I know- Big surprise. It's just incredible though how brazen Illinois' soon-to-be-former Governor appears. From the AP:
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested Tuesday on charges he brazenly conspired to sell or trade President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder
and
Blagojevich also was charged with illegally threatening to withhold state assistance to Tribune Co., the owner of the Chicago Tribune, in an attempt to strong-arm the newspaper into firing editorial writers who had criticized him.
The 51-year-old Democrat was also accused of engaging in pay-to-play politics - that is, doling out jobs, contracts and appointments in return for campaign contributions.
Well, this is what virtually all elected officials do. Not condoning. Oh no! In fact, it should be just the beginning of the witch hunt. Let's indict all elected officials who steer contracts in return for campagin contributions.
I love this one:
Prosecutors said Blagojevich also talked about getting his wife placed on corporate boards where she might get $150,000 a year in director's fees.
In court papers, the FBI said Blagojevich expressed frustration at being "stuck" as governor. "I want to make money," the governor, whose salary is $177,412, was quoted as saying in one conversation.
Bwaahahaha! "Stuck" being governor! Sick of making a mere $177k! Oh, my side hurts! Bwaaaahahaha!
Ok, my ardent Democratic friends. It is time for you to condemn Blagojevich and his naked greed roundly. Demand his resignation. Today, he has made himself the face of the Democratic Party. If you fail to demand his immediate resignation, you condone his corruption.
4 comments:
That's too easy. I, for one, am not living off of Blagoyevich's largesse.
He's a politician who crossed that imaginary line from "tolerable graft" to "greedy grouser".
The "tolerable' part seems to derive from the limited resources afforded to U.S. Attorneys to pursue such activity, and the inability of the courts to docket all of it. Small fish vs. big fish. Works that waya with corporate greed, as well.
The catch seems to be in the knowing where that imaginary line is that one shouldn't be crossing.
Personally, I hope that the Illinois governor goes to jail for a noticable amount of time. And, he can take as many people down with him as he goes, as the courts have time to prosecute.
Maybe, we should use some of that "bailout" money to fund further actions by U.S. Attorneys by moving the imaginary line back towards more decent behavior?
Sounds like a plan to me. Fund the US Attorneys to the sky. If we have to take cuts in farm subsidies, so be it.
This case reinforces for me why I have greater fear of government power than corporate power. One man given the power to choose the next US Senator in Illinois? Think Bill Gates, for his billions, has that kind of power?
I think it took 70 years to beat down Tammany Hall. Still, like the Hydra, another "head" just took its place.
I think I would compare this to trying to remove poison ivy. Not so easy to do, even when one resorts to drastic measures.
And condemn him they've now done, from Dailykos to Obama himself.
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