SPRINGFIELD - The youthful, energetic Illinois governor was swept into office as a reformer, a man of the people, promising to take back the government and fight the special interests.

But his new administration was soon mired in a feud with the Legislature, where he was viewed as a grandstander, arrogant and uncompromising, prone to publicity stunts. Before long, even his own Democratic Party had had enough.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich? Arguably, yes.

But also former Gov. Dan Walker, who preceded Blagojevich by three decades, and who, many say, bears an uncanny political resemblance to Blagojevich and his embattled administration.

Blagojevich has not said what he thinks about the frequent comparison. Walker doesn't like it.

"I'm not a fan of his," Walker, 86, said recently from his home in Mexico, where he keeps up to date on Blagojevich's legislative battles and other Illinois news by the Internet. "He's willing to be an innovator. That's high praise … (But) his problems with the Legislature are much more severe than mine were. And mine were severe."

Walker was Illinois' last Democratic governor before Blagojevich's 2002 election. Walker burst onto the scene in the late 1960s as a reform-minded lawyer and won the 1972 governor's race with his now-fabled walk across the state. The fable collapsed once he took office and found his administration paralyzed by a hostile Legislature.

There is undoubtedly some truth to Walker's claim that Springfield insiders were "dedicated to my downfall" (as he put it in "The Maverick and the Machine," an autobiography published last year) because he was breaking open a cloistered political system. It's a claim that Blagojevich's defenders make today about his own conflicts with his fellow political leaders.

"They were both very aggressive governors," said state Rep. Wyvetter Younge, D-East St. Louis, one of the few legislators to serve during both administrations. "My impression of (Walker) was that he was doing a good job … and there were some who didn't like that."

But it is also clear that Walker - like Blagojevich - had a penchant for picking fights that ultimately hurt his goals.

"They both exhibited a confrontational style. Both were very good at creating straw men and attacking those straw men," said Mike Lawrence, a statehouse journalist during Walker's administration who now runs the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. "Walker took on Mayor (Richard J.) Daley and the regular Democrats. Blagojevich seems to have taken on just about everybody."

Walker was defeated in the 1976 Democratic primary after one tumultuous term and returned to private life. He later served 18 months in a federal prison for bank fraud unrelated to his political career.

Now retired and living near the ocean south of San Diego, Walker writes books (he's working on a murder mystery that involves the death of a fictional governor) and follows Illinois news online.

"I have deep problems with what's going on in the state," Walker said in a telephone interview with the Post-Dispatch. He laments that "pay-to-play" politics remain a staple of Illinois government 30 years after he tried to kill that shadowy tradition of politicians accepting money from state contractors. He hates that gambling has been legalized and that schools now rely on it. He is horrified at the state's long-term debt.

And he wonders why Blagojevich can't work with the Legislature better than he did.

'My problem with the Legislature was, they did not want to cooperate with me at all," said Walker, who had earned the permanent enmity of then-Mayor Daley for a 1971 report he authored that famously labeled the violence at Chicago's 1968 Democratic National Convention as a "police riot."

Blagojevich, on the other hand, came into office with the goodwill of the Democratic establishment behind him, but then, many say, lost it. "He has had every opportunity," Walker said. "I don't really understand it. I almost get the feeling he doesn't want to cooperate."

Like Walker, Blagojevich has found his administration mired in an ongoing fight with the Legislature over priorities, leadership styles and - perhaps most of all - personalities. "Blagojevich has had even more strained relations with the Legislature than Walker did," said former Gov. Jim Edgar, a Republican.

According to Walker's book, reporters often called him a "confrontationist" because of his battles with then-Mayor Daley (the current Mayor Daley's father). Walker's response sounds much like what Blagojevich has said about his strife with Speaker of the House Michael Madigan: "Why don't you ask Daley why he doesn't accommodate me, instead of always asking why I don't accommodate him?"

There are notable differences too.

Critics say Blagojevich is disengaged from the day-to-day aspects of governing, leaving state boards unfilled and failing to regularly communicate with legislators.

Walker "was much more engaged in the details of governing," said Lawrence.

Blagojevich, a Chicagoan, also has developed a reputation for disengagement with the southern half of the state, in part because he has declined to move his family to the Executive Mansion in Springfield.

"Not living in the mansion … I really don't understand that. It furthers the distancing of the people from their government," said Walker, who lived in the Chicago area when he was elected but stressed downstate inclusion in his administration. "I had little kids, and I didn't even think about not moving them to Springfield."

A Blagojevich spokesman on Friday did not have an immediate response to the Walker comparisons.

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Dan Walker

Born: Aug. 6, 1922, in Washington, D.C. Raised in San Diego.

Military service: Served aboard a Navy minesweeper during World War II and the Korean War.

Legal career: Northwestern University law graduate; private practice in Chicago during the 1950s and 1960s. Member of the Chicago Crime Commission.

Political career: Campaign chairman for Adlai Stevenson's successful 1970 campaign for the U.S. Senate; elected Democratic governor in 1972; served one term, from January 1973 to January 1977. Was defeated in the 1976 Democratic primary by Michael Howlett. (Howlett went on to lose in the general election to Republican James R. Thompson.)

Post-political: Pleaded guilty to bank fraud and perjury in 1987 in connection with a failed savings and loan he had operated; served 18 months in the federal prison at Duluth, Minn.

Current: Lives in Escondido, Calif., and Rosarito, Mexico, (20 miles south of the border) with his wife, Lily. Has written six books, including "The Maverick and the Machine: Governor Dan Walker tells his story" (Southern Illinois University-Carbondale Press, 2007).

Notable: Known for his 116-day, 1,197-mile walk across Illinois in 1971 to stress his man-of-the-people gubernatorial campaign theme; and for strife with fellow political leaders in Springfield and Chicago during his term.