stay classy, illinois

Illinois Governor in Corruption Scandal: Charged in Scheme to Sell Obama’s Seat to Highest Bidder

in case you don't regularly follow IL politics (and if not, you're missing out), the previous governor is already in prison.

oh, awesome: blago probably still gets to pick anyway. (you see why spitzer on a saturday night doesn't hold a candle to the chicago way?)

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/who-can-name-obamas-successor/?ref=politics

But charges and arrest aside, the reality is that Mr. Blagojevich has the power to choose Mr. Obama’s replacement so long as he remains the sitting governor. According to the Illinois state constitution, Mr. Blagojevich would have to be deemed incapacitated — by death, conviction or impeachment, for example — for that power to shift to new hands. There is no clause stating that an indictment restricts his powers.

They will impeach him - probably by the end of the day tomorrow.

according to smoking gun, illinois senate president emil jones, who is calling for a special election and generally making an effort to look angry, is also candidate 5, who was going to look into scaring up the cash for the job.

Chicago corruption? Who woulda thunk it?

Chicago is so gangster!!!

Did a stylist help him with his groovy haircut and leather jacket look?
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/july-dec08/blagojevich_12-09.html

Salon had a good article on this (and Chicago's) debacle. 3 of the last 6 governors spent time in jail.

THREE OF SIX!

whoa, candidate 5 = jesse jr? smoking gun had emil jones, which was a lot less interesting.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/11/us/politics/11jackson.html?hp

Mrs Blagojevich is not to be sneezed at either, telling Governor Blago “to hold up that fucking Cubs shit. . . fuck them" (p. 44 of Fitzgerald's complaint)

Blagojevich had a deadly combination of egotism and stupidity.

Can they prosecute based on his being a loud mouth? I'm only going for what I'm hearing from the news but I have trouble with how this arrest all came about.

Um, conspiracy to solicit bribery is most certainly a crime.

fitzgerald was afraid to wait longer (he's usually quite patient) to arrest him because blago was going to appoint (i.e., sell the seat) before the new year.

i gotta say, i voted for blago the first time, and while i never really liked him all that much, i did NOT see anything like this coming. he just seemed so boring.

(aside from the public feuding with his father-in-law over stationery and land-fills. that made for some fun headlines.)

Boygabriel wrote: Um, conspiracy to solicit bribery is most certainly a crime.

I have a feeling if this gets to court the DA or AG or whoever it is will wind up with egg on his face. I'm also wondering if Jesse Jackson, jr. is going to wind up patsy in this mess.

Idlewild wrote: [quote=Boygabriel]Um, conspiracy to solicit bribery is most certainly a crime.

I have a feeling if this gets to court the DA or AG or whoever it is will wind up with egg on his face. I'm also wondering if Jesse Jackson, jr. is going to wind up patsy in this mess.

How so? They have him on tape openly saying "I"m not giving this seat away for free".

He's d-o-n-e for.

And his defense will say he has a big mouth and all of this was started because his father in law called him corrupt after the governor legally shut down a friend's (of the father in law) business down for EPA violations. Like I said I'm only going on what I see on TV but I don't think being a loudmouth is against the law. Were there any actions he took to back up the prosecutor's allegations? The only thing I see is the rumor of Jesse Jackson, Jr's camp looking to raise money for the governor. But even that can be denied if there's no direct connection.

here's someone who agrees: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/27227/42/

this article doesn't mention the other reason fitzgerald didn't wait -- that he didn't want the seat to actually BE sold.

as i understand it, blago's being charged with soliciting a bribe and with mail fraud. my shot in the dark prediction is that the senate-related charges won't stick but that they'll get him on another charge. (say, the trib thing, which is much more straight-forward, or the hospital business. not sure what the mail fraud charge is, but maybe that.)

he should never have listed in on E- Bay

he should never have listed in on E- Bay

he was hoping someone would hit the "buy now!" button

he was hoping someone would hit the "buy now!" button

Welp! Blago just picked a former AG named Burris to take Obama's seat. Sen. Reid, not the brightest bulb I've seen, promises to block Burris from taking his lawful seat by way of armed guard/s. Is it me, or does anyone else see a reenactment of Ole Mr. Wallace standing in front of the university?

This is what happens when prosecutors don't have their shit together. Blago, or whatever his name is, acted within his right to appoint someone and now Burris is going to be (or at least tried to be prevented) denied a seat that is rightfully his.

I'm just curious how everyone is going to take their egg on their face. Fried? Sunnyside? Scrambled soft?

Illinois furniture store ad:

"Welp! Blago just picked a former AG named Burris to take Obama's seat"

He picked him Dec. 30.


Blago, Richardson.... change we can believe in, eh?

Carville Predicts Democratic Scandal Streak

Democratic political strategist James Carville predicts the Democratic Party -- already burdened by the Gov. Rod Blagojevich scandal -- will suffer more embarrassing scandals in 2009.

Carville, who made his political predictions for CNN.com, said the reason is based on simple math: More Democrats in elected office increases the likelihood of scandal.

It doesn't matter to me. I see no difference between Blago asking for political favoritism for a seat appointment or Haliburton getting the contracts.

Idlewild wrote: It doesn't matter to me. I see no difference between Blago asking for political favoritism for a seat appointment or Haliburton getting the contracts.

Besides Haliburton, tell me how many others there are to do the same work?

eggcream wrote: [quote=Idlewild]It doesn't matter to me. I see no difference between Blago asking for political favoritism for a seat appointment or Haliburton getting the contracts.

Besides Haliburton, tell me how many others there are to do the same work?

Amerada Hess

Conoco Phillips

Exxon Mobil

Kerr-McGee

Aera Energy

Anadarko Petroleum

ATP

Maine Oil & Gas

Marathon Oil....

These are just a few American companies. I won't list the Coalition countries' companies because of my fervent isolationist patriotism.