# Illinois Gov arrested



## justanotherparatrooper (Aug 27, 2006)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-rod-blagojevich-1209,0,7997804.story

Gov caught trying to sell Odrama's Senate seat..oops!


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## MCADPD24 (Nov 7, 2008)

anyone notice that, it's just liberals getting arrested. hahaha. whos next


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## Guest (Dec 9, 2008)

DemocRATs get arrested for corruption & Republicans are arrested for sex acts. I found both parties to be useless lately. I vote Republican, but one of these parties needs to get its act together. The GOP needs to get back to its basics and stop acting like democrats w/ spending as it has this past decade. The Dems need to remember they are Americans and this country is as great as it is due to its Judeo-Christian traditions.


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## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*LOCAL COVERAGE - URGENT - URGENT - URGENT - Gov. Blagojevich and his chief of staff John Harris were arrested at their homes this morning in a probe involving the governor's quest to fill Sen. Barack Obama's Senate seat.

The charges also include alleged attempts by the governor to influence the Tribune editorial board.

The governor threatened that if the Tribune didn¹t support the governor, he wouldn't approve the sale of Wrigley Field.

The charges are contained in a criminal complaint and are unrelated to a more than three-year probe into alleged pay-to-play politics under the governor's administration.

An 11 a.m. press conference has been scheduled by the U.S. attorney¹s office.*

*NATIONAL COVERAGE - FROM FOX NEWS:
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff John Harris were arrested Tuesday morning in Chicago on two counts each of federal corruption charges stemming from allegations Blagojevich was trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat to the highest bidder.

The arrest is part of a three-year probe of "pay-to-play politics" in the governor's administration. The criminal complaint by the FBI says each man was arrested on two charges of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and solicitation of bribery.

The charges also relate to allegations that Blagojevich and Harris schemed with previously convicted defendants and Obama associates Antoin Rezko, Stuart Levine, Ali Ata and others to arrange financial benefits in exchange for appointments to state boards and commissions, state employment, state contracts and access to state funds.

Blagojevich and Harris will have an initial appearance in U.S. District Court Tuesday.

A statement by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Robert Grant said Blagojevich and Harris "allegedly conspired to sell U.S. Senate appointment, engaged in pay-to-play schemes and threatened to withhold state assistance to Tribune Company for Wrigley Field to induce purge of newspaper editorial writers."

"The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering," Fitzgerald said in a statement.

"Blagojevich put a for sale sign on the naming of a United States Senator; involved himself personally in pay-to-play schemes with the urgency of a salesman meeting his annual sales target; and corruptly used his office in an effort to trample editorial voices of criticism," he added.

Grant noted that Blagojevich was elected in 2002 after Illinois Gov. George Ryan retired in the face of federal corruption charges. He was convicted and sentenced in 2006 to six and a half years in prison.

"Many, including myself, thought that the recent conviction of a former governor would usher in a new era of honesty and reform in Illinois politics. Clearly, the charges announced today reveal that the office of the Governor has become nothing more than a vehicle for self-enrichment, unrestricted by party affiliation and taking Illinois politics to a new low," Grant said.

Federal authorities were permitted by a judge to record the governor secretly before the November election after raising concerns that a replacement for Obama would be tainted.

Fitzgerald's office said the 76-page FBI affidavit alleges that Blagojevich was taped conspiring to sell or trade Obama's vacated U.S. Senate seat for financial and other personal benefits for himself and his wife, including an annual salary of $250,000-$300,000 at a nonprofit foundation or an organization affiliated with labor unions.

They also allege Blagojevich is heard on tape demanding a corporate board seat for his wife worth as much as $150,000 a year; promises of campaign funds, including cash up front; and a Cabinet post or ambassadorship for himself.

The Chicago Tribune was first to report the arrests. Informed Monday of the wiretap, Blagojevich told reporters that his discussions were "always lawful" and he defended a close confidant, John Wyma, who turned on him. Wyma as "an honest person who's conducted himself in an honest way," Blagojevich said.

"I should say if anybody wants to tape my conversations, go right ahead, feel free to do it," he said.

However, the Tribune was also named in the affidavit because tapes allegedly play Blagojevich directing Harris to inform the newspaper's owners and advisers that "state financial assistance would be withheld unless members of the Chicago Tribune's editorial board were fired, primarily because Blagojevich viewed them as driving discussion of his possible impeachment."

The Tribune Company, which declared bankruptcy on Monday, owns the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Cubs, and had explored the possibility of obtaining assistance from the Illinois Finance Authority as part of the effort to sell the Cubs and finance the sale of Wrigley Field.

Conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Solicitation of bribery carries a maximum of 10 years in prison. Both carry a maximum fine of $250,000. * http://www.shavedlongcock.blogspot.com/


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## justanotherparatrooper (Aug 27, 2006)

Makes you wonder how Odrama got his seat?


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## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*Illinois Governor Arrested By Federal Agents...*

*Probe widens to vacant senate seat...*

*'A fu**ing valuable thing, you just don't give it away for nothing'...*

*Wiretaps: 'I Want To Make Money'...*

*Gov. Blago calls Obama 'motherfu**er'...*

*US Atty: Not alleging Obama knew of plan...*

*MERRY FITZMAS: Plame Leak Prosecutor Turns Attention on Obama's Home State...*

*'The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering'...*
*







*

*GRAND JURY SUBPOENAS ISSUED ON REZKO/OBAMA LAND DEAL...*


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## Deuce (Sep 27, 2003)

C'mon, a pol getting arrested for being corrupt. Does this really suprise you? Hell isn't the word 'politician' translated from the latin meaning for 'dirty rat'?


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## BB-59 (Oct 19, 2005)

I am suprised the Dems have not claimed that this is a Right Wing Republican plot.


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## dcs2244 (Jan 29, 2004)

It's a plot, alright...a Democrat plot, and they got caught! I guess the "purge" will be on hold for a while...


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## celticsfan (Dec 18, 2007)

Wow, checkout the haircut on that dude, WTF


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## Irish Wampanoag (Apr 6, 2003)

I'm jealous I want a head of hair like that!!!

At least he will have a full head of hair going to prison!


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## justanotherparatrooper (Aug 27, 2006)

Irish Wampanoag said:


> I'm jealous I want a head of hair like that!!!
> 
> At least he will have a full head of hair going to prison!


NOt a problem, you can buy it from him...I dont believe toupees are allowed in prison.


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## Guest (Dec 10, 2008)

I thought it was a dead rat on his head.


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## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*Typical DUMMYCRAT go to work like nothing has happened.*

*Ill. gov. heads to work with no comment on charges*

23 mins ago










Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, back seat, sits behind a member of his security detail as he leaves the Dirksen Federal Building in Chicago, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008. The governor was arrested at his home Tuesday on charges he conspired to sell or trade President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder.(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

*Obama hoping he doesn't get caught*

 
Play Video 
Video: Obama: 'saddened' by Blagojevich allegations AP

CHICAGO - The governor of Illinois has returned to work - a day after he was arrested and accused of scheming to enrich himself by selling President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich (bluh-GOY'-uh-vich) is out on bond and has denied any wrongdoing.
The governor left his home on Chicago's North Side early Wednesday and waved to the media before quickly getting into a dark SUV without talking to the reporters gathered outside his home.
A short time later, Blagojevich's SUV arrived at his office at the state office building. The vehicle pulled into an underground garage, driving past the mass of photographers gathered outside.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081210/ap_on_re_us/illinois_governor


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## justanotherparatrooper (Aug 27, 2006)

He's counting on a pardon 01/21/09


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## Guest (Dec 10, 2008)

kwflatbed said:


> *Typical DUMMYCRAT go to work like nothing has happened.*


C'mon Harry...he has a lot of documents to shred!


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## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

Illinois governor ignores Obama's call to resign

CHICAGO - His career in shreds, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich clung defiantly to power Wednesday, ignoring a call to step down from President-elect Barack Obama and a warning that Senate Democrats will not let him appoint a new senator from the state.
"Everyone is calling for his head," said Barbara Flynn Currie, a leader in the Illinois Senate and, like the governor, a Democrat.
One day after Blagojevich's arrest, fellow Illinois politicians sought to avoid the taint of scandal-by-association.
Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. said at a news conference in Washington that he was Senate Candidate 5 in the government's criminal complaint - a man Blagojevich was secretly recorded as saying might be willing to pay money to gain appointment to Obama's vacant Senate seat. Jackson said he had been assured by prosecutors he was not a target of the investigation, and he emphatically said he had not engaged "whatsoever in any wrongdoing."
Other Democrats in Washington edged away from calls for a special election to fill Obama's place in the Senate, hoping that Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn would soon become governor and fill the vacancy on his own. That would assure the party of holding the seat, and on a far faster timetable than any balloting would allow.
Ensconced in his downtown office, Blagojevich gave no sign he was contemplating resigning, and dispatched his spokeswoman, Kelley Quinn, to say it was "business as usual" in his 16th-floor suite, situated a few blocks from Obama's transition headquarters.
"At the end of the day, the top priority for our office is to serve the people, and we have not lost sight of that, nor will we lose sight of that," Quinn said.
One day earlier, federal prosecutors released a thick document that included excerpts of wiretapped conversations in which the governor allegedly schemed to enrich himself by offering to sell Obama's Senate seat for campaign cash or a lucrative job inside or outside government.
Blagojevich, whose 52nd birthday was Wednesday, is charged with conspiracy and solicitation to commit bribery, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and 10 years, respectively.
More than 24 hours after the arrest, Obama joined other prominent Democrats from his state in calling for Blagojevich's resignation.
"The president-elect agrees with Lt. Gov. Quinn and many others that under the current circumstances it is difficult for the governor to effectively do his job and serve the people of Illinois," Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said in response to questions from The Associated Press.
Asked whether Obama supports a special election, Gibbs said Obama believes the Illinois General Assembly should consider how to fill the Senate seat and "put in place a process to select a new senator that will have the trust and confidence of the people of Illinois."
Top Senate Democrats were more pointed in a letter circulated among the rank and file for signatures.
Blagojevich's resignation, followed by an appointment made by a new governor, would "be the most expeditious way for a new senator to be chosen and seated in a manner that would earn the confidence of the people of Illinois and all Americans," wrote Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and the party's second-ranking leader, Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois.
They added that if Blagojevich chose to "ignore the request of the Senate Democratic Caucus and make an appointment we would be forced to exercise our Constitutional authority ... to determine whether such a person should be seated."
The Constitution gives the Senate authority to refuse to allow a member to be sworn in.
Top Illinois lawmakers have said they are preparing to call the Legislature into session as early as next week to set a special election to choose Obama's successor. Many officials said Blagojevich should be impeached if he refuses to leave.

Still, it was unclear what incentive the governor had to give up his office. 
His attorney said Tuesday that he is innocent, and a resignation might make him appear guilty. The office also gives him a certain amount of clout, which can help him raise money for his defense. And he may need the salary - federal prosecutors say their wiretaps also caught Blagojevich complaining about his financial problems. 
"He appears to listen to no one, and his conduct becomes more outrageous as time goes on," said Steve Brown, spokesman for Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat. 
Brown also said that no matter when lawmakers act, Blagojevich could sit on the legislation and still pick a senator. "Despite our best efforts, the governor could play hide the ball. That is an inescapable reality," Brown said. "I'm hoping that's not the case." 
The anger toward Blagojevich came amid more fallout over the scandal and new details about the case. 
One of his top deputies, Bob Greenlee, resigned without announcing why. Greenlee, 33, was promoted to be a top aide to Blagojevich in June, earning $149,000 a year. Two deputy governors are listed in the criminal complaint, one as a potential Senate candidate to replace Obama and another as a Blagojevich lieutenant who was deeply involved in an alleged scheme to strong-arm the Chicago Tribune into firing some of its editorial writers critical of Blagojevich. 
Neither deputy governor was identified by name in the complaint. 
___ Associated Press Writer Liz Sidoti contributed to this report.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081210/ap_on_re_us/illinois_governor


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## dcs2244 (Jan 29, 2004)

Looks like they're putting the peek on Jesse Jackson, Jr...

http://hotair.com/archives/2008/12/...-not-i-am-not-a-target-of-this-investigation/


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## 7costanza (Aug 29, 2006)

> Makes you wonder how Odrama got his seat?


I just saw a great clip from Larry King ..he had his usual bunch of dochebag democrat supporters backpeddling..but they also had on Larry Elder ...that guy pulled no punches and had no problems asking why there has been no inquiry into the connection to Obama....


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## MCADPD24 (Nov 7, 2008)

Democrats are all idiots and crooks. I bet Jessee Jackson Jr. Was one of the higher bidders. Your right justanothertrooper I bet he will get pardon...


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## rg1283 (Sep 14, 2005)

http://www.nraila.org/News/Read/InTheNews.aspx?ID=11913

He belongs in jail for not letting the citizens of his state conceal carry. This is like issuing a drivers license, but not allowing you to drive while in your vehicle. doh!


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## 7costanza (Aug 29, 2006)

5 of the last 8 Illinois Governors have been indicted ,arrested or are currently in jail...now this guy..wtf is going on there. I dont believe for a second Jackson or Obama are tied to this shit somehow...


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## 7costanza (Aug 29, 2006)

> PLEASE tell me that was sarcasm!!


Mtc...it wasnt sarcasm...only because I meant to write '" arnt " tied to this somehow...thanks.


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## dcs2244 (Jan 29, 2004)

The Fed's are looking at The Messiah-elect's land deal...

http://hotair.com/archives/2008/12/11/rezkos-singing-blago-investigation-shows/

The fallout looks like it will continue for a while...


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## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

dcs2244 said:


> The Fed's are looking at The Messiah-elect's land deal...
> 
> http://hotair.com/archives/2008/12/11/rezkos-singing-blago-investigation-shows/
> 
> The fallout looks like it will continue for a while...


Anything involving Obama will be buried, never to be found again


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## Deuce (Sep 27, 2003)

kwflatbed said:


> Anything involving Obama will be buried, never to be found again


Or found dead from unknown causes? Wouldn't wanna be an Illinois trooper right now....


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## cj3441 (Oct 14, 2004)

The corrupt politicians in Chicago (i.e. the Richard Daley political machine) and in Illinois in general, make our politicians look like the Sisters of the Blessed Shrine.


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## Guest (Dec 12, 2008)

cj3441 said:


> The corrupt politicians in Chicago (i.e. the Richard Daley political machine) and in Illinois in general, make our politicians look like the Sisters of the Blessed Shrine.


And the President-elect is from..............


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## 7costanza (Aug 29, 2006)

> And the President-elect is from..............


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## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*Did Obama team have contact with Ill. governor?*









 
Fri Dec 12, 5:02 AM ET

AP - In this May 22, 2008, file photo is Obama campaign aide Valerie Jarrett poses in Chicago. (AP Photo)

CHICAGO - Barack Obama insists he didn't have any contact with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich or anyone else who might have been scheming to sell the president-elect's U.S. Senate seat. But he has not yet given his transition staff the same clean bill of health - perhaps with good reason.
An examination of the FBI complaint against Blagojevich and the days immediately following Obama's historic election victory suggests the governor was highly interested in Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett as a potential Senate appointee, albeit with a steep price tag.
The 76-page complaint contains multiple references to "Senate Candidate 1," whose description clearly fits Jarrett, a former finance chief for Obama's earlier campaigns and incoming senior White House adviser.
In secretly recorded conversations, the Democratic governor said he'd be willing to appoint Jarrett - Obama's supposed favorite to replace him - in return for a high-paying job at a national union organization called Change to Win.
At a news conference Thursday, Obama said his office was assembling any information about possible contacts "between the transition office and the governor's office," and that he intended to release any such detail in the next few days.
"But what I'm absolutely certain about is that our office had no involvement in any dealmaking around my Senate seat," Obama said. "That I'm absolutely certain of."
It remained unclear whether anyone on Obama's team had been in contact with Blagojevich or his associates regarding the Senate seat.
According to the complaint, Blagojevich met Nov. 5 with an official of the Service Employees International Union-Local 1 who is believed to be Tom Balanoff, a longtime Obama supporter who spoke at the Democratic National Convention.
Blagojevich "understood" that the SEIU official was "an emissary to discuss Senate Candidate 1's interest" in the Senate seat. Though just a day after the election, media reports had already identified Jarrett as being interested in the job.
SEIU officials released a statement Thursday saying the organization had been in contact with the U.S. attorney's office and had no reason to believe the union or any union official had been involved in misconduct. The statement said the union, and specifically Balanoff, were "fully cooperating" with the probe.
During a Nov. 5 call, Blagojevich said the Senate appointment was a thing of value, something not given away "for nothing."
Two days later, Blagojevich allegedly suggested he'd be willing to "trade" the Senate seat to Jarrett in exchange for the Health and Human Services secretary's job. He repeated that desire during a separate, three-way call involved Blagojevich, Chief of Staff John Harris and someone identified only as "Advisor B," a Washington-based consultant.
Harris noted that Blagojevich also would consider being appointed to a high-paying position at Change to Win and that Balanoff, who declined numerous requests for an interview with The Associated Press, could guarantee the appointment.
In return, Obama would be expected to help Change to Win with its legislative agenda on a national level, said Harris, according to the criminal complaint.
As the FBI listened in, Harris suggested the three-way deal would give Obama "a buffer so there is no obvious quid pro quo" regarding Jarrett. And "Adviser B" said "they should leverage the President-elect's desire to have Senate Candidate 1 appointed to the Senate seat" in exchange for a big job at Change to Win.
On Nov. 10, Blagojevich, his wife, Harris, the governor's chief counsel William R. Quinlan and several Washington-based advisers conducted an extraordinary two-hour conference call.
Blagojevich conceded he probably wouldn't get the HHS job or an ambassadorship because of so much negative publicity surrounding him.

Using several expletives, Blagojevich said he was reluctant to give Obama "his senator" without anything in return; he said he'd appoint a deputy governor before giving the job to Candidate 1. He also considered appointing himself to the job to avoid impeachment. 
During the next 36 hours, the governor grew angry and suggested Obama's camp was not interested in making a deal. 
"They're not willing to give me anything except appreciation. (Expletive) them," Blagojevich told Harris in an intercepted call Nov. 11. The men talked about alternative candidates and perhaps starting a nonprofit organization that could possibly be funded by a wealthy Obama supporter, perhaps Warren Buffett. 
Asked Thursday why the governor might have believed the Obama camp wasn't going to cooperate, Obama refused to speculate. 
"I can't presume to know what was in the mind of the governor during this process," he said. "All I can do is read what was in the transcripts, like the rest of you have read it, and shake my head." 
On Nov. 12, major news organizations, including the AP, quoted sources as saying Jarrett was not interested in the Senate seat. The Chicago Tribune said it had received an e-mail from Jarrett declaring, "I am not interested in the Senate seat." 
But as the day wore on, Blagojevich continued to discuss the possibility of appointing "Senate Candidate 1" in a series of calls; Blagojevich would stay on as governor and ostensibly run the nonprofit. 
"Adviser B" told the governor he liked the Change to Win job best because "from the President-elect's perspective, there would be fewer `fingerprints'" because the union organization was already in existence and fully funded. 
During one of the calls, Blagojevich informed the union official - believed to be Balanoff - that he'd heard Obama now wanted other candidates considered. Balanoff said he would find out if "Senate Candidate 1" wanted to keep pushing for the Senate seat. 
The discussion during a Nov. 13 call between the governor and "Adviser A" made it clear Blagojevich wanted a deal from Obama whether his pick was Jarrett or someone else, according to the complaint. And in subsequent recorded conversations, the governor indeed moved on to other possible candidates, including Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. 
On Nov. 15, Obama announced the appointment of Jarrett as one of his key advisers. And yet nine days later, Blagojevich may not have given up on the idea that Jarrett was still his way to cash in: According to Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., he spoke to the governor about Jarrett on Nov. 24. 
"The governor asked me, `What about Valerie Jarrett? Do you think she's serious?'" Durbin said, an apparent reference to her withdrawal from consideration. 
"I said, `Yes, I talked to her. She said she doesn't want this. She's going to stick with Obama,'" Durbin said. 
___ Associated Press writer Dennis Conrad in Washington contributed to this report.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081212/ap_on_re_us/illinois_governor_jarrett


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## OfficerObie59 (Sep 14, 2007)

Has anyone listened to Jay Severin recently? He brought up some good points that cast doubt on the truthfulness of Obama's statement that he nor his staff had never spoken with the governor.

Jay Severin Podcast Clip 12/10/08

1) David Axelrod stated "I knew he has met with the governor" regarding the Senate pick.
2) A reporter stood outside the offices of Barack Obama stating "The President elect is meeting with the governor right now discussing the replacement".
3) As is written above, the governor was recorded as knowing Obama wouldn't give anything but appreciation for the seat--I wonder how he knew that if he hadn't spoken with anyone in the Obama camp.

What a f#$in' liar. I'd bet a week's pay the man I voted for wouldn't be involved in scandal, nevermind before the inauguration. Nothing will happen and the media will roll over and play dead...again


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## Irish Wampanoag (Apr 6, 2003)

justanotherparatrooper said:


> NOt a problem, you can buy it from him...I dont believe toupees are allowed in prison.


With my receding hair line I'll try anything lol


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## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*Is the gingerbread man nuts? *

_"You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man"_

Reflecting on the question "Is Blagojevic nuts?," -- retired clinical psychologist Judith Lown writes:
I read your column with particular interest this morning because it echoed a conversation I had with a friend last night. My reaction then, as to your column, is that Blago is a classic personality disorder--Axis II in the DSM, which, technically, is different from psychosis, although part of an Axis II diagnosis is a vulnerability to psychotic episodes.

The question here is reality testing and the quality and the extent of loss of reality testing. Psychotics' loss of reality testing tends to have a bizarre flavor--Martians planting radios in the brain, the next door neighbor spying on them, etc. Personality disorders' reality testing deficits tend to be more in the line of "I wish it, therefore it is, or I don't wish it, therefore it isn't." There were times during the Clinton administration when, imo, both Bill and Hill seemed to wander pretty far into that territory. My guess is that we will see some of the same when pressures get to O.

If I were Blago's attorney and wanted to use an insanity plea, I would go for the episodic psychosis, but if I were a juror, I wouldn't buy it. His behavior is, to me, just garden variety sociopathic personality disorder behavior. And in the context of the Illinois Combine, there were simply insufficient contextual signals to make him moderate it.​Former Assistant United States Attorney Bill Otis also invokes his professional experience to answer the question:
No, he's not nuts. Having been an AUSA for a long time, one thing I noticed is that normal, honest people have difficulty understanding how criminals think. (This shows up, for example, in the death penalty debates I do, where abolitionists simply don't grasp the heartlessness and cruelty that some killers display. It's simply beyond their experience).

Blago's world is merely corrupt; it's not insane. To him, a Senate seat is not a public trust, it's a commodity. It has a price, and the most efficient mechanism for determining that price is to put it on auction, which is what he did. Far from being insane, it's perfectly clear-headed -- just venal. Mortgage markets should operate as well.

There are two other factors tending to argue that Blago was thinking clearly. First, the quality of one's thinking must be measured in the environment in which it occurs. Blogo was a powerful man. His prior years of greed had gone, not merely unpunished, but rewarded, ultimately with the Governor's Mansion. It might well be mistaken, but it is hardly insane, to believe that the behaviors that got you so much for so long will continue to work.

In this respect, Blago is more than a little reminiscent of both Elilot Spitzer and John Edwards, who, although high-profile and ambitious public figures under considerable real (and even more potential) press scrutiny, nonetheless thought they could continue to chase skirts with the joyfulness (and abandon) of an anonymous Wal-Mart worker in his twenties. The cocoon of arrogance and the feel of invulnerability that comes with getting away with this stuff for years -- as Blogo, Spitzer and Edwards all did -- comes to be their environment. A person is not crazy for living in his environment and adapting his behavior to it; indeed he'd be crazy to do otherwise.

Second, the absence of insanity is strongly suggested by the large number of candidates who joined the auction and put in their bids (or at least explored what the bidding might look like). We don't know yet who all these people were, but it's a safe guess they were some powerful and prominent citizens. Are they all crazy? No. They were, like Blago, acting rationally in the environment at hand (which they did much to create, but that's another story).

Of course, sometimes rational but corrupt people get caught, and this appears to be one of them. If they were always caught, or always (or close to always) made to pay a significant price for their misdeeds, then there would be a better case for thinking them to be insane. But that's not remotely how it works -- and they know that.

It's not so much that Spitzer and Edwards will walk away from their respective scandals the multi-millionaire celebrities they were when they walked in, with a fawning (for liberals) press telling us that (a) everybody does it, or (b) to err is human, or (c) we can't be so judgmental, or (d) [fill in the blank]. It's that we (or at least they) learned from The Big One ten years ago. Bill Clinton disgraced his office, lied, and encouraged or (possibly) arranged for others to lie. He also granted at least one pardon after the pardonee's former (but still friendly) wife forked over a few hundred thousand in "contributions."

And what happened? Clinton's popularity went up, his spouse became a serious candidate for President, he's touted by the press as an elder statesman, his guy at DoJ who checked off on the pardon is about to become Attorney General, and of course Clinton himself lives a life of luxury and adulation. The world of perverse incentives that the Left labored so long to create has arrived. Is Blago nuts? Not hardly.​More here

_Posted by John Ray._

http://interested-participant.blogspot.com/

*Jesse Jackson: "Not Me!"

*Rev. Jesse Jackson claims he has had no part in the Gov. Rod Blagojevich pay-for-play scandal. 
"So I am not an emissary. I am not targeted. And I have no accusers. That's simply not true," Jackson told ABCNews.com as he arrived in Washington Thursday....​I don't know. What do you think? Doth he protest too much?

http://interested-participant.blogspot.com/


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## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*Obama/Blagojevich Rift Was Nothing Personal&#8230;*






*Chicago, IL*-*Barack Obama *and *Rod Blagojevich* were pals for years. They with convicted fundraiser *Tony Rezko* were cooking up crooked deals all over the place. Obama's residence in Hyde Park is one small product of that cabal. Simply take a gander at *Michelle Obama's* lucrative board appointments resume.

The problem was that Rezko was cooperating with the feds and that made the embattled Blagojevich a radioactive untouchable to be avoided. Obama needed Blagojevich but not while he and his rapidly forming administration was under the microscope. That is the only reason for the current Obama/Blagojevich rift.

Someone please tell me why *Patty Blagojevich* collected a huge commission on that Obama real estate deal when she was not the broker selling the property? Was that just another bribe? Reportedly the US Attorney has renewed interest in looking at that specific deal.

There is no doubt in my mind that Senate seat hopeful and Obama confidant *Valerie Jarrett *was tipped off and that's precisely why she withdrew her name from consideration at the last minute. Should the wind begin to blow in the right direction look for Jarrett to be the Obama approved Senate appointment ringer after all.

I fully expect the rats at every level to begin biting each other to survive. I fully expect this case to become more far reaching and destructive than the Watergate Affair of nearly 40 years ago.

In the past the mainstream media could control just what got reported, but no more. There are hundreds of bloggers digging right now that can be counted on to expose what the Obama loving mainstream media won't.

http://www.crimefilenews.com/


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## Irish Wampanoag (Apr 6, 2003)

These politicians in the north mid west are always getting caught with corruption. The Massachusetts politicians should teach them a thing or two about being corrupt and how not to get caught...

*Chicago, IL*-*Barack Obama *and *Rod Blagojevich* were pals for years. They with convicted fundraiser *Tony Rezko* were cooking up crooked deals all over the place. Obama's residence in Hyde Park

I did'nt know Obamadidn't lived in Boston??? Kidding of course

BLAG-GO-JEVICH is one of those names you cant pronounce,However by the weekend we will all know how to say it. Sounds like a ruthless eastern block dictator.


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## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*GOP Pressures Obama on Blago*

Republicans turn up the heat on Obama's silence over contacts his aides may have had with Gov. Blagojevich

*Fundraiser Key Event in Blagojevich Probe*

*Bad Boys of Politics* | *PHOTOS* | *COMPLAINT (pdf)*

*FOX Special: Investigation Into Blagojevich Case*


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## OfficerObie59 (Sep 14, 2007)

Irish Wampanoag said:


> BLAG-GO-JEVICH is one of those names you cant pronounce,However by the weekend we will all know how to say it. Sounds like a ruthless eastern block dictator.


Severin keeps calling him Blow-job-avich on the radio...how he gets away with it w/o incurring FCC fines is beyond me.


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## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

Blagojevich may quit on Monday: Illinois official

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scandal-plagued Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich could announce on Monday that he will leave office, the state's top legal officer said on Sunday.
Blagojevich was arrested last week on charges of swapping political favors for cash, including an attempt to sell the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Barack Obama following his November presidential election victory.
"We have heard that there is a possibility that tomorrow he will make an announcement where he will step aside," Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan told NBC's "Meet the Press."
"I don't know if that means he will resign or take another option that is provided under the Illinois constitution where he can voluntarily recognize that there is a serious impediment to his ability to carry out his duties, and therefore temporarily remove himself," she said.
Press reports suggest that Blagojevich faces considerable legal costs and Madigan, who went to the state supreme court on Friday to get him removed from office, said that standing down may permit him to remain on the public payroll.
"That second option would potentially allow him to keep his salary and I have heard as well that that is one of his main concerns -- his financial circumstances right now," she said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_blagojevich_madigan


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## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

Saturday Night Live And Selling Illinois Senate Seats

http://www.crimefilenews.com/2008/12/saturday-night-live-and-selling.html


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## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*Emanuel, Blagojevich Aides Discussed Senate Seat *

*After Election, Obama Team Relayed List of Acceptable Candidates; No Evidence There Was Any Illegal Quid Pro Quo*

*By JONATHAN WEISMAN, NAFTALI BENDAVID and CAM SIMPSON*

Barack Obama had begun thinking about his Senate successor even before the presidential election, and dispatched Rahm Emanuel days after the vote to contact aides of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to begin talking up Mr. Obama's preferred candidates, associates of Mr. Emanuel said this weekend.
Mr. Emanuel, a congressman from Chicago, had been approached about being Mr. Obama's White House chief of staff the week before the election, though he hadn't yet officially decided to take the post. Nonetheless, the issue of Mr. Obama's Senate replacement was sensitive enough that senior Obama aides wanted to keep the matter within the circle of Illinois political figures, according to people familiar with campaign deliberations at the time.
Among those in Mr. Obama's inner circle, Mr. Emanuel had one of the closest relationships to Mr. Blagojevich, a Democrat. He had succeeded Mr. Blagojevich in 2002 to the House seat that covered Chicago's near north side.
Mr. Emanuel didn't talk to Mr. Blagojevich directly about the matter, by phone or in person, according to people familiar with the matter. He spoke by phone with aides to the governor, those people say.
Neither Mr. Emanuel nor representatives of the transition team would comment for this article.
The Chicago Tribune reported Saturday that Mr. Emanuel relayed to Mr. Blagojevich's team a list of candidates who would be acceptable to the Obama camp, and that these conversations were captured on a tape possessed by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. There is no evidence that this was part of a deal or quid pro quo.
As these revelations emerged, Republicans on Sunday sought to take advantage of Mr. Blagojevich's troubles by pushing for a special election to fill Mr. Obama's Senate seat, which would deprive Democrats of the chance to name their own candidate. Such an election could cost upward of $30 million. But Republican Congressman-elect Aaron Schock of Peoria said on a conference call with reporters, "You can't put a price tag on good government."
Meanwhile, leaders of the Illinois General Assembly have said they will begin impeachment proceedings Monday, as well as introduce bills to set a special election for the Senate seat and to strip the governor of his authority to fill the seat. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed papers Friday with the state Supreme Court seeking to strip Mr. Blagojevich of his powers.
Mr. Blagojevich's spokesman on Sunday denied rumors that the governor will step down Monday. "I'm sure that he's not resigning," Lucio Guerrero said. Instead, Mr. Blagojevich intends to be in his Chicago office Monday signing a bill to give tax credits to film makers if they come to Illinois.
The conversations between Mr. Emanuel and Blagojevich aides on the Senate vacancy were the latest chapter in a long, if not particularly close, relationship between the Illinois governor and one of the state's most prominent congressmen. As two rising stars of the Illinois Democratic Party -- Mr. Blagojevich is now 52 years old; Mr. Emanuel is 49 -- it was natural that they would have contact over the years.
Now the conversations about the Senate seat may be central to whether Mr. Blagojevich's legal and political problems will spill over and affect the president-elect before he even takes office. The discussions themselves don't suggest anything improper, legal experts say. Obama advisers say it was natural for the president-elect to take an interest in his successor.
Obama advisers also said they assumed that some of Mr. Emanuel's conversations with Blagojevich aides were caught on tape, since it was widely known Mr. Blagojevich was under federal investigation and that likely meant his communications were being monitored.
Mr. Emanuel and Mr. Blagojevich's paths first crossed in a significant way when Mr. Emanuel decided to run for the U.S. House seat Mr. Blagojevich was vacating in 2002 to seek the governorship.
Mr. Blagojevich didn't endorse Mr. Emanuel or any other candidate. But he did Mr. Emanuel a favor in that race, in a sense, by declining to endorse his most prominent opponent, Nancy Kaszak. Ms. Kaszak specifically asked Mr. Blagojevich for his endorsement and believed she had reason to expect it, but she never heard back from him.
"I'd lived in district for 23 years. Rahm was newer to the district," Ms. Kaszak said. "And I'd been active in the community. So there are reasons I would know the community well and be paying attention to servicing it. I'd hoped that [Mr. Blagojevich] would give me that support."
Mr. Blagojevich won the governor's race that year and Mr. Emanuel ascended to Congress. After that, by all accounts, their interaction was relatively limited.
One public issue on which the governor and the congressman did cooperate extensively was promoting the idea of reimporting drugs from Canada, so they would be available at lower prices to Americans. It was the sort of populist issue at which Mr. Emanuel excels, and he urged Mr. Blagojevich to take it on. The two wrote joint letters in 2004 and held news conferences on the subject, garnering attention for both of them.
They joined again in 2006, when Mr. Blagojevich got a law passed to raise the Illinois minimum wage by $1 per hour. Mr. Emanuel arrived to share the limelight with him at the signing ceremony, held at a community center on Chicago's west side, according to press reports at the time.
Earlier this year, Mr. Blagojevich was trying to win passage for a plan to fund a multibillion-dollar construction initiative by expanding legalized gambling in Illinois. He ran into stiff opposition from a popular state legislator on Chicago's north side, John D'Amico. Mr. Blagojevich said publicly at the time that he had Mr. Emanuel call the state lawmaker to press for support. "Rahm called me because there was a veterans' hospital that could be built in his district," Mr. D'Amico recalled Sunday.
But Mr. D'Amico said Mr. Emanuel backed down as soon as he learned that Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, one of the congressman's political patrons, opposed the bill.

-Douglas Belkin and T.W. Farnam contributed to this article.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122926660096904673.html?mod=special_page_campaign2008_mostpop


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## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

Video:

*CHICAGOLAND: OBAMA LECTURES TRIB REPORTER: 'DON'T WASTE YOUR QUESTION'...*

News:

*Blago impeachment inquiry stalls...*


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## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

Todays News:

*Blago Set to Break his Silence...*

*







*

*PAPER: RAHM ON TAPE TALKING SENATE SEAT; 21 CONVERSATIONS...*

*...privately urged Blago admin to appoint Obama confidant by certain deadline*

 
*Ill. gov. says ready to tell his side of scandal *

AP - 9 mins ago 

Video: Blagojevich Can Still Appoint Senator


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## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*Ill. high court rejects attempt to remove governor*

*By CHRISTOPHER WILLS, Associated Press Writer Christopher Wills, Associated Press Writer - 11 mins ago*

*SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The Illinois Supreme Court on Wednesday denied an effort to remove Gov. Rod Blagojevich, rejecting what could have been the quickest way to force the disgraced Democrat from office. The ruling came as the governor's attorney challenged the strength of the corruption case against Blagojevich before a panel of lawmakers that is considering whether to recommend impeachment.*
*Chicago attorney Ed Genson said the wiretaps that ensnared Blagojevich amounted to all talk and no action.*
*"It's just people jabbering," Genson told the House panel.*
*Genson attacked the impeachment proceedings on multiple fronts Wednesday, assailing the wiretaps, questioning the committee's impartiality and complaining that the panel had not given the governor enough time to mount a defense.*
*The committee's Democratic chairwoman, Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie of Chicago, rejected all of Genson's requests.*
*"We're not a court of law. We're not quite a grand jury," Currie said. "We're not bound by specific rules of evidence."*
*Blagojevich has been under siege since his arrest last week on charges that he tried to auction off Barack Obama's Senate seat. But he got some good news when the state's highest court refused to hear the attorney general's legal challenge to his fitness to serve.*
*The state Supreme Court rejected without comment a challenge filed by state Attorney General Lisa Madigan, herself a top candidate for governor in 2010. It was unclear whether the court turned down the case on its merits or on procedural grounds.*
*The attorney general had asked the court to remove Blagojevich, arguing that his legal and political troubles prevented him from performing his duties. Madigan said the governor's problems amount to a disability, so Blagojevich should have been stripped of his authority temporarily just as if he were physically incapacitated.*
*Madigan said she was disappointed by the ruling, saying Blagojevich's refusal to resign has put the state in an "unsustainable situation." She urged the impeachment panel to proceed with "deliberate speed."*
*The court's decision renewed calls from Republicans for a special election to choose Obama's successor in the Senate.*
*Blagojevich had already started the day feeling upbeat, telling reporters before a morning run that he had confidence in Genson and that he was eager to defend himself.*
*"I can't wait to begin to tell my side of the story and to address you guys and, most importantly, the people of Illinois. That's who I'm dying to talk to."*
*Federal wiretaps recorded Blagojevich talking about selling or trading Obama's Senate seat, but Genson told the House committee that the words do not amount to illegal actions.*
*Genson said it would be improper for the committee to base any decisions on the criminal complaint that summarizes the recordings of Blagojevich.*
*"This proceeding, which is basing its findings on the summary of wiretaps, is unfair and quite frankly illegal. The fact of the matter is, we in this case object, and object vociferously, to the use of this."*
*Lawmakers insisted they can consider the criminal complaint in deciding whether there's enough evidence to justify an impeachment vote.*

*"We are allowed to take in hearsay in this committee. A grand jury is allowed to hear hearsay," said the panel's top Republican, Rep. Jim Durkin of Western Springs. "We are not convicting. We are not the trial body. That's in the Senate." *
*Genson told the impeachment panel that some of its members have made statements suggesting they had already made up their minds. He also said neither the law nor the constitution spell out the standard for impeachment or what evidence should be considered. *
*Blagojevich, who was arrested last week, denies any wrongdoing and is defying an avalanche of demands for his resignation. *
*The Illinois House has appointed a 21-member committee to review the possibility of impeachment. It will look at the criminal charges, along with whether the governor has abused his power by defying lawmakers and spending money with authorization. *
*The committee, divided 12-9 between Democrats and Republicans, will recommend whether the full House should move to impeach Blagojevich. If that happened, the state Senate would then decide whether the governor is guilty. *
*Genson argued that three lawmakers - Republicans Bill Black of Danville and Jil Tracy of Mount Sterling, and Democrat Jack Franks of Woodstock - should be removed. He said their opening statements indicated they won't give the governor a fair hearing. *
*"A number of the people who are on this committee expressed views that made it perfectly clear they've already made up their mind in this case," Genson said. "They made comments which show Rod Blagojevich can't get a fair and impartial hearing of this committee." *
*Currie said that the committee members would not be removed. She also defended the members' opening statements for showing "a spirit of due process and fair play." *
*Genson also is asking the Illinois House to appoint and pay for Blagojevich's attorneys in the impeachment matter. That normally would be Madigan's job, he said, but she cannot do it because of her challenge to the state Supreme Court. Madigan's office said it would respond soon to Genson's request.*

*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081217/ap_on_re_us/illinois_governor*


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## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*The Obama Coverup*

Obama, 2 aides met with Blagojevich investigators

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer Nedra Pickler, Associated Press Writer - 42 mins ago

WASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama and two of his top aides met last week with federal investigators building a corruption case against Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, accused of trying to swap Obama's Senate seat for cash or a lucrative job.
The interviews with Obama, along with incoming chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and adviser Valerie Jarrett, were disclosed Tuesday in an internal report produced for Obama on contacts with Blagojevich. Obama delayed releasing his report until those interviews were completed with U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald's staff, incoming White House attorney Greg Craig said in the review he wrote for Obama.
Obama had no contact with the governor or his aides, the report states. Prosecutors have said Obama is not implicated in the case.
Emanuel was the only Obama transition team member who discussed the Senate appointment with Blagojevich, and those conversations were "totally appropriate and acceptable," Craig said Tuesday. No one on Obama's transition team discussed any deals or had any knowledge of deals, Craig's report said.
Sources have said Emanuel is not a target in the case. Jarrett was never a target of the federal investigation, a transition official said.
Craig's report identified close Obama friend Eric Whitaker as someone approached by one of Blagojevich's top aides to learn "who, if anyone, had the authority to speak for the president-elect" about the Senate appointment.
The report states that Obama told Whitaker that "no one was authorized to speak for him" and that "he had no interest in dictating the result of the selection process."
Blagojevich was charged on Dec. 9 with plotting to use his governor's authority to appoint Obama's Senate replacement and make state appointments and contracts in exchange for cash and other favors. He has denied any criminal wrongdoing and has resisted multiple calls for his resignation, including one from Obama.
During Emanuel's interview with federal authorities, he listened to a taped recording of a conversation with Blagojevich's office, according to a transition official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss information not included in the report.
Craig's report states that Emanuel had "one or two telephone calls" with Blagojevich and four conversations with John Harris, the governor's chief of staff who later resigned after being charged in the federal case. Craig told reporters Emanuel said he couldn't be sure it was only one call.
Emanuel left for a long-planned family vacation in Africa on Tuesday and was not available for comment.
The report was released in Washington while Obama was vacationing in Hawaii. The president-elect did not make himself available for questions.
The report said Obama authorized Emanuel to pass on the names of four people he considered to be highly qualified to take over his seat - Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes, Illinois Veterans' Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth, Rep. Jan Schakowsky and Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.
Obama later offered other names of what he thought were qualified candidates, including Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Chicago Urban League Director Cheryle Jackson, the report said.
"Mr. Harris did not make any effort to extract a personal benefit for the governor in any of these conversations," the report said. There was no discussion of a Cabinet position, creation of a nonprofit foundation for Blagojevich, a private sector position or of any other personal benefit for the governor, according to the report.
The report said that earlier, Emanuel recommended Jarrett for the Senate seat without Obama's knowledge, and Jarrett later accepted a job as a senior White House adviser.
Craig revealed his findings into a memo to Obama. The memo was dated Tuesday, but a transition official said an initial copy was given to Obama on Dec. 15. On that day, Obama announced that the report was ready but that he was withholding it from public release for a week at the request of the U.S. attorneys still conducting their investigation.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081223/ap_on_go_pr_wh/illinois_governor_obama


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## 7costanza (Aug 29, 2006)

I have detached from all the political bs ....after the sham that was the 2008 election I am utterly disgusted in politics but more so in my fellow countrymen for voting for this jerkoff and not researching before casting their vote. Much like this site if I dont know anything about a subject I leave the answers to those that do, I wish the voting process was similar so that we wouldnt elect someone based on their charisma and more on their experience and leadership ....sorry still very bitter.


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## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*

**Obamas hope for low profile...*

*Reporters Try to Hang Loose...*

*Blago Impeachment Panel Split on Whether to Subpoena Obama's Aides... *


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## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald - Is he really protecting the criminal case OR protecting Obama & others? *


*Gov. Rod Blagojevich is being denied the ability to subpoena President-elect Obama aides & others in his impeachment hearing.*​*LIST OF PEOPLE SO FAR BEING PROTECTED FROM SUBPOENAS*

President-elect Obama's Chief of Staff
*Rahm "Rahmbo" Emanuel*

President-elect Obama's adviser 
*Valerie Jarrett*

*US Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. *

Chicago Tribune Co. executive vice president
*Sam Zell*

*Full Story:*
*
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-blagojevich-impeach-28dec28,0,1793912.story*


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## fra444 (Nov 23, 2008)

Awsome pic KW!


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## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

Report: Blagojevich to pick Senate replacement

*Dec 30 01:50 PM US/Eastern*

*







*

*CHICAGO (AP) - Embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has scheduled an afternoon news conference amid reports that he plans to name someone to Barack Obama's vacated U.S. Senate seat.

Blagojevich was arrested earlier this month on charges that he tried to sell or trade the seat to the highest bidder. 
Citing unnamed sources, the Chicago Tribune reported Tuesday that Blagojevich plans to appoint 71-year-old former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris. Senate leaders have said they will not seat anyone Blagojevich names. 
Blagojevich has scheduled a 3 p.m. EST news conference. His spokesman Lucio Guerrero declined to say what the Democratic governor plans to discuss. The governor has denied wrongdoing and has vowed to remain in office.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D95D60MG3&show_article=1
*


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## Guest (Dec 31, 2008)

Did anyone see that press conference it was the most screwed up thing I have seen in my life. The governor came out and said he was not going to answer questions he was just going to introduce his pick. He introduces his pick Burris starts talking, then answers a few questions from the press mob, the gov starts answering questions the a US rep. comes up and gives a longer talk than the senate nominee all the while the press yelling out questions.


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## 7costanza (Aug 29, 2006)

Are you at all shocked...its the new Dems format for avoiding accountability...the same trick that shitbag Obama used during his campaign. Avoid and refuse...next question ....avoid and refuse...if that was a Republican the press would have their head.


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## CPT Chaos (Mar 1, 2006)




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## StbbrnMedic (Nov 28, 2008)

That's awesome!! lol


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## Big.G (Nov 28, 2006)

*Illinois House impeaches Gov. Rod Blagojevich*










SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- The Illinois House voted overwhelmingly Friday to impeach Gov. Rod Blagojevich, an unprecedented action that sets up a Senate trial on whether he should be thrown out for allegedly trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat.

Impeachment required just 60 votes. The final result was 114-1.

Legislators accused the second-term Democratic governor of letting down the people of Illinois by letting ego and ambition drive his decisions.

"It's our duty to clean up the mess and stop the freak show that's become Illinois government," said Rep. Jack D. Franks, a Democrat.

Blagojevich was arrested Dec. 9 on federal charges that include allegations he schemed to profit from his power to name Obama's replacement in the Senate. The criminal complaint included an FBI agent's sworn affidavit describing wiretaps that caught Blagojevich allegedly talking about what he could get for the seat, how to pressure people into making campaign contributions and more.

That arrest triggered impeachment hearings by a special House committee.

The committee on Thursday unanimously recommended impeachment based on the criminal charges but other allegations as well -- that Blagojevich expanded a health care program without proper authority, that he circumvented hiring laws to give jobs to political allies, that he spent millions of dollars on foreign flu vaccine that he knew wasn't needed and couldn't be brought into the country.

"The citizens of this state must have confidence that their governor will faithfully serve the people and put their interests before his own," the committee's report said. "It is with profound regret that the committee finds that our current governor has not done so."

Blagojevich has denied the criminal charges. He criticized the House impeachment process as biased and said a Senate trial would produce a different result.

But he didn't testify before the House impeachment committee and hasn't offered an explanation for the federal charges.

"His silence in this great matter is deafening," said House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, a Chicago Democrat.

http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/national/BO100929/


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## Guest (Jan 9, 2009)

that ass should have stayed with boxing and not even gotten into public service. What a moron. This dem does not condone the actions of this soon-to-be impeached gov.


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## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*Ill. Senate Removes Blagojevich From Office*

*Blagojevich Says Trial Setting Dangerous Precedent For Future Governors; Senators Decided His Fate This Afternoon*









Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich speaks during a press conference at the Thompson Center on Jan. 23, 2009, in Chicago, Ill.
Scott Olson/Getty Images









A quote taken from a taped conversation of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is displayed during closing arguments in the impeachment trial being held in the senate chamber at the Illinois capital building on Jan. 29, 2009, in Springfield, Ill.
Scott Olson/Getty Images

Gov. Rod Blagojevich was bounced from office Thursday without a single lawmaker rising in his defense, ending a nearly two-month crisis that erupted with his arrest on charges he tried to sell Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat.

Blagojevich becomes the first U.S. governor in more than 20 years to be removed by impeachment.

After a four-day trial, the Illinois Senate voted 59-0 to convict him of abuse of power, automatically ousting the second-term Democrat. In a second, identical vote, lawmakers further barred Blagojevich from ever holding public office in the state again.

"He failed the test of character. He is beneath the dignity of the state of Illinois. He is no longer worthy to be our governor," said Sen. Matt Murphy, a Republican from suburban Chicago.

Democratic Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn, one of Blagojevich's critics, was promptly sworn in as governor.

Blagojevich's troubles are not over. Federal prosecutors are drawing up an indictment against him on corruption charges.

Blagojevich, 52, had boycotted the first three days of the impeachment trial, calling the proceedings a kangaroo court. But on Thursday, he went before the Senate to beg for his job, delivering a 47-minute plea that was, by turns, defiant, humble and sentimental.

He argued, again, that he did nothing wrong, and warned that his impeachment would set a "dangerous and chilling precedent."

"You haven't proved a crime, and you can't because it didn't happen," Blagojevich (pronounced blah-GOY-uh-vich) told the lawmakers. "How can you throw a governor out of office with insufficient and incomplete evidence?"

The verdict brought to an end what one lawmaker branded "the freak show" in Illinois. Over the past few weeks, Blagojevich found himself isolated, with almost the entire political establishment lined up against him. The furor paralyzed state government and made Blagojevich and his helmet of lush, dark hair a punchline from coast to coast.

Many ordinary Illinoisans were glad to see him go.

"It's very embarrassing. I think it's a shame that with our city and Illinois, everybody thinks we're all corrupt," Gene Ciepierski, 54, said after watching the trial's conclusion on a TV at Chicago's beloved Billy Goat Tavern. "To think he would do something like that, it hurts more than anything."

In a solemn scene, more than 30 lawmakers rose one by one on the Senate floor to accuse Blagojevich of abusing his office and embarrassing the state. They denounced him as a hypocrite, saying he cynically tried to enrich himself and then posed as the brave protector of the poor and "wrapped himself in the constitution."

They sprinkled their remarks with historical references, including Pearl Harbor's "day of infamy" and "The whole world is watching" chant from the riots that broke out during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. They cited Abraham Lincoln, the Martin Luther King Jr. and Jesus as they called for the governor's removal.

"We have this thing called impeachment and it's bleeping golden and we've used it the right way," Democratic Sen. James Meeks of Chicago said during the debate, mocking Blagojevich's expletive-laden words as captured by the FBI on a wiretap.

Blagojevich did not stick around to hear the vote. He took a state plane back to Chicago. Returning to his North Side home, he told reporters he planned to go jogging. But he had not left the house when the vote came down.

The verdict capped a head-spinning string of developments that began with his arrest by the FBI on Dec. 9. Fderal prosecutors had been investigating Blagojevich's administration for years, and some of his closest cronies have already been convicted.

The most spectacular allegation was that Blagojevich had been caught on wiretaps scheming to sell an appointment to Obama's Senate seat for campaign cash or a plum job for himself or his wife.

"I've got this thing and it's (expletive) golden, and I'm just not giving it up for (expletive) nothing. I'm not gonna do it," he was quoted as saying on a government wiretap.

Prosecutors also said he illegally pressured people to make campaign contributions and tried to get editorial writers fired from the Chicago Tribune for badmouthing him in print.

Obama himself, fresh from his historic election victory, was forced to look into the matter and issued a report concluding that no one in his inner circle had done anything wrong.

In the brash and often theatrical style that has infuriated fellow politicians for years, Blagojevich repeatedly refused to resign, reciting the poetry of Kipling and Tennyson and declaring at one point last month: "I will fight. I will fight. I will fight until I take my last breath. I have done nothing wrong."

Even as lawmakers were deciding whether to launch an impeachment, Blagojevich defied the political establishment and stunned everyone by appointing a former Illinois attorney general, Roland Burris, to the very Senate seat he had been accused of trying to sell. Top Democrats on Capitol Hill eventually backed down and seated Burris.

As his trial got under way, Blagojevich launched a media blitz, rushing from one TV studio to another in New York to proclaim his innocence. He likened himself to the hero of a Frank Capra movie and to a cowboy in the hands of a Wild West lynch mob.

The impeachment case included not only the criminal charges against Blagojevich, but allegations he broke the law when it came to hiring state workers, expanded a health care program without legislative approval and spent $2.6 million on flu vaccine that went to waste. The 118-member House twice voted to impeach him, both times with only one "no" vote.

Seven other U.S. governors have been removed by impeachment, the most recent being Arizona's Evan Mecham, who was driven from office in 1988 for trying to thwart an investigation into a death threat allegedly made by an aide. Illinois never before impeached a governor, despite its long and rich history of graft.

Blagojevich grew up in a working-class Chicago neighborhood, the son of a Serbian immigrant steelworker. He married the daughter of a powerful city alderman and was schooled in the bare-knuckle, backroom politics of the infamous Chicago Machine, winning election to the Illinois House in 1992 and Congress in 1996.

In 2002, he was elected governor on a promise to clean up state government after former GOP Gov. George Ryan, who is serving six years in prison for graft. But he battled openly with lawmakers from his party, and scandal soon touched his administration.

Antoin "Tony" Rezko, a former top fundraiser for Blagojevich, was convicted of shaking down businesses seeking state contracts for campaign contributions. Witnesses testified that Blagojevich was aware of some of the strong-arm tactics. Rezko is said to be cooperating with prosecutors.

Quinn, the new governor, is a 60-year-old former state treasurer who has a reputation as a political gadfly and once led a successful effort to cut the size of the Illinois House.

"I want to say to the people of Illinois, the ordeal is over," Quinn said. "In this moment, our hearts are hurt. And it's very important to know that we have a duty, a mission to restore the faith of the people of Illinois in the integrity of their government."

http://wbztv.com/national/blagojevich.impeachment.trial.2.921625.html


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## Barbrady (Aug 5, 2004)

I know the Bob & Tom Show is not up that way but this is a funny letter/photo a listener sent in:

_Dear Bob and Tom,
As part of teaching my fifth grade class in Pontiac, Illinois, I take the students to Springfield, our state capital, to see governmental and historic sites. In October of 2007 we were touring the state Capitol and the governor, Blago, stuck his head out and asked if anyone wanted to meet the governor. He took the fifty or so students and the teachers into his office. This is the picture taken of the teachers and the governor. I am the one holding the "job application."
Paul Aplington_


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## 7costanza (Aug 29, 2006)

That is AWESOME....what balls...I bet after this photo is seen he will be looking for a job.


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## 7costanza (Aug 29, 2006)

*Federal grand jury indicts Rod Blagojevich*

*Counts allege scheme to auction off President Obama's Senate seat*








Video
 ​ Blago indicted on 16 counts
April 2: Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been indicted on 16 counts by a Chicago federal grand jury. Chicago Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet and MSNBC political analyst Jim Warren discuss. 
Hardball








updated 40 minutes ago

CHICAGO - Ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich was indicted Thursday on charges of trying to auction off President Barack Obama's vacant U.S. Senate seat along with new corruption allegations that he tried to extort a congressman. 
A sweeping 19-count federal indictment alleges that Blagojevich discussed with aides the possibility of getting a Cabinet post in the new president's administration, substantial fundraising assistance or a high-paying job in exchange for the Senate seat. 
Obama's deputy press secretary, Josh Earnest, said the White House would not comment. The indictment does not allege any wrongdoing by Obama or his associates. 
*Blagojevich says he's saddened*
Prosecutors also accused Blagojevich and members of his inner circle of scheming to line their pockets with millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains, squeezing contractors, hospital owners and others seeking state business for kickbacks they planned to split after the governor left office. 
"I'm saddened and hurt but I am not surprised by the indictment. I am innocent," Blagojevich said in a statement. "I now will fight in the courts to clear my name. I would ask the good people of Illinois to wait for the trial and afford me the presumption of innocence that they would give to all their friends and neighbors." 
His brother, two former aides, a former fundraiser and a lobbyist were also indicted. Blagojevich's wife, Patti, was not indicted. 
The indictment alleges Blagojevich told an aide he wanted to stall a $2 million state grant to a school that was championed by a congressman until the lawmaker's brother held a political fundraiser for the governor. The congressman's identity wasn't released. 
It also says Blagojevich was involved in a corrupt scheme to get a massive kickback in exchange for the refinancing of billions of dollars in state pension funds. 
*Accused of trying to get job for wife
*Convicted fixer Tony Rezko paid Blagojevich's wife, Patti, a $14,396 real estate commission "even though she had done no work" to earn it and later hired her at a salary of $12,000 a month plus another $40,000 fee, the indictment said. 
And, according to the indictment, Blagojevich told an aide he didn't want executives with two financial institutions getting further state business after he concluded they were not helping his wife get a high-paying job.


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## OfficerObie59 (Sep 14, 2007)

Eh, indictment sch-ichtment. In the words of Prof. Fiella of Massasoit fame, "You could indict a ham sandwich". It's the conviction that counts.


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