Feds Arrest Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich

[WildCat]

Full complaint here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/acrobat/2008-12/43789434.pdf

This forum is running slow as molasses this morning and I have to get to work, so I can't comment much. But it's a jaw-dropping insight into the cesspool that is Illinois politics, particularly the parts about how he literally put Obama's Senate seat for sale to the highest bidder, including the "President-elect" in return for an appointed position (see item 92 in the complaint linked above).

Tony Rezko also figures in this.

Feds to have a news conference in about 1 hour.

 

[Upchurch]

My mom emailed me about this. It's going to be an interesting day in Springfield.

 

[Alferd_Packer]

Maybe he will be Ryan's cellmate.

 

[Bikewer]

It's kind of amazing it's taken this long. The chain of arrests in his administration has been a steady progression to the top, as I recall, and his administration has in general been plagued by allegations.
A fine old tradition in the Windy City....

 

[fishbob]

Full complaint here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/acrobat/2008-12/43789434.pdf

This forum is running slow as molasses this morning and I have to get to work, so I can't comment much. But it's a jaw-dropping insight into the cesspool that is Illinois politics, particularly the parts about how he literally put Obama's Senate seat for sale to the highest bidder, including the "President-elect" in return for an appointed position (see item 92 in the complaint linked above).

Tony Rezko also figures in this.

Feds to have a news conference in about 1 hour.

Holy Moly.
These guys make Alaska's Corrupt Bastards Club look like your neighborhood Cub Scout troop.

 

[Alferd_Packer]

Holy Moly.
These guys make Alaska's Corrupt Bastards Club look like your neighborhood Cub Scout troop.

It wasn't much different when Ryan was in charge.

 

[Kaylee]

Any theories as to why Illinois politics are so much more corrupt than most other states? Or do other states' politicians just hide it better?

 

[Drudgewire]

Bank of America, who this time yesterday was being threatened with a statewide boycott from Blagojevich, has just issued the following press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

From: Bank of America Corporate Office, Chicago IL
December 9, 2008


To whom it may concern:






For further information, please contact the Feds. We're laughing too hard to field any phone calls right now.

 

[peptoabysmal]

Obama's Senate seat going to the highest bidder? Now that's change you can believe in.

The charges are part of a five-year investigation into public corruption and allegations of “pay to play” deals in the clubby world of Illinois politics. Federal authorities said Mr. Blagojevich’s chief of staff, John Harris, was also indicted on Tuesday. Both men are expected to appear in federal court for the first time later Tuesday.
Governor Is Held in Inquiry Into Filling Obama’s Seat

Hmmm... Obama was elected to the Senate in 2005. Did Obama purchase his Senate seat after he purchased his birth certificate? Just kidding about the birth certificate , Fact Check dot Org says it is legitimate.

ETA: Yes, I know Obama was elected and didn't buy his seat. Skeptics forum and all... But for me, it does raise the question of the political environment that Obama honed his career on.

 

[tomwaits]

Interesting...

The FBI affidavit said Blagojevich had been told by an adviser "the president-elect can get Rod Blagojevich's wife on paid corporate boards in exchange for naming the president-elect's pick to the Senate."

Told by two other advisers he has to "suck it up" for two years, the FBI says it heard Blagojevich complain he has to give this "motherf***er [the president-elect] his senator. F*** him. For nothing? F*** him."

The governor is heard saying he will pick another candidate "before I just give f***ing [Senate Candidate l] a f***ing Senate seat and I don't get anything."

Just another day in Illinois politics!

 

[WildCat]

Any theories as to why Illinois politics are so much more corrupt than most other states? Or do other states' politicians just hide it better?

It's the arrogance that comes from having all the local judges beholden to you for thier own careers and the rampant and unchecked pay-to-play system of politics we have here. And for years even the Federal prosecutor was willing to look the other way, the one preceding Fitzgerald was a bonehead named Scott Lazar who couldn't find corruption if it wore a bell on its ass.

Fitzgerald was named by Obama's Senate predecessor, Peter Fitzgerald (no relation). He picked the Illinois outsider Patrick Fitzgerald (he was from New York) precisely because he had no ties to the sleaze in Illinois. For this brazen act Sen. Fitzgerald was deemed persona non grata by his own party and basically run out of Illinois politics, which opened up the seat Obama won.

I'm just glad Obama was able to resist the pressure to get rid of Fitzgerald (the junior Senator gets to pick the US attorney here), and there was a lot of pressure to do so. The powers that be (both Dem and GOP) would have preferred a local boy who would look the other way while they milked the citizens of Illinois for all they're worth.

Christmas came early this year!

 

[Ziggurat]

ETA: Yes, I know Obama was elected and didn't buy his seat. Skeptics forum and all... But for me, it does raise the question of the political environment that Obama honed his career on.

There were questions about that from the beginning, because it's Chicago.

 

[Alferd_Packer]

My guess is that Jesie Jr. was candidate 1 and Luis Gutierrez was No. 5.

One good thing to come out of this is that it will probably scuttle Gutierrez's chance to be Senator.

 

[Alferd_Packer]

Any theories as to why Illinois politics are so much more corrupt than most other states? Or do other states' politicians just hide it better?

Well. my guess is that other govenors are smart enough to not conduct buisness over confrence calls.

 

[WildCat]

A quote from Blagojevich just yesterday:

At an unrelated event yesterday, the governor was asked once again about the federal corruption investigation hanging over him.

BLAGO: I think there’s nothing but sunshine hanging over me.

When it came to Wyma and secret recordings, Blagojevich made a confusing parallel between himself and Richard Nixon.

BLAGOJEVICH: I appreciate anyone who wants to tape me openly and notoriously. And those who feel that they want to sneakily and wear taping devices, I would remind them that kind of smells like Nixon and Watergate.

http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/Content.aspx?audioID=30678

 

[Alferd_Packer]

Bank of America, who this time yesterday was being threatened with a statewide boycott from Blagojevich, has just issued the following press release:

unfortunately, that doesn't help the people who were put out of work by Bank of America earlier this week.

 

[WildCat]

unfortunately, that doesn't help the people who were put out of work by Bank of America earlier this week.

No one was put out of work by BoA.

 

[Drudgewire]

unfortunately, that doesn't help the people who were put out of work by Bank of America earlier this week.

Or more specifically, by the company that went under and feel because they got a bailout Bank of America should suddenly become a charity.

 

[dudalb]

At an unrelated event yesterday, the governor was asked once again about the federal corruption investigation hanging over him.

BLAGO: I think there’s nothing but sunshine hanging over me.

Shades of Big Bill Thompson, the Mayor of Chicago back in the 1920's, who was basically a puppet for Big Al and The Boys. That is exactly the kind of think Bill would say when asked about his connections with Scarface....
I am waiting for some of the die hard Democrat partisans on this site to respond to this.

 

[Darth Rotor]

Original document filed with charges is here in .pdf format: http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/sections/news/081209_FINAL_complaint_cover_and_aff.pdf

75 pages worth of stuff. Bottom line from the FBI's investigation.

III. CONCLUSION
117. Based upon the facts set forth in this affidavit, I believe that there is probable
cause to believe that:
(a) ROD BLAGOJEVICH and JOHN HARRIS, and others have conspired with each other and with others to commit offenses against the United States, namely 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 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; and
(b) ROD 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 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, 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.
Accordingly, it is requested that arrest warrants be issued as detailed in this
affidavit.
________________________________
Daniel W. Cain
Special Agent
Federal Bureau of Investigation

There you have it.

Let the fur ball commence. The lengthy pdf summarizes considerable of the Rezko case.

DR