Blagojevich Trial Testimony Contradicts Obama and Jarrett
What do you get when you mix one preening, narcissistic, disgraced ex-governor; two histrionic and bombastic defense attorneys; three steely-eyed, experienced prosecutors; and a jury made up of 12 men and women, good and true citizens all?
Just another corruption trial in Chicago.
In truth, the trial of Rod Blagojevich, the impeached governor of Illinois, on 16 counts of corruption including racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud, extortion conspiracy, attempted extortion, and making false statements to federal agents is a little bit more than “just another corruption trial” — except for the the sad fact that we have heard it all before, and more than once. At least 79 Illinois public officials have been convicted of wrongdoing since 1972, including three governors, two other state officials, 15 state legislators, two congressmen, one mayor, three other city officials, 27 aldermen, 19 Cook County judges, and seven other Cook County officials.
The unifying factor in the overwhelming majority of these cases was petty, personal monetary aggrandizement. Payoffs to judges for lenient sentences or even acquittals, kickbacks to aldermen, illegal campaign contributions, cash in shoeboxes, “pay to play” payoffs, contracts to cronies — the endless, ridiculous, maddening, depressing litany of abuses Illinois taxpayers have had to endure has made the state a laughingstock, so much so that an entire sub-genre of one-liners about Illinois politics and politicians has grown up around the sleaze. Most citizens of this state figure if they can’t do anything about the corruption, at least they can laugh about it.
At the federal courthouse in Chicago, however, it is deadly serious business. Prosecutors allege that Blagojevich tried to trade the Senate seat vacated by the election of Barack Obama to the presidency for personal gain, including cash inducements and employment considerations. Rather than comical, the testimony so far reveals a politician more pathetic than amusing.
Already under investigation for corruption in late 2008, Blagojevich was desperately casting about for cash (or a job that would pay him a large salary) to finance his re-election, pay for top-flight lawyers to defend him, and feed his insatiable need for status and acceptance. He saw his powers of senatorial appointment as a ticket to paradise — a once-in-a-politician’s-lifetime opportunity to grab the brass ring and either enrich himself or place himself in the center of power in Washington.
He thought he had Barack Obama over a barrel. He didn’t. The president may have devoutly wished for his close friend Valerie Jarrett to take his place in the Senate, but he wasn’t willing to pay Blago’s price of a cabinet seat. Blagojevich believed he could manipulate Rahm Emanuel into getting some rich men to throw a fundraiser for his re-election. Once again, he was mistaken.
What is perhaps most interesting about Blagojevich’s machinations is the level of contact he and his aides initiated with the Obama White House. You may recall that the White House cleared itself of any wrongdoing in the matter when the transition team carried out its own internal investigation. Since the country was ga-ga over Obama at the time, no one seemed to think it unusual that the Obama team, in effect, declared themselves innocent — especially since no one had really accused them of being guilty. This report compiled by White House attorney Greg Craig has been the final word on the involvement in this matter of Obama and top aides Emanuel, Axelrod, Jarrett, and others.
But at the trial, John Harris, Blagojevich’s former chief of staff who made a deal with the prosecutor in exchange for his testimony, offers some impressions that directly contradict that report and call into question whether or not there were third-party negotiations to put Jarrett in the Senate.
Harris testified that it was his impression that then-President-elect Obama knew that his boss wanted a cabinet posting in exchange for seating Jarrett:
“(Blagojevich) feels very confident that the president understands that the governor would be willing to make the appointment of Valerie Jarrett as long as he gets what he’s asked for,” Harris, Blagojevich’s former chief of staff, testified, as he explained the recording, continuing: “The governor gets the cabinet appointment he’s asked for.”
Obama’s internal report about his staff’s contacts with Blagojevich at the time indicates that Balanoff relayed to Jarrett that Blagojevich was interested in a Health and Human Services cabinet post. The report says Jarrett did not in her mind link the cabinet post request to her appointment to the Senate seat.
Jarrett, a longtime player in the rough and tumble of Chicago politics, didn’t link the cabinet post for Blagojevich with her Senate appointment? If you believe that, there’s a drawbridge over the Chicago River I can sell you — cheap. The trade-off was discussed by third parties, including Blagojevich mouthpiece Doug Scofield representing the governor and SEIU union leader and Andy Stern confidante Tom Balanoff representing the Obama camp. Scofield reported to Blagojevich that Obama was not interested in the swap. The governor related that conversation to Harris: “[Obama] [d]idn’t know quite what to make of my request. Barack really wants to get away from Illinois politics,” Blagojevich said.
The transition team report has this definitive statement about what the president-elect knew about Blago’s wheeling and dealing:
At no time in the discussion of the Senate seat or of possible replacements did the president-elect hear of a suggestion that the governor expected a personal benefit in return for making this appointment to the Senate.
That’s simply not true and the testimony at the trial contradicts it. And although there was nothing concrete in the transition team’s statement, one gets the sense listening to Harris that there was a lot more of an intense interest in who would replace Obama than the White House appeared to let on in that report.
This is borne out by the possibility that Jarrett met with Blanoff to discuss how to effect the trade-off:
Blagojevich said it’s become clear to him that Balanoff and Jarrett had met personally to discuss the matter.
“So she knows now she can be a senator if I get [the] Health and Human Services presidential appointment,” Blagojevich says on the recording. “So how bad does she want to be a U.S. senator?”
I suspect that Obama’s ethics had very little to do with Jarret’s withdrawal as a candidate for Obama’s vacant Senate seat.
By November 2008, Obama and presumably Jarret had become aware that Blagojevich was under investigation and would probably be indicted, which might explain why she removed her name from consideration and Obama was unwilling to offer anything other than appreciation.
I agree that they probably were tipped off about the investigation. they are as dirty as blago.
Yawn.
It seems that The President and his Chief of Staff should be called to testify under oath to get to the bottom of this. The American people deserve this clarification.
what’s to stop him from committing perjury?
And because of his exemplary record, we know he’ll tell the truth, right????? He’ll lie through his teeth just like he’s been doing for the past year and a half!!!!!!! That is, if he even shows up!!!!!!!
And we all know how much “Under oath” means to him………
Humorous cartoon showing the true relationship between Obama, Rahm Emanuel, and Rob at http://drawfortruth.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/three-men/
So which of the liars do we believe?
We are to believe all of the liars are as they are…liars.
Blago, reportedly, was sick of the governor’s gig and wanted some high flying appointment, HHS where Sebelius ended up was on his radar. Also, he wasn’t interested in some stinkin’ $190,000/year job that was in the offing.
“real money” was his goal.
Sleaze seems to be the order of the day in Chicago politics, likely politics in general, but endemic in Chicago.
The idjits that were, reportedly, on Rahm Emanuel’s short list of Senate replacements for Barack Obama, after sycophant Valerie Jarrett’s name was removed, remind one of why the writers of our Constitution designated that US Senators were to be appointed by state legislatures, not sleazeballs like Rod Blagojevich.
Pssstt…you want more sleaze ?
Saga of the crazed sex poodle
Blago’s statement contradicts everyone elses? There’s a surprise. Next we’ll hear that water is really wet.
testimony that obummer knew about the quid pro quo’s going on. DUH!
So it shows Blagojevich is a whore and all he was doing was negotiating the price with the Obama johns.
Its amazing how little coverage as a news event this trial has earned . One would suppose that due to the names and stature and proximity to the stinking pile of corruption ; that this event would generate floor to ceiling and wall to wall TV and national press immersion. Nah! Its just not the same when the central suspects are all Democrats. The press sees this as a yawner of no particular interest with no sexual angle and not a Republican in sight to drag through the muck. So be it .
But how about the nifty editing job from Patrick Fitzgerald and his team to nip and tuck and snip and trim the witnesses ,testimony and evidence to keep Obama and his henchmen free and clear of their neck deep involvement in this swamp of evil.
Nice job Patrick . Should be some big reward down the line.
“…Payoffs to judges for lenient sentences or even acquittals, kickbacks to aldermen, illegal campaign contributions, cash in shoeboxes, “pay to play” payoffs, contracts to cronies…”
Comes to bribery, cash is king. Even Nixon needed bagmen to spread the green around. Whence the source of all this fungible folding stuff?
Here in New York, a popular real estate developer with an ego bigger than Blago’s is nearing completion of of the biggest construction project the city has seen since Zeckendorf turned New York’s stockyard and slaughterhouse district into the fashionable Upper East Side. Fully half a mile of Hudson riverfront property, long fallow, is now wall to wall hi-rises one uglier than the next, each emblazoned on its facade with the endlessly crass developer’s name in enormous gold type.
A cooperative venture between city and the private developer, the new project pushes out the Western limits of the city with taxpayer-funded new infrastructure. Underground electrical, water, sewage and half a mile of new streets—four brand-new lanes for cars, new sidewalks, traffic lights, signage and the steel girders and understructure required to support raised portions of it all.
The chumminess between the city and the private developer is evident even in the maintenance of completed sections of the project. Landscaping for large planters on the river side of the building is shared by the Parks Department and private landscapers. Fire hydrants are strategically placed to ensure that the entrances to the new hi-rises with their three and four million dollar apartments are free of parked cars so cabs and limousines can make easy pick-ups and drop-offs. Small city-built cul de sacs, parking prohibited, provide easy access to private underground garages and loading bays for trucks servicing planned restaurants and catering facilities.
The city and state officials involved in such a project run into the hundreds and each and every one expects a share of the baksheesh. Inspectors–scaffolding, crane, electrical, plumbing, etc.–are merely bottom feeders. (Recall that extensive FBI sting operations could not find a single inspector of any kind in New York City who would refuse a bribe.) Nearer the top of the elected and appointed food chain, kickbacks run five and six figures. Completing a real estate project of such magnitude requires fungible green by the truckload.
What real estate developer can come up with so much cash without arousing the IRS? One who owns a casino. Only casino skim could can provide under-the-table cash on such a scale. And winnings at the gaming tables make ideal cover for payoffs. (Recall the former New York senator who regularly played poker with lobbyists and won all the big hands.)
But all this must be mere cynical conjecture, Why haven’t New York journalists tumbled to such blatant and obvious corruption? What accounts for enthusiastic support for the project in multiple news articles and on the editorial pages of the New York Times for years as the City Council debated the project?
West-Siders recall that for many years the undeveloped stretch of the West Side now supporting the new luxury hi-rises served as the parking lot for the huge fleet of New York Times delivery trucks. Cynical conjecture has it that the NYT either owned or held a large portion of the property under long term lease and profited handsomely when the lone politician holding up construction suddenly and unaccountably changed her vote, abruptly resigned and departed on an extended vacation with her significant other somewhere far from the howls of her betrayed and outraged constituents. To barely a mention and no hint of surprise or suspicion in the pages of the NYT. The Grey Lady on the take? Say it aint so, Joe.
The difference between political corruption in Chicago and political corruption in New York, Democrat Party strongholds both, is purely a matter of style. Chicago politics are notoriously rough and tumble. Rude and crude. New York is a more sophisticated town.
At one point early in the construction of the new luxury housing along the river, New Yorkers were entertained by a mini-scandal in the press. A concrete inspector had halted construction because the mix was substandard. Every New Yorker worthy of the name recognized immediately that the kerfuffle had nothing to do with concrete. One or another city official—certainly on a higher level than mere inspector—was unhappy with his share of the payola. The headlines about substandard building material were merely the screws being put to the developer or one of his contractors. Payoff negotiations were being carried on via the NYT.
“Follow the cash” was the advice of Deep Throat to Woodward and Bernstein whose Watergate success bloated journalism schools around the country with armies of talentless halfwits, hungry for bylines. Message not received.
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