Blagojevich Turns Shytown into Buy Town
Illinois Governor Rod “Blago” Blagojevich arrested.
(Dec. 9, Chicago, IL) In keeping with the tradition of corrupt criminality in the statehouse, Governor Rod Blagojevich was arrested today on federal charges including bribery, corruption and improper use of his office. Blagojevich is the third Illinois Governor to be indicted out of the last six.
While corruption, extortion, bribery, influence peddling and under handed deal making are virtually synonymous with Illinois politics, particularly the type practiced for decades in Chicagoland, the allegations against the current Governor may prove to be the most significant. Blago’s crimes, as alleged in the federal indictment unsealed today detail a portrait of an elected official well versed in the ways of corruption and bribery and certainly not shy about using the power of his office for personal financial gain.
Among the factors that elevate Blago’s alleged crimes to a level of their own is the fact that one of the key items in his indictment is that he tried to “sell” the Illinois Senate seat recently vacated by President-elect Barak Obama. While Obama has yet to be connected in any way to the Governor’s “crime spree”, the developing situation certainly brings unwanted scrutiny just weeks before his inauguration. For his part President-elect Obama has refused to comment due to “the on-going investigation.”
While the federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was quick to emphasis that Mr. Obama was in no way implicated in any of the alleged crimes, two prominent Obama Cabinet appointees may have been involved directly or indirectly. Rahm Emmanuel, the Chief of Staff appointee is rumored to have played an active roll in some of Blago’s nefarious activities. Some inside sources hint that Emmanuel, after some sort of “disagreement” with the Governor actually “turned in” Blago to the FBI. The Illinois Governor has been under FBI investigation for most of the past year if not sooner.
The Chicago political operative who lead the Obama campaign and has been named a Senior Presidential Advisor in the Obama White House, David Axelrod, may have had “conversations” with Blago regarding Obama’s Senate replacement. Axelrod denies such discussions.
The following months will be interesting as the legal proceedings begin and the public learns the sordid details. Prosecutor Fitzgerald, alluding to the gravity of the charges said that “Lincoln must be turning over in his grave”, making reference to the 16th president Abraham Lincoln also of Illinois.
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