Trial testimony: Obama prevented some really big problems
Friday, Jun 11, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller * The allegation yesterday at Rod Blagojevich’s trial that then-Senate President Emil Jones agreed to kill an ethics bill in exchange for an appointment to the US Senate doesn’t really surprise me. It sickens me, but it doesn’t surprise me, considering how I’ve watched both of those guys pretty closely over the years. Blagojevich wanted the ethics bill killed because it was specifically designed to dry up his campaign cash. The bill prohibited anyone with a state contract over a certain size to contribute to the statewide official who was responsible for the contract. Blagojevich’s fundraising machine focused heavily on contractors, including (but definitely not limited to) road contractors. So, Blagojevich used his amendatory veto to rewrite the bill to include contribution bans to legislators as well. That’s when the Jones deal went down…
If it hadn’t been for Barack Obama, we could’ve had Emil Jones as our Senator. You think Roland Burris’ appointment caused an explosion? If Jones got the seat, the resulting explosion would’ve been thermonuclear because the media would’ve taken it right back to the President-elect, rightly or wrongly. Jones, remember, was often described as Obama’s “political godfather.” The mess would’ve been enormous. * Speaking of legislative leaders, I don’t think anyone else has covered this aspect of how Stu Levine got introduced to Rod Blagojevich. One of the people who recommended him was House GOP Leader Tom Cross, according to testimony yesterday…
* Back to the fundraising. After Barack Obama called Emil Jones and the Senate overrode the governor’s amendatory veto of the ethics bill, Blagojevich had until December 31st, 2008 to raise as much money as he could from state contractors. It didn’t go well, though, and the governor started to freak out…
* As we know by now, Blagojevich also tried to tie a $5 billion Tollway construction program to a $500,000 campaign contribution…
Here’s one reason why the contributions never arrived…
* Blagojevich wanted cash so much that he even believed Kurt Granberg ought to pony up for his long-promised job running DNR…
Granberg never paid Blagojevich’s campaign, even though Blagojevich held up the appointment until almost the very last minute of his governorship. * And Kristen McQueary shows how all this proves at least one count against Blagojevich…
* Campaign money wasn’t everything. There was also the Blagojevich personal bank account to think of…
* Roundup…
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*** UPDATED x1 *** “Nastiest Senate race in the country”
Friday, Jun 11, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller * The outlook for the Illinois US Senate race by Chris Cilliza at the Washington Post…
The take by MSNBC’s First Read isn’t much different…
I have those same feelings. * Meanwhile, Lynn Sweet followed up on Congressman Mark Kirk’s claims that the White House was involved with leaking the Department of Defense memo which raised concerns about Kirk’s “partisan political activities during his last two tours of active duty.” You’ll recall that this was the heart of the Kirk campaign’s response…
From Sweet’s column…
Not exactly a response. And what about that initial claim by the Kirk campaign? First, they expressed “grave concerns” about who gained access to the congressman’s records and seemed0 to blame the White House. From Terry Welch, who broke the story…
* It’s the Kirk campaign’s second react sentence which bothers me the most, however…
That’s some pretty bold talk about an official memo issued by Deputy Under Secretary of Defense Gail McGinn. If you check McGinn’s bio, she started at the Department of Defense in 1988, under a GOP administration. She rose to her current position in 2002, also under a Republican administration, and has a long list of government service awards. My own opinion is that the Kirk campaign tried to piggyback on the national kerfuffle over the White House allegedly offering jobs or slots to Democrats to keep them out of primaries. It hasn’t worked at all, and probably will only backfire, which may be why the Kirk campaign backed off when pressed by Lynn Sweet. Kirk’s initial reaction was just way too far over the top and couldn’t be sustained. *** UPDATE *** Oops. I forgot to post this odd story…
Yikes. This scandal not only hurts Kirk with the media, but it also goes right to his base. Not good at all.
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*** UPDATED x2 *** Blagojevich reprimanded by judge
Thursday, Jun 10, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller *** UPDATE 1 *** If you’re not reading the Sun-Times’ Blago Blog, you’re just not informed…
*** UPDATE 2 *** Barack Obama killed two birds with one stone, according to Lon Monk’s testimony today…
[ *** End of Updates *** ] * Judge Zagel is running a tight ship…
* The defendant’s wife will have to leave for a bit…
* Mark Brown sees a gaping hole in Lon Monk’s testimony…
* And Ted Cox chronicles the scene outside…
* Roundup…
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Not the media’s finest hour
Thursday, Apr 29, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller * Sometimes, bad things happen when pundits follow the mindless herd…
Just more silliness from people who’ve been reading too much into the crackpot DC tea leaves. White House reporters even demanded to know earlier yesterday whether Obama would mention Giannoulias in his speech. The Chicago press corps was all atwitter…
They even mocked Giannoulias…
* Well, as it turns out, Giannoulias did get a hug from Obama… ![]() And a shout-out…
And then commenced a noisy round of gear-shifting…
Instead of going off the rails, the pampered Heathers should’ve been listening to this guy all along…
And this was a presidential understatement…
Oh, and one more thing. I never wrote this…
What I wrote was: “I’ve personally had this race in the ‘lean Republican’ column…” That’s not a prediction of a Mark Kirk win. I gotta wonder why that part of the piece wasn’t quoted.
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