My Tooly Governor Goes Down

Indicted. I should be excited, but I'm having a hard time coming up with any kind of a reaction other than "feh." What a monumental dumbass this guy is:

On the issue of the U.S. Senate selection, federal prosecutors alleged Blagojevich sought appointment as Secretary of Health and Human Services in the new Obama administration, or a lucrative job with a union in exchange for appointing a union-preferred candidate.

Blagojevich and Harris conspired to demand the firing of Chicago Tribune editorial board members responsible for editorials critical of Blagojevich in exchange for state help with the sale of Wrigley Field, the Chicago Cubs baseball stadium owned by Tribune Co.

Blagojevich and Harris, along with others, obtained and sought to gain financial benefits for the governor, members of his family and his campaign fund in exchange for appointments to state boards and commissions, state jobs and state contracts.

"The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering," U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said 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."

Archpundit has more background.

I've never been much of a Blagojevich fan, and you've got to understand something about Illinois politics. We have three parties here: City Dems, Downstate Dems, and Republicans. Downstate Dems would rather fuck with a City Dem than with a Republican, City Dems have more fun poking the Downstaters than they do the "opposition," Republicans are pleased to sit back and watch the catfight, so nothing gets done.

Blago has all the charm, charisma, political capital and popularity of a bedbug infestation and so after a number of years of near-total Dem control of politics in the state (mostly because the face of the Republican party here vs. Obama was Alan Keyes, so that tells you how together the Republicans are) we still have a school funding system that was a national disgrace when Jonathan Kozol wrote about it in Savage Inequalities, and now would be a farce if there was anything remotely funny about it at all. I am a near one-issue voter on the schools issue here because I've seen firsthand how the kids get hosed in towns "we" don't care about, and Blago has had the courage to do exactly dick about it even when people did like him.

I don't want to live under a Republican governor especially but I have to tell you, lately? Hard to find a way anybody could possibly make it worse. (I'm so gonna regret typing those words.) What you have to understand is we're pretty okay in Chicago with a guy running something shady if he's effective at his job, which is why everybody in streets and san has the same last name but Daley keeps getting elected and will until he too is indicted or dies or decides he's sick of putting up wrought iron and Disney stores everywhere. What gets us pissed off is when you're trying to take us and giving us exactly nothing back.

Beachwood's gonna have a lot (and has had a lot) on the intersections between the Blago and Obama operations. All else aside, doubtless this is going to be some kind of a Whitewater for the right's cottage industry. An early Christmas gift for Regnery and Fux. Yays.

A.

Comments

[Doc]

Anyone who has read "Boss" knows this isn't a singular kind of thing when it comes to Illinois politics. I really think it has something to do with the halls of power being painted with some sort of weird asshole-greed spray.

So how did he get to that point? Here's my theory...

A knows this and I'm not shy about it, but if the entire state of Illinois were to somehow be plowed under and turned into a massive field, I wouldn't be sad at all. I often prayed that somehow some rich guy would build a giant bridge from Gary, Ind. to just outside of Kenosha, Wis. he could charge me $50 a run and I'd gladly pay it in my trips from Indiana to Wisconsin just to avoid the traffic and general pains in the ass I've dealt with in Illinois. (That's not a dig on A but it is a dig on my cousins who live there...)

That said, I must say that when I drove through the state and saw the "Governor is committed to open-road tolling" stuff and then it actually got done, I would have voted for the guy 1,000 times and not had any qualms. I think that I am exactly what's wrong with the election process: give me one, good, tangible thing and screw me on the rest and I'm OK with that.

Yes, folks, I am the swing vote...

[pansypoo]

more of the same we be been seeing forever here in Milw. you needed some socialist mayors to clean sweep.

[Sue]

I so enjoy Chicago/IL politics, now that I no longer live there.

[ug]

Let's deal with some more important issues... Monday's Press Conference.

"Should the state members of the Electoral College cast their votes for Mr. Obama in the face of such overwhelming evidence, and without verification of Mr. Obama's eligibility, they would be committing treason to the Constitution," said Schulz.

[Fraud Guy]

I agree with you about Richie; they have been nibbling around him for years, but he has been able to keep an arms length between him and any prosecutable activities. He also delivers to his supporters and the city, which Blago never really has.