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GOP has 2 pillars of reform: But 1 is rotten to the core

John Kass

12:20 AM EDT, September 5, 2008

ST. PAUL — John McCain hadn't yet uttered one word Thursday about reform and cutting pork-barrel spending when reform caused one of those awkward moments at the convention hall between two Illinois Republicans on either side of the issue, two men who really can't stand each other.

Think of a cage match between sworn enemies, something out of an old "Mad Max" movie with a mob of post-apocalyptic ruffians screaming for blood. Or a fight to the death in the ring of fire.

But there wasn't any real fight to the death, just two Republicans in blue suits, one a McCain reformer, standing in a crowded corridor, glaring but making polite conversation.

There was former Illinois Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, who was driven out of politics by the bipartisan Illinois Combine for the sin of daring to go outside the state

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to find a federal prosecutor to hunt political corruption, a prosecutor without any Combine connections.

And there was Combine boss Big Bob Kjellander (pronounced $hell-and-er), the former treasurer of the national Republican Party and the Illinois GOP's national committeeman, who helped plan this McCain convention with the theme of reform.

Kjellander made a fortune in state pension fund deals the Combine way, reaping millions and millions of dollars in teachers pension fund investments through the administration of Illinois Gov. Rod "The Unreformer" Blagojevich.

When politicians talk about working with each other across the aisle, this is what they really mean.

Kjellander is known by another name: the unindicted "Individual K" in the federal corruption case of the now convicted Tony Rezko.

Rezko also just happens to be the real estate fairy for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. And Obama succeeded Peter Fitzgerald after Fitzgerald withdrew from politics because what passes for the Illinois Republican Party refused to endorse him for re-election.

I wonder. How many degrees of separation is that, anyway?

"Hello, Bob," Fitzgerald said quietly, almost as if he meant it, as Kjellander walked up, oblivious until he almost bumped into Fitzgerald and me.

"Oh, hello," said Kjellander, startled, blinking. Then he looked at me. "Hello."

Hi, Bob, I said to Kjellander, who helped plan this reform convention and is a buddy of former White House Rasputin Karl Rove and lets people know it.

"I handled accommodations," Kjellander told me.

Then why didn't you put a chocolate mint on my hotel pillow? The least I'd expect was chocolate.

"Do you want a chocolate mint?" Kjellander said. "Do you really want a chocolate mint?"

I didn't want to tell a man to his face that I'd never, ever eat his chocolate mint. I'm polite that way. So we just stood there, the three of us, thinking about not making small talk.

It took place before McCain's speech, in a narrow corridor at Radio Row. It was so narrow there wasn't any place to go. Perhaps you've been in a situation like this, where you're talking to one guy about his worst enemy, and just like in the movies, the worst enemy turns the corner and bumps into you.

Fitzgerald had been talking about McCain and reform, saying that reform was the vehicle to unite the party, and to confront Obama's narrative of change. McCain has for years challenged his own party on pork spending, but Obama hasn't dared challenge Illinois Democrats on corruption.