Blagojevich's "Candidate 4" identified, she's a former chief of staff for Rep. Gus Savage

We know who "Senate Candidate 1" is--Barack Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett. Number 2 is Ilinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. And Number 5 is Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. Number 3 is still known, but the identity of Senate Candidate Number 4 has been discovered.

Illinois Deputy Governor Louanner Peters has been identified as "Senate Candidate 4" in the criminal complaint filed against Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

An unidentified source familiar with the complaint revealed the information to The Associated Press on Thursday. The source was not authorized to speak publicly about the complaint and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

In the complaint, Blagojevich said he would put Candidate 4 in Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat instead of another candidate, if the governor did not get anything in return.

The complaint identified Senate Candidate 4 only as a "deputy governor."

From a 2006 press release announcing Peters' appointment as deputy governor:

Before beginning her tenure under Governor Blagojevich, Peters served for 10 years on Capitol Hill as the Chief of Staff for U.S. Representative Gus Savage and as a Professional Staff Member to the U.S. House Committee on Public Works. In addition to the Governor's campaign, Louanner worked on campaigns for U.S. Representatives Bobby Rush and Gus Savage as well as Mayors Marion Barry and Anthony Williams in Washington, D.C. Outside her political experience, Peters was as a Chairperson for the Board of Directors of the Washington Convention Authority and consulted the U.S. Department of Defense on their Breast Cancer Research Program. Peters received her B.A. in Political Science from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and an M.A. of Social Work from the University of Illinois in Chicago.

Marion "Crackpipe" Barry? You can't make this stuff up.

Gus Savage held the congressional seat Jesse Jackson Jr. now occupies. I remember Savage being described as a "black David Duke." Savage, who blessed the world when he dropped off the public radar after Mel Reynolds defeated him in the 1992 Democratic Party. In this heavily Democratic district, the general election is a coronation for the Dem primary winner. Reynolds wasn't much of an improvement over Savage, he later went to prison for soliciting sex from a minor.

Savage is alleged to have sexually assaulted a Peace Corps worker in Congo, and whenever he got into trouble, which was a lot, he blamed it on "racist Jews."

So Peters, Senate Candidate 4, has the distinct dishonor of working for two of the most loathsome Illinois politicians ever.

And she has that Marion Barry stint on her résumé.

Did Peters seek this career path?

UPDATE 10:30pm: There are six candidates named in the criminal complaint.

Technorati tags: politics Illinois Election Democrats Chicago crime Blagojevich Illinois Politics legal anti-semitism racism