CHICAGO (CBS) ― Full release from U.S. Attorney’s Office:
Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich and his Chief of Staff, John Harris, were arrested today by FBI agents on federal corruption charges alleging that they and others are engaging in ongoing criminal activity: conspiring to obtain personal financial benefits for Blagojevich by leveraging his sole authority to appoint a United States Senator; threatening to withhold substantial state assistance to the Tribune Company in connection with the sale of Wrigley Field to induce the firing of Chicago Tribune editorial board members sharply critical of Blagojevich; and to obtain campaign contributions in exchange for official actions – both historically and now in a push before a new state ethics law takes effect January 1, 2009.
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich wanted President-elect Barack Obama “to put something together…something big” in exchange for going along with Obama’s choice to fill his vacant US Senate seat, according to an FBI affidavit unsealed following the Governor’s stunning arrest.
“I’ve got this thing and it’s f***ing golden, and, uh, uh, I’m just not giving it up for f***in’ nothing. I’m not gonna do it. And I can always use it. I can parachute me there,” Blagojevich said in a phone call secretly recorded by the FBI on November 5, the day after the election, according to the affidavit.
Anyone that reads my blogs knows, I LOVE a feel good story, and THIS is a feel good story if ever there was one!
I don’t care WHAT political party they belong to, Dem, Repub, Libertarian, Indy, makes NO difference to me, I HATE crooked politicos! There is nothing that makes me ANY happier than to see a crooked official get arrested. I am elated when they have their feet held to the fire. And if we’re so lucky as to see them actually go to prison, well, that is a great day for American government!
Prison — ooooooo, that’s such a nice word when you connect it to bent politicians.
BZ
Yes, and Blago and Obama have some good, shared friends. Like Rezko and Frawley… amazing what people don’t want to report on these days. Like that swindle that was pulled off in Iraq by good friends of both these guys… which was the five or six month period that Obama *wasn’t* against the war. Then there was the bagman for Nadhmi Auchi, Chris Kelly who helped to distribute the billionaire’s funds to politicos in Chitown…
Its amazing you just keep on coming up with the same circle of miscreants: Auchi successfully prosecuted for fraud, Rezko a felon, and Alsammarae a wanted fugitive in Iraq. Each of them tied both to Obama and Blagojevich.
Its Fitzmas time… lets see if he has the guts to really start going after the presents.
Kinda O.T.; but is that Obamas game face, or is that the face of a pr1ck in an unguarded moment?
Chicago politicians have quite a legacy of corruption. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. It really does make one wonder about Obama, especially considering all of the less than honorable connections we already know about.
12 10 08
The honeymoon is over for me and although I am glad that a Black man is President, I have disagreed with just about 95% of everything Obama has said up to this point. I wonder how he has been able to avoid scandal yet always be on the periphery of it. Whoever is backing him is a genius. I heard someone characterize Reagan as Teflon coated, Obama seems similarly coated because of all these scandals he has somehow exonerated himself. Now that is slick. How does he do it?
Mahndisa-
The news media are running more cover for him than they did for Bill Clinton. They’ll keep protecting him until they figure out that he’s not what they thouht they got.