Second City Shows Up Beantown
Howie Carr on Chicago pols showing up Boston’s pikers. If you’re going down, go down big. Quick Blago roundup kicks off with Boston Herald:
We in Boston take such great pride in our municipal corruption, but we are mere pikers compared to this “crime spree,” as the U.S. attorney described it. Illinois’ big-time crooked governors trump our small-time crooked House speakers. Obama said he wanted to hit the ground running - who knew he was talking about scandals? And by the way, how can the Democrats call Patrick Fitzgerald a hack? How can they accuse this prosecutor of a political vendetta? This is the guy who convicted Scooter Libby.
Do you think U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald has job security in the new Democrat administration?
What a difference between Boston and Chicago. We have a state senator who stuffs cash into her bra; they have a governor putting a U.S. Senate seat out for bids.
In Chicago, it’s “pay to play.” In Boston, it’s “pay to Playtex.”
This guy Blagojevich - did you see him at the window factory in Chicago on Monday with the laid-off workers? Black turtleneck, black leather jacket. He looked like Joe Pesci as Tony “the Ant” Spilotro in “Casino.”
Memo to Gov. Blagojevich: Dress like the governor, not like the governor’s bagman.
This guy is an embarrassment. Forget Abe Lincoln rolling over in his grave - Sal DiMasi and John Rogers are stunned by his shocking lack of professionalism. This is so bad even Blago’s fellow Crook County Democrats kicked him to the curb like he was . . . a Republican.
Don’t make no waves, don’t back no losers. Those are the rules in Chicago, and Blago broke ’em.
I was in Chicago last month, and everyone was speculating how soon the governor would be indicted. Everybody knew, but Blagojevich just kept wheeling and dealing, with his office bugged, throwing out more f-bombs than Larry Baione when he was drunk with Ralphie Chong on North Margin Street. Blago wondered aloud whether he would have more juice as an indicted senator than as indicted governor. He schemed to have editorial writers fired from a dying newspaper that just went into bankruptcy.
Editorial writers!
Last question: Who will be the first con pardoned by President Obama? Too late to get in a bet in Vegas - that one’s off the board.
Meanwhile, NYT’s hard at work scrubbing Obama of any possible Chi-town stink: Obama’s Effort for Ethics Bill Had Role In Gov’s Fall.
In a sequence of events that neatly captures the contradictions of Barack Obama’s rise through Illinois politics, a phone call he made three months ago to urge passage of a state ethics bill indirectly contributed to the downfall of a fellow Democrat he twice supported, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich.
Mr. Obama placed the call to his political mentor, Emil Jones Jr., president of the Illinois Senate. Mr. Jones was a critic of the legislation, which sought to curb the influence of money in politics, as was Mr. Blagojevich, who had vetoed it. But after the call from Mr. Obama, the Senate overrode the veto, prompting the governor to press state contractors for campaign contributions before the law’s restrictions could take effect on Jan. 1, prosecutors say.
Tipped off to Mr. Blagojevich’s efforts, federal agents obtained wiretaps for his phones and eventually overheard what they say was scheming by the governor to profit from his appointment of a successor to the United States Senate seat being vacated by President-elect Obama. One official whose name has long been mentioned in Chicago political circles as a potential successor is Mr. Jones, a machine politician who was viewed as a roadblock to ethics reform but is friendly with Mr. Obama.
Beyond the irony of its outcome, Mr. Obama’s unusual decision to inject himself into a statewide issue during the height of his presidential campaign was a reminder that despite his historic ascendancy to the White House, he has never quite escaped the murky and insular world of Illinois politics. It is a world he has long navigated, to the consternation of his critics, by engaging in a kind of realpolitik, Chicago-style, which allowed him to draw strength from his relationships with important players without becoming compromised by their many weaknesses.
Yeah, well, it helped that the national press was so distinctly disinterested in that Rezko thing. NYT in the above linked article amanges to discuss the Obama-Rezko relationship and how he has distanced himself without bringing up that house thing. Here’s another NYT article on how everyone’s shocked, shocked by the allegations that Blago’s a foul-mouthed crook. Must be crazy, “not playing with a full deck anymore,” also touches on Rezko without bringing up you know who.
ABC’s Jake Tapper with some awkward questions and Obama-Blago history:
There are no allegations that President-elect Obama or anyone close to him had anything to do with any of the crimes Gov. Blagojevich is accused of having committed.
In fact, there are indications that Mr. Obama and his team refused to go along with the “pay to play” way Blagojevich is accused of operating, offering only “gratitude” if the governor appointed his friend Valerie Jarrett to take his U.S. Senate seat, much to the governor’s chagrin.
But there remain questions about how Blagojevich knew that Mr. Obama was not willing to give him anything in exchange for the Senate seat — with whom was Blagojevich speaking? Did that person report the governor to the authorities?
And, it should be pointed out, Mr. Obama has a relationship with Mr. Blagojevich, having not only endorsed Blagojevich in 2002 and 2006, but having served as a top adviser to the Illinois governor in his first 2002 run for the state house.
In the Democratic gubernatorial primary that year, then-state sen. Obama endorsed former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris. But after Blagojevich won, Obama came around enthusiastically. At the same time, meanwhile, Axelrod had such serious concerns about whether Blagojevich was ready for governing he refused to work for his one-time client.
According to Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., Mr. Obama’s incoming White House chief of staff, Emanuel, then-state senator Obama, a third Blagojevich aide, and Blagojevich’s campaign co-chair, David Wilhelm, were the top strategists of Blagojevich’s 2002 gubernatorial victory.
…
Axelrod had worked for Blagojevich in his past races for the House, but he declined to work on his gubernatorial run.
“He had been my client and I had a very good relationship with him, but I didn’t sign on to the governor’s race,” Axelrod told the New Yorker. “Obviously he won, but I had concerns about it…I was concerned about whether he was ready for that. Not so much for the race but for governing. I was concerned about some of the folks — I was concerned about how the race was being approached.”
On the Chicago TV show “Public Affairs with Jeff Berkowitz” on June 27, 2002, state Sen. Obama said, “Right now, my main focus is to make sure that we elect Rod Blagojevich as Governor, we…”
“You working hard for Rod?” interrupted Berkowitz.
“You betcha,” said Obama.
“Hot Rod?” asked the host.
“That’s exactly right,” Obama said.
Meanwhile, red-faced Illinois pols are moving fast to close the barn door, strip Blago of appointment power. Chicago Business.
Politico: Blago lawyer says his guy won’t go quietly.
Bloomberg on that fine Illinois political tradition: The Plea.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:53 am on Wednesday, December 10, 2008
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December 10th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Will Blagojevich spill ALL the beans, or will he get a pardon to keep him quiet? Interesting times ahead.