December
10, 2008
Rod Blagojevich - Not the Governor Obama Knew
Democrat Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was arrested at his home yesterday
by the FBI as was his Chief of Staff. It turns out that Blagojevich had been under
investigation for three years. During a press conference, US attorney Patrick
Fitzgerald was asked why Blagojevich was arrested now. Fitzgerald said that he
wanted to stop a "political corruption crime spree."
Blagojevich was
charged with fraud and bribery among other things, including trying to get the
Chicago Tribune to fire certain members of their editorial panel that were critical
of him. A judge had issued a warrant and Blagojevich had been secretly taped saying
that he wanted to sell Obama's now vacant senate seat to the highest bidder. Blagojevich
said that if he couldn't get what he wanted for it, he would appoint himself senator.
Now,
here's where the story gets better. Blagojevich was dealing with convicted felon
Antoin "Tony" Rezko. Rezko, if you'll recall, is the Chicago slum lord
that did business with Barack Hussein Obama. During the campaign when confronted
with Rezko's criminal history, Obama said that it wasn't the Rezko he knew.
Obama
immediately told the press that he has had no contact with Blagojevich. That contradicts
what one of his staffers said two weeks ago. The press was told then that Obama
had been discussing his empty senate seat with Blagojevich. However, FBI Special
Agent-in-Charge Robert Grant answered a question regarding Obama's connection
in all of this in a rather odd way. When asked about Obama's ties to Blagojevich,
Grant said that Obama was not named in the (as if he intended it to sound
like "this") complaint
and that's all he could say. That implies that there is something else in the
works.
No, "Obama" was not mentioned in the complaint; however, the
term "president-elect" was in the complaint 44 times.
We'll all have
to wait and see how this plays out. In the meantime, the people of Illinois are
probably happy that Blagojevich was arrested. His approval rating is four percent.
TLG
