I apologize for the relative brevity of this diary, and if it is a duplicate (I did search), I will remove it immediately.
However, some news has caught my eye, and I thought I would share it:
Meanwhile, a former senior advisor to Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich 1/81/8 blah-GOYA-vich 3/83/8 is suggesting the House panel examining impeachment order a psychiatric exam for the embattled Illinois governor.
In a memo to the panel, Bob Arya outlined a series of jealous outbursts, frightened staff, and emotional instabilities he observed during his time in the office.
Arya says Blagojevich's reactions were "violently unpredictable" and depended on the time of day and his mood.
The governor also allegedly took out personal vendettas against lawmakers with whom he had issues by refusing to help their constituents
http://illinoishomepage.net/...
Let's discuss, shall we? Follow me . . .
In Illinois, the test for insanity is the M'Naughton test. Simply put, this rule has two parts:
(1) Did the defendant show he lacked substantial capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or
(2) to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law.
In other words, did he know the nature and quality of his acts or that his exacts were against the law.
If we are to judge by some of the allegations, such as the ones listed above, there is room to argue that the Governor acted irrationally.
In addition:
Arya says Blagojevich "dislikes" Barack Obama because the President-elect is, quote, "living the life Rod envisioned for himself." He also says the governor's primary goal for much of his administration has been to damage House Speaker Michael Madigan
Do these acts violate M'Naughton?
Among other allegations, the Governor is charged with holding up the sale of the of Chicago's beloved Wrigley Field (currently owned by the Tribune Company) unless certain members of the Tribune Editorial Board were fired.
"
Fire all those bleeping people. Get them the bleep out of there. And get us some editorial support
Surely, Blagojevich is aware that using the power of his office for personal gain is a violation of the public trust, if not Official Misconduct, defined in the Illinois Criminal Code as: "With intent to obtain a personal advantage for himself or another, he performs an act in excess of his lawful authority." (20 ILCS 5/33-3(c))
Moreover, it has been alleged that a $1.8 billion dollar would be given to a contractor who would raise $100,000 for the Governor:
I could have made a larger announcement but wanted to see how they would perform by the end of the year. If they don't perform, bleep 'em.
Another issue revealed from the transcripts concerns funding for a children's hospital. Blagojevich originally approved the funding (some $8 million), but a later intercept indicated that he was seeking to renege because a $50k personal contribution from the hospital director was not forthcoming.
At one point, the governor awarded funding, reimbursement funding to that hospital to the tune of $8 million. But he also indicated privately that what he wanted to get was a $50,000 personal contribution from the chief executive officer of that hospital.
And of course, we are all aware of the cherry on top of this turdcake - the allegations that the now-vacant (still!) Senate seat held by President Elect Obama was up for sale to the highest bidder:
"It's a bleeping valuable thing -- thing. You just don't give it away for nothing," close quote.
Another quote, "I've got this thing, and it's bleeping golden. And I'm just not giving it up for bleeping nothing. I'm not going to do it, and I can always use it; I can parachute me there
All of these allegations are based on intercepted telephone coversations during an on-going investigation by U. S. Attorney Fitzgerald. Further, the Governor knew he was a target in the investigation. He made no attempt to conceal his actions, in fact he stepped up his operation:
You might have thought in that environment that pay-to-play would slow down. The opposite happened. It sped up. Government (sic) Blagojevich and others were working feverishly to get as much money from contractors, shaking then down, pay-to-play, before the end of the year
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So this brings up the question: Can Gov. Blagojevich pass both parts of a M'Naughton test? Did he have the capacity to understand the (alleged) criminality of his acts? Could he have conformed his conduct to the requirements of the law?
I don't have the answer to this one, folks. It's been said that the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath is this: The psychopath doesn't know the difference between right and wrong; the sociopath knows the difference - but doesn't care.
Not being a medical doctor, I couldn't say if the governor has either of these pathologies.
But I'm pretty sure I know which one is worse.