Summer of Corruption: Blago verdict watch, Day 9
Today marks the 9th day of jury deliberations in the Blagojevich corruption trial. Early in their deliberations, the jurors asked the judge for a full transcript of the trial, including the prosecution’s closing arguments, which provided a comprehensive road map of the 28 counts and corresponding evidence against Blagojevich and his brother. The judge denied the request.
The identities of the six-man, six-woman jury are being kept secret until after a verdict is reached. Give the scope and complexity of the case, the length of the deliberations should surprise no one.
In addition to the Senate seat-trading scam, the jury must reach decisions on:
– a shady, Tony Rezko-connected state pension bond sale;
– attempted extortion of then-Rep. Rahm Emanuel, whose brother Blago wanted to host a fund-raiser in exchange for a $2 million football field grant sought by a school in Emanuel’s congressional district;
– attempted extortion and bribery of Children’s Memorial Hospital;
– conspiracy to extort and bribe a race-track owner in exchange for horse-racing industry tax subsidies;
– and attempted bribery and extortion of a road construction executive, whom Blago wanted to hold a fund-raiser in exchange for $6 billion in government tollway projects.
Jurors from the last Illinois gubernatorial corruption trial that put George Ryan in prison share their experience with AP:
They wanted a law book to help them understand the jury instructions, and wondered why the judge wouldn’t give it to them. Bunched together, with the restroom so close, they got to know each other intimately. And the nonsmokers groused when the others were allowed a cigarette break.
As jurors in ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s corruption trial enter their second full week of deliberations, another group of 12 has an inkling of what’s going on behind their closed door: The jurors whose 2006 verdict put George Ryan, another former Illinois governor, behind bars.
They also felt the pressure of deciding a complex, high-stakes case, knowing their verdict would make headlines across the nation.
“There’s stress, disagreements, arguments, quiet time, a lot of emotion,” said former Ryan juror Karen James, a postal worker.
Two jurors in the Ryan case were ousted after suppressing info on their jury questionnaires about their encounters with police.
Will we see similar shenanigans with the Blago jury?
It’s Chicago, after all…
***
Related Blago fallout:
A small Chicago-based bank, Ravenswood, was shut down last week by federal regulators. Blago kept some of his campaign funds there, and prosecutors say they could seize the money as part of the trial.
Jesse Jackson, Jr. (“Senate Candidate A”) is still on the hook for his connection to the Blago stain. Prepare for more race card-playing:
One damaging detail to emerge is that Jackson may have known about supporters’ plans to raise at least $1 million on the condition that Blagojevich appoint him to President Barack Obama’s former Senate seat.
Of all the public figures whose names came up during the trial, Jackson has suffered the most political fallout. These days he keeps a low profile in his district, rarely appearing in public and avoiding the media — especially when it comes to questions about Blagojevich.
“There’s no doubt that his ambitions have taken a hit,” said Roosevelt University political scientist Paul Green. “Right now all his options are on hold.”
Jackson, 45, has not been charged and denies wrongdoing, but there’s little doubt he remains on the radar of federal prosecutors. A House ethics investigation of him, delayed at prosecutors’ request, was scheduled to resume after the trial.
Loose ends:
Still unanswered: Why Blago’s defense team didn’t call White House senior adviser, Chicago mentor, and Obama consigliere Valerie Jarrett to the stand. Or shady banking buddy Alexi Giannoulias, who connected Jarrett to SEIU heavy Tom Balanoff. Or Rahm Emanuel. Or Harry Reid. Or Dick Durbin:
By the time prosecutors and defense attorneys were done, there had been no sharp-tongued Rahm Emanuel on the stand, squaring off with Blagojevich’s lawyers over the White House chief of staff’s talks with an adviser to the ousted governor about who to appoint to the Senate.
There was no Alexi Giannoulias, the current Illinois treasurer and Democratic candidate for Obama’s old seat, being asked about how he introduced a union official to a close Obama adviser that Blagojevich considered for the Senate seat.
And there was no testimony from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, also a Democrat, who Blagojevich’s lawyers also originally subpoenaed to testify about the appointment.
Blagojevich’s lawyers rested their case last week without calling a single witness, not even the former governor himself…That none of them ended up testifying doesn’t mean Republicans will let voters forget that Blagojevich is a Democrat as they try to pry loose the party’s grip on the Senate seat and Illinois state government.
Yep. Remember in November.
***
Fun fact: Jarrett, Emanuel, and SEIU bigwig-turned-domestic policy Patrick Gaspard all accompanied President Obama on his trip last week back to the Windy City.
I’m again reminded of the observation of one veteran Chicago political observer from February 2008:
“We have a sick political culture,” said Jay Stewart, the executive director of the Chicago Better Government Association, “and that’s the environment that Barack Obama came from. Stewart says he does not understand why Obama has lectured others about corruption in Washington and Kenya but “been noticeably silent on the issue of corruption here in his home state, including at this point, mostly Democratic politicians.”
***
For much more on the sick Chicago politics that Obama brought with him to Washington, check out the paperback edition of Culture of Corruption — released today!
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We must pray for the sick.
Blago figured prison orange would fit him better than cement overshoes.
this trial doesn’t even matter either because they structured in enough for them to appeal. they didn’t put on much of a defense so next time around, the prosecution won’t know what to counter. If he walks, they are done. Good move by the defense team.
That said, I trust Blago as much as anyone in DC these days.
i’ll say this blago will get off cause from my friend tamara holder told me the feds didn’t prove their case. plus you have a jury that was not given the tools to convict blago.
I unfortunately live in Triple J’s district and despite the Blago scandal and having an excellent GOP opponent-Rev. Isaac Hayes- he’s going to win in a landslide.
The sheeple in this district would vote for Vlad the Impaler if he were a black democrat. Conservatives of any color need not apply.
Kenut:
The opinion in this area is that Rod will be convicted.
He lawyer-Sam Adams Jr.-was pulling shenanigans in the courtroom and some of those tapes are pretty damning.
The people of Illinois are getting sick of corrupt governors and Rod is the newest exhibit A.
Btw: Blago was a congressman before he was governor. He first beat Republican Mike Flanagan-a one termer-who beat…Dan Rostenkowski.
The wheel has come full circle.
I received the order confirmation this morning at 4:50AM from Amazon.
This.
And speaking of Obama’s involvement in Kenyan politics & government,
and
(munching popcorn) More cheese Gromit!
Blago: “I don’t wanna die! I can’t die! I haven’t seen THE EDDIE DUCHIN STORY yet! And I did so wanna… [sob]“
As Thacker put it earlier, this wasn’t much of a defense and is a great set up for appeal. With this being said, my answer to the question is that perhaps Blago’s shakedown isn’t quite done yet. Perhaps he cut a deal with the Obama administration for a pardon as long as he doesn’t subpeona any of them.
Current dream: Blago and Wacky Sorbacky as cellmates. (sigh)
Quick question….Do any of you think that Blago will be able to get high quality hair care products for that mop of his in prison?
“Something About Mary” comes to mind for some reason.
Patty B. had this to say about the whole situation:
#$%@!
Something stinks. No, I mean more than usual.
And if convicted will spend the rest of his life where? In a luxury Club-Fed prison? Maybe he’ll receive a presidential pardon after 12 months in return for his lawyer not calling Obowmao to the stand. Justice will be done….the Chicago way.
I doubt things will change when Blago leaves town — there may be a pause, but afterward a few more buffers will be added to the next crew inside the door. Some of the power players reactions after Gov. Ryan’s 2006 conviction:
Likely. Good call. Would Obama be so brazen? That would take gall that I didn’t assume existed. But good call.
The judge denied information the jury asked for? Is this normal? I would think the jury could ask and get anything they wanted to make a judgement. This bho, team, and others who went to Chicago last week is a red flag, IMO.
L
Thanks for the quotes. Classic.
The hypocrisy reminds me of this:
tigerlady
I said that he’ll be convicted-I didn’t say that he’ll be doing hard time.
It’s a given that Rod will end up in a ‘club fed’-but it’s better than him walking.
The way I look at it is that this will go to appeal after appeal with Blago not spending the appeals process behind bars (maybe house arrest at the most). This way Obama can pardon him in two years when he looses re-election ala Bill Clinton before he left office.
Sorry Cubbiegal, I wasn’t attacking you or what you said. I was just pointing out that it’s a moot point whether he is convicted or not. He, like other politicians who are convicted, won’t get more than a slap on the hand.
WHY?
Because to do so would incriminate Obama & company. They are ALL guilty as sin.
I said in Jan 09, just after this started, that either obama goes down or they ALL walk.
This Chicago court, judge, DA, etc all knew this. This FACT of all guilty is why a “SLAM DUNK” case took 18 months to even start a trial and Blago didn’t even raise a defense.
This should go down as one of the greatest scams, the biggest legal tragedies in American history.
An American senator attempts to sell his seat thru the Governor, Jarrett, SEIU, known mobsters and crooks and NOTHING happens to him, he goes free.
They had MILES of audio tapes.
This disgusts me more than most anything/everything else.
Every name above should be IN JAIL.
He’ll be the cutest b!@#$ in a jumpsuit.
I would assume yes. In a jury I sat on once we asked for some such evidence to be made available for us and were denied. Something about maintaining context. If you have some but not all items or testimony at your disposal, you may be swayed by such out of context with the whole. That’s why you’re supposed to pay attention all the time while in the jury box. Being tried by a jury of your peers is a scary thing. Some of my fellow jurors were amazingly ignorant and easily confused.
According to local talk radio-which is HUGE in Chicago and not exactly pro-Obama-the judge in the Blago trial is a fair guy.
Rogue Chedder#26,
I have been on several juries. I know what you mean by the people who are chosen to be on a jury. I think it is on purpose. Here in S TX the ones I have been on had to have an interrupter, you know spanish. That is terribly distracting, you can’t get the true feelings in their voice when answering a question. I can’t imagine having to deal with one like the blago trial.
L
No doubt Obama went “home” for his extended birth day (longest birthday I have ever seen, but when you don’t know when your born you can do that), to discuss the fallout from this trial. It is reminiscent of trip back to Hawaii after his grandmother die (to search any paper work no doubt relating to his life).
BTW: I am betting Blago gets off.
Hey, who’s on trial anyway? Isn’t this the generic Dem resume?
Yeah, I did Jury duty not long ago. They said we had to stick with what was in the written instructions (except they forgot to define a key term: grievous bodily injury), and told us in advance that no transcript would be available.