* I write my syndicated newspaper column on Friday. The Southtown-Star and others run the column over the weekend or on Monday, but the weeklies don’t run it until Wednesday or Thursday. So, I can’t really write about the election at hand. Such was the case this time as well…
Lawyers for Rod Blagojevich told reporters that there might be a delay in the former governor’s criminal trial when a federal grand jury, as expected, hands down a new indictment. But they also stressed that they were working hard to keep the trial on track for its June start date.
As I write this, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Chicago is hoping to re-indict Blagojevich in order to make sure its criminal case isn’t damaged by an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the federal “Honest Services” statute. The brief statute has been used by federal prosecutors for years to prosecute politicians and corporate executives on a wide variety of charges, claiming they defrauded citizens, investors, etc. via “a scheme or artifice to deprive another of the intangible right of honest services.”
The law has come under fire because it is so incredibly vague that prosecutors have used it to prosecute all sorts of behavior. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer wondered aloud whether a worker taking an unauthorized break “to read the Racing Form” could be indicted.
Thankfully, federal prosecutors have better things to do than indict employees for reading newspapers. Still, the law is so vague and broad that Chief Justice John Roberts more than hinted that the statute was impossible to understand, which would therefore make it unconstitutional. Former Gov. George Ryan, Enron’s former president Jeff Skilling, former Chicago media baron Conrad Black and many others, including Rod Blagojevich were all indicted on honest services fraud counts.
At least some court-imposed restrictions on the law are expected, so prosecutors are scrambling to make sure their cases are solid, including in Chicago.
But this column isn’t about honest services fraud. It’s about Illinois politics. So, let’s get on with it.
Blagojevich’s criminal trial has been expected to last most of the summer and end just about the time that the fall campaigns are heating up around Labor Day.
To date, Blagojevich has used every opportunity that he could to claim he was railroaded by prosecutors and to point fingers of blame at his fellow Democrats who he believes are far more deserving of prosecution than him.
Blagojevich deeply and thoroughly despises Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton, so many believe he’ll use his trial and the accompanying daily media spotlight to try to hurt them and, by extension, their candidates as much as he can. Blagojevich’s book is drenched with hostility towards the two men.
The former governor also detests Pat Quinn, whom he accuses of cutting a deal with Madigan and Cullerton on tax hikes in order to become governor (yes, it’s a silly theory, but this is Rod Blagojevich we’re talking about here). As I write this, we don’t know whether Quinn will survive the primary Democratic primary. But Blagojevich often sparred with Quinn’s opponent, Comptroller Dan Hynes, so I’m sure he’ll think of something to thwack Hynes with as well.
A brief delay while Blagojevich’s defense lawyers retool their case would probably hurt the Democrats even more than a June start because the trial could be pushed back into the fall campaign season itself. What the Democrats really need in order to avoid this embarrassment is a much longer delay, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards as of yet.
The only saving grace might be if Republican George Ryan makes it into the headlines with a post-decision appeal to have his conviction overturned. But even that probably wouldn’t be much help. Ryan left office a long time ago. And since the nation’s mood seems to be anti-incumbent (for good reason), and the Democrats dominate just about everything in Illinois, it’ll likely just add fuel to that particular fire.
In other words, if you’re a Democrat there’s trouble on the way for you whether you like it or not, or whether you deserve it or not. Then again, if you’re a Democrat, then there’s a good chance you voted for Blagojevich twice — or four times counting the primaries. In that case, it really is your fault. Particularly that last time, when if you’d been paying any sort of attention, you would’ve known you were taking a risk on a known ethical dud.
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- lake county democrat - Monday, Feb 1, 10 @ 11:27 am:
The column is generally correct, but has a huge omission: had the Dems responded to Blago by passing a real ethics reform like the one proposed by the respected commission Quinn appointed, they might have cleansed themselves of much of Blago’s dirt. Instead they 1) jettisoned anti-gerrymandering legislation (lying that they would return to it by last fall) and 2) watered down or eliminated most of the meaningful proposals (an exception being the state’s freedom of information act).
I voted for Paul Vallas. But after Topinka stood mute as the leader of the GOP while they tried to make neo-confederate Alan Keyes (yes, I get the irony, but it’s no less true) one of the most powerful men on the planet, I have no regrets whatsoever for withholding my vote and I wouldn’t blame a soul for voting Blago in that election.
- Steve - Monday, Feb 1, 10 @ 11:28 am:
Great column. The trial is coming. If Blago does in fact take the stand in his own defense we will be hearing about Obama’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s Campaign Co-Chair Jesse Jackson Jr., Obama’s long-time friend Valerie Jarrett, and Obama’s media guru David Axelrod. All these individuals have had close contact with Blago at some level. I suspect the Republicans will point out that the Obama administration scandals started before they took office. Obama maybe the first President- Elect to be interviewed by the FBI.
- VanillaMan - Monday, Feb 1, 10 @ 11:34 am:
A couple of weeks ago I read postings on the Massachusetts election. I read claims that it couldn’t happen here.
Those folks are only partly right - it won’t happen here like in Massachusetts, it will happen worse that in the Bay State.
All the issue the Massachusetts Democrats faced last month, are present here in Illinois. If we’re only talking about timing, then it is quite possible that if that were the only problems facing Illinois Democrats, then perhaps the difference between January 2010 will be enough to save some of them by November 2010.
But the situation in Illinois is worse for Democrats than the situation in Massachusetts last month.
We have the additional problem of a multi-billion dollar list of unpaid bills. Illinois has a worse fiscal situation than Massachusetts. Our fiscal mess has been getting worse, and it has grown beyond just an economic downturn, a-la-Boston. Our state fiscal situation has been out of control for over four years, with budget impasses, budget deadlines passings, and gridlock since 2005. Illinois Democrats have a far worse fiscal mess to explain than the Massachusetts Democrats. We will be watching state-dependant social organizations closing and going bankrupt due to this. Massachusetts has a new health care program to hope towards, but Illinois doesn’t. As these not-for-profits shut down due to unpaid state bills, Illinois will look as bankrupted as the politicians leading it.
Then you rightly point out Blagojevich. Massachusetts has a failed governor in Patrick, but he wasn’t impeached, made to walk handcuffed to court, is a celebrity-seeking bloviating egomaniac showing up on television talk shows, and will not be facing jail, like our last Illinois Democratic governor. OR, should I say, last three Illinois Democratic governors?
Then there is Roland Burris. Burris seems to have regained enough common sense to hide himself out from the news, but any political opponent seeking another example of embarrassing Illinois politics, can resurrect our Trailblazer.
When you add up Blagojevich, Burris and Bankrupsy, Illinois Democrats face a worse scenario for November 2010 than the Massachusetts Democrats faced last month.
If this party wishes to remain a power in Illinois, it has to purge all it’s incumbants in tomorrow’s primary. Anyone with any connections to Blagojevich or the past few elections, has the curse of incumbancy and corruption on them.
Voters will remove any Democratic candidates with any stink on them that survive tomorrow’s primary.
Depending on the Illinois GOP to do what they have continually done since 1998 isn’t a recipe for success.
- cassandra - Monday, Feb 1, 10 @ 11:55 am:
With our Blago, I it’s personal not policy.
He’ll talk like he’s appalled at the budget and policy/political decisions since his departure, but the guy he probably really hates in his heart is Quinn. As much as or even more than Madigan. It’s human nature. Everybody despises the guy who got his job when he got booted out of it. And he has a better chance at dislodging Quinn than Madigan. I expect some major zingers.
- Angry Chicagoan - Monday, Feb 1, 10 @ 11:56 am:
The terms under which the feds can prosecute allow the opportunity for overzealous or simply outright crooked prosecutors to go after innocent politicians. I realize the phrase “innocent politician” seems oxymoronic in Illinois, but consider the Don Siegelman case in Alabama; Siegelman was unfairly smeared in the course of what should have been a comfortable re-election, then subjected to the narrowest defeat in state history in an election with serious irregularities that resulted in major changes to state law, and then thrown in a maximum-security prison and placed in solitary confinement over the simple matter of appointing a campaign donor to a regulatory board. As far as the Karl Rove-allied prosecutors in Alabama were concerned, this IN ITSELF was an improper activity. Apply this logic and you could put any elected official in jail you want to. No wonder the Supreme Court is nervous about it.
If we have a choice between Blago in the slammer for a few months or years less than he ought to be and any politician at risk of a politically-motivated trial at any time, I’m going to go with the tap on the knuckles for Blago. But hopefully we don’t have to worry about this and Blago will get whatever he actually deserves.
- Six Degrees of Separation - Monday, Feb 1, 10 @ 12:05 pm:
However, after tomorrow there’s only a 50/50 chance Quinn will be a “moot” target for Blago’s scorched-earth defense.
- JonShibleyFan - Monday, Feb 1, 10 @ 12:07 pm:
I get that people love to do the “this is like that” comparative analysis in politics.
But with respect to Mass., this isn’t like that.
That was a special election. The Dem candidate did nothing. Literally. And Scott Brown was a very compelling and hard-working candidate, with a very tight message.
I am not suggesting that IL Dems won’t get rolled in the GE — that remains a very good possibility, and, similar to Brown, the GOP could well tap into voter resentment at the party in power.
But that’s not unique to Brown. It’s, in part, how Clinton won in ‘92; and the GOP in ‘94; and Blagojevich in ‘02; and Dems in ‘06; and Obama in ‘08, and so on.
To the question: I am sure Rod is chomping at the bit to tear into Hynes. And isn’t Burr Oak just a ready-made issue for Rod? High profile. Involves the African American community, where Rod does some of his finest pandering.
- Responsa - Monday, Feb 1, 10 @ 12:10 pm:
=Burris seems to have regained enough common sense to hide himself out of the news=
Uh, just yesterday on TV Ben Bradley had an interview with Burris in his Washington office in which Burris bragged about how proud he was to haved “contributed” as a US`Senator.
- GoldCoastConservative - Monday, Feb 1, 10 @ 12:39 pm:
@ Lake - kudos for voting for Vallas. But while Topinka may have been a lackluster candidate, you can’t seriously blame the ILGOP for your having to pull the lever for Blago the last time. You Dems have to own that one.
- Hank - Monday, Feb 1, 10 @ 12:45 pm:
Sorry, but Illinois voters aren’t as smart MA voters. A few surprises maybe in the secondary races tomorrow, but it will be same old, same old in the heavyweight division
- Angry Republican - Monday, Feb 1, 10 @ 1:13 pm:
I hate to use a cliche, but I will - everything hinges on voter turnout tomorrow. If the turnout is high, several incumbents will be booted (Quinn, Stroger, ‘lexi); if not we can expect more of the same. The newspaper RM can’t stand has been doing it’s part to get voters to the polls for a few months now; the IL-GOP not so much. I have said it before and will say it again: never underestimate the IL-GOP’s ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
- TitforTat - Monday, Feb 1, 10 @ 2:12 pm:
Somebody somewhere needs to ask the Feds how much of our tax dollars they have recklessly spent chasing down Rod Blagojevich. They hurriedly indicted him, then legisture impeachem him in kind, now the Feds are saying they didn’t get it right the first time and are reindicting him again (Blago). While I don’t feel sorry fot Blago, I do question what the Feds are doing and if they are out of control. The “criminalization of politics” needs to stop.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Feb 1, 10 @ 2:16 pm:
Rod? Is that you?
- really? - Monday, Feb 1, 10 @ 2:28 pm:
@Titfortat…Illiois is going bankrupt in part becuase of Blago’s actions and you are worried about what the US Attorney spent going after Blago?
To stay on point, I do not believe there will be any major changes in Illinois like Massachusetts. Its not that Illinois voters are dumb, I believe they are apathetic..I have traveled thru out Illinois, and this is a wonderful state that deserves better government, but has become numb and therefore somewhat accepting of things. I fear Blago’s trial whenever it occurs, will just provide more reasons that Illinois is laughed at, and not a major motivation for change, to use a well worn word. I hope I am wrong.
- lake county democrat - Monday, Feb 1, 10 @ 3:38 pm:
GoldCoastCon– actually I said that I didn’t vote for either of them, but seriously I do — it’s only because Keyes’ campaign was clownish and he’d have had a hard time beating a stick in Illinois that few took the act of his GOP nomination seriously. Topinka’s willingness to bite her tongue when such a - in my opinion - monster was nominated to replace Jack Ryan spoke volumes. I just think there are bright lines that can’t be crossed - if you read my rants here, Alderman Preckwinkle would seem to be a candidate I’d strongly back, but I can’t because of even worse in her political background (Larry Dobry and the anti-semitic flier incident).
- southern illinoisan - Monday, Feb 1, 10 @ 7:48 pm:
Kudos to Miller. Never were more true words spoken than the last paragraph. If you voted for Rod it is your fault…… And if you voted for him twice you are a true partisan that can’t deal with logic or reason anyway.
People should study the issues and research a candidate before casting a ballot. Don’t let the 30 second TV commercials influence your vote. Blagojevich was able to totally distort JBT’s record do with a multi-million dollar war chest. Don’t vote a party. Vote a person……..
- Quizzical - Monday, Feb 1, 10 @ 9:33 pm:
Last week I believe there was a QOD ‘What will Rod’s legacy be?’
We might not know until after his trial. I would hope that people in Illinois, from political operatives to voters, would be circumspect in the future about supporting a high functioning lunatic like Rod for any office. However, I am cynical and I think the biggest legacy could be turning the governor’s office and a senate seat to the Republicans as well as ruining the careers of a couple of dozen other folks (Why isn’t Jesse Jr. running for the Senate right now).
As for the trial, I hope the judge keeps a tight leash on Rod. I really don’t think he has any relevant dirt on anybody. Remember how he promised that his book would contain shocking revelations? The best he could do was baseless name calling. The fact of the matter is that he was not very involved with his duties as governor. He was absent on those days when he might have learned about anybody else’s dirt. That won’t stop him from trying to destroy as many people as possible on his way down.
- Rambler - Monday, Feb 1, 10 @ 11:16 pm:
really? - It’s such a distortion to blame Illinois’ deficit on Rod when it all started during the Edgar administration and there are PLENTY to blame. No one man could have gotten us into this deep of a financial mess.
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