Taking a cue from Saddam Hussein who surrounded himself with innocent civilians when under attack, Rod Blagojevich has added a new touch, playing the race card by appointing an African-American to fill Barack Obama's Senate seat and daring Democrats to reject his pick and try to bomb him out of the governor's chair.
Blagojevich, who has a lock on the Shameless Person of the Year Award, is in Hall of Fame territory here by appointing Roland Burris, a 71-year-old non-Caucasian who has served as Illinois state comptroller and attorney general.
But as the Governor celebrates his new coup, someone should remind him that the tactic did not work out too well for Saddam (see Baghdad, fallen statue). Senate Democrats have made it clear they won't seat Blagojevich's choice, Patrick Fitzgerald is getting ready to release some of the juicier taped phone calls and the Illinois legislature is on track with impeachment proceedings.
Happy New Year, Governor, it's all downhill from here.
Showing posts with label Obama Senate seat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Obama Senate seat. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Patrick Fitzgerald's Problem
He is right out of a Frank Capra movie--a clean-cut crime fighter who lives to bring down the bad guys--but in the current Illinois Senate seat mess, Patrick Fitzgerald had to make a hard choice that could eventually let Rod Blagojevich off the hook: Should he try to stop the crime before it happens or nail the wrongdoer but only after the damage has been done?
The results of his decision to go public prematurely can be seen in a New York Times analysis under the headline, "In Blagojevich Case, Is it a Crime, or Just Talk?" that explores the fine line between political wheeling-dealing and a prosecutable crime:
"Mr. Fitzgerald’s decision to bypass a grand jury initially could signal a belief on his part that he did not yet have a fully prosecutable case on his hand, though it appears to have been prompted at least in part by the publication...of an article that tipped off Mr. Blagojevich that investigators were listening in on his conversations.
"Mr. Fitzgerald has also said he had been worried that if he did not intervene, Mr. Blagojevich might go ahead with some of his schemes, including appointing a successor to Mr. Obama."
Just so. If Fitzgerald had waited to catch Blagojevich with a smoking gun, he would have had an airtight case, but the US Senate would have had a replacement for Obama who, directly or indirectly, had bribed his or her way there.
The US Attorney's decision to prevent the crime has been drawing the fire of prosecutorial purists such as Victoria Toensing complaining in the Wall Street Journal that "he is not permitted to make the kind of inflammatory statements Mr. Fitzgerald made during his media appearance."
In an ideal world, she is right but the bottom line is that, in 21st century real life rather than a Frank Capra movie, most onlookers may readily forgive Patrick Fitzgerald for not playing a Boy Scout in the Blagojevich bad movie.
The results of his decision to go public prematurely can be seen in a New York Times analysis under the headline, "In Blagojevich Case, Is it a Crime, or Just Talk?" that explores the fine line between political wheeling-dealing and a prosecutable crime:
"Mr. Fitzgerald’s decision to bypass a grand jury initially could signal a belief on his part that he did not yet have a fully prosecutable case on his hand, though it appears to have been prompted at least in part by the publication...of an article that tipped off Mr. Blagojevich that investigators were listening in on his conversations.
"Mr. Fitzgerald has also said he had been worried that if he did not intervene, Mr. Blagojevich might go ahead with some of his schemes, including appointing a successor to Mr. Obama."
Just so. If Fitzgerald had waited to catch Blagojevich with a smoking gun, he would have had an airtight case, but the US Senate would have had a replacement for Obama who, directly or indirectly, had bribed his or her way there.
The US Attorney's decision to prevent the crime has been drawing the fire of prosecutorial purists such as Victoria Toensing complaining in the Wall Street Journal that "he is not permitted to make the kind of inflammatory statements Mr. Fitzgerald made during his media appearance."
In an ideal world, she is right but the bottom line is that, in 21st century real life rather than a Frank Capra movie, most onlookers may readily forgive Patrick Fitzgerald for not playing a Boy Scout in the Blagojevich bad movie.
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Selling Obama's Senate Seat
The prosecutor who took out Scooter Libby is flummoxed today by the antics of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich in trying to auction off Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat.
"The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering," US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald says in a statement. "They allege that Blagojevich put a 'for sale' sign on the naming of a United States Senator; involved himself personally in pay-to-play schemes with the urgency of a salesman meeting his annual sales target; and corruptly used his office in an effort to trample editorial voices of criticism."
Someone who spent months in the muck of Libby's, Dick Cheney's and Karl Rove's campaign to discredit Joe Wilson by outing his wife Valerie Plame should not be easily shocked by political arrogance, but Fitzgerald is shaking his head over allegations that the Illinois governor tried to sell Obama's seat in return for:
(1) a high-paying non-profit job for himself and (2) putting his wife on corporate boards for as much as $150,000 a year and (3) promises of campaign funds in cash and (4) a Cabinet job or ambassadorship.
If even half of the charges are true, he should be indicted for breaking all records for greed and stupidity in the state that houses the Chicago Political Corruption Hall of Fame. And, if he goes down, unlike Libby, Blagojevich won't be able to count on a presidential pardon.
"The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering," US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald says in a statement. "They allege that Blagojevich put a 'for sale' sign on the naming of a United States Senator; involved himself personally in pay-to-play schemes with the urgency of a salesman meeting his annual sales target; and corruptly used his office in an effort to trample editorial voices of criticism."
Someone who spent months in the muck of Libby's, Dick Cheney's and Karl Rove's campaign to discredit Joe Wilson by outing his wife Valerie Plame should not be easily shocked by political arrogance, but Fitzgerald is shaking his head over allegations that the Illinois governor tried to sell Obama's seat in return for:
(1) a high-paying non-profit job for himself and (2) putting his wife on corporate boards for as much as $150,000 a year and (3) promises of campaign funds in cash and (4) a Cabinet job or ambassadorship.
If even half of the charges are true, he should be indicted for breaking all records for greed and stupidity in the state that houses the Chicago Political Corruption Hall of Fame. And, if he goes down, unlike Libby, Blagojevich won't be able to count on a presidential pardon.
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