1956 - Milorad Blagojevich is born in Chicago to Serbian immigrant parents.
2002 - "Rod" beats Roland "Himself" Burris and Paul "Ejukashun" Vallas for the Democratic nomination for Illinois Governator.
COINCIDENCE? I think NOT!
“There are always a few bad apples.”
-Rod Blagojevich
"I'm blacker than Barack Obama."
-Rod Blagojevich
FROM THE CHURCH OF INEFFABLE STUPIDITY:
The week after Rod won the nomination for governor, he created a committee to support his campaign for president. No Joke. With a heavy duty support system from both Cook County and Chicago, (daddums in law was and remains a local powerhouse pol, who makes & breaks judges, aldercritters, and state house and senatwhores) and with enough money, he may have even matched the incredible presidential sucksess of Chris Dodd.
Even after his indictment became public, he never bothered to close down his presidential investigation committee. For all we know, it still may exist.
But enough about Bloggo, and whatever complex mental shenanigans might be taking place under his perfectly coifed hair.
- - -
It has been a wicked hot 11 days. The jury has been working hard. But, they seem to be on top of things.
The jurors in the Rod Blagojevich corruption trial indicated this morning that they’ve reached unanimous agreement on only two of the 24 counts in the indictment.
Jurors indicated they have not deliberated on the wire fraud counts in the indictment, which make up nearly half of the charges in the case.
U.S. District Judge James Zagel sent jurors a note telling them to go back and deliberate on the ones they haven't even talked about.
There are 11 wire fraud counts in the indictment, and they largely have to do with allegations that the former governor tried to sell a U.S. Senate seat.
Chicago Suntimes
A couple of observations.
First, this jury is working, and working hard. At one time, they asked for EVERY TRIAL TRANSCRIPT, so they could review the testimony. The judge said no. I suspect that they were looking for an excuse to pin something on Bloggo, but their notes were too hazy on the facts.
Second, Pat Fitzgerald is a pretty overblown, blowhard, slow as iced molasses in winter, uncreative, prosecutor. We should (and did) learn that during the Scooter Libby fiasco. We saw how he bows to power, allows repeated legal Mulligans to those who least deserved them, and how he delayed and used a dying inchworm to determine what speed he should apply to his investigation, guaranteeing that any grand jury and/or statute of limitations would expire. On the other hand, he could also be jacked into a sudden move, with the proper pressure, making serious mistakes of judgment.
In this case, he did both.
Third, this seems to be a unique jury. Educated, thinking, rational. A Prosecutor's dream, in other words. That means they read papers, and knew just how scummy Bloggo was. Is. Will be.
Fourth, after ten days of deliberation, the jury ignored all wire fraud discussions. That tells you something. That tells you a lot.
In their powerful opening, the prosecution promised the world, (and the jury), a whole bunch of shit, with dozens of famous witnesses, including Tony Rezko, Valerie Jarrett, and other celebrities. They never delivered. To the contrary, the most seasoned legal observers kept asking, "If you had thousands and thousands of hours of taped Bloggo conversations, emails, letters, and more, and you picked these couple of dozen short segments, where's the beef?"
Exactly. Where's the beef?
I have no doubts that Bloggo either has some complex mental issue, and/or, he may have traded mid level offices in state government for campaign donations of $40k or so. Even daddums in law admitted that, in public, to the press, for attribution, with knowledge that would bring in the feds. (Bloggo and daddums in law do NOT get along well) He confirmed what people had rumored for over a year.
Another problem is that Fitz's team overreached. They piled on like Big Brother in Gitmo, adding count after count after count, in hopes that something would stick. Maybe that works in some places, with a mid level drug dealer, and the repetition of multiple sales would drive home a point like a nail, but here? There was no smoking gun. There was no evidence of any actual crime. Hell, he appointed the man he beat out for governor!
Did Bloggo break some rules? Possibly. Is he worthy of holding public office? No way. Did the prosecution prove their case? Very likely not. Will he be convicted? I suspect that they might . . . . . MIGHT . . . feel sorry for an inept prosecution team and give them a throw away conviction, on the smallest, least painful charge. Or maybe not.
Those who once talked about Fitz and his team as super-litigators. . . . you should look seriously at their true record. He screwed up Scooter. He probably screwed up this one, too.