December 9, 2008
Mac Zilber
Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich is already known as a reasonably corrupt man, and has been rumored to have “sold” political appointments before, but has done nothing like this. Verified recordings from November 3rd indicate that Blagojevich planned to sell the senate seat in Illinois, which was going to be vacated by Barack Obama, to the highest bidder. This is the fourth or fifth time he has come under federal investigation, and it looks like this time it is going to stick.
“Unless I get something really good,” Blagojevich was recorded as saying, “S***, I’ll just send myself.[...] A senate seat is a f***ing valuable thing.”
Among the trades Blagojevich was rumored to be looking for was an appointment of Valerie Jarrett, a top Obama advisor, to the Illinois senate seat in exchange for a post as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Given that Tom Daschle was named as Secretary of HHS before virtually any other cabinet member was named, it appears likely that the incoming administration never seriously entertained his requests. Blagojevich was also interested in lucrative appointments to foundations and boards, saying to convicted felon Tony Rezko in another taped conversation on the topic, “I want to make money.”
Blagojevich is a sign of everything that is wrong with Illinois politics, and he should be punished accordingly. Not only is he highly corrupt, he also doesn’t seem to be that intelligent. After all, he’s the governor of one of the biggest states in the country, even a governor with a 4% approval rating, and a former congressman, he should realize that he’ll be able to make millions of dollars in the private sector without resorting to what Northern Illinois’ U.S. attorney referred to as “The most staggering crime spree in office I have ever seen.” Well, not now. Now he’s likely to be spending his time in federal prison with the man who was governor before him: George Ryan.
We sure lucked out that we have a white house full of Illinois federal politicians and not state politicians.
interesting, very interesting.