Wow! What stupidity by Governor Blagojevich.
I cannot explain the stupidity and gall of Governor Blagojevich.
From Political Animal:
CHUTZPAH…. Reading the case (pdf) against Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) paints a remarkable picture. The charges will, of course, still have to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, but there are tape recordings of the governor’s conversations that are going to be very difficult to explain.
We’re not just talking about playing fast and loose with ethics rules here; we’re talking about almost comical levels of corruption. It’s not quite as jaw-dropping as the case against disgraced former Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-Calif.) — now that was an interesting read — but it’s certainly in the ballpark.
But there’s some context here that shouldn’t go overlooked. Josh Marshall noted:
Even setting aside the primordial level of corruption of trying to sell the senate seat of the President-elect of the United States, I never fail to be amazed at the brazenness and stupidity of some political crooks. I mean, I think everyone involved in politics or interested in political corruption in the country had to know that Blagojevich’s phones were tapped and probably his offices were bugged, and that Pat Fitzgerald had him under the craziest level of scrutiny. And he tries to sell the senate seat with that hanging over his head? That’s simply amazing. I guess you could say he’s just a traditionalist, trying to keep up heritage of Chicago machine politics. But with some of these characters, it must just be pathological. (more… )
Fitzgerald mentioned that the Chicago Tribune was going to run a story on the whole situation but was asked by the FBI and the US Attorney’s office to hold off on publishing it. Here’s the Tribune’s official statement from the editor:
The Chicago Tribune investigated allegations of misconduct involving Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich independent of the U.S. attorney’s criminal probe.
As a standard practice, our reporters contact individuals involved in these stories for confirmation and comment prior to publication. Consequently, we contacted the U.S. attorney’s office in the course of our reporting.
On occasion, prosecutors asked us to delay publication of stories, asserting that disclosure would jeopardize the criminal investigation. In isolated instances, we granted the requests, but other requests were refused.
The Chicago Tribune’s interest in reporting the news flows from its larger obligation of citizenship in a democracy. In each case, we strive to make the right decision as reporters and as citizens. That’s what we did in this case.
TPM has a ton of stuff on this case. Here and here.
The Chicago Tribune, of course, also has a whole lot.
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