakfast foods.

Submitted by Brer (not verified) on Tue, 12/12/2006 - 03:16.

@konrad_arflame:

Well, maybe IL taxpayers will reconsider in 2008 before electing another tax-and-spend, "never met a government program I didn't like" Democrat for Governor.

Submitted by Matthew (not verified) on Tue, 12/12/2006 - 03:29.

"The evil videogame industry wants an impoverished state to pay half a million in damages to enable them to continue peddling violent porn to kids."

It's only a matter of time.

Submitted by Kajex (not verified) on Tue, 12/12/2006 - 05:16.

Indeed. But most taxpayers and voters are going to remember that Rod was the one who pushed for this, so no matter what people like JT or other politicians might say to demonize the industry, the law is still going to be on their side.

Submitted by JQuilty (not verified) on Tue, 12/12/2006 - 15:22.

@ Brer: Blago isn't up in 08'. He already got re-elected since he was up this year.

Submitted by monte (not verified) on Tue, 12/12/2006 - 20:18.

@Jquilty

Indeed, if i had to gues, that could be a reason why he held out on paying back the industry (aside from just plain not having the money and wanting to give the idustry the run around). Had he payed up sooner the whole fiasco might have been more noticable and his opponenent might have been able to turn it into a campaign issue. Now that the election is over and he has won, he doesn't have to worry much about his job... afterall, by 2010 this ordeal will more than likely be forgotten... to voters atleast...

Shout box

Andrew Eisen: That article is over five years old, Uncharted. A fun blast from the past though.02/12/2012 - 10:47pm

Uncharted NES: Critics: 'Left Behind' game glorifies violence- http://tinyurl.com/wu64s02/12/2012 - 4:34pm

Zen: I felt Brutal Legends was a funny & beautiful look at the world of rock from Double Fines point of view. The only parts I wasn't hot for were the RTS bits as it felt forced. Otherwise fantastic.02/12/2012 - 1:34pm

DorthLous: Passed 1.5M$. And I'd also say that Brutal Legend is far from being a bad game. I just think it was a few levels under what people expected from the people working on the project.02/11/2012 - 8:25am

Technogeek: Brutal Legend wasn't bad so much as "marketing had no idea how the game actually played", causing it to suffer accordingly.02/10/2012 - 10:38pm

RedMage: It looks the CIA's website has been DDOS'ed. Anon?02/10/2012 - 7:52pm

RedMage: Brutal Legend.02/10/2012 - 7:52pm

ddrfr33k: Has anything Tim Schafer ever made been of crap caliber? I'm struggling to think of one...02/10/2012 - 7:37pm

Guamish: I think it is in good hands. Tim did a game for the GDC award show and that was fun for how short it was.02/10/2012 - 12:22pm

Andrew Eisen: It'll be tragic if the game ultimately sucks.02/10/2012 - 12:17pm

james_fudge: $1.3 million02/10/2012 - 11:32am

Uncharted NES: Germany Says It Won't Sign ACTA [Update: ... Yet]- http://tinyurl.com/7r2twrg02/10/2012 - 11:21am

Andrew Eisen: Damn. Double Fine's Kickstarter fund has already passed a million dollars.02/09/2012 - 8:16pm

Andrew Eisen: Audrey didn't quote the sassy parts. Here's IGN's article: http://wii.ign.com/articles/121/1218359p1.html And here's my original post: http://tinyurl.com/7y68a3902/09/2012 - 7:50pm

james_fudge: I hope you some said something sassy! Where's the link?02/09/2012 - 7:46pm

Andrew Eisen: Hey, neat. IGN quoted a blog I had writen only two hours earlier. I certainly timed that one pretty well.02/09/2012 - 7:38pm

Andrew Eisen: Toki Tori has been added to the Humble Bundle for Android.02/09/2012 - 5:11pm

james_fudge: Thanks for the heads-up DorthLous02/09/2012 - 4:33pm

DorthLous: Will do, my apologies.02/09/2012 - 4:14pm

Andrew Eisen: I appreciate the heads up but please keep typo alerts to the specific article's comments or PMs.02/09/2012 - 3:33pm

All shouts

<< Return To Top

Forgot your password?
Username :
Password :