Gov. Gives Self "High Marks" For Compromise

Declaring that he has "nothing but love in my heart for everybody," Gov. Rod Blagojevich Monday brought to a Chicago civic group his campaign to get the Illinois General Assembly to enact a huge capital construction problem.

In a lunch appearance before the City Club of Chicago, the governor described his $25-billion road/transit/school plan as the cure for what ails the state's lagging economy. Illinois needs the 500,000 jobs the spending plan would create, and governments including Chicago desperately need the tax revenues from the resulting growth.

But despite his efforts to take the political high road, Mr. Blagojevich was back to throwing political brickbats by the end of his speech, taking particular aim at House Speaker Michael J. Madigan and other Democratic leaders of the lower chamber who have blocked action on his capital plan.

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