[Vision2020] Governor of Illinois Arrested

Tue Dec 9 08:39:38 PST 2008

The more crooks in politic that are caught and severely punished, the better.  Unfortunately, exposures, convictions, and relatively light punishments do no seem to have much deterrence value.

W.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Tom Hansen 
  To: vision2020 at moscow.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2008 7:14 AM
  Subject: [Vision2020] Governor of Illinois Arrested

  >From USA Today -

  --------------------------------------------------------

  Illinois governor charged with public corruption

  Here's the formal complaint and news release that we received from the 
  Justice Department. 

  http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/files/rjb_complaint.pdf

  http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/files/rrb_jh_129_final_rel.pdf

  This is the summary of probable cause that FBI Agent Daniel Cain uses in 
  the court filing:

  --------------

  Since approximately 2003, the government has been investigating 
  allegations of illegal activity occurring in State of Illinois government 
  as part of the administration of Governor Rod Blagojevich. As further 
  detailed below, the investigation has developed evidence that: (a) 
  beginning not later than in or about 2002, Rod Blagojevich has conspired 
  with multiple individuals, including, beginning not later than in or about 
  October 2008, John Harris, to devise and participate in a scheme, which 
  used and contemplated the use of the mails and interstate wire 
  communications, to defraud the State of Illinois and its residents of the 
  honest services of Rod Blagojevich and John Harris by corruptly using the 
  office of Governor of the State of Illinois to obtain and attempt to 
  obtain personal gain, including financial gain, for Rod Blagojevich and 
  third parties with whom he is associated; and (b) beginning no later than 
  November 2008, Rod Blagojevich and John Harris have corruptly solicited 
  and demanded the firing of Chicago Tribune editorial board members 
  responsible for editorials critical of Rod Blagojevich, intending to be 
  influenced and rewarded in connection with State of Illinois financial 
  assistance in connection with the sale of Wrigley Field. The evidence 
  demonstrates that the corrupt conduct undertaken included but was not 
  limited to the following:

  a. Defendant Rod Blagojevich and at times defendant John Harris, together 
  with others, obtained and attempted to obtain financial benefits for Rod 
  Blagojevich, members of the Blagojevich family, and third parties 
  including Friends of Blagojevich, in exchange for appointments to state 
  boards and commissions, state employment, state contracts, and access to 
  state funds; b. Defendants Rod Blagojevich and John Harris, together with 
  others, offered to, and threatened to withhold from, the Tribune Company 
  substantial state financial assistance in connection with Wrigley Field, 
  which assistance Rod Blagojevich believed to be worth at least $100 
  million to the Tribune Company, for the private purpose of inducing the 
  controlling shareholder of the Tribune Company to fire members of the 
  editorial board of the Chicago Tribune, a newspaper owned by the Tribune 
  Company, who were responsible for editorials critical of Rod Blagojevich; 
  c. Defendants Rod Blagojevich and John Harris, together with others, 
  attempted to use Rod Blagojevich's authority to appoint a United States 
  Senator for the purpose of obtaining personal benefits for Rod 
  Blagojevich, including, among other things, appointment as Secretary of 
  Health & Human Services in the President-elect's administration, and 
  alternatively, a lucrative job which they schemed to induce a union to 
  provide to Rod Blagojevich in exchange for appointing as senator an 
  individual whom Rod Blagojevich and John Harris believed to be favored by 
  union officials and their associates.

  --------------

  Update at 9:47 a.m. ET: USA TODAY's Judy Keen has confirmed with 
  prosecutors that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested this morning 
  on federal corruption charges. 

  The U.S. attorney's office says the Democratic governor and his chief of 
  staff, John Harris, are accused of soliciting bribes and committing wire 
  fraud.

  "The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering," U.S. 
  Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald says. "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.  The citizens of Illinois deserve 
  public officials who act solely in the public's interest, without putting 
  a price tag on government appointments, contracts and decisions," he adds.

  Update at 9:34 a.m. ET: The Associated Press says Blagojevich and his 
  chief of staff were taken into custody.

  Update at 9:26 a.m. ET: The Chicago Sun-Times says it has confirmed the 
  Blagojevich arrest with an unnamed source of its own. A news conference is 
  expected later today.

  Original posting at 9:21 a.m. ET: Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was 
  arrested this morning by federal agents, according to the Chicago Tribune. 
  The paper, which cites a single unnamed source, says it couldn't confirm 
  the information with a spokesman for the Democratic governor or federal 
  prosecutors.

  The charges have not been disclosed. 

  The FBI has been conducting a wide-ranging investigation of corruption in 
  the Blagojevich administration.

  Earlier this morning, the Trib reported that federal investigators were 
  authorized to surreptitiously record the governor while he was choosing a 
  replacement for President-elect Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate.

  --------------------------------------------------------

  Seeya round town, Moscow.

  Tom Hansen
  Moscow, Idaho

  "For a lapse Lutheran born-again Buddhist pan-Humanist Universalist 
  Unitarian Wiccan Agnostic like myself there's really no reason ever to go 
  to work."

  - Roy Zimmerman

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