Criminalizing Politics? Or Reading a Complaint?

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The cries that Fitz is criminalizing politics are getting almost as shrill as the insinuations that Obama must be hiding something because he agreed to hold off on releasing the summary of communications with Blago’s folks. There’s the NYT, relying on "some lawyers" that just happen to be just two lawyers that have scrapped with Fitz in the past (Bob Bennett, who represented Judy, and Michael Monico, who represented one of Blago’s fundraisers).

But now some lawyers are beginning to suggest that the juiciest part of the case against Mr. Blagojevich, the part involving the Senate seat, may be less than airtight. There is no evidence, at least none that has been disclosed, that the governor actually received anything of value — and the Senate appointment has yet to be made.

And then there’s that legendary dealmaker, Willie Brown.

But if his bargaining over the Senate seat was for political gain, not financial benefit, then he ought to hold tight.

That said, I can’t help but take stories like this personally. Any politician’s downfall reflects on every other politician. It demeans your history, your record. People look at you and figure, yeah, you just didn’t get caught.

Yet these cries rely on two things: an exclusive focus on the Senate seat allegations at the expense of the other allegations, and a neglect of the actual details of the complaint  (to be fair, the NYT’s Johnston admits he’s focusing on just the "juiciest part" of the complaint, though even there, he doesn’t consider how that "juiciest part" plays into the two charges in the complaint). 

So here’s what the actual complaint says, to a non-lawyer.

First, there are two charges. Neither relies entirely on the Senate seat part of the complaint. I’ll deal with the charges in reverse order.

Charge Two: The Wrigley Field Deal

The second charge, which relies entirely on the Wrigley Field part of the complaint, charges:

Beginning no later than November 2008 to the present, in Cook County, in the Northern District of Illinois, defendants ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH and JOHN HARRIS, being agents of the State of Illinois, a State government which during a one-year period, beginning January 1, 2008 and continuing to the present, received federal benefits in excess of $10,000, corruptly solicited and demanded a thing of value, namely, the firing of certain Chicago Tribune editorial members responsible for widely-circulated editorials critical of ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH, Read more →

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Gold Bars Luskin: Turdblossom Is Wearing Nothing But a Fig Leaf

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(Graphic by twolf)

There’s a few things really funny (as in smells funny, not funny ha ha) about Rove and Luskin’s identical attacks on Obama’s decision to comply with Fitz’s request that he not reveal the contacts between his transition team and Blago until next Monday.

Here’s Rove:

Rove: And it’s not gonna be a couple of days, last Thursday he said they’d, quote, do it in a few days, now we’re being told it’ll be next week. 

Colmes: That’s because of the prosecutor, Karl, the prosecutor has asked Obama to wait a week.

Rove: Again, first of all, the prosecutor can ask; the President-elect ought to decide what is in his best interest, and saying clearly and candidly to the American people like he should have said ten days ago, "Of course we’re going to be talking to him about who my replacement should be, but if any suggestion was made of a quid pro quo, my people would have said no right from the get-go." I just don’t buy this that the Obama transition operation is resisting giving out this information only because they’re being held back by the prosecutor’s office.

And here’s Luskin.

Robert Luskin, a Washington white-collar defense lawyer who knows Mr. Fitzgerald well, said he doesn’t doubt the prosecutor would have asked that Obama officials keep quiet until his investigation is further along. That is to prevent witnesses from tailoring their stories to what they learn others are saying. But, he said, Mr. Obama and his aides don’t have to comply. They are using the prosecutor as a "fig leaf" to avoid answering questions just now, Mr. Luskin said. They could just as easily have decided that assuring the public about their actions is more important than acceding to the prosecutor’s request.

The Investigations that Weren’t

One really minor gripe is this. The Obama team has–apparently–done an investigation and turned the results over to Fitz. Not a radical thought, I know. But consider:

Remember the Abramoff scandal–the one that should have shown Abramoff sending emails via Susan Ralston’s secret email to Karl Rove? The White House claimed to do an investigation into Abramoff’s ties to the White House. Only, they somehow missed the large number of visits (not to mention close contacts) Abramoff had with Rove and his buddies.  

And how about the Plame outing? Read more →

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Jesse Jackson Jr’s Cooperation with Fitz

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Multiple stories–explicitly sourced to Jesse Jackson Jr’s allies–report that Jesse Jackson started cooperating with Fitz as least as early as earlier this year. Here are some data points on JJJ’s cooperation and other involvement.

He apparently told Fitz earlier this year that in 2003, Blago conditioned a position for JJJ’s wife on a $25,000 donation.

Jackson has been in regular contact with the feds and has told the government that in 2003 Blagojevich denied the congressman’s wife Sandi an appointment as Illinois lottery director because Jackson would not donate $25,000 to the governor’s campaign fund.

Also earlier this year, JJJ told Fitz that he refused to accept Tony Rezko’s condition that the state would support a third airport only if JJJ agreed to let Blago approve the airport board.

The meeting in June of 2006 at a Gold Coast hotel included Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. and Blagojevich fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko.

The topic was a proposed third airport at Peotone, Jackson’s pet project which needed more state money. Rezko allegedly demanded that the governor be given control of the airport’s board. Jackson refused and state support for the project stopped.

Fitz’s folks called JJJ last Monday night to give him a head’s up that they were arresting Blago and that a reference to him would show up in the complaint. 

Reportedly, last week, both JJJ and his father (who appears not to have been mentioned in the complaint) both retained lawyers.

Also last week, JJJ issued a narrow denial: denying any involvement in pay-to-play, while not denying someone may have made an offer to Blago in his name without his knowledge or support.

I want to make this fact plain: I reject and denounce pay-to- play politics and have no involvement whatsoever in any wrongdoing. I did not initiate or authorize anyone, at any time, to promise anything to Governor Blagojevich on my behalf.

I never sent a message or an emissary to the governor to make an offer, to plead my case, or to propose a deal about a U.S. Senate seat, period.

Also in his denial, JJJ described his sister’s support for what he has done. And in an previously unremarked reference, he described being proud of Illinois in the last 2.5 years.

This morning, I got a text message from my little sister, who told me that she was proud of me. She was proud of what I’ve done for this nation.

Read more →

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Rahm’s 21 Conversations with Blagojevich and Friends?

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I’ve been boring you all by repeatedly pointing to this passage in the complaint against Blago:

This affidavit does not include all calls dealing with the corrupt efforts of ROD BLAGOJEVICH, JOHN HARRIS, and others to misuse the power of ROD BLAGOJEVICH to appoint a United States Senator for the personal gain of ROD BLAGOJEVICH and his family, nor does this affidavit set forth other calls where ROD BLAGOJEVICH and others discussed a possible appointment to the Senate seat based on considerations other than financial gain for ROD BLAGOJEVICH and his family, discussions which took place with greater frequency after efforts to arrange for a private job for ROD BLAGOJEVICH in exchange for appointing a particular candidate to the open Senate seat did not meet with success. [my emphasis]

I have even suggested that, given the narrative Fitz constructs, it is quite likely that those discussions–which took place with greater frequency after Obama told Blago they’d only give "appreciation" and not a high paying job–took place between Rahm Emanuel and Blago’s folks.

Well, who knows who is using Michael Sneed as a mouthpiece this time … but my speculation that Rahm was involved in those "greater frequency" calls seems to be on the right track.

Sneed hears rumbles President-elect Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, is reportedly on 21 different taped conversations by the feds — dealing with his boss’ vacant Senate seat! 

A lot of chit-chat?

Hot air?

Or trouble?

Given the seemingly Rahm-generated leaks so far, it seems we can count on two conversations around November 1 (delivering the list of acceptable candidates, thereby setting Blago off to write a list of things to demand in return), several conversations around November 10 (telling Blago that the only thing he’d get would be appreciation), and then a conversation after Blago planned to start trading around Rahm’s House seat on November 13. 

That is, we can account for about 7 conversations between the complaint and the seeming pre-emptive leaking out of Rahm’s camp. 

Which would seem to leave phone calls with "greater frequency" in the days after November 13, when Blago kept scrambling for something of value from the President-elect. But note, if I’m right that these conversations are about something of non-monetary value, then they may get even more interesting as we go forward.

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Killing GM in the Guise of Saving It

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Several articles out this morning make it look like the Bush Administration is planning on "helping" GM by dismantling it softly and breaking the union, all with no apparent focus to making it viable again.

First, there’s this story suggesting that Bush may ask for the same concessions as Corker demanded last week.

Over the weekend, analyst Brian Johnson of Barclays Capital issued a report suggesting that the White House may still demand some significant concessions from the United Auto Workers as a condition of any short-term financial aid.

"Based on comments on the CBS show Face the Nation this Sunday morning by Senators Corker (R-Tenn.) and Levin (D-Mich.), we believe it is highly likely that the White House bailout may impose many of the same conditions Senator Corker insisted upon on Thursday in his attempt to forge a compromise," Johnson said.

That amendment would have required General Motors, Chrysler, the UAW and bondholders to replace half of the companies VEBA contributions with stock, eliminate the jobs banks and buyouts and agree to competitive wages, benefits and work rules by March 31 or be forced into bankruptcy court. Johnson has advocated many of the same provisions in his roadmap for a GM turnaround.

Note, once again, the silence about concessions from dealers?

Yesterday, Carl Levin gave similar warnings that the Bush Administration–which refused to even place compensation limits in TARP that Wall Street bankers couldn’t drive an Escalade through–is going to place real demands on GM and Chrysler.

And meanwhile, just by coinkydink, Bank of America is calculating how much money GM would need to fund bankruptcy proceedings.

GM may need around $30 billion in debtor-in-possession loans, which are used to pay for a company’s operating expenses as it restructures under bankruptcy protection, Bank of America analysts said in a report issued late on Friday.

The $30 billion represents around two times GM’s working capital, with an additional $10 billion cushion for further earnings hits and to fund suppliers, the bank said.

GM had $36 billion in long-term debt as of September 30, according to a regulatory filing.

To support GM, and the industry, the government will need to lend funds to support the company in bankruptcy rather than out of bankruptcy, as that is the only way to ensure the government has the most senior claim on the automaker’s assets, the bank added. Read more →

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IL Starts Blagojevich Impeachment Proceedings

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The Madigan family is finally adopting the right approach to removing Governor Blagojevich from office: Michael Madigan has announced the House will begin impeachment proceedings.

Speaker Michael Madigan announced Monday that he’s appointing a special committee to review the case and recommend whether Blagojevich should be impeached.

Madigan says the committee will work every day except holidays.

”We’re going to proceed with all due speed, but we’re going to make sure that what we do is done correctly,” the Chicago Democrat said.

Once the committee makes a recommendation, the full House will decide whether to file impeachment charges against the governor. The Senate ultimately would rule on them.

I say the Madigan family is making the right move, because previously Michael’s daughter Lisa has been calling for the courts to remove Blago. 

Atty. General Lisa Madigan called on the Illinois Supreme Court today to temporarily remove Gov. Rod Blagojevich from office and appoint Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn as acting governor, "so the business of the state of Illinois can go forward."

I agree with Adam B that Lisa’s move–to use the courts–is inappropriate while her father’s more to start impeachment is appropriate. 

Blagojevich hasn’t been convicted of anything.  Technically, he hasn’t even been indicted yet; it’s just a criminal complaint.  And especially in the courts, Blagojevich should be entitled to a presumption of innocence.  So, yes, we tend to be fans here of Patrick Fitzgerald’s work, but what about a less scrupulous prosecutor in a state with a malleable Supreme Court?  A criminal complaint, by itself, shouldn’t be enough to empower a court to remove someone from office.

There are, thankfully, other remedies.  First of all, as I’ve noted before, under Article V of the Illinois Constitution he can resign voluntarily, or temporarily cede power "whenever the Governor determines that he may be seriously impeded in the exercise of his powers."

Assuming he doesn’t do the right thing, then impeachment and conviction by the Illinois Legislature under Article IV, section 14 is the superior approach.  Legislators are more accountable to the people than are judges — even elected judges — and they are more sensitive to the ramifications of a bad decision here.  Some things are better left to the political branches.

What Fitz has given us with his complaint is a list of things that–at least–passed the standard of the judge to arrest the Governor. Read more →

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Is Rahm Still Running for Speaker of the House?

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(Alex Wong/Getty Images photo)

Or is Blago delirious about that too?

I’m finally getting around to reading the collected works of Michael Sneed, the woman scribe calls "this scandal’s Judy." Sneed is the columnist whom Blago was using to launder his leaks about the Senate selection process, feeding her false information about his leading candidates, with the intention of pressuring Obama and others to respond accordingly. (Incidentally, TheraP pointed to this diary which claimed Sneed’s more embarrassing columns were getting removed from the Sun-Times archive, but they’re actually still there; it’s just that they go behind the pay firewall after one month.)

Given that we know Blago was using Sneed in that way, I’m particularly interested in her column from November 14 (which also just went behind the firewall).  In it, she has what may well be another regurgitated Blago rant.

IS IT EMIL? Sneed hears Gov. Blago, who will choose Obama’s replacement in the U.S. Senate, privately feels there may be only one choice that makes sense: His buddy, outgoing Senate President Emil Jones. – To wit: Jones is this/close to Blago, who may pay his pal back for being such a staunch ally. Jones would also be a strong ally in the Senate for his political godson — Obama.

– Hmmm: Isn’t it true Gov. Blago, who truly believes a federal indictment is not in his future, is hoping Jones would be a placeholder until 2010 — when Gov. Rod could opt for a Senate seat or another run at the governorship? Is someone smoking posies?

Fitz’s chronology ends on November 13–which would presumably be the day Blago would have leaked this to Sneed for her November 14 column; the complaint doesn’t confirm that the leak came from Blago. Yet the attribution seems to clearly point to Blago, and given the sheer number of leaks she was getting from him, it seems likely that he was her source for this, too. 

With that in mind, check out the news that led that column:

Incoming & outgoing: The rumor mill is going berserk!- To wit: Top Dem wags are whispering Rahm Emanuel, President-elect Barack Obama’s new chief of staff, plans to exit the White House in two years in hopes of reclaiming his congressional seat — thereby enabling him to work toward becoming speaker of the House, his dream job.

Read more →

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Why Wasn’t the Guy Whose Daddy Wanted to “Cut His Nuts Off” Acceptable to Obama?

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There was a significant detail in the Trib’s Rahm-talking-to-Blago story. The story lists who Obama considered acceptable candidates to replace him in the Senate.

Another source said that contact between the Obama camp and the governor’s administration regarding the Senate seat began the Saturday before the Nov. 4 election, when Emanuel made a call to the cell phone of Harris. The conversation took place around the same time press reports surfaced about Emanuel being approached about taking the high-level White House post should Obama win.

Emanuel delivered a list of candidates who would be "acceptable" to Obama, the source said. On the list were Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, Illinois Veterans Affairs director Tammy Duckworth, state Comptroller Dan Hynes and U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Chicago, the source said. All are Democrats.

Sometime after the election, Emanuel called Harris back to add the name of Democratic Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan to the approved list, the source said.

Note who is missing from this list?

Obama national campaign co-chair, Jesse Jackson Jr. 

There are a lot of reasons why Obama may not have favored JJJ replacing him in the Senate–including JJJ’s own statements that broke Obama’s "no drama Obama" campaign rule. 

A contributing factor, though, may be that JJJ’s father was publicly taped threatening to cut Obama’s nuts off.

I raise this not to talk about the President-elect’s nuts, but to point to an underlying (and potentially explicit) tension in Blago’s efforts to sell Obama’s senate seat. JJJ’s fundraiser Raghuveer Nayak may have approached Blago about the seat on October 31. Then, just one day later, Rahm apparently called John Harris and told him that Obama did not want JJJ to replace him in the Senate.

Recall, too, the reference to Obama that JJJ made in his press conference on the Senate seat.

But watching the president-elect carry himself in such an extraordinary way across this country to build bridges that had never been built in this country, even I had become inspired.

And so somewhere along the way, over the last two and a half years, I got the idea that if a skinny kid with a funny name could be president of the United States, that a short kid with a somewhat controversial but certainly a high profile name could be a senator from Illinois.

JJJ delivered that "even I" with pointed emphasis, almost bitterness.

Read more →

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Trash Talk – The Axe Starts To Fall Edition

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I’m snakebit. Am driving down the road Saturday afternoon listening to NPR’s Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me when the first crushing blow occurs. The guest is CIA head honcho Michael Hayden, and the interview is actually superb. Seriously. Then I realize the dude has a great sense of humor; another blow to my world. Now comes the clincher; Hayden is from Pittsburgh and is a lifelong diehard Steelers fan. The host asks him what he thinks of Bill Belichick secretly taping other teams (Hayden is non-plussed by this) and then asks "Well, we know the NSA has secret tapes of everything, surely you must have some of the Patriots’ practices and plays, have you ever thought about covertly sending them to the Steelers"? Hayden quips back "Naw, the Steelers don’t need to cheat to whip the Patriots!" Now, between laughing my ass off and trying to grab my phone to obligatorily call Marcy and prick her with this nugget, I nearly run off the freaking road. Then, in all the inordinate joy of relating this wondrous story to EW, I blow by a photo radar setup. Go figure. Still, it all seems worth it.

Okay, enough hilarity; time to get down to business. Three weeks left in the season, it’s go time baby. There are teams that are going to solidify their hold on a playoff position, and there are teams that are going to start falling victim to the axe. Here’s the rundown:

Steelers at Ravens: Yep, the game of the week is the Chief Spook’s Stillers against the Baltimore Not Colts. Both teams are on strong late season rolls, and they have the top two defenses in the league with Pittsburgh number one and the Ravens number two. Rookie Joe Flacco has been excellent and the Ravens are uncharacteristically scoring a lot of points. Even though the Ravens have Ray Lewis, it is really hard to go against Ben Roethlisberger. But I’m going to. Ravens win at home.

Giants at Cowboys: In Dallas, Jerry Jones has finally got the sideshow freak circus he has been angling for all these years. As Condiliar would say, "Who could have imagined?" Yeah, well, they are going to have to take time off from the carnival to play Eli and the Gents, who have a little theater Read more →

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BREAKING: Rove To Lead The Good Fight Against Holder

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graphic by twolf

graphic by twolf

Eric Holder is a horrid choice to lead the Obama Department of Justice as both Looseheadprop and I have pointed out numerous ways and times (See: here, here, here, here and here). In spite of this fact, Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy inexplicably thinks he is the greatest thing since sliced bread and can’t wait to confirm the relentless big business elite power suck up Holder:

I want to continue the work we began last year when I scheduled prompt hearings and the Senate proceeded to confirm Michael Mukasey, Mark Filip and Kevin O’Connor to serve as Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General and Associate Attorney General after the Rove-Gonzales resignations, even though we were on the eve of the election of a new President. We cannot now delay restoring the Justice Department and the confidence the American people have in our justice system. We must promptly consider and confirm Eric H. Holder Jr., and other nominees of the new President.

Yeah, good plan Pat because, you know, those quick confirmations of Mukasey, Filip and O’Connor worked out so blindingly well. Or not. Well, the ever prescient Leahy did see his opposition coming when he said:

But of course since then, Karl Rove has appeared on the Today Show and signaled that Republicans ought to go after Mr. Holder. Right-wing talk radio took up the drum beat.

Guess what Pat; it is more than on talk shows that Karl Rove will be your nemesis.

Yep, on tomorrow’s edition of the syndicated The Chris Matthews Show, on the "Tell Me What I Don’t Know" segment, Andrea Mitchell will announce that "Karl Rove will be running and leading the GOP effort against Senate confirmation of the Eric Holder nomination".

Wow. It sure isn’t every day that I wish Karl Rove the best of luck, but today is that rarest of days. Go get em Karl, because the nation needs a lot cleaner and more inspirational person than Eric Holder to lead the Department of Justice out of the morass the Bush Administration has placed it in.

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