Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich Arrested

[xammer99]

Now this is amusing if true.

By Chuck Goudie

The ABC7 I-Team has learned that an attorney who went undercover for the FBI in the late 1980's says he told federal authorities years ago about wrongdoing by Blagojevich.

His name is Robert Cooley.

Cooley was a criminal defense lawyer in Chicago in the late 1980's who became one of the most potent witnesses against Chicago corruption, testifying for federal prosecutors in cases that resulted in dozens of convictions.

Cooley says that before Rod Blagojevich got into politics he was a bookmaker on the North Side who regularly paid the Chicago mob to operate.
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"When I was working with government wearing wire, I reported, I observed Rod, the present governor, who was running a gambling operation out in the western suburbs. He was paying street tax to the mob out there," said Robert Cooley, federal informant.

On a web-based interview show last week, Cooley said he reported to federal authorities nearly two decades ago that Rod Blagojevich had been operating an illegal sports gambling business.

Robert Cooley is a former Chicago police officer-turned mob lawyer-turned federal informant.

During Operation Gambat in the late 1980's and early 1990's, Cooley's undercover work and testimony put away 24 crooked politicians, judges, lawyers and cops.

Several years ago, when Mr. Blagojevich was running for re-election, Cooley provided the same information to the ABC7 I-Team. Because Cooley did not want to be identified at the time and the governor denied it, ABC7 did not report the story.

On Tuesday, Cooley spoke on the record.

He told ABC7 that Mr. Blagojevich regularly paid a so-called street tax to Robert "Bobby the Boxer" Abbinanti, a convicted outfit gambling collector. In the early 1980's, Abbinanti was working for convicted West Side mob boss Marco D'amico. Bookies pay street taxes to the crime syndicate in exchange for being allowed to operate such a racket.

"I predicted five years ago when he ran the first time that he was a hands on person who would be selling every position in the state of Illinois and that it exactly what happened," said Cooley.

Cooley, who secretly recorded conversations in a Counselor's Row restaurant near City Hall which brought down the first ward leadership, contends Illinois corruption is unstoppable.

"The biggest problem you have now and reason for what is happening is that the people in power have money and ability to silence the media so it will never be reported and as long as you have that going on, you will never stop it," Cooley.

A spokesman for Governor Blagojevich said on Tuesday evening that he cannot comment on Cooley, the bookmaking allegation or the mob payoffs.

He referred us to the governor's criminal defense lawyer Ed Genson. Mr. Genson says he is too busy right now to talk.

A spokesman for the United States attorney in Chicago said that his office will have no comment.

Regarding the plowing. You aren't payin nearly so insane taxes either.

[Broomstick]

a. The Committee is, shockingly stalled already on impeachment. The Dems REALLY want him to resign and not be thrown out.

Not sure what the deal is. Unless they fear him pulling skeletons out on other Chicago Dems which might be a big possibility. Being Illinois the skeletons probably number in the hundreds.

Nope, not skeletons - let's face it, if Blago resigns he can still sing like canary afterwards.

1) Blago resigning is quicker (and cheaper) than impeachment.
2) Blago resigning is more certain than impeachment.
3) Blago resigning makes Quinn governor automatically. Which means he is then allowed to appoint someone to Obama's former senate seat (Quinns'/Dem's current favorite is believed to be Lisa Madigan). If they take the time to impeach the delay means the Illinois Republicans might succeed in forcing a special election which is the only way you'll get a republican into that seat prior to the next election cycle.

[Broomstick]

Regarding the plowing. You aren't payin nearly so insane taxes either.

We also don't have nearly the services you do.

For example, my street has no streetlights.

I have no access to municipal water and sewer services, which is why I depend on a well and a septic system.

I do not have city-provided garbage pickup - my landlord has to pay a private company to haul our garbage away. You can tell who doesn't pay for this service around here because either their shit piles up (until some authorities fines them) or you see them hauling a truckload away themselves.

We have NEVER had the level of plowing/salting you do.

And so on.... we have lower taxes, but we get much less stuff. I agree, your taxes are too high for what you do get, but the point is that there is such a disparity in government-provided services between Chicago and Lake County, Indiana that a valid comparison is difficult to impossible.

Keep in mind, too, that we also have a corrupt political system here and we've had 8 or 9 municipal officers (mayors, town councilmen, etc.) go to jail just this year. I think in this area they tend to depend on outright bribery rather than skimming taxes but I'm not sure as I keep my distance from that sort of bullshit.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Back east is so weird for me. When I grew up I lived in basically a log cabin at the end of an 8 mile long dead-end road, three and a half miles up a state highway from the nearest small town...

.. And the county collected our garbage once a week. My first introduction to this was last year, in summer of 2007 in Georgia where Amy took the trash to a local collection station in her car. I was flabbergasted and never quite got over it--to me, coming from Washington State, that was something straight out of the Third World. It seemed like the ultimate example of how much of a shithole Georgia is, and to hear it's done that way in Indiana too is just really shocking to me. Universal bus service and universal garbage collection are two things that I just couldn't help but do a doubletake about the lack of back east.

[Broomstick]

Back east is so weird for me. When I grew up I lived in basically a log cabin at the end of an 8 mile long dead-end road, three and a half miles up a state highway from the nearest small town...

.. And the county collected our garbage once a week. My first introduction to this was last year, in summer of 2007 in Georgia where Amy took the trash to a local collection station in her car. I was flabbergasted and never quite got over it--to me, coming from Washington State, that was something straight out of the Third World. It seemed like the ultimate example of how much of a shithole Georgia is, and to hear it's done that way in Indiana too is just really shocking to me. Universal bus service and universal garbage collection are two things that I just couldn't help but do a doubletake about the lack of back east.

I wouldn't assume it's that way everywhere in Indiana, dear - technically, I live in "unincorporated" Lake County (I don't really want to get into the complex bullshit involving taxes and municipalities here, suffice to say where I live is claimed by multiple cities/towns for taxes but none want to give us jackshit). Various cities and towns do have government-provided trash pickup, I just don't happen to live in one. I'm right on the border of rural America, remember, and farmers have long taken care of their own garbage.

Likewise with bus service - Hammond, Indiana does provide free bus service within the city limits. Gary, Indiana has a bus service you have to pay for. There is a private service that provides transportation from my area to both Midway and O'Hare. I do find it interesting that several solutions to the same problems seem to exist side by side around here

[xammer99]

1. Lake County... Cook County without all the redeaming factors. Like entertaining corruption.

2. Yes, Lake doesn't have all the services or they are provided privately, but the advantage of private ones is you have to make it run based on the area's revenues. So you pay for what you get. In Chicagoland, people from Carbondale, Cairo, and Metropolis at the south end are payin for the inability of the CTA to function with even a veneer of efficiency.

3. Regarding general public services v. private services. I've lived in places that do'em different ways and all things considered, I like a happy medium. The city pickup for trash was generally lower quality service (they wouldn't go around back, if something was slightly outside of specific dimensions they'd leave it, and assorted other random nitpick things that were minor). Same goes for public transportation. The CTA has so totally wrecked itself that it requires money from people across the state to kick in cash to keep it afloat with no requirements that it fix the problems that cause it to bleed. There is no incentive for it to be efficient because they know they'll get the money they need from the state. So despite fees goin up, service goes WAY down.

However, things like roads, I'll stick with public money because it is so easy to stick another toll booth up ever few miles and jack up the rates quickly and easily and there is no way around it unless you have the public transportation system side by side with it.

So do a mix because there is no 1 solution for it all and give folks an alternative.

[xammer99]

Oh, and one other thing in this same line of thought.... Daley needs a kick in the johnson for selling off the city's freakin Parking meters for a billion or so. Are you kidding me? That is MAMMOTH long term revenues, but because he has so many folks to pay off he can't cut services/entitlements, so he ditches one of the bigger revenue sources for the city?

Yeesh. Talk about short term thinking. And this is like a 75 YEAR sale too.

[Broomstick]

1. Lake County... Cook County without all the redeaming factors. Like entertaining corruption.

Oh, our corruption can be quite amusing - like Keystone Kops.

2. Yes, Lake doesn't have all the services or they are provided privately, but the advantage of private ones is you have to make it run based on the area's revenues. So you pay for what you get. In Chicagoland, people from Carbondale, Cairo, and Metropolis at the south end are payin for the inability of the CTA to function with even a veneer of efficiency.

I have been hearing that bitch about the CTA for over 25 years. You THINK the CTA is bad, and yes, it does have flaws, but it is light years ahead of mass transit in many other areas. I used the CTA to get to work every day for nearly 25 years and it was efficient enough that I was very seldom late to work.

3. Regarding general public services v. private services. I've lived in places that do'em different ways and all things considered, I like a happy medium. The city pickup for trash was generally lower quality service (they wouldn't go around back, if something was slightly outside of specific dimensions they'd leave it, and assorted other random nitpick things that were minor).

The exact same thing applies to PRIVATE trash pickup - the service I have will pick up nothing outside of their dumpster. Nada. Which was a problem with a neighbor who, for awhile, couldn't be bothered to place her trash IN the dumpster but piled it next to it. Then bitched it wasn't picked up.

Same goes for public transportation. The CTA has so totally wrecked itself that it requires money from people across the state to kick in cash to keep it afloat with no requirements that it fix the problems that cause it to bleed. There is no incentive for it to be efficient because they know they'll get the money they need from the state. So despite fees goin up, service goes WAY down.

You are displaying ignorance of the history of public transportation in Chicago. Originally, public transport was largely private. The government took over because every single private provider when bankrupt. Since its inception both the CTA and RTA have always had a subsidy from the state general funds. Always. If it was possible to break even, much less make a profit, there would still be private rail and bus service and not solely public.

One of the roles of government is to provide services that are of benefit to society that are not profitable, like public transportation in dense urban areas.

However, things like roads, I'll stick with public money because it is so easy to stick another toll booth up ever few miles and jack up the rates quickly and easily and there is no way around it unless you have the public transportation system side by side with it.

Excuse me? How old are you? Because you seem rather ignorant of certain aspects of reality. Public roads in the US do not have tollbooths. Tollboths are found on private roads.

And your attitude of "jack the rates up" is appalling given the amount of corruption in the Illinois Toll Authority. You think they aren't bleeding money, too?

So do a mix because there is no 1 solution for it all and give folks an alternative.

Well, at least we agree on that.

Oh, and one other thing in this same line of thought.... Daley needs a kick in the johnson for selling off the city's freakin Parking meters for a billion or so. Are you kidding me? That is MAMMOTH long term revenues, but because he has so many folks to pay off he can't cut services/entitlements, so he ditches one of the bigger revenue sources for the city?

Yeesh. Talk about short term thinking. And this is like a 75 YEAR sale too.

It was a 75 year LEASE you idiot, not a sale. Please, some fact checking before posting.

[Broomstick]

Borderline necro, but here's an image of an Illinois furniture store ad:

[The Yosemite Bear]

that's as good as the pizza place that used the LAPD chief's picture right after the riots...

[Patrick Degan]

And the lead-off story on the WGN noon news today: the Special Committee has come back with a recommendation of impeachment against Blagojevich. The matter will now pass on to the full legislature.

[Executor32]

Since it hasn't been posted yet:

Illinois House Impeaches Governor

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: January 9, 2009
Filed at 9:44 p.m. ET

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- Gov. Rod Blagojevich was impeached Friday by Illinois lawmakers furious that he turned state government into a ''freak show,'' setting the stage for an unprecedented trial in the state Senate that could get him thrown out of office. The 114-1 vote in the Illinois House came exactly a month after Blagojevich's arrest on charges that included trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat. The debate took less than 90 minutes, and not a single legislator rose in defense of the governor, who was jogging in the snow in Chicago.

Later, a defiant Blagojevich insisted again that he committed no crime, and declared: ''I'm going to fight every step of the way.'' He portrayed himself as a victim of political payback by the House for his efforts to extend health care and other relief to the ordinary people of Illinois.

''The causes of the impeachment are because I've done things to fight for families,'' the 52-year-old Democrat said at a news conference where he surrounded himself with people that spokesman Lucio Guerrero said had benefited from the state's expanded health care program, including a man in a wheelchair and a kidney transplant recipient. He took no questions.

Blagojevich becomes the first U.S. governor in more than 20 years to be impeached. Arizona's Evan Mecham was impeached, convicted and removed from office in 1988 for trying to thwart an investigation into a death threat allegedly made by an aide.

No other Illinois governor has ever been impeached, despite the state's storied history of graft. Blagojevich's immediate predecessor, George Ryan, is behind bars for corruption, and two earlier governors also went to prison.

The Senate trial is set to begin Jan. 26. While impeachment in the House required only a simple majority, or 60 votes, a two-thirds vote would be needed for conviction in the 59-member Senate.

During the House debate, lawmakers complained that Blagojevich had made a laughingstock out of the state.

''It's our duty to clean up the mess and stop the freak show that's become Illinois government,'' said Democratic Rep. Jack Franks.

Rep. Monique Davis, a Democrat, said: ''If the governor walked down that aisle today, how many of us would fall over ourselves to greet him? I think we'd hold our heads down in shame. We wanted him, we elected him, we supported him, and he's disgraced us.''

The criminal case against the governor included charges he tried to sell the Senate seat for campaign cash or a plum position for himself or his wife, and pressured people into making campaign contributions.

The impeachment case was based on the criminal charges plus other allegations -- that Blagojevich expanded a health care program without authority, that he circumvented hiring laws to give jobs to political allies, that he spent millions on flu vaccines that he knew couldn't be brought into the country.

Blagojevich did not testify before the House impeachment committee and has not offered an explanation for the criminal charges.

''His silence in this grave matter is deafening,'' said House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, a Chicago Democrat.

Rep. Elga Jefferies voted ''present.'' Rep. Milton Patterson, also a Chicago Democrat, voted against impeachment. Patterson said later that he was not defending anyone, but that he read the impeachment committee's report and wasn't comfortable voting against the governor.

''I went by my own gut feeling; it's as simple as that,'' he said. ''If the government is going to indict him, let them go ahead and do that. That's their job, and I'm doing my job.''

After returning from his jog, Blagojevich said his situation reminded him of the short story ''The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner,'' about a petty criminal who takes up running. ''And that's what this is, by the way, a long-distance run,'' he said.

Later, at the news conference, Blagojevich portrayed the impeachment vote as another round in a long struggle with the House, which he said had repeatedly thwarted his efforts to help real people instead of ''special interests and lobbyists.''

He ended the news conference by reciting a few lines from the poem ''Ulysses'' by Lord Alfred Tennyson, ending with: ''To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.''

After his arrest, Blagojevich defied practically the entire political establishment by appointing someone to the Senate, former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris. That provoked a furor as state and federal officials struggled over whether to seat Burris.

On Friday, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that Burris' paperwork was valid and that Illinois' secretary of state did not have to sign his appointment. Timothy Wright, Burris's attorney, told reporters later that the secretary of state had signed a document certifying the appointment, a claim disputed by Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White's legal adviser.

Nathan Maddox said the letter ''is not the official Senate appointment document.''

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Friday that the Senate would not accept Burris without the signature and therefore efforts to seat Burris should stop ''until that impeachment trial in the Illinois Senate is concluded.''

Timothy Wright, Burris' attorney, said he planned to travel to Washington to speak with Senate leaders Monday on behalf of his client, adding, ''The appointment of Roland Burris is an effective appointment.''

The Illinois Senate is working to draft rules for the impeachment trial. The state constitution does not specify what is an impeachable offense and does not lay out a standard for conviction, other than that senators must ''do justice according to law.'' The chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court will preside.

I can't say I'm going to miss him.

[Mr Bean]

I can't say I'm going to miss him.

You think he's gone? He's not gone!

Huffpost link

Blagojevich Responds To Impeachment: No Surprise (WATCH)


Gov. Rod Blagojevich called the Illinois House's decision to impeach him a "foregone conclusion" and blamed it on lawmakers' years-long battle against him.

"This is not something that came as a complete surprise to me," Blagojevich said at Friday news conference in downtown Chicago. "From the very moment of my re-election I've been engaged in a struggle with the House to get things done for people," he said. "The House has stood in the way of letting that happen."

The governor spoke just hours after the House voted to impeach him 114-1, the first time in the state's history the body has moved to impeach a sitting governor. Blagojevich was out jogging in his North Side neighborhood while the vote was taking place in Springfield.

With senior citizens, a man in a wheelchair, a crying baby and a Humboldt Park teen who had liver surgery assembled behind him on the podium, Blagojevich sought to portray his impeachment as vindictive payback for fighting on behalf of needy citizens.

He was impeached, he said, "because I've done things to fight for families who are here with me today," citing his efforts to expand health care, reduce prescription drug costs and cut taxes.

"The House is impeaching me for that? Is that an impeachable offense?"

Blagojevich admonished lawmakers to follow the Golden Rule and, as at his first press conference following his arrest on federal corruption charges, Blagojevich recited portions of a poem: Alfred Tennyson's Ulysses. He said he had been inspired to memorize it after Ted Kennedy read part of it at the 1980 Democratic Convention.

And it gets even better
Chicago Trib Link

Blagojevich to swear in Senate, then members start his trial

A surreal scenario is expected to play out Wednesday in the Illinois Senate: Against a ceremonial backdrop of pomp and circumstance, Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich will preside over the swearing-in of the very same lawmakers whose first order of business will be to consider whether to dump him from office.

The first impeachment trial of a governor in Illinois' long, corrupt history is expected to look a lot like the last one that gripped the nation's attention a decade ago— President Bill Clinton's 1999 U.S. Senate trial, even if it could stretch out longer than the three weeks that one lasted.

The 59 senators—37 Democrats and 22 Republicans, including three freshmen—will act as the jury. The state Supreme Court's chief justice, Thomas Fitzgerald, will preside. A special prosecutor hired by the House will trade rhetoric with Blagojevich's defense team, likely to be led by renowned criminal attorney Ed Genson. And all the drama will unfold live to the public, including deliberations.

While TV cameras will roll, the rules of engagement won't resemble those of a courtroom drama. The defendant doesn't even have to show up. The senators can vote to overrule the chief justice's decisions on evidence. And the only standard of proof exists in individual senators' minds.

"It's different from a criminal trial—dramatically different," said incoming Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago), who has been drafting the rules with eight other senators. "You don't have the same protections, if you will, for a governor as a defendant as you do if there is a criminal charge."

Blagojevich faces a 13-point article of impeachment alleging he has "abused the power of his office" on matters that include federal corruption charges, his conduct in approving a major expansion of health care without legislative approval and questionable hiring practices.

Blagojevich was hugely unpopular in the House, where all but three members voted to impeach him Friday. The Senate, under President Emil Jones (D-Chicago), typically protected Blagojevich's political flank. But Jones has retired, and the governor made plenty of enemies in the Senate as well.

After Wednesday's swearing-in, the Senate will adopt rules and a timetable. Cullerton said time is of the essence because the trial will keep the Senate from dealing with such pressing problems as the state's budget deficit.

Senate planners hope that the trial will begin Jan. 26, and Cullerton pointed to the Clinton trial lasting three weeks as a potential length of Blagojevich's day in political court.

A source familiar with the situation said that might be too ambitious a start date. Blagojevich's defense team may ask for weeks or months to prepare, and all of the prosecution and defense witnesses could stretch the trial out longer, the source said.

If 40 senators vote to convict, the governor faces removal from office. Waiting for the trial's outcome will be Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, who would succeed Blagojevich as chief executive if he is ousted.

For those that missed the conference old Blagojevich is in full you brilliant bastard mode, he's using everything but starving orphans as a backdrop as he goes in full Saturday morning Cartoon villain mode. He's like a villian in a coming of age kid story who wants to buy up the youth center to build condos. He is literally in full blow denial mode.

I will be tuning in for when he has to swear in the people who are going to charge him.

[fgalkin]

He's currently as far in the removal from office process as Bill Clinton was. But, unlike Clinton, he won't get a last-minute reprieve from the State Senate.

Bye, Bye, Milorad. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Patrick Degan]

Blago will doubtless attempt to drag out the proceedings for as long as possible, and the fact that the law in impeachment cases gives him the option to take as long as he needs to prepare his defence and gather witnesses gives him the opportunity to so obsfucate the process that he might escape removal from office through sheer exhaustion or buying a senator or two. At least that may be what he's counting on.

[MKSheppard]

My first introduction to this was last year, in summer of 2007 in Georgia where Amy took the trash to a local collection station in her car. I was flabbergasted and never quite got over it--to me, coming from Washington State, that was something straight out of the Third World. It seemed like the ultimate example of how much of a shithole Georgia is, and to hear it's done that way in Indiana too is just really shocking to me. Universal bus service and universal garbage collection are two things that I just couldn't help but do a doubletake about the lack of back east.

Hey surprise; that's also done in Warrenton, VA where my dad lives; it's just 30 minutes south of DC. Take your Own trash to Dump pickup occurs in primarily rural areas; where the density of housing is just not economical enough from a tax or residental standpoint to do curbside trashpickup.

[Steve]

Actually, even Osteen had trash pickup when I lived out there (and Osteen FL was pretty rural back in the day, though not as rural today due to the expansion of Deltona), though I think it was only weekly. Dad even built a roadside wooden frame container for our trash cans.

[The Original Nex]

My first introduction to this was last year, in summer of 2007 in Georgia where Amy took the trash to a local collection station in her car. I was flabbergasted and never quite got over it--to me, coming from Washington State, that was something straight out of the Third World. It seemed like the ultimate example of how much of a shithole Georgia is, and to hear it's done that way in Indiana too is just really shocking to me. Universal bus service and universal garbage collection are two things that I just couldn't help but do a doubletake about the lack of back east.

Hey surprise; that's also done in Warrenton, VA where my dad lives; it's just 30 minutes south of DC. Take your Own trash to Dump pickup occurs in primarily rural areas; where the density of housing is just not economical enough from a tax or residental standpoint to do curbside trashpickup.

Not to continue with this derail, but I come from an upper-middle class town in the suburbs of Boston and we have a dump transfer station that most residents take their garbage to directly. There are private curb-side pickup companies, but the vast majority of the folks in town drive their own trash to the dump. "Dump your own trash" is hardly an indicator of the "shithole" level a state or community is in, it's just another way of doing things.

EDIT: Not to say most MA communities do this, but there is a in this state of public transfer stations and curbside.