It speaks volumes about the brazen, pathological and pervasive nature of the ‘corruption crime spree’ alleged against Illinois’s sitting governor, Rod Blagojevich, that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald felt moved to describe it as ‘staggering’. In fact, in presenting the Justice Department’s 76-page complaint, Fitzgerald claimed that, because a clearly delusional and venal Governor Blagojevich was escalating his crime spree to such irreparable extremes, federal prosecutors felt compelled to arrest him yesterday to stop it. Specifically, the complaint alleges that:
‘Blagojevich put a ‘for sale’ sign on the naming of a United States senator [to the seat vacated by President Barack Obama]; involved himself personally in pay-to-play schemes with the urgency of a salesman meeting his annual sales target; and corruptly used his office in an effort to trample editorial voices of criticism.’
(Blagojevich arrested for soliciting bribes…even for Obama’s seat, The iPINIONS Journal, December 10, 2008)
Last year, after a federal jury convicted him on only one charge and deadlocked on 23 others, Blago strutted out of court like a man who had just been completely vindicated. And to listen to most legal and political experts back then, you’d think he was.
By contrast, here, in part, is what I wrote about the outcome of that trial:
Frankly, I thought the evidence of his guilt was so overwhelming that the jury would take only hours to convict him on all counts…
Not surprisingly, Fitzgerald has vowed to retry him on all of the 23 charges on which the jury deadlocked. So it’s very likely that yesterday’s apparent victory for Blago will end up being short-lived, if not pyrrhic.
(Blago Loses one, draws feds on 23 others, The iPINIONS Journal, August 18, 2010)
More telling, here is what I wrote long before that first trial, when Blago was being hailed as an amiable victim of a conspiracy between federal prosecutors and the Illinois state legislature:
[L]et me hasten to express my professional disagreement with celebrity lawyers like Geraldo Rivera who have condemned federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald for arresting Blago on criminal charges and lauded Blago for currying favor with the Chicago jury pool during his PR blitz.
Because I am convinced that Fitzgerald not only had probable cause to arrest Blago (as delineated in the now infamous federal criminal complaint) but also has a very good chance of convicting him on corruption charges beyond all reasonable doubt. After all, the potential jurors Blago was trying to win over and influence are the same ones who have convicted and sent off to prison three of his predecessors on similar charges in recent years.
(Blago impeached by vote of 59-0, The iPINIONS Journal, January 30, 2009)
Well, just as I predicted, his presumed vindication ended in a stunning defeat yesterday when, after nine days of deliberations, jurors at his retrial convicted him on 17 of 20 counts stemming from the same charges and based on the same evidence. The normally loquacious ex-governor was almost speechless:
Patti and I obviously are very disappointed in the outcome. I frankly am stunned. There’s not much left to say other than we want to get home to our little girls and talk to them and explain things to them and then try to sort things out.
(CBS News Chicago, June 27, 2011)
Blago, 54, now faces 300 years in prison on these convictions, plus five additional years on the one conviction (on a perjury count for lying to the FBI) from his first trial. When it comes to sentencing, the judge will have considerable latitude, including letting him off with no prison time at all. But I fully expect the judge to sentence him to at least 25 years. Which means that Blago will likely spend the rest of his life in prison, or be a very old man when he gets out.
It’s a damn shame, but justice, as well as what little hope there is of rooting out corruption in Chicago politics, required it to end this way….
Related commentaries:
Blagojevich arrested for soliciting bribes
Blago Loses one…
Blago impeached…
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