Gov. Rod Blagojevich spent much of today holed up with a high-profile lawyer as his spokesman said there was "zero chance" that the governor is about to resign.
Criminal attorney Ed Genson does not usually take on clients who intend to plead guilty. He tells ABC News he has yet to decide whether he will represent the governor. His recent roster includes media mogul Conrad Black, who was sentenced to prison for defrauding his company, and R & B singer R. Kelly, who beat charges that he had sex with a minor.
So he's a celebrity lawyer and he's acting (and talking) like one. You're toast, Rod ...
Blagojevich faces a litany of federal corruption charges, among them attempting to sell President-elect Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder.
The Chicago Tribune reported today that the man Obama named to be his White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel did speak with the governor's office about Obama's replacement, but there was no evidence he knew of any deal making.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2008 00:00 ||
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A former lobbyist said in federal court yesterday that he helped provide an "all-expenses paid" trip to the 2003 World Series for two congressional aides to help a construction-equipment rental company.
Among the goodies the staffers received: free airfare, a hotel stay, a chauffeured sport-utility vehicle and "entertainment, drinks, and T-shirts at a strip club," federal prosecutors said.
James F. Hirni, 36, of Northeast, pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud taxpayers of the aides' honest services in connection with the baseball trip. No sentencing date was set by U.S. District Judge Richard W. Roberts. Hirni was fired last month from his job as a top lobbyist for Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
Prosecutors said Hirni was a lobbyist for the unnamed equipment rental company in 2003 when he helped arrange the baseball trip for two congressional staffers -- Trevor L. Blackann, a former legislative assistant to Sen. Christopher S. Bond (R-Mo.), and an unidentified aide on the House Transportation Committee. Blackann pleaded guilty last month to filing a false tax return for not reporting more than $4,100 in gifts he received from lobbyists.
Hirni, another lobbyist and the equipment company provided the trip to the opening game of the World Series in New York as part of an effort to woo the staffers into helping the equipment firm with legislation, prosecutors said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Just another blow payoff for payoff jobbers Congressional Aides.
Nancy Pelosi says that Senate Republicans were "irresponsible" for opposing the auto bailout, which failed on a cloture vote last night 52 to 35.
Senate Republicans' refusal to support the bipartisan legislation passed by the House and negotiated in good faith with the White House, the Senate and the automakers is irresponsible, especially at a time of economic hardship. The consequences of the Senate Republicans' failure to act could be devastating to our economy, detrimental to workers, and destructive to the American automobile industry
The problem with Pelosi's statement is that 10 Republican Senators voted with the Democrats last night, which means the Democrats could have reached 60 votes if the entire Democratic caucus voted for the bill. But eight Democrats bailed on the bailout (Reid, it should be noted, voted against it for procedural reasons, in order to bring it up for a vote again).
Four Democrats voted 'nay': Baucus, Tester, Lincoln, and Reid.
Four Democrats did not vote: Biden, Kennedy, Kerry, and Wyden.
(And, of course, the Democrats would have another member right now if Blagojevich had sold that Senate seat before he was busted.)
Does Pelosi think that these Democrats, who had the ability to pass the bailout, are "irresponsible," too? And, for that matter, why didn't she simply call them "unpatriotic"? Isn't bailing out the auto industry a better indicator of your love of country than bailing out Wall Street?
#3
Considering how much the Union pension funds had/have accumulated, you'd think they'd have significant controlling interesting in their own companies - if they believed them to be 'profitable'. Wonder why they never did that? /rhetorical question. The union bitches about management exploiting them, only to turn around and attempt to exploit other workers/taxpayers. You are not entitled to be kept in the manner you have become accustomed to when the source of income [the market] disappears.
Is Chris Kennedy, the son of the late, great U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, a possible entrant on the list to fill Presidentelect Barack Obama's Senate seat?
To wit: Sneed hears Kennedy's name has been wafted into the inner circle of Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, who would be the guy who chooses Obama's replacement if Gov. Blagojevich resigns.
Quoth Dem politico Jay Doherty, a Kennedy confidant: "It would give Pat Quinn the answer to the puzzle before him if he becomes governor."
The upshot: Word is Kennedy, who is also the nephew of Sen. Ted Kennedy, a major Obama supporter, is likely to accept if asked.
Hmmm: Wouldn't that be something: An offspring of the legendary Kennedy line as a senator from Illinois? Stay tuned.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
After reading the headline, this article is a real buzzkill, man.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
12/14/2008 1:10 Comments ||
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#2
"Residency" not necessary, apparently.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
12/14/2008 11:33 Comments ||
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#3
Mullah Richard,
Chris Kennedy lives in the Chicago suburbs.
Wow. If Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg takes Hilary's seat, and Chris Kennedy takes Obama's seat, there will be three members of the Kennedy dynasty in the Senate, at least as long as Uncle Ted is around.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
12/14/2008 12:40 Comments ||
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#4
Why do we even bother having elections?
The only hope is Sneed is a 'tool' and her accuracy rate is about 5%... and that is on daylight vs. dark
Posted by: Titus Angererong1098 ||
12/14/2008 13:48 Comments ||
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#5
this nonsense about the Kennedys is dismaying and explains a lot about how an empty suit gets elected POTUS
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/14/2008 13:54 Comments ||
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#6
Thanks Rambler, you are correct. He is a 'Liguistics' professor at the University of Chicago. This must be great training for politics, no?
I was confusing him with one of the other Kennedy horde.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
12/14/2008 16:14 Comments ||
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#7
Got that one wrong, too. He is the president of the "Merchandise Mart" in Chicago.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
12/14/2008 16:21 Comments ||
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#8
He is the president of the "Merchandise Mart" in Chicago.
I have to ask, is that an office of the city, county or state government?
Why are Chicago machine Democrats lining up against Gov. Rod "Dead Meat" Blagojevich like a bunch of thin-lipped Victorian physicians in some old movie set in an musty insane asylum?
Since Tuesday, they've been swinging their silver hammers at his cranium with righteous gusto. They're eager to give him a political lobotomy.
Why? That's easy.
Gov. Dead Meat is infected, not with some mental disorder, but with something far worse. He's got a raging case of feditis. They don't know if it's the isolated feditis or the creeping kind, threatening not only the locals but the reform image of their guy about to assume the White House.
As everybody knows by now, Dead Meat was caught on federal tape, allegedly trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder. So Dead Meat was declared insane.
They pointed to those f-bombs on the federal tape and that crazy hair of his. The other paper in town even ran a hair "expose" on its Page 2, saying the governor's ample hair helmet proved he was mentally unstable.
But that same day, I diagnosed Blagojevich as quite sane, because all he did was act like just another corrupt Chicago politician. He squeezed people. That's how things are done in the city that is not Camelot.
Still, Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan asked the state Supreme Court on Friday to declare Blagojevich "disabled." She called on the justices--some of whom are there by grace of the Chicago machine--to remove Blagojevich, pronto. "State government is paralyzed by a governor who is incapable of governing," Madigan insisted. "We would look to the fact that the term 'disability' legally is very broad, that it is not simply isolated to a physical or mental disability."
Incapable of what? Signing his name to bills? He can sign his name, to bills, or to a federal witness list, which would be much nicer. But they don't want that, or another week or two of Gov. Dead Meat leading the nightly news.
After stubbornly refusing to see Chicago politics as it really is, the national media are finally paying attention. That's great news for most everybody, except for our politicians.
Madigan's stunt was treated as legitimate jaw-dropping news by the national networks. She declared herself "the people's lawyer," over and over. It has a nice ring to it, "people's lawyer," and I thought of one of those TV shows I would watch only on pain of death, like "Law and Order," where the earnest attorneys make the big speech for the public good, before they cut to the Depends commercial.
What they didn't report on the evening news is this: Lisa Madigan is more than just "the people's lawyer." She's a candidate for governor and Dead Meat is in her way. Her daddy is Mike Madigan, powerful boss of the machine's 13th Ward and speaker of the Illinois House who hates Dead Meat.
Her dad wants to make her governor. She wants to be governor. And the best way to get there is to whisk Dead Meat into a political straitjacket and lock him in the political version of a padded cell.
This business about the governor's sanity didn't begin when he was charged. It began during the state budget battle last summer, when Mike Madigan's spokesman, Steve Brown, told reporters in Springfield that the governor was a psycho. "Let me give you a little hint: Go to a computer and Google 'sociopath.' In layman's terms it lays out the traits and diagnosis of behavior that accurately fits Blagojevich," Brown said.
That was funny. And now, Jay Leno and Dave Letterman and Conan O'Brien repeat variations of it, buttressing the Democratic mantra that what comes out of a madman's mouth cannot be believed. But just imagine if Dead Meat talks to the feds, or stands up on his hind legs to fight back if fellow Democrats impeach him in the Illinois legislature. The governor might actually mention a few of the legislators' deals. Ouch.
Obama, though not personally implicated in any of this, wouldn't like it much. The national media outlets were desperate to portray him as someone about to transcend our politics. But in Chicago he was just a smooth guy on the way up, looking the other way.
If crazy hair and strange utterances--even frightening expressions in public--are the criteria for a politician who's been "disabled," I wonder why the Illinois Democrats didn't apply their standards to another guy.
Mayor Richard Daley.
Sometimes he frightens people, his hair gets wild, his eyebrows fly off his forehead, his face turns purple, his jaw juts out, like when he's channeling his inner Mayor Chucky. It happened a few years ago, when the Tribune revealed he gave $100 million in affirmative action contracts to white guys who were friends of his with Outfit connections. Even Obama didn't question the mayor's sanity then. Nor did any other Democrat who valued his or her career.
In Illinois, I guess, political mental health is just a state of mind.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
In Chicago, if the (cement) shoe fits, wear it.
#2
Hi, here in Chicagoland and just want to put a plug in for this Kass guy. He has been a "pebble in the shoe" of Illinois politics for a while and if not for him I'd have totally cancelled my Trib, instead of going down to Sundays and Wed.
He also has a great greek recipe for Beer can chicken, gave me the least expensive recipe to brine my turkey this Thanksgiving and occasionally talks about real important things, like raising bad kids into good adults.
I don't like all his work, but am pleased to see him get some air time on O'Reilly and other shows. He is an equal opportunity reporter who will go after the all players in Chicago, including the Outfit. Check him out.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/14/2008 9:56 Comments ||
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#4
Democrats first reaction is to defend their fellow donk. Except in this case. For the first time in my life, the donks didn't defend their own.
This guy is radioactive and the donks knew it even before Fritz yanked him off his treadmill.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
12/14/2008 10:14 Comments ||
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#5
Yup, Kass is good. Royko was better, but Kass is good.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/14/2008 11:23 Comments ||
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Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan asked the state Supreme Court on Friday to declare Blagojevich "disabled." ...She declared herself "the people's lawyer"
#8
She declared herself "the people's lawyer," over and over
Maybe it's just me, but I've not had very good luck with folks like Lisa over the years. I'll wait until she publishes her "people's manifesto." I'm certain she'll sort it all out for me there.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich spent much of today holed up with a high-profile lawyer as his spokesman said there was "zero chance" that the governor is about to resign. 
