The Governor Of Illinois Arrested For Corruption

By Richard Hétu

Translation by Floriane Ballige

“I want to make money,” would have declared Rod Blagojevich, the democrat governor of Illinois, entrusting his principal private secretary with his wish to collect between $ 250,000 and $ 300,000 per year.

The politician from Chicago was actually thinking out loud what Barack Obama’s unoccupied seat at the Senate meant to him. It’s at least the most sensational accusation lodged against him formulated by the bureau of the Attorney General yesterday. As the governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, aged 51, has the last word in the nomination of the new elected president’s successor.

“If (Abraham) Lincoln could see this man’s behavior, he would rise from the dead,” said the Attorney General Patrick Fitzgerald during a press meeting, referring to the 16th president of the United States, a politician from Illinois who was especially known for his integrity.

Rod Blagojevich and his principal private secretary, John Harris, were arrested yesterday morning by the FBI, after a long-term inquiry that led to an accusation of corruption. The investigators had been granted in October permission to spy on his phone calls.

According to the Attorney General, “the magnitude of this corruption those accusations imply is outstanding.” He adds: “Blagojeovich is being reproached to have put a “for sale” sign on the nomination of a senator of the United States. He was himself willingly involved in the practice of bribes, just as if he were a seller determined to reach his annual financial goal, and he therefore used his own bureau in an illicit way to try and have some critical editorialists keep silence.

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Indeed, the governor of Illinois is also accused of threatening the Chicago Tribune press group to stop the national allowance, in order to trigger a “purge among the paper’s editorialists.”

However, the accusation of “selling” Barack Obama’s seat is definitely the one Americans keep in mind. According to a 16 pages act of accusation, the governor of Illinois would have mentioned several scenarios to make money on this seat to the benefit of his own family. What he wanted for his own purpose was a well-paid job within a charity foundation or a syndical organization, or yet a position within the presidential cabinet, or as an ambassador once his mandate as a governor would have come to an end.

He would also have tried to get his wife a seat within some boards of directors where she could have received at least $ 150,000.

“This is what I have, and it’s just as if it were made out of gold,” he would have said in the days following the presidential election, referring to his authority to nominate Barack Obama’s sucessor at the Senate. “I won’t give up on nothing,” he probably told, emphasizing his sentences with swearwords.

Patrick Fitzgerald pointed out that Barack Obama was no target for the FBI’s inquiry. In fact, according to the act of accusation, Governor Blagojevich would vainly have tried to corrupt the new president’s circle.

Talking about Obama’s counselors, he would have said that they could “go to hell”, as they refused to give him some favor in exchange for the nomination of their favorite candidate.

As far as the nomination of his successor is concerned, Barack Obama declared that he had no contact with the Governor of Illinois. “I wasn’t aware of what was happening,” he declared to the press. “It’s a sad day for the state of Illinois. As this current inquiry involves the Governor, I do not think it is necessary for me to make a comment on this affair at this stage,” he said.

Rod Blagojevich had been elected in 2002 and had then made the promise to put an end to the corruption that marked the leading years of his predecessor, the Republican-winged George Ryan. In case he won’t resign, he could be dealt with a procedure of dismissal.

He could spend 10 years in prison if he is found guilty.