Rod Blagojevich

Well, great: 

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has called on U.S. Sen. Roland Burris to resign, CNN reports.

"I would ask my good friend Sen. Roland Burris .. to step aside and resign from the office," Quinn said during a press conference moments ago. 

He also said he supports a bill to fill U.S. Senate vacancies with a temporary appointee by the governor, followed by a special primary and general election. "There's just too much of a cloud of controversy over the appointment process," Quinn said.

Let's review the sequence of events that got us to this point. 

The Democratic Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich gets busted for trying to sell Barack Obama's Senate seat. The Democratic legislature vows to strip Blagojevich of his appointment power. Oh, wait, never mind. Then they dither on impeachment for more than a month. Meanwhile, Blagojevich calls their bluff and appoints Burris to the Senate seat. Harry Reid and Senate Democrats vow to block the appointment. Oh, wait, never mind. Because Burris promised them there was no quid pro quo, they seated him. Meanwhile the Democratic President from Chicago floats effortlessly above it all, virtually without comment. 

If there ever was an accountability moment that could be pinned to Democrats at both the state and Congressional level, this is it. But beyond the sheer comedy of it all, I don't hear the vaunted conservative echo chamber systematically trying to nail Michael Madigan and Harry Reid to the proverbial post for the fraud that was perpretrated against the people of Illinois and America.

Or maybe I'm missing something? 

Forget Mark Kirk.  Forget Pete Roskam.  Forget Mike Ditka.  Rick Santelli of CNBC is the best candidate we can possibly field for the Illinois Senate seat vacated by President Obama.

Here's Why.

Update: Apparently, KLo beat me to the punch.  I guess great minds think alike!

John McCain is back to his old mavericky ways, throwing the RNC under the bus for playing up Obama's Blagojevich ties. 

Without agreeing too much with Senator McCain, it's fair to say that any residual connections Obama may have with Gov. Blagojevich as a result of being an Illinois Senator are not the strongest part of our argument. I can understand the desire to go at Obama. But with Obama at 76% approval for the transition, our hits against him have to be clean hits, or they will blow up in our face. I find myself agreeing with Phil Singer that any attacks have to conform to existing public narratives of Obama. I don't think that Obama the corruptocrat is a particularly promising meme, but I do think that Obama as lethargic and passive (which was Obama's whole strength during the economic crisis because of McCain's erratic-ness) could have potential if, say, it was found that Obama's staff knew something shady was going on, and did not immediately report it to Patrick Fitzgerald.

Meanwhile, the GOP should be focused on the following:

1. Play the Special Election to the Hilt. Dick Durbin opened a door that Mark Kirk or Peter Roskam may well walk through. At a minimum, the DNC will be forced to spend  millions of dollars defending a hugely symbolic Senate seat in the middle of Obama's first 100 days. The desire for a clean break from the political establishment, which is probably even more noxious than it was in the Jindal/Cao victories in Louisiana, is a huge wildcard that leaves the door open for a clean Republican. Jesse Jackson, Jr. is probably toast at this point; Jan Schakowsky is a shrill liberal and not a good fit statewide; I don't have a read on how Lisa Madigan's antics are playing in-state but have a feeling that the Madigan family's good cop-bad cop routine on the special could hurt.
    
2. Tell a Story About Democratic Corruption. Let's use this opportunity to lay the groundwork for a narrative about the Democrats as a party. And let's not hesitate to separate Obama from Congressional Democrats, as this commenter suggested. This has long-term utility to the extent we can infuse the Obama-Congressional relationship with distrust and jealousy so they're at war with each other. Blagojevich, Jefferson, Rangel, and Dodd should be painted as part of a pattern. It took years of Republicans being in power for the Abramoff stuff to happen. These guys aren't even in yet, and just look.
    
3. Keep Up Calls for Transparency and Openness from the Obama Team. Adopt Soren's transparency agenda and hold Obama's feet to the fire on disclosing everything -- in a "trust but verify" kind of way. We need to find ways to turn Democratic screw ups into positive Republican alternatives that rebuild our trust with voters. While I think there has to be a nod to the reality that Obama was not directly involved in any of Blago's dealings, we need to be ready to call out any slippage or dissembling in the disclosure timeline. The transition has laudably posted documents from its meetings with outside interest groups. Will it do the same for its internal deliberations and its contacts with Blago and other prospective supplicants?

With Rod Blagojevich and Charlie Rangel in the news and under pressure from the media, now is the time for the House and Senate GOP caucuses to push a real transparency and ethics agenda. On January 6th, both Houses will meet and begin the work of passing rules. We need to have some specific proposals, and this is not something that I follow well. Furthermore, the GOP ought to shoot big here. Frankly, we aren't going to run Congress for a while, so let's max this out.

Imagine some proposals:

First, in both bodies, allow individuals to submit ethics complaints and require the various ethics committees to officially reject complaints.

Second, faster and more complete campaign finance proposals. All contributions down to $5, or even just all contributions, should be disclosed. Electronic contributions should be disclosed within 72 hours, and checks should be disclosed within 72 hours of deposit. These would be real-time disclosed on the FEC website. This would solve the problem that the Sunlight Foundation and others have tried to address with S. 223.

Third, put video of all publicly accessible business meetings online. I am sure that C-SPAN and Google would be happy to help. I know that many committees keep video of markups, but release neither the video nor transcripts.

Fourth, I am sure that there are things that are specific to disclosure of financial interests that we have learned out of the Rangel affair. Throw that in.

Only the second item needs to be implemented in law. If it got to Barack Obama's desk, he would have to sign it, and it would be embarassing.

The others can be the basis of a rules fight at the beginning of the session. Make these new Democrats who ran on ethics vote against transparency and for their leadership or against their leadership.

Furthermore, let's seperate Obama from the Demcratic Congress. Let's praise his transparency measures, like disclosing meetings of his transition teams, while smacking the Congressional majorities around.

This is a bit different than my usual post focusing on economics or political tactics. It's that time of the year to take stock of who we are, why we're here, and how do we live our lives.

Now it's easy to be depressed--we've lost an election, we've all lost tons of money the way the economy has been, and there are plenty of misguided socialists and defeatists just chomping at digging an even bigger hole for our society.  But we all have been given the gift of life, and no doubt, whatever fortune has taken away from us, we all still have many gifts most of the world would be envious of.

I've gotten this unusually philosophical after watching two TV programs last night: former CT Governor John Rowland on FNC's Huckabee  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huckabee and the perennial Christmas classic It's a Wonderful Life

Seeing Rowland was poignant---I had been deeply involved in his U.S. House campaigns in the 1980's and his first unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign in 1990. And we were sorta kindred spirits--brash young Reagan conservatives out to make a mark on the body politic.

Mike (who is an excellent host by the way) calmly asked Rowland to explain why he caused his political career to implode in ethical disgrace   http://ctlocalpolitics.net/2008/12/13/rowland-on-huckabee/ . John explained how he failed to be "grounded" and how his "vessel" had been empty and easily filled up by arrogance which was reinforced by a circle of yes men.

I will attest to the accuracy of John's account. The longer he stayed in politics the further he got from his geographic and ideological roots.  Instead of being in a circle of folks who had been with him through thick and thin, his inner circle evolved into people drawn from the permanent government of a state capitol. I'm sure John is not the first --nor the last--conservative Republican who stopped dancing with the folks who brought him to the dance.

And who might have had sufficient gumption to tell him the stuff he was doing--even if other politicians had gotten away with it--was going to make him look like a horse's ass even if the authorities didn;t come down on him.

But my kinda folks were mostly gone.   See, we're just not hip enough.  Gotta "play the game".  Rowland started his career at a pizza & beer joint; his major domo at the end used to own a French restaurant. 'Nuff said.  

Rowland now realizes belatedly that public service ought to be its own reward. Now, he is left suggesting to Governor Blago its time to stop the bleeding and step down.  Based on the Rowland experience, Rod would be well advised to follow this advice. It is going to end badly, so why extend the pain?

Rod Blagojevich evidently became Governor not to serve his state, but to serve himself. I can at least point to the reconstruction of UCONN as a positive, nonpartisan Rowland accomplishment. I fear all Blago has left in his wake is collateral damage to the people who put their trust in him. The difference may be that in Chicago politics, there's no period of disillusionment---the politicians on the way up are already arrogant self-dealers before attaining high office.

After seeing the Rowland interview, I saw It's a Wonderful Life on NBC.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It's_a_Wonderful_Life.  Our political leaders might do well to emulate George Bailey---not John Rowland or Rod Blagojevich.

George Bailey is confronted on Christmas eve with a sudden ruinous financial disaster. We see how throughout his life George Bailey had the opportunity to seek fame, fortune and glamour, yet at every instance chose the path of responsibilty and duty. Now, having made the self-sacrifice to his family and community, he sees himself on the brink of personal ruin.

Thanks to the angel Clarence, George Bailey sees that whatever he has given up personally, his choices--based on a vision of personal integrity--have greatly enriched his friends and neighbors and prevented them from being exploited by the powerful and unethical. At the end he realizes his sacrifices have not been for naught, and he did have a "Wonderful Life".

My Christmas wish is that our political leaders of both parties and all ideological persuasions think about what is really a "Wonderful Life". It's not about how much cash you can cram into your pockets, how much power you can wield over others, or how much glamour and acclaim one can get from the media.

Now I'm not advocating being a chump, a do-gooder or a pushover (that's not Ironman, now is it?) but a "Wonderful Life" is doing the right thing whether it directly rewards you or not. Don't go along . get along. Take a stand and deal with the consequences.  Lose an election before you lose your conscience. Don't sell out your friends. Look at the long term and the big picture, not what is going to get you the fleeting applause of people who like you as long as you are popular. Cause you're not going to be popular forever.

And for politicians, in a crass sense, don't do the same crap you'd barbecue your opponent for doing. 

John Rowland came to this realization too late. Rod Blagojevich isn't there yet . And the rest of the political class in America better figure it out before we find white collar prisons are the nation's biggest growth industry.      

Remember when Rahm Emanuel was such a tough guy

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/8091986/the_enforcer/

Rep. Rahm Emanuel is leading the Democratic charge to retake the House next year. Will his old-school combativeness rub off on his more timid colleagues?....

"He's got this big old pair of brass balls, and you can just hear 'em clanking when he walks down the halls of Congress," says Paul Begala, who served with Emanuel on Clinton's staff. "The Democratic Party is full of Rhodes scholars — Rahm is a road warrior. He's just what the Democrats need to fight back."

Friends and enemies agree that the key to Emanuel's success is his legendary intensity. There's the story about the time he sent a rotting fish to a pollster who had angered him. .........And there's the story of how, the night after Clinton was elected, Emanuel was so angry at the president's enemies that he stood up at a celebratory dinner with colleagues from the campaign, grabbed a steak knife and began rattling off a list of betrayers, shouting "Dead! . . . Dead! . . . Dead!" and plunging the knife into the table after every name. "When he was done, the table looked like a lunar landscape," one campaign veteran recalls. "It was like something out of The Godfather. But that's Rahm for you."

well, he isn;t now.

http://michellemalkin.com/2008/12/12/rahm-a-drama-beet-red-and-pissed-with-the-msm/

ABC News says he’s “beet red” and “pissed” that he can’t go anywhere without someone asking question about his role in Blago-gate.

Oh, booo, freakin hoo

You know Rahm, you did a great job in '06 of targeting all the various reprobates in the Republican House caucus and making sure even the ones in safe districts had credible opponents. And one by one you picked them all off, the Curt Weldons, the John Sweeneys...it got to the point I e-mailed one editor here on the point , citing Queen....Another One Bites the Dust    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Another_One_Bites_the_Dust for Emanuel's strategy

Including one Mark Foley. And Emanuel is alleged to have scammed people about getting the goods on Foley http://www.memeorandum.com/061210/p37#a061210p37   as well as knowing his opponent was equally slimy http://www.thenextright.com/ironman/most-ethical-congress-ever. And don;t underestimate the damage the Foley flap had even in Blue States--GOP incumbent numbers that week went down a mineshaft.

So . Rahm, you've lived by the sword. Doesn't feel very nice coming back at ya, now does it? 

You also know, being a snitch like Whitey Bulger  doesn't get you a lot of respect either from cops or robbers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_J._Bulger

This is the life you chose to lead, Rahm. Hope you are enjoying it. 

By the way, where's that pair you are supposed to have?

Speculations abounds (espcially from lefties trolling here) on who dropped the dime to Fitzy causing Blago to get pinched this week.

The initial rumors were Rahm Emanuel. Which he now denies  http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/12/10/rahm/index.html?source=rss&aim=/politics/war_room

It does make sense, though. The question is: who in Illinois Democratic politics would benefit from having both Blago and a host of U.S. Senate aspirants nuked at the same time?

Answer: Someone who would be left standing as the last power in the state.

Think how Boston crime boss Whitey Bulger http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_J._Bulger did business---flipping on members of the New England Mafia to the FBI primarily so his competition was sent to prison. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_J._Bulger#FBI_informant http://www.thebrothersbulger.com/

 Someone on the inside in Illinois Democrat politics is going to benefit from all this misfortune by taking over the ruins.  I could easily see Rahm running Illinois while serving as Obama's COS.

But if it isn't him (and he may not want to be candid, now would he?)  , then who is it?

We'd best figure this out, cause this guy is: a)sneaky,  b) smart and: c) ruthless. We're having enough trouble in Ill. already.

(hmm: maybe it's the same guy who leaked Blair Hull and Jack Ryan's divorce dirt to the papers?)  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_election_in_Illinois,_2004

One final note; Sam Zell says he will be talking to the Feds about the Wrigley Field "squeeze play" http://blogs.courant.com/stan_simpson/2008/12/sam-zell-to-talk-to-fbi.html

Methinks that if Illinois Republicans have any functioning cortexes left  they will tell Mr. Zell to pay for his own damm ballpark. No need to fire any columnists, either.

Now it's very interesting to focus on Governor Blago's new way to fill U.S. Senate vacancies--the private auction--but let's remember there was an even bigger shakedown going on.

The owner of the Chicago Tribune is trying to sell the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field. And like any good team owner, he would like the taxpayers to give him stuff or help him lessen his tax burden on the deal. So far, no different than George W. Bush, George Steinbrenner, Jerry Jones or the rest of the sports industry looking for goodies.

But when a team owner owns a newspaper and seeks favors from politicians, a lot of ethical lines get crossed very quickly. See, Blago evidently told Sam Zell the price of public cooperation was the firing of the Tribune's editorial board.

The authority on sports subsidies---Field of Schemes-- had this take on the Blago/Zell "squeeze play"   

Illinois gov sought to trade stadium aid for editorial spin

In case you somehow haven't heard, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been arrested and charged with a bunch of mean, nasty, ugly things, including trying to sell Barack Obama's former U.S. Senate seat in exchange for high-paid jobs for himself and his wife. It's another item of Blagojevich's rap sheet that makes this newsworthy here, though: The governor is reported to have threatened to withhold his support for the Tribune Corp.'s proposal to sell Wrigley Field to the state unless the Chicago Tribune fired members of its editorial board that had been critical of the governor; according to one report, Blagojevich's actual words to his chief of staff were: "our recommendation is fire all those [expletive] people, get 'em the [expletive] out of there and get us some editorial support."

The Wrigley sale, you'll recall, would have cost local governments as much as $50 million in lost property taxes, plus perhaps $80 million in subsidies for tax-exempt bonds, most of which would have come out of the federal treasury. A November phone call intercepted by investigators now reveals that chief of staff John Harris told the governor the Cubs would be looking to save $100 million in capital gains tax as well, bringing the total public cost to in excess of $200 million.

Though you have to hand it to Blagojevich in one way: At least, unlike most governors, he asked for something in exchange for a stadium deal.

http://www.fieldofschemes.com/news/archives/2008/12/illinois_gov_so.html

Can't say I like this bailout any more than the bank or auto bailouts. Last time I checked, stadiums and MLB franchises were still pretty valuable, and as we saw in the '94 baseball strike, the nation survived without the game until folks got their heads on straight.

Colin McEnroe, a lefty columnist for the Hartford Courant ,may not be pulling a check much longer from the Trib Corp. after this broadside, which I--much to my shock considering the author-- find myself in total agreement with. 

Among the most disturing allegations are the charges that Blago offered to trade government support for the Tribune's sale of the Cubs and Wrigley Field -- a complex maneuver to save the Trib a lot of capital gains taxes -- in return for which Blago demanded that his detractors on the Chicago Tribune editorial page be fired.  And now we come to the sad part. According to the federal indictment, the person representing the Trib side of the deal did not tell Blago's people to go bleep themselves.  Far from it: 

Harris told Blagojevich that according to Tribune Financial Advisor, there would be "certain corporate reorganizations and budget cuts coming and, reading between the lines, he's going after that section."

Blagojevich allegedly responded: "Oh. That's fantastic."

After further discussion, Blagojevich said, "Wow. Okay, keep our fingers crossed. You're the man. Good job, John."

In a further conversation on Nov. 21, Harris told Blagojevich that he had singled out to Tribune Financial Advisor the Tribune's deputy editorial page editor, John McCormick, "as somebody who was the most biased and unfair," according to the complaint.

After hearing that Tribune Financial Advisor had assured Harris that the Tribune would be making changes affecting the editorial board, Blagojevich allegedly had a series of conversations with Chicago Cubs representatives regarding efforts to provide state financing for Wrigley Field.

Now we know what "the perfect storm" is.  The perfect storm is filing for bankruptcy on Monday and, on Tuesday, having the most famous federal prosecutor in America claim that someone high up in your organization was willing to discuss swapping out journalistic integrity for $100 million in tax breaks.  

http://blogs.courant.com/colin_mcenroe_to_wit/2008/12/blago-would-like-to-draw-your.html

 I noted that the Tribune Company filed bankruptcy on Monday http://www.thenextright.com/ironman/major-newspapers-have-gone-to-zell just hours before Blago got pinched in front of his house. I don;t think this was at all coincidental, as it is quite possible Blago's political demise is going to cost Sam Zell a lot of money.

But maybe it won;t. If the Trib's paid Blago any bribes in the past 90 days, the U.S. Trustee can set it aside as a preferential transfer (snark alert)! . In the meantime, it might be interesting to ascertain if Mr. Zell or his minions were willing to provide a bribe to Blago to get their stadium money?

You know, in the battle between a MSM mogul and a corrupt Democratic politician I've left with a quandary. What can I root for besides injuries?

The fallout from Governor Blago's effort to turn the Illinois senate vacancy into a mashup of an  E Bay auction and  Richard Daley, Sr. political tactics will be a gift that keeps giving.

For one thing, virtually  the entire senior management of the Illinois Democratic party now must be suspected of having offered unethical rewards to seek appointment to the Senate, or conversely, were solicited for bribes and declined to report the illicit conduct.     

Perhaps the most ambitious was ultra left wing Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Schakowsky , who made clear in April she was interested in the seat.  

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BY ABDON M. PALLASCH Political Reporter apallasch@suntimes.com

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Rep. Jan Schakowsky has made what appears to be the most explicit pitch yet to be appointed senator if Barack Obama is elected president.

Such an appointment would be at least seven months away and would be made by Gov. Blagojevich.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/880337,CST-NWS-senate06.article

Actually, Blago might have had a warm spot in his heart for this woman. Her husband, after all, spent time in federal prison  http://cbs2chicago.com/seenon/Robert.Creamer.Jan.2.326652.html

The husband of an Illinois congresswoman was sentenced to five months in federal prison Wednesday for writing rubber checks and failing to pay withholding taxes.

Robert Creamer, 58, husband of U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., also was ordered to serve house arrest for 11 months after he finishes his prison term.......
 

Creamer pleaded guilty to failing to pay withholding taxes and bank fraud involving check kiting -- writing checks on accounts without sufficient funds to cover them while moving money between accounts and playing the so-called float to prevent the checks from bouncing.......
 

The money was used to keep Creamer's group -- Illinois Public Action -- in business without any cutback in its programs. That included Creamer's $100,000 annual salary, prosecutors said......
 

Schakowsky got her political start helping advance her husband's social agenda as a member of IPCA and later, Citizen Action. She served on the board at the time the crimes occurred. She was never charged

Illinois Citizens Action is a 501 (c) (4) nonprofit group http://www.citizenaction-il.org/about_us.htm. ( It appears to be the successor in interest to Creamer's old group http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=7284;  http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6729 )This will be more important as one reads on.

Creamer's other major endeavors--besides bank fraud-- include frequent columns in the Huffington Post where he takes a neosocialist world view, and running a political consulting firm  Strategic Consulting Group http://www.stratcongroup.com/. These guys were last seen in my part of CT back in '02 doing the old ACORN routine of registering voters who listed vacant lots as their home address. Of course ACORN is a client of SCG http://www.stratcongroup.com/clients.php as is the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) whose president, Andy Stern, gushed about Creamer's latest magnum opus on political activism Stand Up Straight http://www.stratcongroup.com/publication/testimonials.php, as did Obama's major domo , David Axelrod. 

(SEIU is all about universal health care, immigrant rights, and card check. http://www.seiu.org/political/congress/. as are their allies--Citizens Action Illinois)

Now, didn't we hear something about Andy Stern and SEIU from U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald this morning?

Michelle Malkin points out that an "SEIU official" is cited  in this morning's missive from the USA's office http://michellemalkin.com/2008/12/09/look-for-the-union-label-whos-the-seiu-official-who-talked-with-blago/ Malkin surmises that Stern was running interference for Valerie Jarrett, Obama;s transition director.  But why?

The tenor of the conversation between Blago and our union hack concerned setting up a "501 C-4' organization to hire Blago in exchange for the appointment to the Senate."

I said go back to [Senate Candidate 1], and, and say hey, look, if you still want to be a Senator don’t rule this out and then broach the idea of this 501(c)(4) with her.”"

Only one prospective Senate candidate has a spouse familiar with setting up 501 c type organizations and willing to break the law to promote their goals.

 And I strongly suspect she is "Senate Candidate #1" until proven otherwise. Who else would this union be so inclined to go to the mattresses for?

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Podcast Show Notes 

Rod Blagojevich tries to sell a Senate seat, intimidate a children's hospital, and the Chicago Tribune.

Blagojevich as delusional sociopath pondered appoint himself to the Senate to set himself up for a presidential run in 2016.

Blagojevich disses the President-elect.

Is the President-elect trying to downplay his relationship to Governor Blagojevich?

The President-elect does not call for Blagojevich to step down.

Will Obama cover-up or will he re-appoint Patrick Fitzgerald.

Guess that party?

Plus beyond Blagojevich, Senate Candidate #5.

Rangel investigation expands.

Larry Craig appeal fails.

National Association of Evangelicals President affirms group's pro-life committment.

Scotland votes against legalizing Assisted suicide.

Urugay's President resigns over his party becoming pro-abortion.

Click here to listen, click here to download.