NCAAbbs

This is going to be only the tip of the iceberg with Blago, according to a friend of mine in the media in Illinois.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081209/ap_o...robe/print

Ill. Gov. arrested in Obama successor probe
By MIKE ROBINSON, Associated Press Writer Mike Robinson, Associated Press Writer 1 min ago
CHICAGO – Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested Tuesday on charges of conspiring to get financial benefits through his authority to appoint a U.S. senator to fill the vacancy left by Barack Obama's election as president.

According to a federal criminal complaint, Blagojevich also was charged with illegally threatening to withhold state assistance to Tribune Co., the owner of the Chicago Tribune, in the sale of Wrigley Field. In return for state assistance, Blagojevich allegedly wanted members of the paper's editorial board who had been critical of him fired.

A 76-page FBI affidavit said the 51-year-old Democratic governor was intercepted on court-authorized wiretaps over the last month conspiring to sell or trade the vacant Senate seat for personal benefits for himself and his wife, Patti.

The affidavit said Blagojevich discussed getting a substantial salary for himself at a nonprofit foundation or an organization affiliated with labor unions.

It said that Blagojevich also talked about getting his wife placed on corporate boards where she might get $150,000 a year in director's fees.

He also allegedly discussed getting campaign funds for himself or possibly a post in the president's cabinet or an ambassadorship once he left the governor's office.

"I want to make money," the affidavit quotes him as saying in one conversation.

U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald said in a statement that "the breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering."

"They allege that Blagojevich put a for sale sign on the naming of a United States senator," Fitzgerald said."

Among those being considered for the post include U.S. Reps. Danny Davis and Jesse Jackson Jr.

Blagojevich also was charged with using his authority as governor in an attempt to squeeze out campaign contributions.

His chief of staff, John Harris, also was arrested.

Both men were expected to appear later Tuesday before a federal magistrate in Chicago.

Corruption in the Blagojevich administration has been the focus of a federal investigation involving an alleged $7 million scheme aimed at squeezing kickbacks out of companies seeking business from the state. Federal prosecutors have acknowledged they're also investigating "serious allegations of endemic hiring fraud" under Blagojevich.

Political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko who raised money for the campaigns of both Blagojevich and Obama is awaiting sentencing after being convicted of fraud and other charges. Blagojevich's chief fundraiser, Christopher G. Kelly, is due to stand trial early next year on charges of obstructing the Internal Revenue Service.

Blagojevich took the chief executive's office in 2003 as a reformer promising to clean up former Gov. George Ryan's mess.

Ryan, a Republican, is serving a 6-year prison sentence after being convicted on racketeering and fraud charges. A decade-long investigation began with the sale of driver's licenses for bribes and led to the conviction of dozens of people who worked for Ryan when he was secretary of state and governor.

I agree that it's politics as usual up here, but trying to connect Obama to this is just silly. Nice try though!

The FBI recently arrested several crooked police officers in Chicago.

There is also a new probe into the Rezko-Obama land deal.

Lou-A-B Wrote:I agree that it's politics as usual up here, but trying to connect Obama to this is just silly. Nice try though!

Yeah, keep telling yourself that...especially since a federal grand jury has issued subpoenas in the Rezko/Obama land deal.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008...appraisal/

Quote:Political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko who raised money for the campaigns of both Blagojevich and Obama is awaiting sentencing after being convicted of fraud and other charges. Blagojevich's chief fundraiser, Christopher G. Kelly, is due to stand trial early next year on charges of obstructing the Internal Revenue Service.

Sounds to me like its the AP connecting Obama to the story. Maybe you should tell them its silly.

All you have to do is follow the money trail, especially when the guy who has been convicted of fraud is contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars to a presidential candidate's campaign.

Hey, on the bright side, maybe Leaping Larry won't get as much attention now. He's just a mayor.

STLouis Blazer Wrote:The FBI recently arrested several crooked police officers in Chicago.

There is also a new probe into the Rezko-Obama land deal.

The FBI arrested the guys on a drug sting...what does that have to do with Obama?


So do you have a link to the "new probe"?

BatesUAB Wrote:

Quote:Political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko who raised money for the campaigns of both Blagojevich and Obama is awaiting sentencing after being convicted of fraud and other charges. Blagojevich's chief fundraiser, Christopher G. Kelly, is due to stand trial early next year on charges of obstructing the Internal Revenue Service.

Sounds to me like its the AP connecting Obama to the story. Maybe you should tell them its silly.

No, The charges are for "pay to play" asking for money and jobs for family members for positions in politics.

Nothing to do with Obama.

blazeman21 Wrote:All you have to do is follow the money trail, especially when the guy who has been convicted of fraud is contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars to a presidential candidate's campaign.

He is being charged with pay to play not fraud.

blazeman21 Wrote:

Lou-A-B Wrote:I agree that it's politics as usual up here, but trying to connect Obama to this is just silly. Nice try though!

Yeah, keep telling yourself that...especially since a federal grand jury has issued subpoenas in the Rezko/Obama land deal.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008...appraisal/

In October? that's actually old news.

lit_chick Wrote:Hey, on the bright side, maybe Leaping Larry won't get as much attention now. He's just a mayor.

Maybe we can get a little more mileage out of Siegelman.

Lou-A-B Wrote:

BatesUAB Wrote:

Quote:Political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko who raised money for the campaigns of both Blagojevich and Obama is awaiting sentencing after being convicted of fraud and other charges. Blagojevich's chief fundraiser, Christopher G. Kelly, is due to stand trial early next year on charges of obstructing the Internal Revenue Service.

Sounds to me like its the AP connecting Obama to the story. Maybe you should tell them its silly.

No, The charges are for "pay to play" asking for money and jobs for family members for positions in politics.

Nothing to do with Obama.

The point is that you said it was silly to try to connect Obama to this situation, and it seemed as though you were directing the remark to the person who posted the story. My argument is that it is the AP writer connecting Obama to it, so don't shoot the messenger.

BatesUAB Wrote:

Lou-A-B Wrote:

BatesUAB Wrote:

Quote:Political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko who raised money for the campaigns of both Blagojevich and Obama is awaiting sentencing after being convicted of fraud and other charges. Blagojevich's chief fundraiser, Christopher G. Kelly, is due to stand trial early next year on charges of obstructing the Internal Revenue Service.

Sounds to me like its the AP connecting Obama to the story. Maybe you should tell them its silly.

No, The charges are for "pay to play" asking for money and jobs for family members for positions in politics.

Nothing to do with Obama.

The point is that you said it was silly to try to connect Obama to this situation, and it seemed as though you were directing the remark to the person who posted the story. My argument is that it is the AP writer connecting Obama to it, so don't shoot the messenger.

No the ap writer was telling the history of issues with the gov, not connecting obama to the charges.

I have just finished reading the entire indictment of Blagojevich. It is a FASCINATING read. There is absolutely nothing in the indictment indicating Obama is complicit with anything regarding this case. In fact, it's just the opposite. Blago is furious at Obama because Obama's pushing a candidate that means Blago won't get any kickbacks, and he doesn't like that one bit.

And the selling of Obama's senate seat is really just the tip of the iceberg when you read the entire indictment. The corruption this guy was involved in makes Leapin' Larry and the JeffCo Commission look like child's play.

I actually hope very much that none of this (however deep it goes) gets on Obama.

He's our President and we really don't need that BS at this point in time (like we ever do).

With that said, it is a point of fact that Obama is a product of the Chicago, ILL political machine.

Lets hope he's more like Truman in that respect. A machinery product who essentially wasn't corrupted by it.

Lou-A-B Wrote:No the ap writer was telling the history of issues with the gov, not connecting obama to the charges.

Oh, my bad. The writer was connecting the president elect to a completely seperate and unrelated political scandal in Illinois, not the one that just broke today.

That story reminds me of long time political practices in Alabama that may still be currently in use. For many years, it was the practice of requiring businesses who wanted to get state contracts to hire "agents" to represent them before the various state commissions who decided which companies would get what contracts. There were public school (K-grad school) textbook agents (if your company wanted to have any chance of presenting their textbooks to the State Textbook Commission), liquor agents (if your distributer wanted to get his brands into the State ABC stores), road paving and bridge builder agents, etc.--you get the idea. These "agents" were , of course, political cronies of the sitting governor and got fees of $50,000 or more for their "services" which was paid out from kickbacks embedded in the contracts. It was seen as a cost of doing business in the state. The tax payers picked up the tab.

"That story reminds me of long time political practices in Alabama"

The Blagojevich quote about "I've got this ******* golden thing" reminds me of Otis Hughley.

As far as "politics as usual in the land of Lincoln", I heard a journalist interviewed today on NPR who said he'd been covering Chicago and Illinois politics for over thirty years and thought he'd seen every possible kind of corruption and dirty dealing. He said he was utterly astonished at the level of venality and blatant corruption this guy showed.

I'll also throw out there that when Patrick Fitzgerald was prosecuting Scooter Libby for outing Valerie Plame all the Republicans were making him out to be a Democratic tool who was making political hay for them. Now that he's taking down a Democratic Illinios Governor, he's back to being a fair and honest public servant. This is the second Illinois Governor he's prosecuted, the first was Republican George Ryan, who he jailed for influence peddling, kickbacks, extortion, money laundering, and more. He started at the bottom with a guy who was illegally selling Commercial Drivers Licenses at the DMV and worked his way patiently up the ranks, putting sixty people in jail and eventually getting to the Governor who was heading the conspiracy.

GN, if you thought that indictment was a work of art, see if Fitzgerald's news conference after the Scooter Libby indictment is up on youtube. The guy stood there and spoke without notes for twenty minutes, half an hour, then took questions for another twenty minutes or so, and he had everything, facts, names, dates, quotes available off the top of his head. It was an absolutely remarkable performance. If this guy ever comes after you, you might as well just roll over and make a deal, 'cause if you've done anything he'll nail you. He's unbelievably good, a credit to the U.S. Attorney's office. Far as I can tell he's a choirboy, apolitical, and a big believer in blind justice.

Oh yeah, he was also one of the guys on the list to get rid of during the US Attorney firings under Alberto Gonzales, because he didn't live up to the standards of the office. >derisive snicker<