The prosecution in his corruption trial says so. What’s their case? Well, according to a court document released today, they argue that Rod Blagojevich and his staff had been involved in extortion and kickbacks since Blago first got elected Illinois governor in 2002. The Obama seat thang (Roland Burris has sure been quiet lately, eh?) was just the most blatant example. Blago (of course) denies the claims, calling them “the same old false allegations and lies.” His lawyers had been fighting the document’s release. source
16number of charges Rod Blagojevich was indicted for last April
24number of charges Blago faces in an expanded inquiry
Why the change? Blago’s former charges had a lot to do with what’s referred to as “honest services fraud,” a statute that allows lawyers to nail corrupt politicians who get a few too many perks for white collar crimes. This law, passed by Congress in the ’80s and responsible for nailing Conrad Black, Jack Abramoff and fellow former Illinois Gov. George Ryan, is likely to get struck down by the Supreme Court in a few months, so they needed something else to nail him on. The eight new charges don’t rely on the law. source
2004 GOP candidate Jack Ryan had to drop out due to a sex scandal. They brought Alan Keyes to run against Obama instead. That didn’t work out too well. Obama won.
2010 A year after the Roland Burris appointment saga, GOP Rep. Mark Steven Kirk (a fierce Obama opponent) is being dogged by rumors that he’s gay. Oy. source
Wait, we take that back. We don’t see the Rod Blagojevich/Roland Burris saga, which was as funny as the Mark Sanford saga, if not funnier. Too bad, but they did a good job nailing the bizarre, insanely crazy year that was.
Dude won’t run for Senate in 2010. Whew. Roland Burris, who played an incredibly lame game of hokey pokey with Obama’s old Illinois Senate seat with the help of impeached governor Rod Blagojevich, finally gets the hint. Nobody wants him there. As a result, he plans to announce that he won’t run next year, according to party officials. (Not like he’d have a chance anyway, considering all the questions about how he got the seat.) We still think the guy’s a douche, but he’s at least going to be out of everyone’s hairs in a year and a half. source
Dude won’t be facing perjury charges. Ah, Roland. The only guy who’s a bigger joke than you in this whole Illinois Senate mess has a nest for a haircut and a near-unpronounceable last name. And he’s probably going to jail eventually. You, on the other hand, probably won’t. The prosecutor behind the case didn’t have enough evidence to pin any wrongdoing on you. The Senate will still investigate him, but no senator has been removed since the Civil War era for wrongdoing. You’re made of Teflon, Roland. source
We can only hope the former governor will not view this indictment as a green light for another publicity tour. Rod Blagojevich deserves his day in court, but the people of Illinois deserve a break.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois • On the indictment of ex-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. What, Dick, do you have something againstLarry King? • source
It’s a small world after all, but Blago’s still in big trouble. Everyone’s favorite governmental punching bag was apparently taking a vacation from getting in trouble today in Magic Kingdom, but trouble found him anyway. Prosecutors charged him and five others with a host of scary-sounding crimes, including making Barack Obama’s old Illinois Senate seat pay-for-play. Man, this story will just not die, and we’re loving every minute of it. source
The latest Blago thing Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich allegedly tried to sell Barack Obama’s seat for a payday. Then he got impeached. Now, it appears he’s still getting his payday, in the form of a six-figure deal to sell his story to a publisher. The book will be on the shelves in October, just in time for us to not care anymore.