Classy, Illinois Gov. Version

[filkertom]

For a long time now, I have heard Illinois-based friends on both sides of the political aisle decry Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Usually, he's held up as an example of why we need either fewer Democrats or "better Democrats".

Hard to argue with that latter sentiment:

Federal authorities took Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) and his chief of staff John Harris into custody this morning on federal corruption charges. Before the arrest, the Chicago Tribune had reported that a “three-year federal corruption investigation of pay-to-play politics in Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration has expanded to include his impending selection of a new U.S. senator to succeed President-elect Barack Obama.”...

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

He wanted to sell a Senate seat.

And not just any Senate seat... the one which was vacated by the president-elect.

I don't give a rat's ass if he has a (D) after his title -- this is foul. Corrupt is corrupt is corrupt. Public service means serving the public. And this ain't it.

Comments

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

So much for dispelling the stereotypes of Chicago politics and politicians :-)

/me wanders off to listen to Steve Goodman sing about Paul Powell (scroll down for lyrics)

yah, idiot governor is gone

[jasperjones22.livejournal.com]

Yah, the idiot, corrupt governor is gone. The same idiot who is letting my university crumble due to not releasing capitol improvement funds. The same idiot who slashed the budget for education and medicare at the same time, but I bet once he didn't look into his corrupt buddies programs. Oh I laughed when I saw this

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

So who replaces him as Governor, and who gets to select the new Senator?

Probably Lionel Luthor. :snerk:

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

If/when he is removed from office, he'll be replaced by Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn. Until he is removed from office through resignation, impeachment, or conviction, he remains the governor and would be able to select a new Senator.

[rook543.livejournal.com]

So....does this mean my bid is voided? Damn....

[emiofbrie.livejournal.com]

Not trying to defend him or anything, as he is plainly guilty...but it's the timing of the arrest that's bugging me, seeing that only yesterday, he decided to cut the state's ties with Bank of America (http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Ill._Governor_suspends_business_with_Bank_1208.html)

[tandw.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking it was because of the specific nature of the charges--since he's accused of trying to sell Obama's vacant Senate seat, Pat Fitzgerald probably wanted to move before Blago could make his selection. If it'd come out after the selection, that person might have been unfairly tarred.

That said, the timing sucks, because Blago did do the right thing wrt BoA. I honestly don't think Patrick Fitzgerald would be party to that level of manipulation, though. His performance in the Valerie Plame scandal was exemplary.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

That's what I'm thinking. Fitzgerald has been stellar. And, yeah, Blago did do the right thing with BoA. The Republic mess is appalling, and I actually just heard Bob Ross (on CBS Radio) suggest that the factory simply be given to the workers, who want to work there, and have customers ready to buy, and let the owners go to Iowa.

[ann-totusek.livejournal.com]

To heck with that- we don't want them (the owners) here!

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

The ties to BofA being dropped had to do with the hellaciously bad PR for the bank that's being generated due to the factory sit-in. Since it largely hit the news in the past couple of days, he reacted in a not unreasonable time frame (from the outside looking in, of course).

[emiofbrie.livejournal.com]

I know, but it's like, he threatens to cut off BofA, and *then* all of a sudden he's arrested for his crimes? Why wasn't he arrested earlier?

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

I don't know. Maybe there was some other cue they were waiting for. If it was Fitzgerald in charge, then we know it was honest (he's as straight a shooter as there is, and I'd have cheered if Obama had nominated him for AG).

[qnofhrt.livejournal.com]

I know, but it's like, he threatens to cut off BofA, and *then* all of a sudden he's arrested for his crimes?

Coincidence is a strange thing sometimes. I don't think the events are related at all.

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

I think it's a marvelous coincidence that he was arrested the day before his birthday.

[zibblsnrt.livejournal.com]

The complaint was signed the day before. The timing is coincidence.

[bayushisan.livejournal.com]

The gaming community's had it's share of issues with the Illinois Gov as well. The bill he pushed through and signed into law regarding M rated games was found unconstitutional and the state was ordered to pay the gaming industry's legal fees, which amounted to more than half a million dollars. More money that his state didn't have, and which he has yet to pony up.

This really doesn't surprise me from everything I've heard. We need some actually statesmen more than anything else.

[sdelmonte]

Way to go, Rod! Put a cloud over Obama by association before he even takes office! Never mind that it's clear that this lout seems to be playing his own game against the political interests of the next president. It still gives the other side ammo they don't need.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Blogger Athenae at First Draft pointed out (being Chicagoan) that it's always been a case of two sects of Democrats being at odds while the Republicans sit powerless but giggling on the sidelines. Blagojevich is playing a local game which, unfortunately for him, has broader ramifications.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Can I steal that icon? I think I need that... :)

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Not mine to begin with - go ahead, as long as you credit the original icon-maker (magicfly_icons).

[droewyn.livejournal.com]

That's not how I read that... I read it as "I wanted Obama to bribe me to replace him with the guy of his choice, but he won't play."

... or do you mean that people might suggest that Obama obtained his own Senate seat due to a similar bribe?

[sdelmonte]

The latter didn't occur to me, but it might occur to the disloyal opposition.

I'm just not happy that the simple fact that Obama and Rod are from the same state and the same party will be used against Obama, unfairly or not.

[gavroche42.livejournal.com]

How Obama obtained his Senate Seat is a matter of historical record. He was up against Republican Jack Ryan (unrelated to former Gov George Ryan). Ryan's divorce proceedings with his Hollywood actress wife, Jeri (Seven of Nine) revealed some pretty scandalous stuff and he stepped out of the race. The IL GOP replaced him with Alan Keyes, and Obama won in a landslide.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois_United_States_Senate_election,_2004

George Ryan by the way was also felled in a scandal. It's not Dem vs GOP - there's corruption in both parties in Illinois.

[sdelmonte]

It's like New Jersey, one of those places where you really expect the worst.

That a man like Obama emerged from the muck is a tribute to his skill and determination.

[qnofhrt.livejournal.com]

That a man like Obama emerged from the muck is a tribute to his skill and determination.

Ah but there are plenty of people here in Chicago and the rest of the country that would tell you that he didn't - that the muck (aka the Chicago Democratic machine) was what got him elected to the senate in the first place and that they (the Chicago machine) "own" Obama. One of these people even lives in my house.

[alverant.livejournal.com]

I was thinking the same thing. It's not lie the other side won't make things up about Obama. But this gives them a little molehill of truth they can later claim is the next Mt.McKinley.

[james-the-evil1.livejournal.com]

Illinois politics FTW.
Keep in mind:
Blagojevich took the chief executive's office in 2003 as a reformer promising to clean up former Gov. George Ryan's mess.

Ryan, a Republican, is serving a 6-year prison sentence after being convicted on racketeering and fraud charges. A decade-long investigation began with the sale of driver's licenses for bribes and led to the conviction of dozens of people who worked for Ryan when he was secretary of state and governor.

It's not that we need fewer of one party or the other or better of one party or the other.
We need fewer & better politicians in GENERAL.

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

It all goes toward the proof of Sturgeon's Law.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%27s_Law

[james-the-evil1.livejournal.com]

I think Ted's % was a little low.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

I've always heard that the corollary is that 90% of the rest is really crap, too. That's 99%, now; close enough? :-)

[james-the-evil1.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that sounds about right.

[alverant.livejournal.com]

Ookla the Mok had a song along those lines. Everything good turns to crap eventually.

[hiddenriver.livejournal.com]

The weird thing is that the racketeering is so systemic that it doesn't take particularly odious people to fall into it. Governor Ryan wasn't pure evil - he's the one that issued the moratorium on the death penalty in Ill. after learning that death row convicts in his state were being exonerated at an alarming rate (where "alarming" = more than 50%). That took guts, especially for a Republican.

Sounds like Illinois needs a really good housecleaning - it's a good thing the evidence against Blagojevich indicates clearly that Obama wasn't playing that game.

[james-the-evil1.livejournal.com]

It's endemic to the system. It's not just Illinois. And plenty of guys who do good otherwise get their hand in the cookie jar somewhere & screw up. The process is SO corrupt it's hard to avoid.

[shadowcat48li.livejournal.com]

governor Rod a good guy? right....
maybe as the governor of chicago...

oooh... now theres an idea, make chicago a seperate state and let them deal with their crap on there own. chicago may have a lot of the population, but theres a whole lot of state and real people south of I-80. I really think its time to tell chicago to take its politics and shove them.I live downstate and I am tired of downstate taking a backseat to whatever crap is happening to chicago.

he never gave a damn about downstate illinois, he refused to live in springfield, the real capitol of Illinois, instead living in chicago.

[james-the-evil1.livejournal.com]

I didn't say good guy, I said guys who do good. There's a difference.

[kengr]

No, we need *statesmen* instead of politicians.

[archiver-tim.livejournal.com]

I think the national chairman of the Democratic Party should resign for being in charge when bad goverment happens.

[hiddenriver.livejournal.com]

1) Howard Dean is already resigning, and

2) The national party chairman can't be held responsible for the behavior of every Democrat in every state. He doesn't have any official power at the state level - his focus is on getting Democrats elected to national offices.

[archiver-tim.livejournal.com]

I'm making a parodicic comment about recent senate hearings.

[hiddenriver.livejournal.com]

Ah, in that case I'd better get my sarcasm-detector tuned up. <emilylitella>nevermind</emilylitella>

[alverant.livejournal.com]

I call the political version of Poe's Law.

Poe's Law says that if you're going to make a parodist comment about a religious view you have to explicitly state you're making a parodist statement. That's because you could be taken seriously since there are other people making the same (or even more extreme) statements as you but NOT be making a parodist comment.

You'd be surprised at how many people are proclaiming what Blago did was typical Democratic behavior and how we can expect more of that from the next president.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

Well, ya know, there's yet to be a conviction. Now, Fitzgerald is a good prosecutor and an honest one, far as I know. Nonetheless.

(update:) Coverage of Fitzgerald (http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/12/09/press-conference-of-fitz-liveblog/)'s press conference at FDL. [deleted repetitive rumor] Video soon at TPM (http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/). BTW, Fitzgerald indicted the last governor of Ill. too, a Republican. Ah, the land of Lincoln.

[liddle-oldman.livejournal.com]

Late, decadent Roman!

[purpleranger.livejournal.com]

He would have been better off just appointing himself.

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

I guess Blagojevich is an asshole after all. Sheesh.

[ladystarblade.livejournal.com]

Interesting blog over at the Kos...Rahm Emanuel as the whistleblower?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/12/9/13126/0244/125/671113

[axegrrl.livejournal.com]

The Kos item continues, with updates, and indicates otherwise.

[jgaleckas.livejournal.com]

This is what comes from watching Blazing Saddles too many times.

Life imitates art.