Governor Is Held in Inquiry Into Filling Obama’s Seat

 

Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois was arrested by federal authorities on Tuesday morning and charged with corruption, including an allegation that he conspired to effectively sell President-elect Barack Obama’s seat in the United States Senate to the highest bidder.

 

Mr. Blagojevich, a Democrat, called his sole authority to name Mr. Obama’s successor “golden,� and he sought to parlay it into a job as an ambassador or secretary of Health and Human Services, or a high-paying position at a nonprofit or an organization connected to labor unions, prosecutors said. He also suggested, they said, that in exchange for the Senate appointment, his wife could be placed on corporate boards where she might earn as much as $150,000 a year, and he tried to gain promises of money for his campaign fund.

 

If Mr. Blagojevich could not secure a deal to his liking, prosecutors said, he was willing to appoint himself.

 

“If I don’t get what I want and I’m not satisfied with it, then I’ll just take the Senate seat myself,� the governor said in recorded conversation, prosecutors said.

 

A 76-page affidavit from the United States Attorney’s office in the Northern District of Illinois says Mr. Blagojevich (pronounced bluh-GOY-uh-vich) was heard on wiretaps over the last month planning to “sell or trade Illinois’ United States Senate seat vacated by Pres-elect Barack Obama for financial and personal benefits for himself and his wife.�

 

The charges are part of a five-year investigation into public corruption and allegations of “pay to play� deals in the clubby world of Illinois politics. Federal authorities said Mr. Blagojevich’s chief of staff, John Harris, was also indicted on Tuesday. Both men are expected to appear in federal court for the first time later Tuesday.

 

...

 

More here... (NYTimes.com)

just watched the US attorney press conf...Very strong presentation, they have tape. this is crazy stuff, this guy is doomed.

Pre-empting the eventual posts from the resident conspiracy theorists:

 

Transcripts of wiretap conversations suggest that the governor had conversations with Obama's transition team about Senate Candidate 1. Marc Ambinder makes a very strong case that this "is probably senior Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett."

 

In fact, just days after the presidential election, there were reports that Obama favored Jarrett for the Senate appointment. However, it's also clear from the complaint that the transition team refused to play ball with Blagojevich. The complaint states the governor said he knows

that Obama wanted Senate Candidate 1 for the Senate seat but "they're not willing to give me anything except appreciation. f*** them."

 

As Ben Smith notes, Jarrett's "abrupt withdrawal from consideration for the Senate seat suggests Obama's circle aware of the investigation" and wanted to distance themselves from any contacts with Blogojevich.

 

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/12/...obama_know.html

Holy crap.

 

Some of these guys really do think they can get away with anything.

 

George Ryan, the former governor, is still in prison I think.

 

 

This scandal should be fun.

Pre-empting the eventual posts from the resident conspiracy theorists:

 

Transcripts of wiretap conversations suggest that the governor had conversations with Obama's transition team about Senate Candidate 1. Marc Ambinder makes a very strong case that this "is probably senior Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett."

 

In fact, just days after the presidential election, there were reports that Obama favored Jarrett for the Senate appointment. However, it's also clear from the complaint that the transition team refused to play ball with Blagojevich. The complaint states the governor said he knows

that Obama wanted Senate Candidate 1 for the Senate seat but "they're not willing to give me anything except appreciation. f*** them."

 

As Ben Smith notes, Jarrett's "abrupt withdrawal from consideration for the Senate seat suggests Obama's circle aware of the investigation" and wanted to distance themselves from any contacts with Blogojevich.

 

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/12/...obama_know.html

 

Obama is going down...Blogojevich is on tape asking Obama for 250k, or he will come out with the Kenyan Birth Certificate

Holy crap.

 

Some of these guys really do think they can get away with anything.

 

George Ryan, the former governor, is still in prison I think.

 

 

This scandal should be fun.

 

IL politics is 3rd-world level corrupt. Good thing we just elected a product of that environment to the highest office in the land.

Rahm took Blago down. Hopefully this puts an end to "Obama's Chicago Crew" conspiracy crap:

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/09/r...n_n_149608.html

Local news reports, meanwhile, suggest that it was Obama chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel who blew the whistle on the governor.

 

Also, video of the claim. Can Blago be any stupider? Let's think about this: Chief of Staff for the Leader of the Free World vs. two-bit guv who is about to be indicted. Why even threaten him?

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/12/09/rahm-blago/

Rahm took Blago down. Hopefully this puts an end to "Obama's Chicago Crew" conspiracy crap:

 

Why would it do that? It could just as easily be, "Let's throw him under the bus before it gets back to us!"

Please! If that were the case, Rahm wouldn't have turned it around as fast as he did.

Please! If that were the case, Rahm wouldn't have turned it around as fast as he did.

 

Unless he already new about the problem before the election and wanted to be out in front of it.

 

Wow, this is easy! No wonder the liberals put out so much crap about Bush, if you want to stick to unsubstantiated speculation, then any act can be cast in the light of wrongdoing!

How would that be the case if all this crap took place AFTER the election? Geez, you neocons just like to set up false parallels all the time.

How would that be the case if all this crap took place AFTER the election? Geez, you neocons just like to set up false parallels all the time.

 

First, unless neocon is your code for non-Democrat Jew, then I am not a neocon.

 

Second, back to the rampant unfounded accusations!

 

By outing this act, they can pretend to be "Just shocked, just shocked and appalled! SHOCKED AND APPALLED I TELL YA!" when they hear about any shenanigans from election time. It is a five year investigation, the fact that the one little part of the deal was outed by Emanuel means nothing!

Whatever. Your willful deafness confounds me.

 

And when I say "neocon", I mean to put emphasis on CON. As in you're putting on a con-job.

Whatever. Your willful deafness confounds me.

 

And when I say "neocon", I mean to put emphasis on CON. As in you're putting on a con-job.

 

Nah, just some of the Dems own crazy medicine.

 

Bush killed black people in New Orleans

Bush was AWOL

Bush ordered Plames' name be outted

Bush lied, kids died

Bush eats babies... you know, stuff like that

There is nothing that you can point to that will change the minds of people like EricWeiner. He's not going to be okay with Obama one way or the other. I would advise you to stop paying attention to him anyway. He's like the 25% of people that still approve of Bush's job performance.

Good thing Obama endorsed him for governor.

 

What a shocker. Obama endorsed someone in his own party. Incredible.

this guy is a scumbag... he is under investigation and then gets busted for SOMETHING ELSE!!! because of tapping and he knows they are tapping him. You have to be so arrogant and deserve to go to jail.

Good thing Obama endorsed him for governor.

 

What a shocker. Obama endorsed someone in his own party. Incredible.

Please.

 

What is the point of endorsements if they are going to be issued blindly?

 

Whatever happened to actually examining the actual integrity, character, and competence of an individual when making an endorsement. That is what honest politicians do rather than simply looking at the ? and (D) next to the name.

 

It isn't that surprising. It's what mainstream status quo politicians frequently do and that's exactly what Barack Obama is.

 

I suppose Obama only cracks down on lobbyists and corrupt politicians when they are outside of his own party, right? Because party lines take precedence over the well-being of the populus. That is what you are insinuating here.

 

He endorsed him in 2006. To my knowledge, most (if not all) of this stuff had not come out yet. So you're statement is pure BS. It's not like he endorsed him in 2008.

Good thing Obama endorsed him for governor.

 

What a shocker. Obama endorsed someone in his own party. Incredible.

Please.

 

What is the point of endorsements if they are going to be issued blindly?

 

Whatever happened to actually examining the actual integrity, character, and competence of an individual when making an endorsement. That is what honest politicians do rather than simply looking at the ? and (D) next to the name.

 

It isn't that surprising. It's what mainstream status quo politicians frequently do and that's exactly what Barack Obama is.

 

I suppose Obama only cracks down on lobbyists and corrupt politicians when they are outside of his own party, right? Because party lines take precedence over the well-being of the populus. That is what you are insinuating here.

 

transparency.... I think he might of messed up his words and meant obliviousness?

There is nothing that you can point to that will change the minds of people like EricWeiner. He's not going to be okay with Obama one way or the other. I would advise you to stop paying attention to him anyway. He's like the 25% of people that still approve of Bush's job performance.

 

 

Do any of you f***ers have any sense of tongue in cheek? We've had more than 20 years of nastiness driven by nothing more than caring more about who is in office than with what they do.

 

Reagan was wrongfully and falsely attacked throughout his second term, and that continued with Bush. Then in a tit-for-tat frenzy, Clinton was relentlessly sniped by Republicans, and the Democrats have taken it to new heights with W. I really hope it stops here, but it won't.

 

I responded to this:

 

Rahm took Blago down. Hopefully this puts an end to "Obama's Chicago Crew" conspiracy crap:

 

And I demonstrated that nothing will put an end to the 'crap' because it is the same flavor of 'crap' that has been laid into the GOP for 8 years, and into Clinton the previous 8. If you want to believe the worst, you can spin innocent actions in the worst light and leave the implication of wrongdoing on the table.

Good thing Obama endorsed him for governor.

 

What a shocker. Obama endorsed someone in his own party. Incredible.

Please.

 

What is the point of endorsements if they are going to be issued blindly?

 

Whatever happened to actually examining the actual integrity, character, and competence of an individual when making an endorsement. That is what honest politicians do rather than simply looking at the ? and (D) next to the name.

 

It isn't that surprising. It's what mainstream status quo politicians frequently do and that's exactly what Barack Obama is.

 

I suppose Obama only cracks down on lobbyists and corrupt politicians when they are outside of his own party, right? Because party lines take precedence over the well-being of the populus. That is what you are insinuating here.

 

He endorsed him in 2006. To my knowledge, most (if not all) of this stuff had not come out yet. So you're statement is pure BS. It's not like he endorsed him in 2008.

My statement makes perfect sense.

 

Corruptive personality characteristics do not surface spontaneously overnight. Obama has a history of misjudgment and associating himself with controversial figures. While I'm not saying that Obama was collaborating with Blagojevich, but if he were going to as far as issuing an endorsement he should have either known better or should not have overlooked the man's shortcomings simply because he was in his own party. However, Obama did serve as an adviser for him in 2002, so he should know the man somewhat.

 

That is why we have endorsements. People in authority are supposed to grant the people assurance that these sorts of things won't happen.

 

In 2002 the Governor was in Congress, so I highly doubt most of this stuff had come out. You have still presented no facts which suggest Obama knew this was going on while he endorsed him. They overlapped in Illinois two years - 2002 to 2004. That's it. Just because you associate with him doesn't mean jack. I recently found out someone I know has been doing coke a few years - I had no clue. Are you going to accuse me of associating with the wrong people? Ridiculous.

In 2002 the Governor was in Congress, so I highly doubt most of this stuff had come out. You have still presented no facts which suggest Obama knew this was going on while he endorsed him. They overlapped in Illinois two years - 2002 to 2004. That's it. Just because you associate with him doesn't mean jack. I recently found out someone I know has been doing coke a few years - I had no clue. Are you going to accuse me of associating with the wrong people? Ridiculous.

I presented no facts because I made no such accusation.

 

Please indicate where I said in any of my posts that Obama likely knew this was going on.

 

You made a big deal of the fact that Obama endorsed him, implying that Obama made such endorsement despite the fact that he knew the Governor to be a shady character. Otherwise, what was the point of your post?

You made a big deal of the fact that Obama endorsed him, implying that Obama made such endorsement despite the fact that he knew the Governor to be a shady character. Otherwise, what was the point of your post?

 

Perhaps that people (Republican or Democrat) should not endorse somebody just because of their party affliation and instead only endorse those that they expect to be people of competence and high ideals.

You made a big deal of the fact that Obama endorsed him, implying that Obama made such endorsement despite the fact that he knew the Governor to be a shady character. Otherwise, what was the point of your post?

 

Perhaps that people (Republican or Democrat) should not endorse somebody just because of their party affliation and instead only endorse those that they expect to be people of competence and high ideals.

you would think, but prinmemito fights all thins against democrats.

You made a big deal of the fact that Obama endorsed him, implying that Obama made such endorsement despite the fact that he knew the Governor to be a shady character. Otherwise, what was the point of your post?

 

Perhaps that people (Republican or Democrat) should not endorse somebody just because of their party affliation and instead only endorse those that they expect to be people of competence and high ideals.

 

I agree. My whole point was that the endorsement came a while ago, which means he may not have known Blagojavich was not a man of competence and high ideals.