Extorting Rahm
Friday, Apr 3, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The man had no boundaries and no shame. Blagojevich allegedly attempted to extort campaign contributions from Rahm Emanuel…
The former North Side congressman, picked by Obama in November as his top staff member, was allegedly the subject of extortion in 2006 after he inquired about a $2 million state grant to benefit a school in his district. Prosecutors say Blagojevich instructed a top aide to block the release of the money, even though it had been included in the state’s budget.
Blagojevich also allegedly told a high-ranking state official that Emanuel’s brother needed to host a fundraiser for him. The indictment does not say which of two brothers was mentioned, but the White House aide said it was Ari Emanuel, a high-powered Hollywood agent active in political fundraising.
Prosecutors said a fundraiser was never held. The aide would not say whether Emanuel ever actually learned of the request.
The aide said the school is the Chicago Academy and Chicago Academy High School on the Northwest Side. In 2005, Emanuel announced he had secured $2 million in funding by working with Blagojevich and it would be used for school grounds and a sports field.
More…
In 2005, then-Congressman Emanuel joined with Chicago and state education officials in announcing a $2 million grant for The Chicago Academy and Chicago Academy High School in the city’s Portage Park neighborhood. Emanuel said at the time that he worked closely with the governor to secure the $2 million.
A local school official confirmed Thursday that there had been delays getting the money but knew nothing of the possible politics at play.
Sheesh.
- Hank - Friday, Apr 3, 09 @ 7:29 am:
Is this the same Emanuel that Blago wanted to bring in as a witness to his purity? Amazing. Delusional.Simply nuts
- wordslinger - Friday, Apr 3, 09 @ 7:29 am:
All this time we thought Blago was lazy. In fact, he was very busy using his position to enrich himself and his campaign fund through extortion, kickbacks and fraud like some Outfit street boss.
Too bad he didn’t devote that energy to being governor. It’s really a pretty good gig.
As every new revelaton comes to light, his impassioned plea before the Senate to remain in office and frantic post-conviction media tour cast him as an ever slimier jerk (some people prefer sociopath).
He had to know this stuff would come out, right?
- Puh-lease - Friday, Apr 3, 09 @ 7:29 am:
Am I supposed to have sympathy for Rahm about this?
Rahm helped make Rod and even initiated some of the the hair-brained policies. He is also one of the most cutthroat fundraisers in the history Illinois and the country.
- Leroy - Friday, Apr 3, 09 @ 7:38 am:
Blago is history folks…why are we still harping on him?
I know the machine needs to utterly destroy his credibility, so that any time he opens his mouth, people assume he is lying, but is it such a stretch to believe Rahm Emmanuel might not be as pure as the wind driven snow?
Gotta go with Puh-lease on this one.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Apr 3, 09 @ 7:44 am:
===why are we still harping on him?===
Because he was indicted yesterday. Didn’t you notice? Kinda big news around these parts. He was the guv for 6 years.
- old timer - Friday, Apr 3, 09 @ 8:24 am:
And Rahm is doing the same thing now in the White House! And this Rich is not a “rumor”. You don’t vote the way Rahm tells you to your district looses money in projects/grants. “We are keeping a list” they say. You think they are talking about a Christmas card list?
All of them make very fine distinctions to show how they are so different from Powell/Walker/Ryan/Blago etc. And the sad part is they actually believe it. A lot more people have to be thrown in jail before any of this is going to change. I bet you could triple Fitzgerald’s staff and they would still all be burning the midnight oil.
- wordslinger - Friday, Apr 3, 09 @ 10:02 am:
Old Timer, I don’t know if what you say is true, but there’s a difference between politics and extortion.
Politics is “support my policy and I’ll back your proposal.”
Extortion is “give me money or I’ll sabotage you’re lawfully passed and funded initiative.”
- Quinn T. Sential - Friday, Apr 3, 09 @ 11:44 am:
Wordslinger,
extortion is also a crime for which the intended victim; a federal elected official, has an ethical obligation to report to law enforcement authorities, no matter that the perpetrator is another elected official or not.
- transplant - Friday, Apr 3, 09 @ 12:34 pm:
I wonder how many other extortion attempts were made by Blago & Co.? There were a number of “delayed” grants at that time, which had already been approved and budgeted. Other institutions also spent money based on the promise of state funds. They were given the run around, then a small portion of the money promised, and then YEARS after the fact they received their money.
- Bruno Behrend - Friday, Apr 3, 09 @ 5:26 pm:
Interesting connection the budget debate.
How many such grants of $2,000,000 are in a budget in any given year? How much do you want a bet that if we lined up every such grant, it would yield at least a billion in cuts? But then, how will we ever know?
Further, a brief look at the web indicates it is a “contract school.” OK. Now why give a contract school $2M and not all the other schools?
If giving them money is good, then why funnel so much money through CPS? Why not zero out ALL funds to CPS, and simply pass them through to the schools?
Let’s hope the parents on the West and South sides can find ‘patrons’ like Emmanuel someday.
I know it seems off the “corruption” topic, but is it really?
______
Wordslinger, I appreciate your attempt to ameliorate your definitions, and frankly, it is hard to disagree with your distinctions.
That said, we don’t know the exact process by which Rahm got that $2,000,000 “grant”.
Maybe ‘hard’ and ’soft’ extortion is a better distinction.
Let’s ask all the parents whose school didn’t get a grant.