Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been arrested on federal charges alleging that he tried to sell or trade the Senate seat now open by the presidential election of Barack Obama. A wiretap caught the Democrat calling the Senate seat, which he considered taking himself, “a valuable thing – you just don’t give it away for nothing.” He’s also alleged to have illegally threatened to withhold state assistance to Tribune Co., related to the sale of Wrigley Field, unless members of the Chicago Tribune’s editorial board were fired. “The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering,” said U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald.
Corruption looks like a bipartisan thing in the Illinois governor’s office. The state’s last governor, Republican George Ryan, is serving six years for racketeering and fraud. Two other governors since 1961, both Democrats, have ended up serving prison time.
Columnist Eugene Robinson contends that the indictments of five private security guards for allegedly killing 17 unsuspecting Iraqi civilians in 2007 are “a whitewash that absolves the government and corporate officials who should bear ultimate responsibility.” Case documents released Monday claim that the Blackwater Worldwide employees used automatic rifles and grenade launchers to fire on cars, houses, a traffic officer and a girls’ school, the New York Times reported. Robinson wrote: “As with the torture and humiliation of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison, our government is deflecting all scrutiny from the corporate higher-ups who employed the guards – to say nothing of the policymakers whose decisions made the shootings possible, if not inevitable.”
Returning to his former pulpit Sunday to mark the 47th anniversary of Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright seemed to blame Barack Obama’s break with mentor Wright and his church on others (describing, for example, Elisabeth Hasselbeck of ABC’s “The View” as “that dumb broad”). Wright said: “The hatred of the media and the haters in politics may have caused him to distance himself from us, but the love of Christ will never allow me to distance myself from him. I can no more disown him than I can disown any other child of mine who makes (a) bad decision. He made a bad decision, but he’s still my child.”
President-elect Barack Obama’s savvy choice for Veterans Affairs secretary, retired Gen. Eric Shinseki, sends several interesting messages: That Obama welcomes Cabinet members who will speak their minds even if doing so contradicts the White House line. That he disliked the shabby treatment Shinseki got from the Bush Pentagon, which replaced him as Army chief of staff after he told Congress before the 2003 Iraq invasion that higher troop levels were needed than those favored by then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. That he’s serious about repairing the VA system, which has been insufficient to meet the needs of returning Iraq war veterans. And it wins Obama another point for diversity (Shinseki is Japanese-American).
Voters finally sent Rep. William “Cold Cash” Jefferson packing. The Louisiana Democrat – who won re-election in 2006 despite facing federal charges related to soliciting bribes, money laundering and other offenses – narrowly lost his re-election race Saturday. Unfortunately, the upset victory by Republican newcomer Anh Cao was less about voters holding Jefferson accountable and more about low voter turnout.
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been arrested on federal charges alleging that he tried to sell or trade the Senate seat now open by the presidential election of Barack Obama. A wiretap caught the Democrat calling the Senate seat, which he considered taking himself, “a valuable thing – you just don’t give it away for nothing.” He’s also alleged to have illegally threatened to withhold state assistance to Tribune Co., related to the sale of Wrigley Field, unless members of the Chicago Tribune’s editorial board were fired. “The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering,” said U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald.
