Corrupt Illinois politicians, money-grubbing Democrats, cushy union jobs, lobbyists

and Jesse Jackson?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7773717.stm
orrupt Illinois politicians, money-grubbing Democrats, cushy union jobs, lobbyist money, Jesse Jackson

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28139155/

http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/acrobat/2008-12/43789434.pdf
(full legal complaint)

Yes the governor of Illinoise has been arrested on trying to profit from the appointment of picking the replacement for Obama's senate seat.

From what I've been reading it seems like Senate candidate number one was Valerie Jarrett(who is alleged to have done no wrong and withdrawn)
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/12/blago_indictment_senate_candid.php

While candidate number 5 is thought to be mr Jesse Jackson jr.
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/12/blago_indictment_who_is_senate.php


also candidate number 4 seems interesting because of:

 

am i the only one that finds it interesting that the day after the governor threatens bank of america he is arrested??

 

Has anything he has done been proven to be illegal? It's certainly unethical but both political parties partake of that pie.

 

You know, I hadn't connected those two dots until I read your post. It is an intriguing coincidence at very least. It falls in line with much of what I've been hearing about the global crisis; the whys and the projected direction and motives...

 

The timing of the arrest and the Bank of America thing is a red herring. The wire taps were going on prior to election day.

 

It rests on the legal system, has he done anything illegal? Both parties sell favour and always have. If he threatens Bank America, someone should, but then a close friend of mine holds stock in them so I hope it doesn't drive their stock down.

 

Threatened Bank of America how?

All I know is that I found it extremely funny to think of a 'for sale' sign on the senate seat. I mean, thats how it truthfully happens anyway....but to sell to the highest bidder gives me the best visuals.

 

I have to take a measure of issue with the thread title- as though Democrats have somehow cornered the market for money grubbing... that is a bipartisan practice and just used by one party to smear the other once something like this comes to light. I'm sure neo-con mouthpieces like Rush Limbaugh are having a field day with this but in truth the Republicans they champion are no better.

 

Put the Senate seat on Ebay?

.

 

That will work....perhaps Palin can find another jet to auction off as well....it can be a package deal

 

Ya Gardner, Nobody has been convicted in a court of law, ( yet )
The Govenor was only arrested two days ago.

So long as you are demanding the same burden of proof for all persons who are charged regardles of standing or their political affiliation. tis OK.

The Govenor threatened the Chicago Tribune Newspaper unless it fired a journalist who had exposed the corruption.

The Tribune Newspaper is Bankrupt, instead of a bailout it seeks an old fashioned solution: sell excess assets The Govenor threatened to block the sale of those assets.

Whre is our old buddy: Fed Up American. A local Chicago Boy who could provide some local insight into the scandal.........Oh that right it a Democrat scandal so I guess its: Whales and Dams and Baby Seals.

I say bail-out The Chicago Tribune, by reporting on the corruption they are doing a greater public service to America that GM, Ford and Chrysler combined.

 

I am not saying what he did wasn't wrong. Just wondering if anything will come of it. I've seen so many of these politicians get away with things much worse.

 

Unethical yes. Is he a corrupt asshole? Seems like it. But can you prosecute on something he said over the phone, no matter how crude it was? The supposedly damning evidence the media keeps playing is the line that went something like: "Fuck 'em. I want money."

I imagine there's much more, and he'll probably go down. But based only on that type of blather I don't know if they can send him to jail.

 

The FBI would not have publicly popped a close associate of the President Elect unless they had the goods on him.

I'm wondering why the concept of a corrupt politician seems so, well, incredible?

I am sure that you have to reach out beyond The Daily Kos to find any good information on this issue.

 

The PDF link from the original poster lists two counts:


Count One
From in or about 2002 to the present, in Cook County, in the Northern District of Illinois, defendants did, conspire with each other and with others to devise and participate in a scheme to defraud the State of Illinois and
the people of the State of Illinois of the honest services of ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH and JOHN HARRIS, in furtherance of which the mails and interstate wire communications would be used, in violation of Title 18, United
States Code, Sections 1341,1343, and 1346; all in violation of Title 18 United States Code, Section 1349.



Count Two
Beginning no later than November 2008 to the present, in Cook County, in the Northern District of Illinois, defendants ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH and JOHN HARRIS, being agents of the State of Illinois, a State government which during a one-year period, beginning January 1, 2008 and continuing to the present, received federal benefits in excess of $10,000, corruptly solicited and demanded a thing of value, namely, the firing of certain Chicago Tribune editorial members responsible for widely-circulated editorials critical of ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH, intending to be influenced and rewarded in connection with business and transactions of the State of Illinois involving a thing of value of $5,000 or more, namely, the provision of millions of dollars in financial assistance by the State of Illinois, including through the Illinois Finance Authority, an agency of the State of Illinois, to the Tribune Company involving the Wrigley Field baseball stadium; in violation of Title 18, United States Code,
Sections 666(a)(1)(B) and 2.