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And will indicments roll at that level soon?
October Surprise - here it is!
NOW it's going to get interesting. My money is on Rod to take the Daley approach - Mr. Rezko and I weren't that close, but if he did this, I'm disappointed and would expect him to be appropriately punished.
Hear that? That bus that you kept throwing people under is coming around the corner, and it's coming for YOU.
I think Tony's rolling
Other people rolling, Rod's done.
Lots of people talking
To the feds they all are squawking
Rod's a dead gov walking, Rod's done
Write em up
Charge em twice
Send em down
Oxford's nice
Keep those charges coming, Rod's done
Looks like we will soon see a new Rainman quote of the week, any ideas??
How about "Rezko, who??...Ah, what..,um, Ah, what was the question again,um...Never Heard of Him, didn't he work for George Ryan??"
Now who would have the authority to determine who sat on the boards? Hmmm?
You have to love that Rod's only defense to this is that he is so completely clueless that he had no idea what was going on around him.
Note to Rod - ask George how well that defense worked.
Boom Boom Boom BOOM!
Couldn't agree more with you. With each day that passes, this look more like a Judy v. Pat Quinn race. Never thought, I would say it, but not only would I take Pat over Rod, I'll take him over Judy. So I will punch for Rod, while I'll avoid looking at his name, next to Pat's.
Is that the same Pat Quinn that said Rod always tells the truth and does the right thing???
PQ may have some big trouble distancing himself from Blago. He's tainted goods...
Cuff 'em up! Shave 'em down! Lock 'em in!
Rod's done!
Democrats in Illinois are so overwhelmingly corrupt and so focused on staying at the state money and jobs trough, that they'll vote for Blago even if he is indicted before the election, which seems very unlikely.
For a quick fix, let me direct your attention to pages 10-15 and 26-27
I'm so happy that I'm weeping. Hey Gooberner, they are coming for you.
Michael Sneed in today's Sun-Times column had an interesting and funny comment on "The Bickersons Are At It Again" regarding the ongoing recent flare-up of the Blago & Mell family feud.
Politically, he is thrown off message for the duration, legally his ice is getting thinner.
Everyone talks and nobody shows any proof. I am not saying who will or wont be indicted, especially with our power hungry feds but all there is here is a lot of talk and nothing else.
But Blagojevich hurts the worst. He was elected to reform the corruption. He was that shining knight. He was mandated by Illinois voters to do something. We all had such high hopes. He not only broke his promises, he broke them in order to enrich and empower himself. Blagojevich came to our rescue, but instead of rescuing us, flipped us over and continued committing the same crime. It is heartbreaking, frankly.
Don't we deserve honest government? What makes Illinois such a hell-hole for public corruption? Why in the heartland is a place so devoid of good government, it even seduces the people that promised reform?
It is time once again to break out the bucket of tar, burst open the feather pillows and give another governor a rail ride into prison.
C'Mon JUDY! You are our FINAL HOPE!
READ the indictments. Not just today's but the others as well. What more proof could you ask for?
If those payoffs went into the Blago coffers, and they have the proof, that means the feds can freeze his campaign fund and tap him directly with charges...
...a frozen campaign fund means no more saturation bombing of TV ads, and a chance for Judy to blow what's left of her TV/media budget unopposed, like she's had to endure all this time. Turn-about time.
Blago can come out of the groundhog hole now; he will have to defend himself regarding all of this and that disturbs the game plan greatly. It may be too late in the game, but the ball has been fumbled, the pass intercepted; let's see if Red can run it back to the other goal line now.
I tend to agree with those who say this isn't AS bad as it could be for the Governor -- but it sure ain't good.
Give me a break – “There’s nothing in here that directly implicates Blago. Without the smoking gun, its pretty hard for Judy to do more than she’s been doingâ€Â
As opposed to all the stuff that directly implicates Topinka in any of George Ryan’s crimes?
Maybe Blago can go on tour with Hastert and Shimkus on a bipartisan righteosness tour.
- no mention of public official A
- the statement that the alleged contribution to a high ranking public official didn't happen
- lots of finders fees and lot's of money made by Levine and Rezko
A good point, but also points to Judy's problem. Unless she can show he's worse, it's a draw. I think he probably is, but without an indictment that at least lays out the case, it's pretty hard to do.
Re: Your BOSS is on fire, better call 911.
Blago operatives will be getting extremely testy from here on out.
Denny has to be loving P. Fitz right now to deflect some Illinois attention away from him for the moment.
1) Presuming Blago goes into hiding, have a "Where's Blago?" commercial. Judy can wear a deerstalker hat like Sherlock Holmes. Magnifying glass in one hand, cup of coffee in the other.
2) Have Judy debate an empty chair with a portrait of Blago sitting on it.
Keep an eye out for Ruman and his cronies names to crop up at some point on real official legal documents like the one for the press conference at 1. For one, can you say IPAM? Ruman left CMS to go to work for Rezko, probably to count all of the money he made him on other state contract side deals. I hear him and the other two losers from CMS who went to work for Rezko think they have escaped scrutiny because they don't work for the state any longer. Good luck to them on that but don't think for a minute this is over with the TRS scandal. Could just be the tip of iceburg.
Side note, the rawhide songs are great.
Reporters will and have connected the dots, and if you don't believe me, read the headlines and listen to the lead-ins.
What was most interesting to me was that when the firm was shaken down, they were given a choice of either paying $2 million to Rezko/Levine or give $1.5 million to Candidate A directly.
One can only presume that the $500,000 difference is a handling charge for Rezko/Levine, plus applicable taxes.
Brazen is the only word I can think of.
"A state teachers’ pension board member who is a business associate of Republican powerbroker William Cellini has voted to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in pension cash in a real estate investment firm that Cellini founded."
...Some people shouldn't start digging too deep on this.
Like with the $1,500 check, maybe he could have an impromtu PRESS CONFERENCE to clear it all up... ;-)
Look for someone to call on Blagojevich to give the money back, and return every dime raised by Rezko.
If a Rezko plea comes Friday, I think we can expect an announcement of a subpoena of Blagojevich's campaign records next week.
It will be interesting to see how the Blago group handles this but what the average not very interested voter is going to hear is that Blago had a crooked fundraiser who is in trouble with the feds and also appears to now be on the lam. The longer he stays on the lam, the less there will be to talk about, so this story could have a short run.
I predict lots of talk about sympathy for the Rezko wife and kids, dear innocents and all, and yet more talk about how the Blago administration will continue to soldier on and defeat corruption wherever they find it. There will be kudos to the feds for helping Blago uncover corruption. Etc.
JBT will lose by a very slightly smaller margin than she would have. Whitney will get a very few more votes than he would have.
Corruption is bad for us all. Party should not protect crooks and goons.
Add Quinn to the Blago, Topinka duet and we have a trio of lousy candidates.
I wish again for Glenn Poshard.
Looks like the gov will need Bagdad Bob for this one.
Amen to that! Maybe a republican governor in the mansion with dems in both chambers would be interesting and good for this state.
Regardless the world that the repubs created and thrived on for 26 years is gone and if Blago continued it he should be gone too.
This indictment shows that the Governors investigations are working. He congratulates the Attorney General and looks forward to working with him in the future.
The Governor now looks forward to fixing the problems with the pension funds that he inherited from George Ryan.
While this is a sad day for the Governor, he will immediately sever all connections with Tony Rezko.
NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ashur Odishoo
Candidate
State Representative 11th District
I wonder what the [i]Herald-Whig[/i] will ask him. The paper is notoriously pro-transportation, so it might be lenient on the governor. Who knows.
Probably a good thing for him. I should have written that he was _scheduled_ for a 2:00 presser in Quincy.
If you read the indictment closely, and take off your partisan hats for a moment, you will see that the indictment may actually clear Blagojevich - for now.
The story as told by the Justice Department in their indictment today paints a completely different story than the one presented previously.
It looks as thought this scheme was merely for the benefit of a couple of GOP and Democrat fat cats. Although they may have solicited campaign funds for folks like Blago, Obama, Bush and others - there is nothing in the indictment that says that any public official had knowledge of what is alleged in the indictment.
Geographically: Maybe we could start a contest to find and track him until he surfaces for a "press availablity".
Physically; My guess is he's currently finding religion, as in he's "praying to the porcelain god"!
They were able to get certain things done governmentally, like appointments and killing one of the governor's major proposals (consolidating the funds). This indictment "clears" no one, but I do agree at this point in time (subject to change with more thought) with some of you that it's not nearly as damning as it could be. But, I mean, come on. "Pay to play on steroids" is one heckuva quote.
IT HAS LEGS AND THEY WILL LEAD TO BLAGO.
But are they steroid-enhanced legs? ;)
Rich likes "Pay to Play on Steroids"
But my personal favorite was:
"Taking money out of the pockets of retired teachers"
The "Rawhide" lines should appear on at least radio ads.
That is likely the way the governor will spin it, but if he does, Levine and Rezko will likely roll, and if their testimony can be corroborated, that tactic could bite Gov. Blagojevich hard.
It was Blago's plan all along, he entrapped Rezko and other bad apples knowing his partner in crime fighting, Pat Fitzgerald, would be there to nab them.
Job well done Blago!
Will he be issuing indictments too?
Appears to be very damaging to the GOV
Location: Hiding
Testicular Virility: Zero
Gusty: Winds West at 20 to 30 mph.
Thunderstorms turning to snow.
Hard freeze towards morning.
And if you want to set a record for posts, I suggest you start a pool and let everybody start buying dates as to when the Governor will be indicted. Make "Never" one of the picks for the suckers.
I'd like Wednesday, March 7th.
were waiting
Rod's still in his first term.
Ryan had only one term as Governor, and only two terms as SOS.
The solution isn't term limits, it's electing ethical people and getting big money out of politics.
While many have stated that it could have been worse for Rod, yes it could have. But, this is only the door being opened a crack. There probably be many more of these to came.
Not bad for Blago? Hah! Blago and Rezko are/were so close you can't slip a piece of paper between them. How many of Rezko's people ended up in high positions in State government? Quite a few that I am aware of.
The Director of DCEO worked for Rezko for something like 10 years, as the CFO/Director of Development of one of Rezko's companies. He was named as Director when he wasn't even on the list of persons to be considered.
If my memory serves me right, Blago has in the past stated he and Rezko were buds (kitchen cabinet as well). Rezko is also listed on Blagos Economic Interest Statement. He was also involved with Mrs. Blagojevich in real estate deals, as reported on a Federal Income Tax return.
This particular indictment may not be the death blow to Blago but you can bet that there will be more to come. (Queue up Jaws music)