Illinois Governor Blagojevich Arrested
U.S. Attorney’s office spokesman Randall Samborn says both Blagojevich and his chief of staff John Harris were arrested Tuesday. Authorities aren’t yet releasing details about those charges. However, a federal law enforcement official tells The Associated Press the governor is accused of corruption charges. The official says the charges stem from the selection process of a successor to Obama.
No details have been released. One thing’s for sure, the Justice Department moves very quickly and efficiently when members of the opposing party are being investigated. Certainly a lot faster than they nab crooked private contractors in Iraq. KBR’s still being allowed to betray our soldiers and defraud our government.
UPDATE: Now I know why justice was swift! Superstar US Attorney Patrick FItzgerald is on the case. I wish we had someone as stellar as him going after the contractors in Iraq. Not Fitzgerald himself, though – Illinois needs him to clean house.
Tags: Blagojevich, Illinois, Justice
“Certainly a lot faster than they nab crooked private contractors in Iraq. KBR’s still being allowed to betray our soldiers and defraud our government.”
Ahh. Defending a crooked Democrat with moral equivalency. Loves it.
Come on X, we need to take our lumps when they come.
If Blagojevich was indeed trying to make some extra cash, he should go to jail for a long time.
You’re very fast!
I think this is big news and I’m always happy to get rid of corrupt politicians, no matter the party. Illinois deserves someone better. Right now, I’d hate to be one of the potential Senate replacements!
“Federal prosecutors have investigated Blagojevich’s administration for at least three years. They’ve been looking at everything from how he hired people for state jobs to the actions of friends and contributors.”
I did read the link this time, it seems to me that three years is long enough if the guy is about to make a huge executive decision that may taint the Senate with even more corruption.
Maybe this’ll get him off of BoA’s back for a while.
FSP – Not defending at all. And moral equivalence? KBR is 1000 times worse. They are not remotely equivalent.
Nemski – It was not my intention to suggest otherwise. Swift Justice is a good thing.
UI – We get rid of Blago and Jefferson in one week, which is awesome. And I’d glad this happened before any replacement for Obama could be sworn in. Illinois deserves a clean deal.
I’m waiting how much longer it will take the Radical Right to say that Obama was involved in 5 . . . . 4 . . . . 3 . . . . 2 . . . . 1 . . . .
“Ahh. Defending a crooked Democrat with moral equivalency. Loves it.”
SEE what happens when you Dems here at DE Lib don’t stand up for principle but insist on seeing things through a partisan-rivalry lens–it gives ammunition to Repubs to say that Dems lack integrity. When will you all stop embarrassing our party and, MORE IMPORTANTLY, the honorable term LIBERAL?
“I’m waiting how much longer it will take the Radical Right to say that Obama was involved in 5 . . . . 4 . . . . 3 . . . . 2 . . . . 1 . . . .”
Well, technically, Blagojevich WAS selling Obama’s seat.
“Its Clinton’s fault!!!”
More details are coming out.
He sounds terrible. He denied state assistance for the Chicago Tribune, asking for people critical of him to be fired. He sought lucrative executive board positions for his wife, and put himself on a non-profit with a large salary. He squeezed kickbacks out of companies wishing to do business with the state.
This really annoys me. Why didn’t Democrats do more to get rid of him?
Given what the Bu$hCo Justice Dept did to the previous governor of Alabama, I’ll reserve judgment. It’s the responsible thing to do.
What’s the angle, there, Dave? What did Obama do? Don’t just say it half-heartedly, cast the aspersion.
But with that said….if he is guilty of the charges then I’m all for sending him to Gen Pop for a very long seminar in Prison Bitch 201: Turning Tricks for Protection.
UI – some notable IL dems have been prepping a primary challenge for a while. The problem is that corruption in Illinois is bipartisan and even worse than in New Jersey. Hopefully we can get rid of Mayor Daley and Rep. Lipinski as well.
If the allegations are true, Blago must resign immediately. Corrupt politicians are an anathema to democracy no matter if they are Republican or Democratic.
And Dana Garrett…. really, please go fuck yourself.
Innocent until proven guilty!!!!!
However if the guy turns out to be a crook off to jail with him.
And while we are all concerned about justice I hope the new Justice Dept will pursue all the crooks over the past 8 years.
You’re right TT. Bush and his cronies are guilty of ripping up the Constitution and pillaging the treasury and they’ll never spend one day in jail.
The feds are reporting that Obama wouldn’t go along with Blago, from TPMMuckraker.
I’d dearly love to know who Senate candidates 1-5 are. Go to Talking Points Memo for more coverage, they’re all over it. TPM is reporting Senate candidate #1 is Valerie Jarrett.
For them to get the charges out this quick they either had an informant inside or an active wiretap (both?)… he is not being charged with selling the seat, but a conspiracy to do so… without solid evidence they would have nothing unless the transaction already happened… otherwise they would still be gathering evidence well after the replacement was named…
I know we are all Democrats (rather than Liberals) and the instinct is to protect your own, but this guy should die in jail… not too far removed from treason for me…
The guy who bought this position would be voting on all sort of legislation, and I am guessing they guy who buys a Senate seat is at least a little corruptable… he would be making decisions on defense appropriations, special prosecutors for Bush & Co., etc… he would be 1% of the senaate and on the margin could be the tie breaker on anything close…
Defend your criminals… in the words of Von Cracker ‘Hopefully he’ll go out in the way of Bud Dwyer’. 🙂
Lets hope Obama or his buddy Jackson Jr. had nothing to do with it… if they did he is tainted…
It gives Dave Burris the giggles? It makes Dana Garrett use ALL CAPS?
WELL, Dana, that was a FINELY worded ambiguous STATEMENT. I sincerely APOLOGIZE for not MAKING it more clear that I am GLAD that we will be RID of Blago (AND Jefferson). Maybe you HAVEN’T noticed the long LIST of Democrats who are ON our sh** list, from THURMAN Adams to Tom CARPER.
Obviously, any time any Democrat gets in trouble, both the GOP and Dana are going to immediately falsely claim that we’re defending them. It’s telling though, that the top subject on everyone’s mind is what DE Lib is going to say about it – we must be doing something right.
I was joking.
Apologies, Dave, I sort of realized that, but was hoping you’d take the bait anyway. 😉
I wonder if Obama was the informant? I’ll bet it was one of the Senate candidates.
The Justice Department had to move fast; what if they were too slow, and Governor Blagojevich had already named Senator Obama’s replacement?
Look how slowly the Department of Justice moved on other Democratic politicians, like William Jefferson and Vincent Fumo.
xstryker wrote:
And former Senator Obama . . . ? 🙂
Right, con-Dana, get rid of the guy who passed the strictest ethics laws ever to hit the Illinois legislature.
One of the best things about Obama is that he knows how to stay clean and still beat the Blagos of the world in order to get stuff done.
I don’t see this as going down too fast, considering the wiretapping began in early October. It also seems that enough evidence was collected to ruin this guy before the election. To pull the “Evil Bush Prosecutor” angle, some indictments would have been rolled out for a November surprise. I’m sure Obama’s name and maybe even voice appear on these tapes enough times to at least create suspicion, if it is not there explicitly. Also, Fitzgerald as the prosecutor runs contrary, since he spent millions of taxpayer dollars going after Scooter Libby on auxiliary charges (I’m not absolving Libby of perjury) after he knew Armitage was the leaker in that case.
I’ll give xstyker some satisfaction: If Blagojevich knew who Obama wanted for the seat and rejected her, as the transcript claims, I’m sure Obama wanted a reason. Even assuming Blag lied to him, Obama’s political powerbase is Chicago and northern Illinois. Obama must have known what Blag was up to, and if he didn’t cooperate with the fed investigation, I think it shows weakness of character.
Now let’s say Obama didn’t know what Blag was doing, as I am sure he will claim. We EvilCons will jump on this consistent, “Uh uh, that’s not the (insert criminal’s name here) I knew.” What happened to the smartest politician in the universe? He doesn’t even know the people in his own neighborhood.
Turns out he did know, and did cooperate – Rahm turned Blago in. I agree with you, conDana, this shows strength of character.
Aw… that was too easy, X! It’s like Jason Z gave you a gift. 😉
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/12/questions-arise.html :
Asked what contact he’d had with the governor’s office about his replacement in the Senate, President-elect Obama today said “I had no contact with the governor or his office and so we were not, I was not aware of what was happening.”
Axelrod said(about Obama on 23 November) , “I know he’s talked to the governor and there are a whole range of names many of which have surfaced, and I think he has a fondness for a lot of them.”
Looks like these guys are gonna have to get their story right.
Jason Z, for someone taking others to task on speculating… you seem to speculate quite a bit.
Most of what’s here is speculating, I don’t have a problem with that.
I don’t see quoting Obama and Axelrod making contradictory statements as speculation. I do see the “rumors” that Rahm “may” be the white knight as highly against his history of doing everything in the name of politics.
what’s all this talk about calling for Blagojevich to “resign?” … “throw him in prison” sounds a lot more fitting
it gives me chills to see how calm and collected he continues to act