The Unjust and Unconstitutional Trial of Rod Blagojevich

Legal Insurrection ^ | 1-25-09 | William A. Jacobson

[STARWISE]

On Monday, January 26, 2009, the impeachment trial of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich begins. Nominally, the trial will be held by the Illinois Senate with the Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court presiding. In reality, this case is, and always has been, under the control of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

The impeachment process started just days after Fitzgerald held his now famous press conference on December 9, 2008, in which Fitzgerald announced that Blagojevich was guilty of various crimes while in office, most spectacularly the attempt to sell Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat.

The charge was made in a press conference, and in a criminal complaint and supporting affidavit. During the press conference, Fitzgerald went to great lengths to quote colorful language by Blagojevich, making a point of inserting the term "bleep" into the quoted transcripts.

Fitzgerald could have brought the charges, and thereby thwarted any attempt by Blagojevich, without the highly inflammatory theatrics at the press conference. The press conference was the first step in Fitzgerald removing Blagojevich from office.

The press conference made great theater, and poisoned the public against Blagojevich as Fitzgerald must have intended, but revealed very little of the evidence. At this point, a month and a half later, there still has been no indictment.

Fitzgerald has obtained an extension of time until early April 2009 to bring an indictment, allowing him to maintain secrecy all the while proclaiming Blagojevich's guilt.

The Fitzgerald press conference created a media and legislative frenzy, but Fitzgerald has made public almost none of the evidence in his possession to support his claims to assist the public in assessing the truth behind the criminal complaint.

The affidavit supporting the criminal complaint contains excerpts of taped calls, but does not contain complete conversations, much less other conversations which might put the excerpt in context. Although you wouldn't know it from the press conference, cursing profusely is not a crime.

The Illinois legislature has made the criminal complaint affidavit one of the centerpieces of the impeachment process. The other grounds for impeachment, such as violating separation of powers, are secondary.

If the legislators were honest with the public, they would have to admit that the criminal complaint allegations are the reason for impeachment, and everything else is window dressing.

While the criminal complaint allegations are the reason the impeachment process started, Fitzgerald has made sure that Blagojevich was not able to obtain the evidence necessary to defend himself in the impeachment process against such charges.

At Fitzgerald's request, the House impeachment committee forbade Blagojevich or anyone else from inquiring into the evidence supporting the criminal complaint affidavit. Instead, the House took the affidavit to be true, and based much of the article of impeachment solely on the affidavit.

The Illinois Senate has accepted the house impeachment record, which incorporates the criminal complaint affidavit, into evidence while forbidding anyone from challenging the record. (Senate Rule 8(b))

The Senate also has forbidden anyone, including Blagojevich, from seeking any evidence which, in the sole estimation of Fitzgerald, would endanger the criminal case. (Senate Rule 15(f)).

Blagojevich cannot call witnesses, such as Rahm Emanuel and Valerie Jarrett, who are believed to be persons referenced in the criminal complaint affidavit as persons to whom Blagojevich attempted to sell the Senate seat, despite denials by Emanuel and Jarrett that any such attempt was made.

So Blagojevich cannot call material witnesses to cast doubt on the specific and overall reliability of the criminal complaint affidavit. Rule 15(f) violates fundamental fairness.

More important, Rule 15(f) gives to Fitzgerald decision making power over the Senate trial. I believe this provision violates the Illinois Constitution, Article IV, Section 14, which states that "impeachments shall be tried by the Senate."

Nothing in the Constitution vests the U.S. Attorney with the power to try a Governor, but here, the U.S. Attorney has been given the power to make decisions over the evidence permitted at the trial. The delegation of trial authority to Fitzgerald is unconstitutional, and is an irrevocable taint on the trial process.

By analogy, nothing in the various constitutional and statutory provisions empowering the judiciary to decide cases empowers the judiciary to delegate decision making authority to others.

It would be as if a judge decided that trial rulings would be made by the judge's neighbor. Only in the case of Rod Blagojevich is such outrageous conduct tolerated, because Fitzgerald successfully convicted Blagojevich in the court of public opinion without so much as an indictment, much less a trial.

Blagojevich has done himself no favors by refusing to partipate in the pre-trial and trial procedures in order to contest the Senate Rules. In so doing, Blagojevich may have waived his otherwise valid objections.

The impeachment trial that is about to begin is an injustice. Not because Rod Blagojevich is innocent of the charges, or should remain in office.

Rather, the injustice is a result of a prosecutor who saw it as his charge to use his bully pulpit to remove a Governor, and a legislature which willingly served this function for its own political purposes.

Rod Blagojevich may not deserve sympathy, but he does deserve a fair and constitutional process, neither of which will be available at the Senate trial.

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Part 1: Fitzgerald: Blagojevich on "political corruption crime spree"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-mkqNWFzNs

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Part 2: Fitzgerald: Blagojevich on "political corruption crime spree"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTT9Leryea4&feature=related

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How many calls did Rahm make ??

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Video links.. PING!

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Part 1: Fitzgerald: Blagojevich on “political corruption crime spree”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-mkqNWFzNs

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Part 2: Fitzgerald: Blagojevich on “political corruption crime spree”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTT9Leryea4&feature=related

[fieldmarshaldj]

FREE BLAGO !

(Let’s bag the False Messiah, instead)

[DieHard the Hunter]

Get out the crying towel for Rod Blagojevich, and call the whaaaaaaaaaambulance. Fitzgerald has another trophy, only this one isn’t going to the slammer quietly...

[centurion316]

Impeachment trials are part of the political process, in my opinion. They are not judicial actions. As such, the Illinois Senate is free to execute this political action as they see fit, within the rules that they have established under the Illinois constitution. If they choose to use the information that Fitzgerald has brought forward, so be it. That may not be acceptable in a criminal action, but that’s not what’s going on here.

[ETL]

Justice Department Briefing on Blagojevich Investigation:
Patrick Fitzgerald, United States attorney general for the Northern District of Illinois [speaking to press]:
Published: December 9, 2008, New York Times

Excerpts from the transcript:

Fitzgerald: "In the governor words -- governor's words, quote, 'Fire all those bleeping people. Get them the bleep out of there. And get us some editorial support', close quote. And the bleeps are not really bleeps."

(snip)

Fitzgerald: "A month or so ago a $1.8 billion tollway project was announced. While that tollway project was being announced, Governor Blagojevich was privately seeking to have a person benefiting from that contract raise $100,000 in contributions, and privately the government (sic) said, 'I could have made a larger announcement but wanted to see how they would perform by the end of the year. If they don't perform, bleep 'em.' That's a quote. And the word 'bleep' was not the word he used."

(snip)

Fitzgerald: "The governor's own words describing the Senate seat, quote, 'It's a bleeping valuable thing -- thing. You just don't give it away for nothing', close quote."

Fitzgerald: "Another quote, 'I've got this thing, and it's bleeping golden. And I'm just not giving it up for bleeping nothing. I'm not going to do it, and I can always use it; I can parachute me there,' quote. Those are his words, not our characterization, other than with regard to the bleep."

Fitzgerald: "The tapes reveal that Governor Blagojevich wanted a number of things in exchange for making the appointment to the Senate seat -- an appointment as secretary of health and human services or an ambassadorship, an appointment to a private foundation, a higher paying job for his wife or campaign contributions."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/us/politics/09text-illinois.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all
_________________________________________________________

Blago's wife...

"Mrs. Blago, the former Patti Mell, won the hearts of old-school thugs everywhere with her f-word-filled rants captured on FBI wiretaps, some of which were colorfully detailed in the criminal complaint against her hubby..." --Michelle Malkin, December 17, 2008

http://710knus.townhall.com/columnists/MichelleMalkin/2008/12/17/the_real_housewives_of_crook_county

_____________________________________________________

[ETL]

Roland Burris and Rep. Bobby Rush (speaking)
at a Chicago news conference announcing
Gov. Rod Blagojevich's appointment of
Burris to the U.S. Senate Dec. 30, 2008.
CBS
________________________________________________________

From David Horowitz's FrontPageMag.com/DiscoverTheNetworks.org:
PROFILE: BOBBY RUSH:

* Democratic Member of Congress

* Member of the radical Progressive Caucus

* In 1968, went AWOL from the U.S. Army

* Co-founder of the Illinois branch of the Black Panther Party

* In 1969, served six months in jail for an illegal weapons conviction

* Advocates reparations for African Americans

"Bobby Rush has described his involvement with the Black Panthers as part of his maturation process, as a youthful indiscretion that he abandoned immediately after Hampton's death. He described his role mostly as running the Black Panther Party's Free Breakfast for Children program.

But Bobby Rush served six months in jail for a 1969 illegal weapons conviction and, even after his release, in 1971 his comrades were still describing him as the 'Deputy Minister of Defense' for the Black Panther Party in Illinois. In 1992 the socialist magazine In These Times praised fledgling congressional candidate Rush, writing that he 'has continued to support progressive policies and has never disavowed his Panther past...."

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=1198
________________________________________________________

From the Maoist Internationist Movement:
[1960s/original] Black Panther Party [BPP] Archives
From the article: REVOLUTIONARY HEROES

"On May 1st, May Day [1969], the day of the gigantic Free Huey rally, two of Alioto's top executioners vamped on the brothers from the Brown Community who were attending to their own affairs. These brothers, who are endowed with the revolutionary spirit of the Black Panther Party defended themselves from the racist pig gestapo.

Pig Joseph Brodnik received his just reward with a big hole in the chest. Pig Paul McGoran got his in the mouth which was not quite enough to off him.

The revolutionary brothers escaped the huge swarm of pigs with dogs, mace, tanks and helicopters, proving once again that "the spirit of the people is greater than the man's technology."

To these brothers the revolutionary people of racist America want to say, by your revolutionary deed you are heroes, and that you are always welcome to our camp."

Source: Maoist Internationist Movement
Article: REVOLUTIONARY HEROS (May 11, 1969):
http://web.archive.org/web/20041230150623/http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/bpp/index.html

[flaglady47]

Blago is a narcisstic nutcase. Come live in Illinois and then try to defend Blago. He was and always will be a con artist. The first thing he did upon taking office was to refuse to live in the Governor’s mansion in Springfield, IL, which was not urbane enough for him, and chose instead to live in Chicago where he really wanted to be, regardless of the fact that Springfield was the seat of IL gov’t. So, instead he commuted by airplane to and from Chicago every week, or when he deigned to show up at the State capitol, on the taxpayers’ dollar.

The state legislature has a whole bunch on Blago without using the info Fitzgerald has on him. Plus, at the impeachment trial, the Senate will be hearing 4 of the phone tapings that Fitz has that have been cleared for use at the trial. This is a political process, not a criminal one, so the same rules regarding evidence and witnesses does not apply as would in a court of law.

Blago has run our State into the ground with his spending plans, and his attempts to get at and use State employee pension funds as his money pot to fund his pet progects. Plus his continuous pay to play deals. He has publicly crossed his wife’s father(a Chicago politician himself, an Alderman (they don’t speak). He hasn’t spoken to the Lt. Governor (Pat Quinn, who will take over Blago’s job after Blago is impeached) for over a year. Can you imagine not speaking to your own Lt. Gov for a year? And none of the state legislature can stand him, both Pubs and his own Dem Party. It has been one big fight after another. He passed free healthcare for all of the children in IL when we are billions of dollars in debt as a State. I could go on and on. Bottom line, I can hardly wait for them to get rid of this egoistic, narcissistic, leftover Beatle’s hairdo bum. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

[flaglady47]

progects = projects above. Typo.

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~~~CHECK out this .......... PING!

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Blago subpoenas — Where’s the Tanning Bed Media now?
January 25, 2009 by Procrustes

*snip*

Lynn Sweet wrote January 24th in the Chicago Sun-Times:

Newly released subpoenas that Gov. Blagojevich fought to keep secret show federal prosecutors are looking at potential criminal wrongdoing that would go beyond charges he already faces — involving everything from state road contracts awarded to campaign donors to his wife Patti’s real estate dealings.

The subpoenas also seek information about any contacts the governor’s administration had with two top advisers to President Obama, David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett. ...

Jarrett was alluded to in the Dec. 9 criminal complaint against the governor as a potential Senate candidate Blagojevich was considering. Axelrod did not surface in the complaint. Neither is charged with any wrongdoing.

Sweet also states that Fitzgerald’s investigation extends beyond what has been known previously:

“It’s clearly beyond matters in the criminal complaint, which was sweeping in its own right,” said Jay Stewart, executive director of the Better Government Association, whose legal fight forced Blagojevich to make the subpoenas public late Friday.

“It demonstrates the feds have been looking for a long time. And, up to a relatively recent time, they’ve been gathering more information.”

Doug Ross at Director Blue commented

A veritable “who’s who” of Obama staffers, surrogates and affiliates were among those served with subpoenas.

Put simply, within one week of President Barack Obama’s administration taking office, it is already under significant legal scrutiny that will — at a minimum — take precious time away from dealing with the country’s monumental economic and foreign policy challenges.

And, once again, the mainstream media is AWOL, unwilling to report on this very newsworthy story.

Those subpoenaed:

* Patricia Blagojevich, first lady
* River Realty, her former employer
* Friends of Blagojevich, the governor’s campaign committee
* Citizens for Blagojevich, his former committee
* Robert Blagojevich, the governor’s brother and campaign chairman
* Antoin “Tony” Rezko, former adviser and fundraiser for governor
* Christopher Kelly, former adviser and fundraiser for governor
* Alonzo Monk, former Blagojevich chief of staff, now a lobbyist
* Milan Petrovic, lobbyist and campaign fundraiser
* John Wyma, former Blagojevich adviser, now a lobbyist
* Paul Rosenfeld, lobbyist
* J.B. Pritzker, wealthy Chicagoan whom Blagojevich might have considered to replace Obama in U.S. Senate
* Gery Chico, former Chicago school board president and one-time U.S. Senate candidate
* Doug Scofield, former Blagojevich adviser, now a consultant
* Scofield Communications
* Valerie Jarrett, Obama adviser
* David Axelrod, Obama adviser
* Service Employees International Union
* Tom Balanoff, SEIU Illinois president
* Change to Win, an SEIU-affiliated activist group
* Sam Zell, owner of the Chicago Tribune
* Nils Larsen, an adviser to Zell
* The Chicago Tribune
* The Tribune Co., the newspaper’s parent company
* Michael Vondra, owner of asphalt and construction companies
* Gerald Krozel, vice president of a concrete company
* John Johnston, president of Balmoral Park racetrack
* Fred Yang, Washington, D.C.-based Blagojevich consultant
* Garin Hart Yang Research Group, Yang’s firm
* William Knapp, Washington, D.C.-based Blagojevich consultant
* Squire, Knapp & Dunn, Knapp’s firm
* Doug Sosnick, political consultant

Doug Ross adds: “Blago’s ‘Senate Candidate 3;, Jan Schakowsky, was not served with a subpoena, but will have some questions of her own to answer in the days to come.”

***And let’s not forget Rahm Emanuel, reportedly on 21 different taped conversations by the feds — dealing with his boss’ vacant Senate seat!***

As Lynn Sweet indicated, Robert Herguth at Crain’s Chicago Business reported January 23rd that federal authorities have issued subpoenas to the Illinois Department of Transportation “for information on a slew of heavyweight contractors.”

Among others, the subpoena from the U.S. attorney’s office seeks information on:

Teng & Associates Inc., a large Chicago engineering firm whose top executive, Ivan Dvorak, helped throw a Nov. 12 fund raiser for the governor that was referenced in the criminal complaint against Mr. Blagojevich.

Castle Construction Corporation, and its owner, Robert Blum [a long-time associate to Christopher Kelly].

McDonough & Associates, which does engineering work for various government agencies including the tollway and O’Hare International Airport.

Programming Note: Blago is boycotting the impeachment proceedings in the Illinois State Senate on Monday, January 26th. Blogger Bill Baar comments “A ‘fair hearing’ is the only way to bring Blagojevich’s co conspirators to account. The guy wasn’t pay-to-playing by his lonesome.”

PRNewsChannel reports that Blago and his wife will be in New York Monday morning to appear on ABC’s “Good Morning, America” with Diane Sawyer and “The View” with Barbara Walters, as well as Monday evening’s “Larry King Live” on CNN.

Lynn Sweet adds they will also appear on NBC’s Today Show (taped in Chicago) and FOX’s On the Record with Greta Van Susteren/Fox and Friends.

http://therealbarackobama.wordpress.com/2009/01/25/blago-subpoenas-wheres-the-tanning-bed-media-now/

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

Why was he re-elected?
Serious question...

[SunkenCiv]

Ping!

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

What does your post have to do with the facts outlined in the article? I agree Blago is pond scum, but he does deserve a fair trial.

[Velveeta]

Why was he re-elected?

$$$$$$$$$

Pay-to-play. He had big money behind him for the re-election.

[hoosiermama]

A couple of things that stand out in this post:

A veritable “who’s who” of Obama staffers, surrogates and affiliates were among those served with subpoenas.

* Patricia Blagojevich, first lady * River Realty, her former employer
Involved in the Revko/Obama house purchase.

Christopher Kelly, former adviser and fundraiser for governor
Has been indicted for tax evasion and is singing RE: Blank-O

* John Wyma, former Blagojevich adviser, now a lobbyist
Wyma wore the wire on Blank-O and He and Kelly pretty well put Revko out of business singing about Blank-O They knows 100 X more. Leaving Revko with fewer options to sing about to get a better deal on sentencing.

[Velveeta]

He's gonna sing like a canary.

[Texas Songwriter]

No. He will sleep with the fishes before he sings like a canary.

[Velveeta]

Well, yeah...there’s that.
This is Chicago we’re talking about.

[flaglady47]

“What does your post have to do with the facts outlined in the article? I agree Blago is pond scum, but he does deserve a fair trial.”

Facts you don’t seem to have. Such as there is nothing to stop Blago from attending his impeachment trial in the Senate. He can bring witnesses, just not certain ones tied up with the criminal case. He chooses not to, he has chosen to boycott his impeachment proceedings of his own volition. Also, his appearances, starting tomorrow, on various talk shows on TV are all to influence public opinion that he is a victim so that it might influence any Chicago juror pool that will be picked when he is indicted. Also, this is NOT A TRIAL IN A COURTROOM. He is being impeached in a political arena, not a court. They can impeach him for steps he has taken as Governor that are contrary to actions becoming of a Governor. There is no requirement whatsoever that the Senate treat his case as if it were in a court of law. In fact, the procedures the IL Senate is using are the same ones that were used to impeach Bill Clinton. That is the model they are using. You’ve been swayed and snowed by this con artist who is very good at manipulating words aiming them at those who know nothing to little about him and don’t live in our State. If you lived in Illinois for the entire period of Blago’s regime, you’d know from whence I speak.

[flaglady47]

“Why was he re-elected?
Serious question...”

Serious answer. First, Illinois is now a blue state. Two Dem Senators (one of course was Obama, now is Roland Burris), the other is Durbin. Blago is a Dem Gov. Chicago is the home of the Democratic Machine. Our prior Governor before Blago was a Pub, a crooked one in his own right, George Ryan, who ended up in the pokey. So Blago first came in as a “reformer” (what a joke) after the debacle of a fallen Pub Governor, who later ended up in jail.

When it came to reelection time, the Dems in the State rehired him (because a lot of them are politically ignorant or just plain stupid). One main reason was that the Pubs in this State are badly split into two factions, the RINO’s and the Conservatives. A guy named Jim Oberweiss represented the Conservative faction, and a woman named Judy Barr Topinka represented the RINO’s in the primaries. A stalking horse conservative from downstate jumped in to water down the conservative vote, and the RINO woman therefore won in the primaries. Many conservatives didn’t come out to vote for her, or voted for the stalking horse conservative (downstaters). It wasn’t enough to beat back a second Blago win, because Blago curried favor with the blacks in Chicago, and with the Chicago vote plus some downstate Dems votes, he won a second round.

By this time, his own Dem party in the IL Congress couldn’t stand him (in particular, Mike Madigan, Dem Speaker of the House, and his daughter who is IL State Attorney General, Lisa Madigan, father/daughter nepotism), but made a deal with the devil they knew and was a Dem rather than some other Dem they might not have won with. Blago had built up a huge war chest (all that pay to play money) and was financially ready to go when it came to reelection time. The Pubs in this State are openly split now between RINO and Conservatives, and RINO’s keep getting chosen in the primaries and then lose to the Dems in the general election.

Now, into his second term as Gov, the Dems in both Houses for the most part loathe Blago, and can’t wait to unload him, one way or the other. The Pubs can’t stand him either, because he is a nutty narcissist who has been spending us into a hole. He has spent up money our State doesn’t have such as on health coverage for all children in the State, even though our state is billions of dollars in debt. He has tried to get his meathooks into State employee pension plans to spend up the money and in fact has borrowed some already from the pension plans. He wanted to get a new Constitutional Convention passed by referendum to change the Illinois Constitution to make it easier to get access to these pension funds by changing the law, and to gerrymander districts, and change other stuff to the benefit of the Democratic Party. He refused to raise taxes in the State which normally would be a good thing; however, he continued to spend non-existent state money anyway with no money source other than stealing from pension funds, or from other programs. He is a scum bucket.

Hope this explains the situation here in the land of Illinois politics for you.