NEWS ITEM: Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, were arrested today by FBI agents for what U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald called a “staggering” level of corruption involving pay to play politics in Illinois’ top office.
Blagojevich is accused of a wide-ranging criminal conspiracy, including alleged attempts by the governor to try to sell or trade the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by President-elect Barack Obama in exchange for financial benefits for the governor and his wife. Blagojevich also is accused of obtaining campaign contributions in exchange for other official actions.
FBI agents served a search warrant on his office at the Thompson Center this morning, said Frank Bochte, an FBI spokesman.
Blagojevich was taken into federal custody at his North Side home this morning—one day shy of his 52nd birthday.
Wow.
For those of you who don’t have gun rights issues on your radar, allow me to fill you in on why this is a major, tectonic event.
Blagojevich is a major figure in the world of “gun control.” He’s the guy that has regularly subverted the will of the people of the State of Illinois, in regards to self defense issues. He has actively tried to push through legislation that would force the many gun manufacturers that are headquartered in his state to relocate. And he has done everything he can possibly do to not only ban guns within Illinois, but to try and use his office to prevent the manufacture and sale of guns anywhere in America.
You see, in Illinois, there are two groups that vie for control of the state government – the political machine in Chicago (Think “Mayor Daley” – either of them), and the rest of the state. Most of the rest of Illinois is pretty conservative, especially by comparison with Chicago. Chicago is a cespool of corruption, on a good day. Trouble is, Chicago has so much political clout, it really doesn’t matter what voters in the rest of the state think – Chicago politics is going to roll over everyone else.
Ironically, Blagojovich ran on a platform to clean up Springfield (the state capitol) after a previous governor was convicted of bribery and is serving time in prison. Apparently, this federal investigation has been going on for over 3 years. Somehow, Ol’ G-Rod avoided getting sucked up into the Tony Rezko case, although he was mentioned (in the same breath as Obama) as someone who’d gotten favors from Rezko in exchange for influence. I think it’s telling that G-Rod lives, not in Springfield, but in Chicago. Don’t you think if you were the governor, you’d live in the same city where you’re supposed to be working? (Shades of former New York Governor Elliot Spitzer!)
Let’s compare and contrast: Governor Sarah Palin’s popularity is over 80%. Blagojovich’s (prior to today) hovered around 4%. Palin was called up on some politically-motivated ethics charges, which Palin handled with ablomb. In fact, she ordered an independent investigation, and was cleared by both her own investigators and the Legislature’s group. G-Rod, on the other hand, pulled a Gary Hart, daring the media and the feds (as recently as yesterday) to tape his conversations. With similar results.
Illinois is not the only corrupt state in the Union. I’m originally from Louisiana, where politics regularly trumps pro football as the state’s favorite blood sport. Louisiana, like Illinois, had to deal with two power centers – New Orleans and the rest of the state. Katrina took care of a good deal of that, and a new, good-government governor (Jindal) and the defeat of another of Louisiana’s politicians (Jefferson) point to a new direction for Lousiana. Not so much in the Land o’ Lincoln.
The final straw in Illinois was apparently when G-Rod tried to peddle Obama’s former U.S. Senate seat on the open market, while at the same time trying to hold up the sale of Wrigley Field by the bankrupt Tribune Corp., in order to force them to fire reporters who were a bit to critical of the governor for his own taste.
This is huge. The folks over at the NRA must be dancing in the streets. Of course the larger question concerns how G-Rod’s successor (presumably the Illinois Lieutenant Governor) will act, regarding both the Senate appointment and gun rights issues. Even better, it’s conceivable that G-Rod could get out on bail and resume his duties, nominating somebody for Obama’s seat and thus causing nothing short of a constitutional crisis on a national scale. Wonderful. Just what this Nation needs while we face a transition to a new administration, economic meltdown, and two wars.
I don’t know why anybody is surprised about the governor of Illinois. Will Rogers once said “We have the best politicians money can buy.” Evidently, Mr. Rogers, even at his most acerbic, couldn’t have foreseen a clown like G-Rod in his neighborhood.
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