Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff John Harris were arrested today by FBI agents on federal corruption charges.
Blagojevich and Harris were accused of a wide-ranging criminal conspiracy that included Blagojevich conspiring to sell or trade the Senate seat left vacant by President-elect Barack Obama in exchange for financial benefits for the governor and his wife. The governor was also accused of obtaining campaign contributions in exchange for other official actions.
Blagojevich was taken into federal custody at his North Side home this morning.
A Blagojevich spokesman said he was unaware of the development. "Haven't heard anything -- you are first to call," Lucio Guerrero said in an e-mail.
The stunning, early morning visit by authorities to the governor's North Side home came amid revelations that federal investigators had recorded the governor with the cooperation of a longtime confidant and had begun to focus on the possibility that the process of choosing a Senate successor to President-elect Barack Obama could be tainted by pay-to-play politics.
This isn't good news for Obama, either. More:
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 Obama for financial and other personal benefits for himself and his wife.
At various times, in exchange for the Senate appointment, Blagojevich allegedly 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.
• A cabinet post or ambassadorship for himself.
Jesus Christ.
You can read the affidavit in all its glory here.
Another point of view is this is another Don Siegelman-like case:
But we are now getting a preview of what we're going to face for the next four years, because John Boehner has already intimated that Republicans intend on campaigning against a "Democrat Culture of Corruption." Their ultra-partisan U.S. Attorneys have salted enough informants away, with threats of long prison sentences if they don't cooperate, to whipsaw Democrats in the House, Senate, governors' mansions. We're getting a preview of what we're in for until the inauguration and Obama's replacement of Bush's partisan Federal attorneys, whose efforts can be combined with similarly partisan FBI operatives, and judges to perform a considerable amount of mischief. Really NASTY mischief.
Rod Blagojevich was arrested today on a litany of charges that arose from the same people they beat down during the Reszko trial, This all originated with a couple of corrupt REPUBLICAN operatives, holdovers from George Ryan's old administration, one named Cerillo and another named Levine, who ruled a little feifdom that included the state pension board and medical care. Blagojevich was going to reform these agencies, and so Levine and Cerillo evidently conducted a rather nasty entrapment scheme, wearing wires and everything, attempting to get Blagojevich out.
In the process, they are trying to tie Obama into it, intimating (without any actual evidence, mind you) that Obama promised Blagojevich a cabinet post, possibly HHS or Energy, in return to naming Obama's preferred individual to fill his vacated Senate seat.
I have doubts either Blago or Obama is clean, and I don't doubt the ultimate fish the prosecutors want is Obama, but the LAST thing Democrats need is this bullshit when the entire country is going into the shitter.
If Obama is tainted, then we KNOW he was being set up by the GOP to be the Democratic Party nominee to take the fall to help the Republicans get back into power by running on an "anti-corruption" theme, which is laughable coming from them.
And, yes the timing is certainly suspicious. If Blago is out, this means there is an open governorship AND an open Senate seat, both ripe for the stealing by the GOP. As the writer above notes, READ the footnotes; they are key. Almost all of these "witnesses" are shady characters who have received plea deals or immunity.
Now people want to know who can name Obama's replacement. Well, if Blago goes, it would seem the next in line is Democrat Pat Quinn. But apparently not; it looks like there would have to be a special election, something the GOP would LOVE to have:
Those sentiments were echoed by Senator Richard Durbin, an Illinois Democrat and the Senate’s second-ranking Democratic leader, who said that the state legislature should move swiftly to schedule a special election to fill the vacant seat, effectively pushing Mr. Blagojevich aside.
“No appointment by this governor, under these circumstances, could produce a credible replacement,” Mr. Durbin told reporters today.
That's what this arrest was all about in reality, regardless of whether the allegations have any merit.
And this shitty blog admits it:
The complaint filed against Obama pal Governor Rod Blagojevich is a situation forced on Prosecutor Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald acted in an emergency manner to stop the Obama Senate seat from going to another corrupt Dimocrat. “We were in the middle of a corruption crime spree and we wanted to stop it.” said Fitzgerald.
Fuck you and your shitty blog, Alex. You are not a Hillary Clinton supporter, shitface. A GOP operative pretending to be a Hillary Clinton supporter is what you are. Need I mention Fitz's job is NOT supposed to be about filling a vacant Senate seat with a Republican. Of course, you don't allow opposing comments on your crappy blog, just cheerleaders, so nobody can slap you in the face with a bit of reality.
No comments:
Post a Comment