Ill. Gov. arrested in Obama successor probe

[Stuxnet]

Text

CHICAGO ? Federal authorities arrested Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich Tuesday on charges that he brazenly conspired to sell or trade the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by President-elect Barack Obama to the highest bidder.

Blagojevich also was charged with illegally threatening to withhold state assistance to Tribune Co., the owner of the Chicago Tribune, in the sale of Wrigley Field, according to a federal criminal complaint. In return for state assistance, Blagojevich allegedly wanted members of the paper's editorial board who had been critical of him fired.

A 76-page FBI affidavit said the 51-year-old Democratic governor was intercepted on court-authorized wiretaps over the last month conspiring to sell or trade the vacant Senate seat for personal benefits for himself and his wife, Patti.

Otherwise, Blagojevich considered appointing himself. The affidavit said that as late as Nov. 3, he told his deputy governor that if "they're not going to offer me anything of value I might as well take it."

"I'm going to keep this Senate option for me a real possibility, you know, and therefore I can drive a hard bargain," Blagojevich allegedly said later that day, according to the affidavit, which also quoted him as saying in a remark punctuated by profanity that the seat was "a valuable thing ? you just don't give it away for nothing."

There's more to the story, but that's the meat and potatoes of it.

The only thing that confuses me is that I thought this was supposed to be the domain of Republicans. At least that's what I'm told around here. What's going on? How could this happen?

 

[OutHouse]

same page repost!

 

[Robor]

Seriously... And an active topic posted like 2 hours ago.

 

[Stuxnet]

Oh noes!!!!

 

[piasabird]

I guess this is the Vetting Process!

So now I guess the Senate seat will not be appointed for a while.

Everyone politician in Chicago is a crook anyway. . .

That is what we think down in southern Illinois.

 

[winnar111]

Curious how the 'D' never appears in the story until midway through.

Of course, if its a Republican, you see it in the title and the first sentence.

 

[Skitzer]

Hmmmm ..... Chicago politics as usual?

 

[piasabird]

The last Governor is still in jail for selling drivers licenses. He was a "R".

I wonder if this is some kind of new tradition?

 

[fskimospy]

Originally posted by: winnar111
Curious how the 'D' never appears in the story.

Sorry, busted you before you edited your post. Your problems with reading comprehension appear to be ongoing.

This is getting truly pathetic. It's gone from 'the librul media doesn't report the truth!' to 'the librul media's paragraph format for breaking news stories is unacceptable!'.