Embarrassing Illinois Politics

Well, it just never fails to embarrass. That "it" would be Illinois politics and today the Governor, Rod Blagojevich. He was taken into Federal custody this morning at his North Side home. His Chief of Staff, John Harris, was also arrested. They are expected to be arraigned this afternoon. Needless to say , this has been a long time coming. Blago has had issues for as long time...like the one with his in laws and then we have Rezko.

The Illinois Governorship has always been a powerful office. It's also been filled with tons of patronage junk. That makes it very easy for corruption to flourish. As if Blago didn't have enough problems it seems he was apparently "selling" the office of replacement Senator to the highest bidder. He wanted to "make money" because he was financially distraught. Waaaa. Stupidly he had conversations about that and they were recorded. DUH! You'd think after our previous Governor, Ryan, was convicted and now sits in prison that Blago would have been smarter. Not so apparently. Power and greed seem to overwhelm common sense and decency. Frankly, Blago deserves this.

Here's some info from the Blago indictment pdf.



UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS, EASTERN DIVISION
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
UNDER SEAL
V. CRIMINAL COMPLAINT
ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH, and
JOHN HARRIS

Count One

From in or about 2002 to the present, in Cook County, in the Northern District of Illinois, defendants did,
conspire with each other and with others to devise and participate in a scheme to defraud the State of Illinois and
the people of the State of Illinois of the honest services of ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH and JOHN HARRIS, in
furtherance of which the mails and interstate wire communications would be used, in violation of Title 18, United
States Code, Sections 1341,1343, and 1346; all in violation of Title 18 United States Code, Section 1349.

Count Two

Beginning no later than November 2008 to the present, in Cook County, in the Northern District of Illinois,
defendants ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH and JOHN HARRIS, being agents of the State of Illinois, a State government
which during a one-year period, beginning January 1, 2008 and continuing to the present, received federal benefits
in excess of $10,000, corruptly solicited and demanded a thing of value, namely, the firing of certain Chicago
Tribune editorial members responsible for widely-circulated editorials critical of ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH,
intending to be influenced and rewarded in connection with business and transactions of the State of Illinois
involving a thing of value of $5,000 or more, namely, the provision of millions of dollars in financial assistance by
the State of Illinois, including through the Illinois Finance Authority, an agency of the State of Illinois, to the
Tribune Company involving the Wrigley Field baseball stadium; in violation of Title 18, United States Code,
Sections 666(a)(1)(B) and 2.

It's a 76 page indictment.

A Portion of the Press Release from the U.S. Dept. of Justice.


ILLINOIS GOV. ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH AND HIS CHIEF OF STAFF
JOHN HARRIS ARRESTED ON FEDERAL CORRUPTION CHARGES

Blagojevich and aide allegedly conspired to sell U.S. Senate appointment, engaged in“pay-to-play” schemes and threatened to withhold state assistance to Tribune Companyfor Wrigley Field to induce purge of newspaper editorial writers.

CHICAGO – Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich and his Chief of Staff, John Harris, were arrested today by FBI agents on federal corruption charges alleging that they and others are engaging in ongoing criminal activity: conspiring to obtain personal financial benefits for Blagojevich by leveraging his sole authority to appoint a United States Senator; threatening to withhold substantial state assistance to the Tribune Company in connection with the sale of Wrigley Field to induce the firing of Chicago Tribune editorial board members sharply critical of Blagojevich; and to obtain campaign contributions in exchange for official actions – both historically and now in a push before a new state ethics law takes effect January 1, 2009.
Blagojevich, 51, and Harris, 46, both of Chicago, were each charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and solicitation of bribery. They were charged in a two-count criminal complaint that was sworn out on Sunday and unsealed today following their arrests, which occurred without incident, announced Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District
of Illinois, and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Both men were expected to appear later today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nan Nolan in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

I would say Blago is most likely toast. Maybe he'll get a cell next to Ryan. We've had 2 previous Governors serve prison time: Democrat Daniel Walker who was Governor from 1973 to 1977. He was convicted of "improprieties" during the Savings and Loan scandal in 1987 and served two years in federal prison. And our latest, George Ryan who was Governor from 1999 to 2003. Before that he was Secretary of State and that's where he screwed up. The "license of Bribes" scandal led to many other investigations and in 2003 he was indicted on 18 counts of Federal racketeering...he was convicted of all 18 counts in 2006. As Secretary of State, his office took bribes from large companies to get truck driving licenses for their employees, instead of having them pass a test. When a truck driver with an illegal license killed six children from one family in a horrific traffic accident, the feds took notice and began investigating the Secretary of State's office. Instead of halting the practice of issuing licenses for bribes, Ryan allegedly tried to halt the investigation. He's now sitting in prison. Oh, but before he left he eliminated all the death sentences...saying he personally read all the cases which is a big freaking L.I.E. Whatever, he's crying now.

When you have to raise millions of dollars to get elected you are ripe for corruption. Especially here in Illinois where corruption in King/Queen.

UPDATE: State Representative John Fritchey (D) (from Blagojevich's home district), head of the House Judiciary committee, said impeachment proceedings will begin immediately.
Excellent! Let's see if they really do this. I guess they're going to convene a special session of the legislature in order to get some things passed that will allow for a special election. Otherwise, in Illinois, it's the Gov and the Gov alone that has the power to appoint a replacement Senator.

Oh, it just keeps getting better. It appears that Rahm Emmanuel may have contacted Fitzgerald in expediting Blago's arrest. Why? Well, one of the suggested people for Obama's Senate seat was Valerie Jarrett. Then, abruptly, her name was withdrawn. We'll have to see how that bit of speculation on Rahm and Jarrett pans out. Apparently, Obama refused to give Blago anything in exchange for this seat but "appreciation" and Blago didn't like that. Blago's response was "f them". Heh, we shall see who getting F'd now for being a corrupt asshat.

According to some local Fox news video:

CONATY: We did receive a tip this morning that perhaps all of this came together so quickly because the Governor may have reached out to Rahm Emanuel, the president-elect’s chief of staff, in attempting to leverage filling the Senate seat. And it may have been Rahm Emanuel who tipped the scale and made this move as quickly as it did.

Ok, now Rahm's people are saying that story about him dropping a dime on Blago is baloney. Just the result of overzealous reporting. Probably true. At this point I couldn't care less if my cat had called Fitz. I'm just glad Blago is finished. He should just resign and let our Lt. Gov. Quinn take over. He's a good guy.