"Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich arrested in Obama successor probe"
Also, there's this:The governor is accused of conspiring to sell or trade Illinois' vacant senate seat.
The 76-page FBI affidavit contends that governor was intercepted on wiretaps last month conspiring to shake people down, and it alleges he even considered appointing himself if he wasn't offered anything of value.
The tapes reveal a two-term governor who no longer wants his job, badly wants cash and is determined to leverage a financial benefit out of his appointment powers.Classy. What is it with democratic politicians and their prfoane, nasty comments about Obama?
He also appears to think little of the president-elect, whom he calls a "motherf***er" at one point.
“F**k him,” Blagjoveich [sic] says of Obama during a lengthy call with top aides and his wife recorded on November 10th, “For nothing? F**k him.”
Cranks, any local breaking news that hasn't hit the national outlets yet?
UPDATE: Here are the charges facing the governor:
Blagojevich was charged with two counts: conspiracy to commit fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and solicitation to commit bribery, which is punishable by up 10 years. He was released on his own recognizance...And here's another appalling quote, taken from the FBI wiretaps:Blagojevich, a former congressman, state lawmaker and prosecutor, also was charged with illegally threatening to withhold state assistance to Tribune Co., owner of the Chicago Tribune, in an attempt to strong-arm the newspaper into firing editorial writers who had criticized him.
In addition, the governor was accused of engaging in pay-to-play politics — that is, doling out jobs, contracts and appointments in return for campaign contributions.
"I've got this thing and it's (expletive) golden," the 51-year-old Democrat said of his authority to appoint Obama's replacement, "and I'm just not giving it up for (expletive) nothing. I'm not gonna do it."Again I say: Wow.
5 comments:
Interesting. I hadn't seen the Jesse Jackson thing. It makes me wonder about those tears he shed when Obama spoke on Election Night.
Crocodile tears if ever I saw them.
On another note: I have posed the question elsewhere (namely, my Facebook page) but I'll ask it here too for good measure:
Who is more corrupt: Rod Blagojevich or Kwame Kilpatrick? [Linda Richman] Discuss. [/Linda Richman]
Anyone think o'bama did himself a disservice saying he had no contact w gov or his staffers about this when his aides previously cla1med close contac?
Not really. Logically, Obama must have had SOME correspondence with the governor's office about the open seat. First, it's Obama's old seat, so he presumably would have made a recommendation to the governor about whom he'd like to see fill it (in all likelihood, Valerie Jarrett). Second, the governor stated in the taped conversations that Obama wouldn't give him any cash or other financial rewards for selecting his (Obama's) favored nominee, so that information had to have been relayed from Obama (or his staff)to Blagojevich at some point.
Axelrod was probably being truthful in his interview with the Chicago Fox affiliate when he said that Obama had spoken with Blagojevich's office about the Senate vacancy. How could he not have? But when Obama stated that he'd not had any contact with the governor about the matter, I took it as an overly-broad denial that he had not discussed the proposed pay-to-play deal or Blagojevich's crazy scheme to appoint himself to the seat. Nobody's expecting that Obama had NEVER talked to Blago about the appointment, I don't think, but of course everyone expects that he wouldn't participate in the pay-to-play business. So, on second thought, maybe it was a bit of a disservice to the extent that a more nuanced statement would have served him better than a blanket denial of contact.
I actually was somewhat surprised by Axelrod's retraction of his earlier statements -- I figured a clarification (of either his or Obama's statements) would have been issued instead.
Sorry for delayed reply..
It still strikes me that such a smart guy (Obama) would make such a comment when he knew full well he would be asked that question at the press conference. This was not a question that snuck up on him. It would have been a prepared answer. He left NO room for ambiguity there - that is just plain. There was no "Well, I didn't talk to him about the pay for play." No, he clearly stated he had NO contact with the Gov. OR his staff. Now that Alexrod backed away from his original comment, hum, pretty interesting. Doesn't the fact that Obama made the comment to begin with (leaving himself no room), a comment that clearly stands in contrast to his chief advisor, then Alexrod backed way from his comment, all seem strange? This all is pretty muddied right now. I hope this wasn't another of those "I didn't have sex with that woman" comments. Like you, I am more surprised that he indicated he had no contact with the Gov about this. Can you imagine Obama NOT talking to the Gov about this? It seems just too unlikely. IT seems a very smart group of people have unnecessarily back themselves into a corner - why? Again, knowing he would be asked this question, it is difficult to imagine this was a misstatement of any sort - for the love of Pete, this guy was a Constitutional Law professor, right with a degree from Harvard. Why do I think facts will eventually come out to prove this wrong?
Right from the Far Right: People are talking about the Gov. trying to get his wife a board appointment as part of the “pay.” Part of these observations are that Michelle Obama got the very lucrative PR job after Obama was elected Senator….Coincidence? Hum, Axelrod had close connections to the hospital. Axelrod worked with Gov.. Lots of similarities here. These questions have been raised for some time (http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/story.aspx?guid=%7B31002424-c2d4-d574-5422-dc3a9e94e3d5%7D), but they seem particularly interesting in light of this turn of events. I hope this is not part of some larger scheme.
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