Marcy Wheeler is an independent journalist writing about national security and civil liberties. She writes as emptywheel at her eponymous blog, publishes at outlets including Vice, Motherboard, the Nation, the Atlantic, Al Jazeera, and appears frequently on television and radio. She is the author of Anatomy of Deceit, a primer on the CIA leak investigation, and liveblogged the Scooter Libby trial.
Marcy has a PhD from the University of Michigan, where she researched the “feuilleton,” a short conversational newspaper form that has proven important in times of heightened censorship. Before and after her time in academics, Marcy provided documentation consulting for corporations in the auto, tech, and energy industries. She lives with her spouse in Grand Rapids, MI.
Fitzgerald’s chronology of Blagojevich’s discussions relating to Jesse Jackson Jr. are not entirely clear. It appears, at first glance, that those discussions all took place in December, in the last week or so. But that’s not right. The first Blago reference Fitz records occurred on October 31, four days before the election.
My NPR station reported earlier today that the SEIU contact that Blagojevich spoke with–referenced in the complaint–was not Andy Stern. NPR said it was Tom Balinoff, President of SEIU Local 1.
A senior advisor to the SEIU has confirmed to me that the contact in the complaint is not Stern, though he could not confirm that it was Balinoff.
The SEIU advisor also told me that SEIU proactively contacted Fitzgerald’s office.
I guess all
Will having the name “Jesse Jackson” associated with Blagojevich further inflame those nutters trying to tie Obama to Blago, or will it give them a favorite lefty dynasty to devour and in so doing stave their hunger for a scandal larger than it is? Unfortunately, I’m guessing it’s the former…
Last month, David Axelrod told reporters that Obama had talked to Blago about his replacement in the Senate.
The transition team just sent out a statement saying that is incorrect.
I was mistaken when I told an interviewer last month that the President-elect has spoken directly to Governor Blagojevich about the Senate vacancy.