Not officially, but a recent series of blockbuster revelations at the Tony Rezko trial and in the Chicago Tribune has me convinced that the feds have the goods on Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. I know most of you care about Rezko's connections to Obama, but the public evidence against Blagojevich is much more damning.

- A witness is prepared to testify that Rezko claimed he was going to pull strings with Karl Rove via two powerful Illinois GOP insiders to have Chicago area US Attorney Peter Fitzgerald fired (Of Valerie Plame case fame). Link

- The same witness claimed that he had handed a campaign contribution for $25k to Rezko in front of Blagojevich. Link

- A Tribune investigation revealed that Blagojevich's campaign received 235 donations of exactly $25k, as opposed to 14 for the (now imprisoned) former Governor George Ryan. 75% of the 235 received some benefit from the workings of the State Government and 1/6 received either state jobs or lightly paid but powerful positions on State regulatory boards. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/c...2.story?page=2


I am very happy I didn't vote for this guy.

Is the Lt. Guv any good?

Obama needs to take a few lessons from the Clintons and instead of suffering indictments, these acquaintances would commit suicide.

Blagojevich is a dirtbag. I hope he rots in prison.

I'm so glad I just moved out of this disgustingly crooked state. Rod has been truly awful. It boggles my mind how anybody could have voted for this guy when common sense told you he was even more crooked that the last couple governors.

The red letter day in his tenure for me will be when the entire state legislature had a symbolic vote against his ridiculous measure to pass what amounted to a VAT on all businesses. Good times.

The only good thing here is he will have to serve a lot of time in jail since he is only 51, unlike Ryan.

Isn't going to jail what Illinois governors do best?

Thanks for telling us what we care about, network news style.


Don't move to PA or NJ.

Oh how I long for the good ole days of Jim Edgar.

I think so. Pat Quinn was known as a reformist gadfly. He had previously run for statewide office about a half dozen times and I don't think he even got the nomination before winning this post. Currently, he is known for championing consumer causes, promoting the proposal to allow recall elections in Illinois and attending the funeral of every Illinois soldier killed in Iraq (about 200).

I'm glad I'm moving to Chicago during this and the recent uptick in crime!

I came so close to voting for Blago's opponent: Judy Barr Topinka. If the R's manage to field a decent candidate in the next election, they could turn the gov's office back to red, not to mention cause inumerable losses to the incumbent Dems in the Il. congress.

Thanks alot Rod.

At some point I shook this guys hand. Pretty disappointing that I don't have a picture of that.

I'd say about a 20% chance that it's Governor Obama in 2010.

Look on the bright side. At least you missed the coldest, snowiest winter in about 30 years.

Talking about Obama becoming governor is an interesting idea. He would be able to be Guv for life. He would get ~1% of the Southern Illinois Redneck vote, but 100% of the Chicago vote. Rinse and repeat every 4 years until he retires.

And there is a real link between Rezko and Obama. It's no accident that:
1. BHO couldn't afford the house and land he wanted to buy, so:
2. City allowed a split of the property and he bought only the house, then:
3. Rezko happened to buy the land and sell a portion of it to BHO at an exact ratable purchase price, making no money from the deal.

These are all indisputable facts.

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was pulled from his home in Chicago and put in federal custody Tuesday morning.


LOL. What a grade A-Moran. I can only imagine if this type of Chicago-machine style politics emerged nationally. Oh wait.

Yeah, Obama must be evil because of this. Great post.

Bump

lol, I thought this was going to be about something that had happened some time ago, but it's recent. Blago keeps finding new ways to commit ethics violations.

Anyone who thinks Barack Obama is not a perfectly predictable product of the Chicago political machinery does not understand politics particularly well. While I think politics is corrupt by definition, there are a few places that are synonymous with political corruption, even amongst the general public, and Chicago is at the top of the list. Everyone in Chicago basically acknowledges that the politicos are basically a few cosmetic steps removed from being organized crime. It is impossible to rise to the top in this environment without being the type of person that would rise to the top in this environment.

Obama's involvement in Illinois politics consisted of a stepping-stone relationship with Emil Jones. His name was never mentioned in conjunction with Blago, or really, any other Illinois politician.

edit: I forgot about Alexi Guillanis, and the mob ties. Also, Rahm.

Yeah its somehow Obama's fault

And btw its moron

I will take Chicago style politics in the White House anyday over the disaster that was in charge the last 8 years

+1

Gotta wonder about Blagojevich's sanity. He knew he was already under investigation for other crap. Why do something this dumb when you're already up to your eyeballs in trouble?

Someone's new to teh interwebz:

Well, one reason would be that the marginal cost of doing so would be somewhat reduced. One reason not to commit a crime is to preserve a reputation. If it's already shattered, shattering it more is comparatively less meaningful.

+1