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Don’t hold your breath

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Illinois
Obama
Blagojevich Trial

Rod Blagojevich and his supporters hope President Barack Obama might consider clemency for the imprisoned former governor.

“Obama certainly has the power to commute (reduce) Blagojevich’s sentence and send him home to his family. The president has two daughters just like Blagojevich and he may have some compassion for him,” says Leonard Goodman, the defense attorney handling the former governor’s appeal of his 2011 corruption conviction.

An online petition asks Obama to grant clemency to the imprisoned former governor. It needs 100,000 signatures by Sept. 9 in order to get the White House’s attention. It has 969 signatures as of Tuesday afternoon. The petition, whose creator is identified only as “A.G.,” was put on the White House’s “We the People” website. […]

“I think he deserved some kind of pardon or diminished sentence, but I don’t think there’s any likelihood that will happen. There are a lot of people out there with much more compelling problems,” says Ed Genson, Chicago’s dean of criminal defense attorneys. […]

“The focus of President Obama’s clemency attention has been on drug offenders and cases of (pardoning) people who have been long out of prison and who are dealing with the adverse effects of having a conviction,” [Margaret Love, a D.C. attorney who specializes in executive clemency issues] says, adding it would be unlikely for Obama “to do anything so unpredictable” as to pardon Blagojevich.

No way is this gonna happen. No way.

Blagojevich and Obama were never close. In fact, Rod left the 2004 Democratic National Convention in a huff because Obama was getting all the media attention. Rod saw himself as Illinois’ rising star, and he never got over the fact that Obama was the one who caught lightning in a bottle. Obama, for his part, mostly kept his distance from Blagojevich. They did share a fundraiser (Tony Rezko), but there wasn’t any other significant overlap to my recollection, so the former governor has nobody with strong Obama connections to make his case. And their families weren’t close, so Obama wouldn’t have a personal feel for their current pain.

Also, Blagojevich was initially convicted of trying to sell Obama’s US Senate seat. A commutation or pardon would be seen by many tinfoil hat types as an admission that Obama was somehow in on it.

Not to mention that US District Judge James Zagel did a pretty good job the other day of explaining why Blagojevich didn’t deserve a reduction in his sentence.

And then there’s the pathetic response to the online petition.

Nope.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Aug 17, 16 @ 10:20 am

Comments

Can we start a petition of the White House website to have the US Department of Corrections keep blago for an additional 5 years just for being dumb?

Comment by Huh? Wednesday, Aug 17, 16 @ 10:30 am
When cows fly.

Comment by Sir Reel Wednesday, Aug 17, 16 @ 10:31 am
“And then there’s the pathetic response to the online petition.”

The Blago petition has 1,059 signatures.

By contrast, the petition to “Rescind the decision to deploy THAAD antimissile system in South Korea” (who knew?) has more than 100 times as many.

– MrJM

Comment by @MisterJayEm Wednesday, Aug 17, 16 @ 10:32 am
Not to mention the fact that the President was basically one of the people Rod was trying the extort with the Senate seat (even if those charges were dropped).

Comment by Juice Wednesday, Aug 17, 16 @ 10:33 am
The irony of a man who ignored hundreds of clemency petitions only to receive it himself would be a bit rich.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Aug 17, 16 @ 10:41 am
The dude has gotta’ have hope.

But yeah, totally agree with Anonymous at 10:41.

Comment by Not It Wednesday, Aug 17, 16 @ 10:53 am
A.G. started the petition. I didn’t know Alexi was that close to Rod. Or maybe Attorney General? /s

Comment by thechampaignlife Wednesday, Aug 17, 16 @ 10:54 am
“The Blago petition has 1,059 signatures.”

That’s a lot of people running around off their meds.

Comment by Shemp Wednesday, Aug 17, 16 @ 11:01 am
This petition will probably be as successful as Quinn’s petition

Comment by Clark Wednesday, Aug 17, 16 @ 11:02 am
Proof positive that Blagojevich is still delusional.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Aug 17, 16 @ 11:07 am
“I am holding my breath … while I run with scissors!” - Not Hot Rod Blagojevich

Comment by Deft Wing Wednesday, Aug 17, 16 @ 11:56 am
“Proof positive that Blagojevich is still delusional.”

If you had a loved one in jail, nothing is off the table - delusional or not. Kudos to them, try anything. No reason, not to.

Also, Axelrod is a connection to both Obama and Rod. However, I don’t think he’ll be doing any lobbying for Rod.

Comment by does it matter Wednesday, Aug 17, 16 @ 12:12 pm
LOL- just listen to the tapes

Comment by Sue Wednesday, Aug 17, 16 @ 12:40 pm
I do think the compassion argument might fly as to Blago’s daughters. The president can relate to what it must be like for them not to have a father present.

No way does he issue a pardon, but a a reduction of years off a draconian sentence, that would still require more jail time–that could happen.

Comment by Chicago Hope Wednesday, Aug 17, 16 @ 12:49 pm
- Chicago Hope -

Think it has to be a straight pardon, all or nothing. I can see how it might happen …

Comment by RNUG Wednesday, Aug 17, 16 @ 12:57 pm
=I do think the compassion argument might fly as to Blago’s daughters. The president can relate to what it must be like for them not to have a father present.=

Pretty low bar there. If we apply that logic we’ll empty out a lot of prisons. And while you might find the sentence to be draconian the appellate court seemed to be okay with it.

Comment by pundent Wednesday, Aug 17, 16 @ 1:17 pm
The petition to make Paisley Park a National Historic Landmark has more signatures.

Comment by Cheryl44 Wednesday, Aug 17, 16 @ 1:30 pm
I hope Rod remembers that office filled with clemency requests. Boxes and boxes that just sat there — each box representing someone whose life was in limbo. They had a Dunn fellow whose sole job was answering calls from people awaiting clemency decisions and telling them, “We’re working on it.”

All those lives sacrificed on the altar of Rod’s personal ambition. Shame.

Say what you will about Pat Quinn, he tackled that backlog of clemency requests without worrying about its possible impacts on his political future.

Comment by Soccermom Wednesday, Aug 17, 16 @ 3:15 pm
Mr. President - please do not give this even a second thought.

Comment by illini Wednesday, Aug 17, 16 @ 4:17 pm
Life is unpredictable, anything can happen, but this one just seems beyond the realm.

Comment by A guy Wednesday, Aug 17, 16 @ 4:30 pm
==No way is this gonna happen. No way.==

What Rich said. The antipathy is deep on this one.

Comment by walker Wednesday, Aug 17, 16 @ 4:54 pm
FREE BLAGO! 😭

Comment by Barry's cable guy Wednesday, Aug 17, 16 @ 5:08 pm
Blags is a fool. But his sentence was insanely long.

Comment by Ron Thursday, Aug 18, 16 @ 12:40 am