Rod Blagojevich left Latino voters wiser, wary, weary and skeptical

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Updated: June 30, 2011 2:15AM

Latino elected officials, as well as others, better take the lesson to heart: If you violate the trust of the people, you better be ready to join George Ryan and — soon enough — Rod Blagojevich in prison.

Blagojevich was elected governor of Illinois twice with ample support from the state’s growing Latino community, but it no longer matters what kind of policy agenda he had for Latinos or how well he connected with immigrants.

The fact is, we now can all see, he was in it for himself.

On Tuesday, the Chicago Sun-Times published a photo that tells the story of Latino support for Blagojevich — and of their later disillusionment with a governor whose populist agenda, immigrant background and charm had garnered their votes.

The photograph shows a man affectionately hugging Blagojevich on the front porch of the former governor’s house on Monday, just hours after Blagojevich was convicted on 17 of 20 charges of public corruption.

Blagojevich is embracing the man, who is wearing a Mexican national soccer team jersey and saying something to the politico turned felon.

Not long ago, Blagojevich stood on that same front porch and asked Latinos for their support during his first trial. For the benefit of the Spanish-language media, he said he was “no culpable,” and he concluded with the now familiar phrase of encouragement “si se puede” (yes we can).

As a candidate for governor, Blagojevich understood the changing demographics in Illinois. He courted Latino voters with the help of Latino elected officials. And he seemed to have made a real emotional connection, referring on many occasions to his own immigrant experience as the son of Serbian-American parents.

On the other hand, Blagojevich also received support from the defunct Hispanic Democratic Organization, better known as HDO, generally understood to be former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s patronage army.

Al Sanchez, a HDO founder and former boss of the city’s Department of Streets and Sanitation, was sentenced in February to 30 months in prison after a federal jury found him guilty of rigging hiring to reward political workers.

Sanchez and Blagojevich, if they wind up in the same prison, will be able to compare notes.

In the Latino community, many credit Blagojevich for implementing an in-state tuition program for immigrant college students and for the All Kids program, which provided affordable health insurance to thousands of children. He also supported citizenship programs and bilingual education, among other initiatives popular among Latinos.

As a politician, Blagojevich poured on the charm to connect with community leaders and regular folks.

He knew how to work the crowd at the Puerto Rican and Mexican parades, where he ate the food, waved the flags and posed for pictures with babies.

Grisell Perez, a real estate agent with two kids, says she voted for Blagojevich the first time around because she liked Blagojevich’s proposal to provide health care to all families in Illinois.

She was shocked when Blagojevich was arrested, she says now, but gave him the benefit of the doubt — even after listening to the infamous secretly recorded tapes that federal prosecutors played at both trials.

But, like many other Latinos, at some point she resolved those doubts.

“I felt let down,” Perez said. “And to think that I voted for this character makes my stomach turn.”

And that might be one of the most important lessons in this whole sad Blagojevich saga — elected officials will have to work extra hard to gain the voters’ trust.

If the politicos don’t get it, it’s good to know the feds might be listening.