“I’ve got this thing and it’s (expletive) golden,” Blagojevich said in a conversation secretly recorded by government agents. “I’m not just giving it up for (expletive) nothing.”
Blagojevich was talking to his onetime deputy governor, Doug Scofield, who had been part of his two campaigns for the state’s top office. Scofield found himself advising his former boss just as Obama was cruising toward winning the presidential election, and Blagojevich had a decision to make.
“The thing he’s referring to is his ability to appoint a senator,” Scofield testified moments after a wiretap of that call was played at Blagojevich’s corruption trial. “It’s valuable to him and he’s not giving that thing of value up for nothing or in exchange for nothing,” Scofield said.
The “golden” line has served as a virtual trademark for the government’s case ever since it was first publicized in a court document on the day of Blagojevich’s December 2008 arrest. But it was almost a month into the trial before the recording was played for jurors, as prosecutors continued to press the point that Blagojevich wasn’t interested in using his Senate pick for the good of the people of Illinois. Rather, prosecutors claim, he saw his power to fill the Senate vacancy as leverage to help himself as his political options were closing and a federal probe was swirling around him.
During the phone call, Blagojevich told Scofield that he would take an appointment from Obama as secretary of Health and Human Services “in a second,” and if that didn’t materialize, he could “(expletive) parachute me there,” meaning appoint himself to the Senate.
Scofield testified he had left the new Blagojevich administration in 2003 in part because the roles of Antoin “Tony” Rezko and fellow fundraiser Christopher Kelly left him uncomfortable. They went from raising campaign funds before the 2002 election to being key players in the transition period, including naming people to state boards and commissions. ...”
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-06-29/news/ct-met-blagojevich-trial-0630-20100629_1_blagojevich-trial-doug-scofield-fellow-fundraiser-christopher-kelly
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...“I’ve got this thing and it’s (expletive) golden...
Wouldn’t be shocked if every person elected to office has said this at one time or another about their office. Or, something to the same effect.
Great work and reminders, ETL.
Excellent posts. Thank you for reminding us what crooked pigs Democrats are.