Some Other Clever Use Of Rod Blagojevich's Name As A Title

Rod Blagojevich is a marked man, but there's a right way and a wrong way to remove him from office. We have trial by jury in this country, and a legal effort to remove him by fiat as "unfit to serve" seems to me to be extra-judicial and just a way for the Attorney General of Illinois to grandstand a little bit. As her father is the head of the State House, and seems to be a little wary of impeachment, it looks to me like he's deferring to his daughter to allow her to get the credit. The much more responsible option is to go through the impeachment process and have this handled by the people's representatives.

Meanwhile, the continued drip-drip-drip of allegations are threatening to swallow up more people who came into Blagojevich's orbit. The man who replaced Obama in the Illinois State Senate, Kwame Raoul, explained to the New York Times that it was an "open secret" that Blago wanted something for the Senate appointment.

In a rare firsthand account of how Mr. Blagojevich, a two-term Democrat, went about the selection process, an Illinois state senator said in an interview that he had felt pressured to respond to the governor’s interest in him with a quid pro quo agreement and has withdrawn his name because of increasing wariness about the process.

The state senator, Kwame Raoul, who represents the South Side of Chicago, offered few details of his interaction with the governor’s office but said he received a call about a month ago confirming that he was under consideration. Soon afterward, however, Mr. Raoul said he ran head-on into another message: that the governor was looking for a candidate who offered something of tangible value to him.

“It was open knowledge among people in and around Springfield,” Mr. Raoul said. “Legislators and lobbyists alike openly talked about the fact that the governor would want to appoint somebody who would benefit him. I can firmly say that I’ve had these conversations, that I’ve spoken with both legislators and lobbyists who felt that that would be the consideration in his appointment.”

Mr. Raoul would not specifically say what the content of the conversations were, or whom they were with, except that the initial inquiry from the governor’s office was made by Victor Roberson, deputy director for intergovernmental affairs. Interest in his candidacy died on both sides, Mr. Raoul said, adding, “Obviously, the perception was that I didn’t have anything to give other than my service.”

That should completely exonerate Raoul, and it looks to me like the Obama campaign had the same kind of diffident response to Blagojevich's offer, yet the notion of any contact at all has the whiff of impropriety to a scandal-hungry media. And so Rahm Emanuel is taking heat for possibly taking a phone call to the Governor, to which he said "No" pretty firmly. That's pretty unfair to him. The Fox affiliate in Chicago is claiming they did talk, but what's more important is what was said.

Meanwhile, the questions around Jesse Jackson Jr. continue to swirl.

As Gov. Rod Blagojevich was trying to pick Illinois' next U.S. senator, businessmen with ties to both the governor and U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. discussed raising at least $1 million for Blagojevich's campaign as a way to encourage him to pick Jackson for the job, the Tribune has learned.

Blagojevich made an appearance at an Oct. 31 luncheon meeting at the India House restaurant in Schaumburg sponsored by Oak Brook businessman Raghuveer Nayak, a major Blagojevich supporter who also has fundraising and business ties to the Jackson family, according to several attendees and public records.

Two businessmen who attended the meeting and spoke to the Tribune on the condition of anonymity said that Nayak and Blagojevich aide Rajinder Bedi privately told many of the more than two dozen attendees the fundraising effort was aimed at supporting Jackson's bid for the Senate.

Uh-oh. Suffice to say that I don't think Jackson's getting the Senate job anytime soon.