The Blago Trial

Blago Trial Update: July 21

Isaiah Stegman — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 19:30:47 +0000

Blago Trial Update: July 13

Isaiah Stegman — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:30:09 +0000

Lessons from the Blagojevich Trial

Isaiah Stegman — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:23:37 +0000

In a recording made on October 22, 2008, former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich can be heard talking to road-building executive Gerry Krozel. Apparently Blagojevich was offering a $6 billion public works project for Krozel’s industry in return for Krozel fundraising for him. Blagojevich was rather insistent because a new Illinois ethics law would soon come into effect that would prevent him from raising money from companies that do business with the government. And he was remarkably blasé about it: “The good news for you guys,” said Blagojevich, “is we won’t be able to bully you guys.”

In another recording, Blagojevich entertained the idea of threatening to hinder the Chicago Tribune’s sale of the Cubs and Wrigley Field if they did not purge the paper’s editorial board, which was calling for his impeachment. Does this Chicago style of bully politics sound familiar?

It certainly sounds like President Obama and Valerie Jarrett’s friend Tom Balanoff. Balanoff is the SEIU boss whom Pres. Obama called the night before the election to tell of Jarrett’s interest in the soon-to-be-open Illinois senate seat. Balanoff said he “planned to tell Blagojevich that if he didn’t appoint Jarrett then the governor couldn’t expect future help from the union.” It is also reminiscent of President Obama’s firing of GM CEO Rick Wagoner, and the speedy bankruptcy of GM and Chrysler. President Obama’s friends at the UAW came out much better off financially than many other creditors who had prior claim to the auto companies’ assets.

So, it seems that the Blagojevich trial is doing the country a great service: reminding everyone of the way things are done in Chicago, the place where the president chose to build political career.

The Blago Trial Daily Update: July 8

Isaiah Stegman — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 18:57:58 +0000

The Blago Trial Daily Update: July 6

Isaiah Stegman — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:20:05 +0000

The Blago Trial Daily Update: July 1

Isaiah Stegman — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 15:06:28 +0000

Here is the latest news out of Chicago on the Blago Trial:

Deep-dish Senate Seats

Isaiah Stegman — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:47:18 +0000

From former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s trial we have learned that the governor, during a conversation with his chief of staff, John Harris, that was being recorded, worried that their conversation might be recorded. Harris dismissed his concerns. “So what if you’re on a recording,” Harris told him. “You could be ordering a cheese and mushroom pizza.” As everyone now knows, they were not ordering pizza, but trying to leverage the governor’s ability to appoint a U.S. Senator into a lucrative position for Blagojevich after his term ended. We have also learned that the day before the November 4, 2008 presidential election, then Senator Obama personally called SEIU leader Tom Balanoff and told him that Valerie Jarrett wanted to be Senator. Balanoff told the President that he would bring this to Blagojevich’s attention.

Thus, we have an example, even before the President had been elected, of his familiarity with the cavalier trade of political offices. And we discover the modus operandi of these kinds of operations: the approach through an intermediary, to keep Obama’s hands clean. Thus, it is Obama ally Tom Balanoff who approaches Governor Blagojevich. Later it was former President Clinton who met with Rep. Joe Sestak and offered him a job in order to get him to drop out of the Pennsylvania Senate race. And, similarly, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina was dispatched with job offers to entice Colorado Democrat Andrew Romanoff not to enter his state’s Senate primary.
The White House has at least attempted to justify the Sestak and Romanoff incidents, but had no comment on the Balanoff story. This comes as no surprise since the key players of the Obama political operation cut their teeth in Chicago politics, where dealing in Senate seats is like ordering cheese and mushroom pizza.

Correction: The original draft stated that the mushroom and cheese pizza quote was used by Gov. Blagojevich to placate John Harris’ worry about being recorded. It was, in fact, the other way around and the text has been changed to reflect this.

The Blago Trial Daily Update: June 28

Adam Bitely — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 15:57:54 +0000

Here is the latest news out of Chicago on the Blago trial:

Valerie Jarrett Subpoenaed in Blago Trial

Adam Bitely — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 20:25:22 +0000

By Adam Bitely -

Valerie Jarrett has been subpoenaed in the Blago trial along with White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.

From Politico:

Rahm Emanuel and Valerie Jarrett have received subpoenas from defense lawyers in the corruption trial of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, joining a long list of federal officials who could be called to testify in the closely watched trial.

A White House official confirmed that Emanuel, President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, and Jarrett, one of Obama’s senior advisers, received the subpoenas, the existence of which were first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times Wednesday afternoon.

Blagojevich faces charges ranging from corrupt practices on the state level to trying to sell his power to appoint a successor to then-Sen. Barack Obama when Obama won the presidency in late 2008.

Jarrett joins a long list of corrupt officials that will be packed into a Windy City court room throughout the summer.

Of Plates, Recessions and Eager Vice Presidents

Adam Bitely — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 20:44:53 +0000

Earlier this month Valerie Jarrett told the Chicago Sun-Times’ Lynn Sweet not to read much into the fact that President Obama was not choosing to accompany the U.S. Olympic Delegation to the Vancouver Olympics. “‘He has a pretty full plate right now, as you could expect. And the Vice President really wanted to go and this was important to him and so the president asked him to lead the delegation. I don’t need to tell you just what a tough time this is right now,’ Jarrett said.”

OK, Ms. Jarrett, let’s take a look at these reasons. We’ll start with the last one. “I don’t need to tell you just what a tough time this is right now.” Yes, we all know how tough times are right now. With 9.7% unemployment, 9.4 million bankruptcies in the last year, as well as 2.8 million home foreclosures, it’s hard to forget. But, you see, you and the White House are currently pushing a narrative of recovery, of the stimulus having been a success, of things being better now. Supposedly things are better than they were in September 2009 when unemployment was at 9.8% and the stimulus bill had not had the time to save/create the thousands/millions of jobs (by the way, Ms. Jarrett, have y’all at the White House decided how many yet, and whether they were saved or created or both?)/ Of course last September was also when the President ran off (at your urging) on a last-minute trip to the International Olympic Committee meeting in Copenhagen to support his home town of Chicago in its spectacularly unsuccessful bid to host the 2016 Olympic Summer Games.

And things must certainly be better for you and the White House now than they were in December 2009, when unemployment hit 10% and the United States was saved from a terrorist attack not by the effectiveness of our security systems, but by the fortunate ineptitude of the terrorist; that same month of December when Pres. Obama once again traveled the 7,958 mile round-trip to Copenhagen to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

So, you see, we’re a little confused. Apparently the current state of the Union (better now than it has been according to you and the White House) is so precarious that the President cannot take the time to make the 4,882 mile round trip to Vancouver, on the same continent, and mere miles from the U.S. border. How is it, then, that twice in the past six months when the state of the union was even more precarious, was he able to take the time to travel farther, and to a different continent nowhere near the U.S. homeland? He could take time to travel to Denmark, a not particularly strong or influential ally, but not to Canada, our neighbor, largest trading partner, and biggest supplier of petroleum and crude oil? He could twice take time to address an international body in Copenhagen, but not to see the international athletes and several of their heads of state gathered in Vancouver? We don’t quite buy that.

Next. “He has a pretty full plate right now.” First off, let’s stipulate that every president’s plate is always pretty full. That said, is it any more full than it was last September or December? I seem to remember Congress being in session almost the entirety of both those months, yet precisely this week in February 2010, the opening week of the Olympics, Congress is in recess for President’s Day. Of course, the President can still have a full schedule without Congress being in session. What then did he do this weekend? Apparently, he spent it at Camp David and after 12:00 pm on Friday the 12^th had no more public events until Tuesday, February 16. Hmmm… it doesn’t seem that the President’s plate was all that full.

And finally, “the Vice President really wanted to go and this was important to him.” The President decided not to go to Vancouver because “the Vice President really wanted to go”? Could they not both make an appearance, like they recently did at the Georgetown-Duke game? You’re asking us to believe that Pres. Obama snubbed Canada, their Prime Minister (who had to meet with the veep, instead) and their Olympics, to make Joe Biden happy? Are you saying that Pres. Obama is not the serious man you all claim that he is? Not likely.

So what is the real reason, Ms. Jarrett? An analysis of the trips might shed some light. The trips to Copenhagen were trips to see left-leaning international bodies, in left-leaning cities, with left-leaning national governments, and the President was expecting to walk away in triumphant glory. The Nobel Committee fulfilled on all accounts. The International Olympic Committee basically snubbed the President. Now we have Vancouver: left-leaning international body, left-leaning city, with oh! a right-leaning national government, and no expected triumph or glory for the President, but, in fact, the reminder of a what had to have been a painful snub.

Hmmm… as always, Ms. Jarrett, reading between the lines of your comments is always very enlightening.