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Tag: Rod Blagojevich

  • Rod Blagojevich Will Have His Day In Court

    If you thought you’d seen the last of Rod Blagojevich (and his hair) you were wrong.

    The former Illinois governor had been convicted in 2011 of a variety of corruption charges. The most controversial being his attempts to sell President Obama’s former senate seat. After having spent the last couple of years in jail, he will have a chance to strike at the heart of that particular allegation.

    Still the defense’s question is a doozy: If ethically questionable behavior is out in the open rather than behind closed doors, shouldn’t that be granted special consideration?

    Blagojevich’s attorney, Leonard Goodman argues that his client thought of his dealings as “political horse trading” and that they were absolutely legal. The quid pro quo nature of the issue and the legal question raised clearly piqued the interests of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A panel of three judges has agreed to hear the appeal. There is no guarantee that being able to argue the question will result in an overturned conviction. At best, Blagojevich can hope to have his sentence reduced. Many feel that it’s likely that this is his very last chance to avoid serving a full sentence.

    His defense claims that the jury that convicted Blagojevich didn’t get to hear the whole story. Allegedly, the things that he did were for causes and programs meant to positively benefit his constituents. In other words, what “Blago” was really up to was looking out for the little guy. It’s just that in the world of politics, you have to scratch a lot of backs to do it.

    The problem with this particular logic is that on the tapes that formed the cornerstone of evidence against him, Blagojevich can be heard saying, “”I’ve got this thing and it’s f*** golden. And I’m just not giving it up for f*** nothing.” This is in reference to Obama’s former seat.

    I’ve got this.
    It’s golden.
    I’m not giving it up for nothing.

    Those don’t sound like the words of a man who’s thinking about what he can do for someone other than himself. If the judges agree with this sentiment, then there’s a good chance it will be a decade before we see Rod Blagojevich’s name again.

    Image: Wikimedia Commons

  • Rod Blagojevich’s Win Not Likely To Scare Prosecution

    Even though ex Ill Governor Rod Blagojevich will get another chance to plead his case, the prosecution has made it fully aware that they have no intention of letting the conviction be overturned in their 169 page response motion calling his appeal an ‘extraordinary claim.’

    His legal defensed filed an appeal in July arguing that his case should be overturned or at least have the harsh sentence reconsidered. On Friday, the 7th U.S. Circuit of Appeals in Chicago agreed to hear their case according to NBC news.

    On December 13, the convicted Chicago politician will have his 2011 case revisited as he argues that he was unjustly sentenced to prison for doing what he felt was ‘standard political horse-trading.’ The prosecution doesn’t seem worried that their conviction is in jeopardy.

    Rod Blagojevich was convicted at his 2nd trial in 2011 on 17 counts including wire fraud, attempted extortion, and conspiracy to commit bribery. In 2008, he was caught trading money for cabinet positions in return for appointing Valerie Jarrett to replace Obama. He was sentenced to 14 years.

    In their response, the prosecution argues that Blagojevich offers no legal authority supporting the belief that his actions were lawful because the money was provided by another public official. The evidence was clear that there was an exchange of Medicare rate increase for campaign contributions. The proof that contributions were made with the expectation that politicians’ actions would be influenced was overwhelming according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Riggs Bonamici.

    According to MSN, His defense attorneys are claiming that if their client believed that what he was doing was unlawful, why would he not make any effort to conceal what he was doing? The courts had excluded his testimony that he “honestly believed” his conduct was legal. Blagojevich not only felt it was lawful, but also in the interest of the public. He also did not profit from the deals.

    The prosecution ultimate claim is the abundance of evidence against Blagojevich regardless of his contention of ignorance.

    Photo from Wikimedia Commons

  • Rod Blagojevich Comes From a Long Line of Shysters

    It’s been almost 5 years since former Illinois governor Rod Balgojevich was unceremoniously removed from office. For 4 years prior to that he had been under Federal Bureau of Investigation watch for corruption. But when Blago, as he became known in the tabloids, attempted to “sell” the now-vacated seat of former United States Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama, things came to a head quickly.

    Soon details about Blagojevich’s ties to one Tony Rezko, himself later convicted of wire fraud, became public knowledge. The Illinois Attorney General declared him not fit to serve, and asked that he be removed. That move failed. Finally, the Illinois legislature impeached him and had him removed.

    Blagojevich has been convicted, appealed. And time will tell where that appeal goes. But one thing is for sure: Rod Blagojevich comes from a long line of colorful Illinois politicians, especially in and around the Chicago area. In fact, the corruption and dealings of Illinois politicians has become so well-known and well-documented that it has spawned a term all it’s own: Chicago-style politics.

    If that political genealogy is any indication, one should not count Rod Blagojevich out. He could still yet be back.

    During the reign of Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley, many members of his administration were jailed on charges of corruption, though the Da Mare himself never was. Daley himself is remembered fondly by many as overseeing a time of growth in Chocago, when O’hare Airport, the Sears Tower and lots of other projects were realized. They say that, were it not for “Hizzoner”, as they call him, Chicago could be in the straits of a Detroit or Cleveland now.

    Later under the watch of his son, also a Chicago mayor, Richard M. Daley, there were also arrests for corruption.

    Entire films and television series have held the corruption of Chicago – and other cities – at the heart of their story lines. One such show is Boardwalk Empire, with its depiction of a Chicago political machine “encouraging” factory workers to vote Republican in an upcoming election, using bats and night sticks.

    image: wikimedia commons

  • Rod Blagojevich Appeal Appears Weak at Best

    Rod Blagojevich’s attempted appeal of his corruption conviction doesn’t look like it’s going to hold water. Prosecuters, in a lengthy 169 page response, balk at the idea that Blagojevich’s shenanigans were just ordinary “political horse-trading”.

    Prosecutors rebutt this theory and more in the document, which is in response to the Democrat’s July appeal with the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, according to the Denver Post.

    In the appeal, that ran 100 pages, defense attorneys for Blagojevich claim he engaged in a legal “political horse-trade”. He floated the idea of a Cabinet seat or possibly an ambassadorship for himself if he were to appoint Obama confidant Valerie Jarrett to Obama’s vacated seat.

    The appeal seeks a new trial, or at least a reduction for what it deems a disproportionate sentence for Blagojevich’s crimes. They allege the main cause of his heavy-handed conviction to be, in large, the errors of U.S. District Judge James Zagel. One of these major errors, they say, was allowing a biased juror to sit on the panel during Blagojevich’s second trial. The appeal refers to him as Juror No. 174, noting that he said something questionable about Blagojevich during jury selection: “I just figured him, possibly, to be guilty.”

    “Juror 174 told the court he believed he could do that and stated that he would do that,” prosecutors said. “Nothing in the juror’s comments suggested that he had ‘an irrational or unshakeable bias.’”

    The prosecution strongly disagrees with the juror claim, and points out that it is beside the point, anyway. “This is an extraordinary claim,” the government filing says. “No matter the price he charges, a public official who sells his office engages in crime, not politics.”

    According to the Christian Science Monitor, Shari Seidman Diamond, a law professor at the Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago, says that the difficulty is convincing the appeals court that he was not aware that pay-to-play is a crime, especially because he was an attorney himself.

    “There’s a difference between being aware of the acts you’re doing and the goals you’re trying to accomplish and being aware there’s a statute that forbids it. I think it’s very plausible he was and very hard to believe he wasn’t,” Diamond says.

    Very hard to believe, indeed.

    Image via wikimedia commons

  • Rod Blagojevich’s Appeal Challenged by Prosecutors

    Prosecutors responded to an appeal by former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Tuesday, urging the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reject his bid for a new trial.

    Lawyers for Blagojevich filed on his behalf for an appeal of his conviction earlier this year in July, with hopes to overturn or reduce his 14-year prison sentence for 17 counts of wire fraud, attempted extortion, bribery, the conspiracy to commit extortion, and the conspiracy to commit bribery – which included when he attempted to benefit from his power to fill the Senate seat that Barack Obama left when he became president.

    The Illinois democrat is currently in federal prison in Littleton, Colorado after jurors convicted him during the second federal trial against him for all of the above counts in June 2011. The first trial resulted in a hung jury.

    In the defendants appeal, Blagojevich attorneys disputed that his “proposed exchange [for Obama’s Senate seat] was an arm’s length political deal … between himself and Barack Obama which Blagojevich believed was not only lawful, but also in the public interest.”

    Secret wiretaps of Blagojevich were used as evidence in the prosecutors’ case. “I’ve got this thing and it’s f—— golden,” jurors heard Blagojevich saying in one conversation about Obama’s seat. “And I’m just not giving it up for f—— nothing.”

    Assistant US Attorney Debra Riggs Bonamici wrote that the Blagojevich verdict was “supported by abundant evidence, and the defendant received a fair trial.”

    “No matter the price he charges, a public official who sells his office engages in crime, not politics,” the recent government filing says.

    Tuesday’s filing by prosecutors attempted to undermine the defendant’s argument, calling it “an extraordinary claim.” It could take a few months, but now that the prosecutors have issued their response, a ruling on the appeal could come soon.

  • Blagojevich Sentenced 14 Years In Prison

    Former Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich was sentenced today to serve 14 years in prison. Blago was convicted of 18 charges of corruption, most memorable being the time he tried to sell President Obama’s vacant Senate seat after the 2008 election.

    “Blago” was the top trending topic on Twitter today after the verdict was announced. Here’s what some of the tweets had to say:

    @TPM
    Talking Points Memo    Blago sentenced to 14 years for corruption: http://t.co/3J80U2vE 24 minutes ago via CoTweet · powered by @socialditto

    @guypbenson
    Guy Benson    Blago (D-IL) tried to sell a Senate seat, shook down a children’s hospital, & tried to get hostile newspaper editors fired. Good riddance. 26 minutes ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    @ourmaninchicago
    Scott Smith    You shouldn’t get lenience b/c you have kids. Having kids should be the thing that keeps you from breaking the law. #blago 19 hours ago via UberSocial for BlackBerry · powered by @socialditto

    @roblathan
    Rob Lathan    When asked for comment Rod Blagojevich said his prison sentence was not fuckin’ golden. 6 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @WarrenHolstein
    Warren Holstein    Blagojevich gets 14 years in prison for corruption. His hair gets the death sentence. 7 minutes ago via TweetCaster for Android · powered by @socialditto

    @TomBevanRCP
    Tom Bevan    Not so effing golden: Blago sentenced to 14 years. http://t.co/rlbeF7bu 14 minutes ago via bitly · powered by @socialditto

    @badbanana
    Tim Siedell    I bet we all remember where we were when Blagojevich was sentenced, since it happened just a few minutes ago. 9 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @WJBC
    WJBC AM-1230 FM-93.7    Under federal guidelines, Blagojevich will have to serve 85 percent, which is nearly 12 years.#Blago 11 minutes ago via HootSuite · powered by @socialditto

    @divyasukumar
    divya    Blago gets 14 years. Conrad Murray gets 4 years. Casey Anthony walks. 12 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @mbimotmog
    Aaron K    BREAKING: Internet scrambles to divide 168 by 12. #Blago 30 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @ErnestWilkins
    Ernest Wilkins    That sound you just heard was every journalist ever mashing calculator keys. #blago 31 minutes ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    @joeschmitt
    Joe Schmitt    Is 14 years too many for Blagojevich? No. I’d rather he be sentenced until the Cubs are in the World Series. 32 seconds ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @JohnFugelsang
    John Fugelsang    For comedians, Rod Blagojevich is the grift that keeps on giving. 4 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @daveweigel
    daveweigel    Blago 2028! #comeback 27 minutes ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    @MidnoirCowboy
    Will Lee    As they cleared the room, she cried out and rushed into his arms. They both knew it would be, but not this bad. “What am I gonna do?” #blago 20 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @aliciac
    Alicia    Has anyone started a “Blago in jail” Twitter account yet? 18 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    Concerning that last tweet: I’m on it.

  • Rod Blagojevich Guilty, Twitter Reacts

    Rod Blagojevich Guilty, Twitter Reacts

    It looks like a jury was able to agree, this time, on whether or not Rod Blagojevich attempted to sell Barack Obama’s vacated Illinois Senate seat. The verdict, just rolling in, is guilty.

    This is the second crack that prosecutors have had to take down the former Governor. In the original trial, the jury was unable to reach a verdict and came back hung after two weeks of deliberation. In that case, Blagojevich was hit with 24 counts which ranged from wire fraud to extortion to bribe solicitation. The jury was only able to agree on one count – lying to the FBI.

    So prosecutors decided to go at him again, this time simplifying the charges. They did this by dropping some racketeering charges and leaving Blagojevich’s one time co-defendant, his brother, out of the whole thing.

    They also took only 3 weeks to present their case. The first trial took over a month and a half. According to the AP, they just streamlined the whole thing – called fewer witnesses and played shorter clips from the damning audio evidence from the FBI wiretaps. Basically, anything to make the decision for the jury less complicated.

    And at the retrial, Blag himself testified in his own defense. “When I hear myself saying that on tape, I’m an effin’ jerk, and I apologize,” he said on the stand.

    This time, Blago has been convicted of 17 of the 20 counts. The jury was unable to come to a verdict on 2 counts. He faces up to 350 years in prison.

    Blagojevich had turned himself into a somewhat unwanted celebrity after his removal from office. He made the talk show rounds immediately following his indictment, hitting The Late Show with David Letterman, The Daily Show and others. He tried to appear on the short-lived NBC reality show I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here, but the judge in his case wouldn’t let him leave the country to film it. His wife took his place on the show.

    He also appeared on the 9th season of Celebrity Apprentice. He didn’t last very long, as Trump fired him during the 4th aired episode.

    Blagojevich hasn’t always been an avid Twitter user, but he joined the network about a month or so ago. He then publicly announced that he would be live-tweeting his retrial. The judge in his trial quickly nipped that idea, as he banned Blago from using the social media client inside the courtroom.

    The Twitterverse is reacting to the breaking news, most of which are not too sympathetic to the ex-Governor –

    @ChicoDelainky
    ChicoDelainky    Gov. Rod Blagojevich was also found guilty of being an asshole.. 1 minute ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @JasonMRudolph
    JasonMRudolph    So, how do you think ol’ Rod Blagojevich is going to fare in federal prison? 3 minutes ago via UberSocial for BlackBerry · powered by @socialditto

    @MJR747
    Matthew Reynolds    F*ck you, Rod!!! YES!!! GUILTY!!! #Blagojevich 5 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

    @morninggloria
    Erin Gloria Ryan    In my mind, Rod Blagojevich is only guilty of providing me endless hours of entertainment. Goodnight, sweet Lego-haired prince. 1 minute ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @NicPal1
    Nicole M. Palin    Well Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich I guess you better get that vaseline a ready!!!!! 1 minute ago via TweetCaster for Android · powered by @socialditto

    Ol’ Rod still has some supporters out there, however –

    @Escobar079
    Naledge Escobar    Rod Blagojevich was the BEST GOVERNOR Illinois ever had. He cared for the people and slammed him because of that! 2 minutes ago via Twidroyd for Android · powered by @socialditto

    @electropopsicle
    Courtney Campbell    Damn… Rod Blagojevich guilty of 17 counts. Loved him on apprentice 10 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto