You heard it from Truth first: Governor Rod Blagojevich(poronounced Bluh-goy-uh-vitch)(D-IL) has been indicted and arrested on corruption charges of trying to sell off Barack Obama's senate seat to the highest bidder.  This has frankly been stewing for some time, though.  The feds(headed by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald(think Scooter Libby) have been watching Blagojevich for years.   A grand jury has been looking into his closing of a landfill that was connected to his father in law, who Blagojevich has had a somewhat contentious relationship with.  

And that's not all... The governor appears to have a good number of connections to Tony Rezko, including a long-standing business partnership between the governor's wife, Patricia Blagojevich and Rezko, as well as confirmed rumors that Blagojevich is the "Public Official A" named in Rezko's indictment.  You can also read about the $25000 club, where Blagojevich donors recieve special treatment for donations, including appointments to offices, and lucrative contracts.  The list of the governor's faults is about as long as my arm(and my arm is pretty darn long too.  

And the irony of all of this is that Blagojevich was elected in 2002 running against the corrupt and now convicted Republican Governor, George Ryan.  The offense: pay to play polics.  Disgusting...

The question among Illinois Democrats(even before today) is not "should we get of Blagojevich?" but rather "How should we get rid of Blagojevich?"  The debate is wether impeachment and removal from office would be enough or wether instead there should be a recall.  After today, it's likely that the legislature will move to impeach the governor and get him out of there.  It appears that the Lieutenant Governor, Pat Quinn has kept himself out of the way of Blagojevich's antics, and will at least be able to act as a placeholder until 2010 when the Illinoisans can find someone better to run the state.  The bigger question is what happens to that pesky open senate seat?  There are plenty of good Illinois politicians that would be good picks to replace Obama, but I doubt many would want to be appointed by an indicted governor, especially not this one...

So what does Blagojevich do? He has to do one of two things:  either a.) he needs to step aside on his own accord and let Quinn make the appointment(unlikely) or b.) appoint someone with an impeachableunimpeachable(Freudian slip i guess) ethics record who will act as a benchwarmer for the 2010 primary.   

oh, and also, it went by a little unnoticed that another corrupt democrat will be leaving us here soon.  Indicted "Dollar" Bill Jefferson of LA-02 lost his runoff against Republican Joseph Cao.  Good riddance.  Dont let the door hit you on the way out.  This was especially good news for members of the second district(which includes the Lower 9th ward) since they will now have a congressman that can get committee assignments(after being indicted the House leadership dragged Jefferson kicking and screaming off of the Ways and Means Committee, and has only been able to vote on the floor pending his conviction/expulsion, resignation, or the end of his term.  This district can now get a representative that will be able to sit on committees that will help his district get the funding it needs to rebuild itself(three years after Katrina and they still aren't completely rebuilt.  Shameful.)

 Update-X1- The Chicago Sun Times has a  pretty good list of responses from Illinois politicians.

Comments (8)

nimrod said:

	Despicable What an appalling abuse of authority and breach of trust. Maybe he and Governor Ryan can share a jail cell. Maybe US Attorney Fitzgerald can inspire some other US attorneys to root out corruption.
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December 09, 2008
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iwofndadvocates.com/blog said:

	It just goes to show you....... That corruption is alive and well in America......It does not matter which party Republican, Democrat, or Independent there is some type of corruption. It is a sad thing to see that from a small state agency, on up to a seat in Ill. that corruption goes to the highest bidder.
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December 10, 2008 | url
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WayneS said:

	Guess which state ranks Highest in Corruption Good Old North Dakota......see the article from USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-12-10-corruptstates_N.htm?se=yahoorefer
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December 11, 2008
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Adam said:

	There's a newsflash! I just caught that myself. But we already knew that... And that doesn't count the people that Wayne Stenehjem won't prosecute...
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December 11, 2008 | url
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I have issues said:

and the AG Says? http://www.kfyrtv.com/News_Stories.asp?news=25096 Article Calls ND Most Corrupt We know that North Dakota is a safe state when it comes to crime. But what about corruption? Based on this week`s headlines, you might suppose that Illinois would be the worst. But a story in USA Today says North Dakota is the most corrupt state in the country. Statistically, North Dakota might appear to be the most corrupt. But state officials say you have to look beyond the numbers. Some may say that numbers don`t lie. But Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem says the numbers in USA Today aren`t exactly telling the truth, either. "You need to give these kinds of cases, these kinds of studies an analysis, to do a little bit of digging to see what the difference is," says Stenehjem. He says there is a difference between corruption cases in North Dakota and corruption cases elsewhere. "We are as clean as a state can be," says Stenehjem. "Not to say we don`t have problems, but when we do, we pursue them and we pursue them to a conviction." That`s true in embezzlement cases, which might not even be pursued somewhere else. "Similar cases in other states without the resources and with bigger corruption problems are much less likely to be prosecuted, and more likely to be swept under the rug," says Stenehjem says. "We don`t put up with that here." Stenehjem says one reason leaders in North Dakota aren`t corrupt is because many people personally know the person they`ve elected to office, and if they were doing something wrong, voters would know it. He says a number of other studies that show that North Dakota has a much smaller corruption problem than other states, and if the USA Today had done some analysis, it likely would have found the same thing. Stenehjem says another reason more corruption charges have been brought in North Dakota is because the state has an aggressive US Attorney who goes after them. He says if the state were truly corrupt, no charges would ever be brought, because the prosecutors would likely be bribed, as well.

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December 12, 2008
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Adam said:

Impressive... And he even got a spot in there for the US Attorney that they're trying to keep in office... Stenehjem is no dummy. Of course, some of what he said there was complete bull: much of he said could easily be used to defend every other state high on this list. The fact is that there were more public corruption convictions per capita than any State in the Union, and by that metric, we are, in fact, the most corrupt state in the U.S. And we also all know that there are cases here(just as there are everywhere else) that aren't prosecuted due to some conflict of interest between the prosecutor and the offender...like Stenehjem and WSI for example...

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December 12, 2008 | url
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What the Heck said:

	And... are all potential corruption cases fully and impartially investigated?
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December 12, 2008
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Truth said:

... It's amazing. I just listened to the IL Attorney General and she said her duty was to be a lawyer for the people of IL, but that is not what the ND AG's office say. The indicate they are the lawyers for the state agencies of ND and not the ND people, in other terms they are in there to provide cover and delay rulings that put ND agencies in a bad light (i.e. dealyed rulings on requests about WSI). Perhaps Stehjnem should contact Lisa Madigan (IL AG) and get some advice from her on the true role of an AG.

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December 12, 2008
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