Earthquake: Illinois Gov. Arrested; Charged With Selling Obama’s Senate Seat

You can put the criminal in the governor’s office, but its hard to take the criminal part out.

Oh geez…stupid is as stupid does!

Is everything happening in Chicago? Between Obama’s transition, appointments and press conferences, the Republic Factory workers sit in and Blago getting arrested – I’d say Chicago is good place for a reporter to be camped out at right now.

A 76-page FBI affidavit alleges that Blagojevich was intercepted on court-authorized wiretaps during the last month conspiring to sell or trade Illinois’ U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama for financial and other personal benefits for himself and his wife. At various times, in exchange for the Senate appointment, Blagojevich discussed obtaining:
< a substantial salary for himself at a either a non-profit foundation or an organization affiliated with labor unions;
< placing his wife on paid corporate boards where he speculated she might garner as much as $150,000 a year;
< promises of campaign funds – including cash up front; and
< a cabinet post or ambassadorship for himself.
Just last week, on December 4, Blagojevich allegedly told an advisor that he might “get some (money) up front, maybe” from Senate Candidate 5, if he named Senate Candidate 5 to the Senate seat, to insure that Senate Candidate 5 kept a promise about raising money for Blagojevich if he ran for re-election. In a recorded conversation on October 31, Blagojevich claimed he was approached by an associate of Senate Candidate 5 as follows: “We were approached ‘pay to play.’ That, you know, he’d raise 500 grand. An emissary came. Then the other guy would raise a million, if I made him (Senate Candidate 5) a Senator.”
.
Via Atrios. Here is the link to the PDF of Pat Fitzgerald’s charging document.
.
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln/pr/chicago/2008/pr1209_01.pdf

Would he really be so stupid as to try to “sell” Obama’s seat when he knew the law was breathing down his neck? Color me amazed.

$150k in corporate boards for his wife? What a twerp. So, he would be Ambassador to a former Yugoslavian Republic or something, and she would supplement his income with some board graft.
.
He needs to go to jail for a very long time.

First George Ryan, now Blagojevich. At least Illinois got it right with Obama.

During the call, ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated, “unless I get something real good for [Senate Candidate 1], shit, I’ll just send myself, you know what I’m saying.” ROD BLAGOJEVICH later stated, “I’m going to keep this Senate option for me a real possibility, you know, and therefore I can drive a hard bargain. You hear what I’m saying. And if I don’t get what I want and I’m not satisfied with it, then I’ll just take the Senate seat myself.” Later, ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated that the Senate seat “is a f-ing valuable thing, you just don’t give it away for nothing.”
.
Jeebuz.

In a further conversation on November 21, Harris told Blagojevich that he had singled out to Tribune Financial Advisor the Tribune’s deputy editorial page editor, John McCormick, “as somebody who was the most biased and unfair.” After hearing that Tribune Financial Advisor had assured Harris that the Tribune would be making changes affecting the editorial board,Blagojevich allegedly had a series of conversations with Chicago Cubs representatives regarding efforts to provide state financing for Wrigley Field.

I think Blagojevich just topped Gary Hart and Elliot Spitzer in the stupid politician who knew people were out to get him but wouldn’t stop anyways category.
.
He really is that stupid.

I know I should be outraged (and I am) but there is something so breathtaking about the level of his stupidity that I find myself amused more than anything else.

Have a nice life in jail, pal.

Wow. I didn’t know the Bush Administration had a Dept. of Labor.

I think it is instructive that the progressive blogosphere immediately jumps on this and says: “dump the guy.” If this clown was a republican, the Repug side would be blaming the messenger.
.
Just sayin.

from the charging document: “In a conversation with Harris on November 11, the charges state, Blagojevich said he knew that the President-elect wanted Senate Candidate 1 for the open seat but “they’re not willing to give me anything except appreciation. [Expletive] them.””

…
Hurrah, Obama. Sigh of relief.

Blagojevich also allegedly spent significant time weighing the option of appointing himself to the open Senate seat
.
Wow. I think we dodged a bullet here.

MS:
” .. Will anyone in Obamaland, including even the president-elect himself, have to testify? .. “
Just when you thought it is over, BAM! Michael gets a new lease on life!
He is in heaven! Hog heaven.

Perhaps the good governor was trying to take down dirty Feds. Kinda like this gem from Balloon Juice today:
Bad Boys, Bad Boys
.
As JOhn says: “On a scale of one to ten for awesome, this rates an eleven.”

I think this proves that Obama was born in Kenya.

I think stupid is too kind of a word here. I think a new word has to be invented to describe this level of criminal.

Wow. It’s weird, because I was just wondering why I hadn’t heard more speculation about Obama’s Senate seat. I guess I know why now.
–
I’m hoping Jesse Jackson Jr. is not Candidate 1. He can’t be. Obama’s better than that. I’m still disappointed Valerie Jarrett was not interested in the Senate.

Hey, gunny, KT is down your way. You should get together.

Targetted.
How many federal departments were involved here?
Another case of political-cum-DOJ shenanigans from Bush’s skunk works?

cf, no, in this case it’s Fitzgerald’s shop.

I don’t want to defend Blagojevich here. But this is just another example of how law and ethics in politics is a non-bipartisan affair.
.
This is the third governor that Bush’s DOJ has taken down. Seligman, Spitzer and Blagojevich.
.
It’s not that Spitzer wasn’t sleazy, hypocritical, and breaking the law. And the same for Blagojevich (Seligman was railroaded). It’s that the Democrats only allow investigations by the DOJ into Democratic wrongdoing and make absolutely no effort to condemn similar actions by the GOP.
.
“Pay-To-Play”? Trying to “monetize” relationships made to make money after leaving office? Thank goodness Democrats strongly attacked that when the GOP launched Operation K Street.

wvng Says:
” .. Hey, gunny, KT is down your way. You should get together. .. “
Aha! I suspected who this “wvng” really is – the welcome wagon from the matchmaker agency.

Obama breathes sigh of relief:
.
“In a conversation with Harris on November 11, the charges state, Blagojevich said he knew that the President-elect wanted Senate Candidate 1 for the open seat but “they’re not willing to give me anything except appreciation. [Expletive] them.”

gunny wrote “I think stupid is too kind of a word here. I think a new word has to be invented to describe this level of criminal”
.
I realize it’s two words but does incompetent jackassery work for you?

Somebody explain to me please how this is so terribly different from Hillary expecting to have her debt retired if she endorsed Obama, or Gov Patterson weighing which Senate appointment would personally benefit him politically the most, as widely reported.
.
Is the critical difference that he was seeking to benefit financially personally? Otherwise, he seems to me to stand accused of politics as usual.

rose83 — Don’t know who Candidate 1 is, but it’s not Jesse Jackson Jr. Read through the transcripts and according to the pronoun game, Candidate 1 is a woman.

Kathy, I would say the distinction is the alleged personal financial gain. If there was some sort of a political quid pro quo instead of cash, I would agree with you thatit is politcs as usual.
.
A smarter politican would not have telephone conversations about this stuff.

I think the guv should place a call to Willie “The Freezer” Jefferson and make friends they might be able to bunk together.

elena911 you think senate candidate 1 is Valarie Jarrett?

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald says Blagojevich put a “for sale” sign on the appointment of Barack Obama’s replacement in the U.S. Senate, and wanted to be named Secretary of Health and Human Services. The governor also involved himself in “pay-to-play schemes with the urgency of a salesman meeting his annual sales target.” And he tried to get the Tribune editorial board fired in exchange for a deal on the Cubs.
.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/

Somebody explain to me please how this is so terribly different from Hillary expecting to have her debt retired if she endorsed Obama, or Gov Patterson weighing which Senate appointment would personally benefit him politically the most, as widely reported.
–
In HRC’s case, it was not part of her Senatorial duties to endorse a Presidential candidate. Blagojevich was trying to get something in return for merely doing his job. The equivalent would be if Obama had asked HRC for 10 million dollars to appoint her Secretary of State. In Patterson’s case, doing something because it helps you get reelected is not the same as doing something for personal gain. In fact – as SG and I were recently discussing – politicians doing something because it helps them get reelected is an important part of the political system.
–
elena911, thanks. Jarrett said she wasn’t interested. But maybe that’s because she thought Blagojevich was unlikely to appoint her, which apparently he was.

I’m curious to know why Fitzgerald decided to move now. Did he want to avoid trapping the next President? Did he decide not to let this proceed as far as an actual appointment? You’d think that he’d have gotten more if he waited to let this play out.

What needs to be understood is that Obama is not close to nor really likes Blago. Blago had fantasies of being in the cabinet and that would only happen when he** froze over.
Everyone in Illinois knew the Gov was corrupt and no one likes him. Even democrats don’t like him.
This is not a big surprise for us. We knew he was going to be arrested any day.
The big news is that he was trying to sell Obama’s seat but, we just think “Figures”. Nothing surprises us with this idiot.
It’s good scandal but, it’s also well known that Blago brags about Obama knowing neither like the other very much and never were chums.

Rose – good point about the distinction. I haven’t seen enough yet to know that Blag was looking for personal gain, but perhaps that was it.
.
Also, Jarrett hasn’t ever indicated an interest in elected office, has she? I can imagine she’d much rather be a more direct advisor to Obama, and it appears he’d prefer that too.

gunny – thanks for the Trib link. will catch up on this before I stumble around with more questions.

So, does anybody know anything of note about Pat Quinn, the now acting Governor?

Forgive me for saying this, but I hope there’s is nothing Obama has done, where the governor might roll on him. I am just experiencing a moment of paranoiac dread.
.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled program.

Andy from MA, Obama’s smart. If he were corrupt, he’d be better at it.
–
Kathy, I assumed the bribes were for him. Also, he talked about helping his wife’s lobbyist career if he were in the Senate.

andy, as I said in an earlier post, the gov and obama are not friends and don’t care for each other. Blago had fantasies of being in the administration but, that would never happen. Alot of democratic pols don’t like this guy either. It was common knowledge a while ago that he was corrupt and not very well liked.

Nibblybits, I have not heard alot about him but, what little I have he never had any corruption or anything bad come up about him.
He lives in north central Illinois, my area, but, nothing much is heard but, seems to just do his job.

nibblybits, Pat Quinn is about to become the next senator of IL.

gygst213 wrote:
U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald says Blagojevich put a “for sale” sign on the appointment of Barack Obama’s replacement in the U.S. Senate, and wanted to be named Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Why do you think Dacshel’s name was floated out early as Sec. of HHS. A message that the position is filled and there are no positions open for him.

Now it must be determined if Blagojevich was simply musing to himself and his cronies about “paying to play” for a plum spot in an Obama administration or if Obama’s transition team was actually entertaining any offer. I doubt it, but even an innocuous comment from an aide could blow up real big, real fast. Stunner.

http://www.political-buzz.com/

Benen has a nice take:
.
Think about the chutzpah Blagojevich has shown. He’s under investigation, and he knows it. He’s being watched by a relentless prosecutor, and he knows it.
.
And what does Blagojevich do, well aware that his every move is under the microscope? He literally tries to sell a vacant U.S. Senate seat. It’s almost as if he’s trying to qualify for some kind of political Darwin Award.
.
With William Jefferson losing on Saturday, and Rod Blagojevich getting busted today, the Democratic Party should be thrilled to be rid of its two most embarrassing members.
.
Any of ya’ll find that you now insert periods between paragraphs as you write elsewhere? Just wondering.

Candidate 1 is likely Tammy Duckworth if it’s a woman.

Are they arresting the wife? Apparently, she’s a lobbyist; is that right?

Josh says: “We’re trying to confirm the identity of “Senate Candidate 1″. It appears to be Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett. “

The Tribune were playing ball with him btw.

And Fitz ensures his reappointment as USAG under Obama. Will the Republicans count him as a “bipartisan” pick?

On November 6, the day of a Tribune editorial critical of Blagojevich , Harris told Blagojevich that he told Tribune Financial Advisor the previous day that things “look like they could move ahead fine but, you know, there is a risk that all of this is going to get derailed by your own editorial page.” Harris also told Blagojevich that he was meeting with Tribune Financial Advisor on November 10.
.
In a November 11 intercepted call, Harris allegedly told Blagojevich that Tribune Financial Advisor talked to Tribune Owner and Tribune Owner “got the message and is very sensitive to the issue.” Harris told Blagojevich that according to Tribune Financial Advisor, there would be “certain corporate reorganizations and budget cuts coming and, reading between the lines, he’s going after that section.” Blagojevich allegedly responded. “Oh. That’s fantastic.” After further discussion, Blagojevich said, “Wow. Okay, keep our fingers crossed. You’re the man. Good job, John.”
.
In other words, the Tribune company wanted a deal that would save them millions. Harris, the governor’s aide, told them that if they removed the paper’s ed board, the governor would play ball. In response, Harris got the impression that Zell had received the message and would do what Blagojevich wanted. The governor was pleased.

trifecta, I guess you are number 1! Line jumper.

Valerie Jarret was candidate 1. Jackson is #5.

Have now read the press release. Nothing innocuous about what Blag was doing. Impressive show of head in sand. Talks about assuming he’s being listened to on other phone lines but apparently assumes no one is listening on that line.
.
I’m with you Andy, hoping nobody associated with Obama has been caught in the net. It’s good to have it right in the press release that Blag knew he’d get nothing out of Obama, which may be why Fitzgerald included it. He can’t very well say “don’t worry folks, there’s no involvement for Obama here.”

I think the fact that Tribune owner Sam Zell was willing to fire the editorial board at the Tribune in exchange for $100,000,000 in favors from Blago is huge news.
.
As Atrios just said, it’s time to convene a blogger ethics panel on that one.

AAAAAGH They’ve screwed up the format again. Spare us. No second pages! No starting from scratch and renumbering each group of 50 comments. KT’s on vacation – how we going to get this paid attention to. Michael???? Help.
.
Also, Fitzgerald scheduled to have a news conference at noon.

This sounds like a three stooges plot line. Knowing Patrick Fitzgerald was after me would have put me into a “be careful that you do everything right” mode. Blag sounds like an idiot. They do get to be elected governors, unfortunately. I am relieved this happened now and not after Obama takes office. I hope No 5 does not turn out to be whom I suspect him to be.

If Patrick Fitzgerald were after me, I would pretend to be a choir boy for a while. Hmmm, there is a dollar bill on the ground. I could take that, but it would be wrong. I will deliver it to the lost & found department instead.

Don’t we all wish Fitzgerald was US Attorney in Anchorage?

Is anyone else having to go to page 2 to see the comments past #50?

It is notable that the NY Times article on this does not mention that Obama was not playing ball. As the indictment says: “In a conversation with Harris on November 11, the charges state, Blagojevich said he knew that the President-elect wanted Senate Candidate 1 for the open seat but “they’re not willing to give me anything except appreciation. [Expletive] them.”"
.
Seems to me this was worth mentioning? Somewhere?

@bitterpill8

My guess is that Candidate 5 is either Jesse Jr. or Art Turner. Either way, while not currently part of Obama’s official team, they have been political allies of him in the past and I believe Jesse Jr. held an official role in the campaign. My money is on Jesse – Turner is an old dude and I can’t see him putting his rep on the line for what would amount to a caretaker role in the Senate seat. (ditto, Emil Jones)

That said, lots of evidence in here that the Obama team specifically refused to play ball and let that be known early on in the process. Did they give Fitz a heads up? Could be.

Tweet from Matt Cooper:

Take it from me, Gov. Blagojevich, you don’t want Patrick Fitzgerald on your case.

I wish there were no Candidate 5, but since there is I’m hoping for Jackson Jr. I already knew he was a horrible person, so it’s not like I’d have to add another name to my horrible person list.
–
Kathy, yes I have to click on a new page too. Very irritating.

It’s not that Spitzer wasn’t sleazy, hypocritical, and breaking the law.
.
Pretty sure Spitzer didn’t break any Federal law. They never charged him….

It seems obvious to everyone who has read and reread the indictment that “Candidate 1″ was Valerie Jarrett.

rose, kathy–
.
That multiple pages is for performance reasons. The site in general, and comments in particular will load faster.
.
The ugliness, lack of paragraph breaks, absence of preview, I cannot explain.

Who plays Fitzgerald in the movie? I’d say a younger Harrison Ford would be perfect.

Did I mention that I always thought that Fitz would be perfect for AG?

My God, Fitzgerald is gutting Blagojevich in this press conference. Anybody listening would vote guilty on the spot.
.
I guess we will now wait for the leaks for the counterparties caught on tape. There are a lot of nervous politicians and lobbyists in Illinois right now.

Damn. Now THAT is what I call a scandal. I like this guy. If you’re going to abuse your office, don’t screw around with 18th century commodes or small fries like $90K, go for the gold.
-
Mr. Blagojevich, America salutes your unmitigated greed and ambition which were surpassed only by your mind boggling stupidity.

I wish we could clone Fitz and have him run all the US Attorney offices.

Jay – glad to have an explanation, but if I have to click on the second page each time I add a comment it doesn’t improve performance for me.

Fitzmas! Fitzmas! Fitzmas!

BTW, when is that “indictment” of “Karl Rove” coming down for “leaking” the so-called “identity” of the irrelevant, worthless, one-time federal bureaucrat Valerie Plame, wife of the thoroughly discredited, equally worthless one-time “Ambassador” to Gabon Joe Wilson? Hysterical kook conspiracy theorist David Shuster alleged on MSDNC that “Karl Rove, will in fact, be indicted.”

I like the reasons Fitzgerald has laid out for bringing this to light now, so that some things won’t happen as a result. Also saving some people from giving in to pay for play.

Fitzgerald asked the Trib to squash a story that Blagojevitch was being taped, which they did

The performance explaination explains the renumbering. Its not a bug its a feature. Get outta here.

@textee

You have noticed that a) everybody here is talking about the Blagojevich case, not old news like the Plame investigation and b) just about everybody here is praising Fitzgerald for taking down this scumbag.

See, we Dems/liberals don’t blindly defend our scumbags. We’re also pretty darned happy that Bill Jefferson lost earlier this week.

[...] Earthquake: Illinois Gov. Arrested; Charged With Selling Obama’s Senate Seat Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Ill. Governor Blagojevich Arrested on Federal [...]

When can we expect to see Time magazine feature photographs of Blagojevich together with the thoroughly unqualified, terrorist fraternizing, community organizer? Answer: As soon as Time magazine features photographs of Tony Rezko together with the thoroughly unqualified, terrorist fraternizing, community organizer, to wit: never.

This is bigger than OJ!!

Textee good to have you back. We have missed our right-wing whipping boys and girls. You may call me Step-Daddy.

Was his hair implicated?

@textee

That’s “President-elect thoroughly unqualified, terrorist fraternizing, community organizer”.

Well any candidate who runs for IL gov in the future can run on the campaign promise, “I pledge to be less corrupt than my two predecessors.”
.
textee: did school have early release today?

If he’s no longer in a position to be appointing senators, I think he should give me my money back.

Did I mention that I always thought that Fitz would be perfect for AG?
.
I asked Marcy about that, and she said he wouldn’t want it. Doesn’t like DC.

This is a lousy headline – attempting to sell Illinois Senate would be correct.
Governor Blago is still governor – there is no legal change of authority because of indictment. Innocent til proven guity etc.
The best solution would be for him to resign, but he has not shown much capacity for statesmanship in the past. Impeachment will take weeks at best.
The senate seat will just hang in limbo now.

Please, please, please President-elect Obama, please reappoint Patrick Fitzgerald as US Attorney. Let’s see what he can do with the rest of Chicago.
.
Thank you, former Senator Peter Fitzgerald.
.
Why in the world did (Democratic) Senator Durbin get involved with the Illinois governor mess, calling for a pardon for (Republican) Governor Ryan recently? What’s in it for Durbin?

I would just caution people jumping on the Fitzgerald bandwagon. He does a lot of these high-profile cases for a reason, and it’s not just justice. I don’t know his political affiliation, but I wouldn’t be surprised one iota if he is a diehard Repub. Point being, be careful what you wish for.

Does the Tribune Company bankruptcy relate to this in any way?

I don’t know his political affiliation, but I wouldn’t be surprised one iota if he is a diehard Repub. Point being, be careful what you wish for.
–
I don’t care if he is Republican. He’s good at his job. That said, I can see that he probably wouldn’t like DC.

How good? Perhaps if he had pushed, he could’ve gotten Rove and Cheney.

This is totally off topic and I know Franklin Raines was found to have cooked the books during his time as the head of Fannie Mae. But this cat has shown himself to be a helluva lot better at testifying in front of congress than the other 3 bozos who were/are running Fannie. And I mean he has had some rethugs reading Investor’s Business Daily Wingnut Editorials into the record to try to throw him off his game, but the guy is coming off like damm near a genius when it comes to the housing crisis. Maybe I just don’t know enough to know he is making sh!t up or something but he has impressed me today.

About the stupidity issue…in the history and practice of Chicago politics, RB may not have even been aware that his behavior was criminal. It was just Chicago politics and he is a Chicago politician. It seems that there was such openness about the pandering, even in the midst of ongoing federal investigation, that he may as well have put the Senate seat up for bid on ebay.
.
I am also not encouraged about the line that “they” , Obama’s camp woldn’t give him anything, because the implication is that Obama’s team knew of the activity. It could wind up being the Whitewater of the Obama term. Just observation, I don’t really think it is likely.
.
In any event, I hate seeing a story like this break, because I know it will never cease and I will hear more about it than I want to, 100 times over.

I, personally, am haunted by the fact that our entire country has been run by a corrupt criminal enterprise for the last eight years. Doesn’t appear to haunt MS, nor is it likely to haunt Bush and Cheney or any of their friends ever.
.
As entertaining and theatrical as the Vlad Blago story is, it pales in significance when compared to the big boys. Think about it. If any USA other than Fitz had been involved, a majority of the readers here would have expected a politically motivated prosecution. Anywhere in the country.

‘Perhaps if he had pushed, he could’ve gotten Rove and Cheney.’
.
For what?
.
Libby was convicted for perjury (and I think obstruction of justice). Honest Karl didn’t happen to make the same mistake.
.
Fitzgerald convicted Scooter Libby and (Republican) Governor Ryan. Ryan was convicted despite a free defense (supposedly worth $30M) provided by former (Republican) Governor Jim Thompson’s law firm. Fitzgerald has established his credentials.

ogliberal:

That’s funny.

textee – if you click on the word “Home” in the upper right corner, you’ll find that “never” is “now.” Try not to disturb the neighbors with your squeals and grunts of joy, ‘kay?