The city from which Barack Obama emerged is famous for its corruption. Today's announcement of an FBI indictment of Governor Blagojevich is juicy even by Chicago standards.
Under US law when a Senate seat becomes vacant, the governor gets to appoint a replacement. Blagojevich was very supportive of Obama's run for president. And no wonder. He saw dollar signs:
According to the statement from prosecutors, Mr. Blagojevich told an adviser last week that he might “get some (money) upfront, maybe” from one of the candidates hoping to replace Mr. Obama. That person was identified only as “Candidate 5.”In an earlier recorded conversation, prosecutors say, Mr. Blagojevich said he was approached by an associate of “Candidate 5” with an offer of $500,000 in exchange for the Senate seat.
There's also a suggestion that he tried to extract a promise of a job in the Obama administration for appointing the right person (I'm guessing in that instance the candidate was Valerie Jarrett, Obama's close aide, who was spoken of as a candidate for a while but who has now been appointed to a White House role). And that he tried to get himself and his wife various jobs....oh, this one will run and run.
UPDATE: yes it was Jarrett, who abruptly withdrew from contention (perhaps because she and Obama had been tipped off about the investigation). Obama wouldn't play ball:
ROD BLAGOJEVICH said he knows that the President-elect wants Senate
Candidate 1 for the Senate seat but "they’re not willing to give me
anything except appreciation. Fuck them".
ROD BLAGOJEVICH said that the consultants (Advisor B and another consultant are believed to be on the call at that time) are telling him that he has to “suck it up” for two years and do nothing and give this “motherfucker [the President-elect] his senator. Fuck him. For nothing? Fuck him.”
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