Someone with the US Attorney's Office of the Northern District of Illinois has not mastered Adobe PDF. As I briefly mentioned earlier today, the legal team of disgraced former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has requested that President Obama be subpoenaed so he can testify at his fellow Chicago Democrat's corruption trial, which is expected to begin in June.Portions of the defense motion were redacted, but Rich Miller of Capitol Fax ascertained that with a little cut-and-paste magic, those hidden passages can be brought to life.
According to Blago's legal team, then-President-elect Obama was deeply involved in the negotiations regarding the naming of his successor, which Doug Ross says contradicts what Obama claimed on two days after Blagojevich's arrest. Moreover, according to a redacted portion of the motion, a labor union official was designated by Obama to be the intermediary between the two camps.
Yet, despite President Obama stating that no representatives of his had any part of any deals, labor union president told the FBI and the United States Attorneys that he spoke to labor union official on November 3, 2008 who received a phone message from Obama that evening. After labor union official listened to the message labor union official told labor union president "I'm the one". Labor union president took that to mean that labor union official was to be the one to deliver the message on behalf of Obama that Senate Candidate B was his pick. (Labor union president 302, February 2, 2009, p. 7).The Wall Street Journal reported last year that Blagojevich met with SEIU President Andy Stern on November 3, 2008, which was the day before Election Day, as did Tom Balanoff, President of SEIU Illinois. Obama's ties to SEIU go back to the earliest days of his political career.
This being an Illinois corruption story, do you think Tony Rezko could be left out? Not a chance.
From another redacted portion of the motion.
However, the defense has a good faith belief that Mr. Rezko, President Obama’s former friend, fund-raiser, and neighbor told the FBI and the United States Attorneys a different story about President Obama. In a recent in camera proceeding, the government tendered a three paragraph letter indicating that Rezko “has stated in interviews with the government that he engaged in election law violations by personally contributing a large sum of cash to the campaign of a public official who is not Rod Blagojevich. … Further, the public official denies being aware of cash contributions to his campaign by Rezko or others and denies having conversations with Rezko related to cash contributions. … Rezko has also stated in interviews with the government that he believed he transmitted a quid pro quo offer from a lobbyist to the public official, whereby the lobbyist would hold a fundraiser for the official in exchange for favorable official action, but that the public official rejected the offer. The public official denies any such conversation. In addition, Rezko has stated to the government that he and the public official had certain conversations about gaming legislation and administration, which the public official denies having had.In a redacted footnote, the defense states it has "a good faith belief" that the official is Barack Obama, and adds, in another redacted portion, "President Obama has pertinent information as to the character of Mr. Rezko."
On a local level, this is very damaging for Illinois Democrats, these accusations from the Blagojevich camp will overshadow the 2010 races. Blago's two-time running mate, Governor Pat Quinn, has been trying to raise the state income tax for a year, and even he fails again, he's likely continue pushing for that hike. Do you remember what happened to Walter "I'm going to raise your taxes" Mondale? The family owned bank of Senate Candidate Alexi Giannoulias will probably fail soon, possibly as early as tomorrow. And add a steady drip-drip-drip of Blago-blasts into the mix, and it could mean a fall of failure for the Democrats in Barack Obama's home state.
As for Obama? Well, through surrogates he'll deny everything, but a few more believers will stop believing. Which has been happening on a daily basis for a year.
He's just another Chicago politician.
Great work by Rich Miller of Capitol Fax, who I forgive calling me a troll yesterday. Ironically, it was in a comment thread about a pro-tax increase rally by public-sector employees in Springfield, in which many SEIU members took part.
Illinois needs to be bathed in Mr. Clean.
For more, visit NBC 5 Chicago's Ward Room.
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