12/09/2008
Well-known illegal immigration enthusiast Governor Rod Blagojevich, the Democratic Governor of Illinois, has been arrested on charges that he was trying to sell the appointment to the Senate seat about to be vacated by Senator Barack Obama.[FBI Arrests Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich,, Blagojevich Arrest Muddies Illinois Political Waters, Washingtonpost.com ]This is the Chicago Way — the Smoking Gun website has the transcripts of his phone calls. Here’s a sample
94. On November 5, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH spoke with JOHN HARRIS regarding what ROD BLAGOJEVICH could obtain for the Senate seat. After discussing various federal governmental positions that ROD BLAGOJEVICH would trade the Senate seat for, ROD BLAGOJEVICH asked about "the private sector" and whether the President-elect could "put something together there … .Something big." Thereafter, HARRIS suggested that the President-elect could make ROD BLAGOJEVICH the head of a private foundation. ROD BLAGOJEVICH told HARRIS that he should do "homework" on private foundations "right away." ROD BLAGOJEVICH asked whether he could get a high-ranking position at the Red Cross. HARRIS stated that "it’s got to be a group that is dependent on [the President-elect]," and that a President probably could not influence the Red Cross. ROD BLAGOJEVICH told HARRIS to "look into all of those."The official indictment [PDF] says that Blagojevich tried to bribe the Chicago Tribune with millions of dollars of state money to fire critics of Blagojevich on their editorial board.
Of course, it must have been annoying to Blagojevich that the Constitution says he had to appoint an American to the Senate — no doubt he was hoping to appoint a hard-working immigrant. Remember, many of the things Blagojevich was openly doing to give benefits to illegals or stall enforcement were obviously corrupt — this shouldn’t come as a surprise.
This is a content archive of VDARE.com, which Letitia James forced off of the Internet using lawfare.