Rod Blagojevich
Encyclopedia
Rod R. Blagojevich is an American politician who served as the 40th Governor of Illinois
from 2003 to 2009. A Democrat
, Blagojevich was a State Representative
before being elected to the United States House of Representatives
representing parts of Chicago
. He was elected governor in 2002.
Blagojevich was arrested on federal corruption charges
including conspiracy
to commit mail and wire fraud
and solicitation of bribery
December 9, 2008. As a result, on January 9, 2009, the Illinois House of Representatives
voted to impeach
Blagojevich by a 114–1 vote for corruption and misconduct in office, the first time such an action has been taken against a governor of Illinois, making him the second state official in Illinois history to be impeached. The Illinois State Senate unanimously found him guilty of the charges of impeachment, and he was removed from office on January 29, 2009. In a separate, also unanimous vote, Blagojevich was banned for life from holding public office in the State of Illinois. On August 17, 2010 Blagojevich was found guilty of lying to the FBI; on June 27, 2011, Blagojevich was found guilty on 17 of 20 counts presented during his retrial. On Thursday, September 29, 2011, it was announced that in mid-August, administrators for the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission asked the Illinois Supreme Court to suspend the former attorney's law license, in a likely prelude to the further disgrace of disbarment
.
Blagojevich, often referred to by the nickname "Blago" in print and other media, was the first Democrat to be elected Governor of Illinois since Daniel Walker
in 1972. He struggled to pass legislation and budgets and had historically low approval ratings within Illinois; at one time the Rasmussen Reports
ranked him "America's Least Popular Governor" even before the news of his corruption investigation broke.
, Serbia
. His mother, Mila Govedarica, is a Serb
originally from Gacko
, Bosnia and Herzegovina
(then also a part of Yugoslavia). His parents moved to Chicago in 1947. Blagojevich has a brother, Rob, who worked as a fund-raiser for Rod in Rod's later political career. Blagojevich spent much of his childhood working odd jobs to help the family pay its bills. He was a shoeshiner and pizza
delivery boy before working at a meat packing plant. In order to afford university costs, Blagojevich worked for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System
as a dishwasher.
Blagojevich does not have a middle name, but uses the initial "R" in honor of his deceased father. His nickname in the family was "Milorad," which some have mistakenly assumed was his given name.
Blagojevich graduated from Chicago's Foreman High School
after transferring from Lane Technical High School
. He played basketball
in high school and participated in two fights after training as a Golden Gloves
boxer. After graduation, he enrolled at the University of Tampa
. After two years, he transferred to Northwestern University
in suburban Evanston
where he graduated with a B.A.
in history
in 1979. He earned his J.D.
from the Pepperdine University School of Law
in 1983. He later said of the experience: "I went to law school at a place called Pepperdine in Malibu, California, overlooking the Pacific Ocean
— a lot of surfing and movie stars and all the rest. I barely knew where that law library was." Blagojevich is married to Patricia Mell, the daughter of Chicago alderman Richard Mell
.
.
Blagojevich then took a job as Cook County
Assistant State's Attorney (assistant prosecutor) under State's Attorney
Richard M. Daley
, specializing in domestic abuse crimes and felony weapons cases.
In 1996, Blagojevich surrendered his seat in the state house to campaign in , based on the North Side. The district had long been represented by Dan Rostenkowski
, who served as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Rostenkowski was defeated for re-election in 1994 after pleading guilty to mail fraud and had been succeeded by Republican Michael Patrick Flanagan
. However, Flanagan was a conservative Republican representing a heavily Democratic district, and was regarded as a heavy underdog. Blagojevich soundly defeated Flanagan by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, with support from his father-in-law. He was elected two more times, taking 74% against a nominal Republican challenger in 1998 and having only a Libertarian
opponent in 2000.
Blagojevich was not known as a particularly active congressman. In the late 1990s he traveled with Jesse Jackson
to Belgrade
in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to negotiate with President Slobodan Milošević
for the release of American prisoners of war.
On October 10, 2002, Rod Blagojevich was among the 81 House Democrats who voted
in favor of authorizing the invasion of Iraq
. He was the only Democrat from Illinois to vote in favor of the Iraq War.
and Chicago Public Schools
Superintendent Paul Vallas
, who ran well in the suburban collar counties
of Chicago. Blagojevich finished strongly in Southern Illinois, winning 55% of the primary vote downstate, enough to win a primary victory by a thin margin.
During the primary, state Senator Barack Obama backed Burris but supported Blagojevich after he won the primary at Burris's suggestion, serving as a "top adviser" for the general election. Future Obama senior adviser David Axelrod
had previously worked with Blagojevich on congressional campaigns, but did not consider Blagojevich ready to be governor and declined to work for him on this campaign. According to Rahm Emanuel
, he, Obama, Blagojevich's campaign co-chair David Wilhelm
, and another Blagojevich staffer "were the top strategists of Blagojevich's 2002 gubernatorial victory", meeting weekly to outline campaign strategies. However, Wilhelm has said that Emanuel overstated Obama's role in the sessions, and Emanuel said in December 2008 that Wilhelm was correct and he had been wrong in his earlier 2008 recollection to The New Yorker
.
In the general election, Blagojevich defeated Republican
Illinois Attorney General
Jim Ryan
. Blagojevich's campaign was helped by his well-connected father-in-law, Chicago alderman Richard Mell. Ethics scandals had plagued the previous administration of Republican George Ryan
(no relation to Jim Ryan), and Blagojevich's campaign focused on the theme of "ending business as usual" in state government. Polls prior to the election found that many Illinois voters were confused about the names of George Ryan and Jim Ryan, a fact which Blagojevich used to his advantage. He asked, "How can you replace one Ryan with another Ryan and call that change? You want change? Elect a guy named Blagojevich." Blagojevich won with 52% of the vote over Jim Ryan. On election night, he said: “Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, Illinois has voted for change.”
From 2005 to 2006, Blagojevich served as federal liaison for the Democratic Governors Association
. Numerous scandals brought the governor's approval rating as low as 36 percent, with 56 percent disapproving near the end of 2005.
In 2005 Rod Blagojevich also served as a Chair of Midwestern Governors Association
.
By early 2006, five Republicans campaigned in the primary
for the right to challenge him in the general election
, with state treasurer Judy Baar Topinka
eventually winning the nomination. Blagojevich formally began his 2006 re-election campaign for Governor of Illinois on February 19, 2006. He won the Democratic primary on March 21 with 72% of the vote against challenger Edwin Eisendrath
, whom Blagojevich would not debate.
He convinced Democratic state senator James Meeks
not to launch a third party campaign by promising to attempt to lease out the state lottery to provide education funding. Blagojevich was endorsed by many Democratic leaders (with the notable exception of Attorney General Lisa Madigan
, who claimed it was a conflict of interest since her office was investigating him), including then-Illinois Senator Barack Obama, who endorsed the governor in early 2005 and spoke on his behalf at the August 2006 Illinois State Fair
. Blagojevich was also endorsed by the state's Sierra Club
, the only Illinois governor ever endorsed by the organization. The union American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
declined to endorse Blagojevich for re-election, citing the 500 jobs he eliminated from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources
, which left some state parks unsupervised.
In the general election, Blagojevich defeated Topinka and the Green Party's Rich Whitney
, outspending Topinka $27 million to $6 million. He attempted to tie Topinka to former Republican governor George Ryan
's corruption. Topinka ran advertisements detailing Blagojevich's federal investigations and non-endorsements by major state Democrats such as Lisa Madigan
. A three-term state treasurer, Topinka said that she had attempted to stop Blagojevich from using money from special funds for general expenditures without approval of the legislature; she said Blagojevich used the funds for projects meant to distract voters from his associates' corruption trials: “This constant giving away of money … a million here, a million there, it raids our already hamstrung government and deadbeat state.” Topinka's spokesman claimed that Blagojevich was the most investigated governor in Illinois history. Topinka lost to Blagojevich by 11%.
legislation such as ethics reform, death penalty reform, a state Earned Income Tax Credit
, a statewide comprehensive smoking ban and expansions of health programs like KidCare and FamilyCare (FamilyCare was ruled unconstitutional); critics claimed that Blagojevich was benefiting from the publicity more than the programs were helping the public. Blagojevich signed a bill in 2005 that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation
in employment, housing, public accommodations, and credit. Blagojevich originally campaigned against pork barrel spending, but eventually used it himself to gain more votes for bills.
During a suspected shortage of the flu vaccine
in 2004, Blagojevich ordered 260,000 doses from overseas distributors, which the Food and Drug Administration
had warned would be barred from entering the United States. Although the vaccine doses had cost the state $2.6 million, the FDA refused to allow them into the country, and a buyer could not be found; they were donated to earthquake survivors in Pakistan
a year later. However, the lots had expired, and Pakistan destroyed the vaccines. After Blagojevich pushed for a law banning sales of certain video games to minors, a federal judge declared the law violated the First Amendment
, with the state ordered to pay $520,000 in legal fees.
Soon after taking office in 2003, Blagojevich continued support of a moratorium
on executions of death row
inmates, even though no such executions are likely to occur for years (his predecessor, George Ryan
, commuted all of the death sentences in the state shortly before leaving office in 2003). This support continued through his administration.
In 2004, Blagojevich ordered the Illinois Tollway to erect 32 signs at a cost of $480,000, announcing “Open Road Tolling. Rod R. Blagojevich, Governor.” In 2006, the signs were criticized for serving as campaign signs and costing significantly more than the common $200 signs. Shortly after his impeachment, the signs were removed from the tollway and in June 2011, Illinois banned signs with the names of public officials or candidates for public office.
Another notable action of his term was a strict new ethics law. When campaigning for re-election in 2006, Blagojevich said that if his ethics law had existed when former governor George Ryan had been in office, Ryan's corruption might not have occurred. Blagojevich also signed a comprehensive death penalty reform bill that was written by then-Senator Barack Obama and the late U.S. Senator Paul M. Simon. Organized labor and African American
s were Blagojevich's staunchest political supporters. In 2008, he told a group of African-Americans that he sometimes considered himself the first African American governor of Illinois.
and lottery games). The proposal met with immediate opposition by members of the Republican Party of Illinois and many Democrats, who viewed it as "an election year ploy." The suggestion to legalize Keno within Illinois was later withdrawn. As of 2008, Blagojevich had been unable for five years to agree to a capital plan that would improve Illinois infrastructure.
In March 2008, Blagojevich announced a bipartisan coalition, chaired by former U.S. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert
and Former U.S. Congressman Glenn Poshard
, to develop a capital construction plan that could pass the Illinois General Assembly. The Illinois Works Coalition toured the state and developed a compromise $34 billion package that relied on a lease of the Illinois Lottery, road funds, and expanded gambling for funding. The plan passed the Senate but stalled in the Illinois House, with opposition from Democrats.
often refereeing among the Democrats. During 2008, Blagojevich even expressed fear that House Democrats would gain more seats and he would face more opposition.
Blagojevich's lieutenant governor
was Pat Quinn
, with whom he had a sour relationship since taking office. Quinn and Blagojevich have publicly argued about, among many other subjects, Blagojevich's proposed Gross Receipts Tax to increase revenue for schools and other projects within Illinois. Quinn said in December 2008 that he had last spoken to Blagojevich in the summer of 2007. Blagojevich also feuded with Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Comptroller Dan Hynes
, Secretary of State Jesse White
, and state treasurer Alexi Giannoulias
-- all of whom are Democrats.
Blagojevich was often at odds with members of both parties in the state legislature who began to see him as "disengaged" and "dictatorial." Democratic legislator Jack Franks
said that the reason Blagojevich had problems passing laws with the cooperation of the General Assembly is that he did not spend enough time with the legislature. "That’s a real reason he has such poor relations with the Legislature and can’t get any of his agenda passed, because he doesn’t talk to anybody." When lawmakers working on a budget during a special session met at 10 a.m. rather than 2 p.m., and Blagojevich's attorney threatened that the Governor was considering legal action against the involved representatives, Democratic Rep. Joe Lyons
told reporters, "We have a madman. The man is insane."
Blagojevich had an ongoing feud "worthy of the Hatfields and McCoys" with Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan
, a fiscal conservative who resisted Blagojevich's proposed increases in state spending. Madigan became Blagojevich's chief nemesis, blocking numerous Blagojevich proposals. Illinois senior Senator Dick Durbin said in 2008 that he received many constituent complaints about the dispute between Blagojevich and Madigan, with letter writers wanting him to step in to negotiate. Durbin said the subject is also often talked about in the United States Congress
in Washington, D.C.
among the Illinois congressional delegation. However, Durbin joked that he'd rather go to Baghdad
to mediate than Springfield
. At one point in 2007, Blagojevich filed a lawsuit against Madigan after Madigan instructed lawmakers to not attend one of Blagojevich's scheduled special sessions on the budget.
Although Barack Obama
served as an adviser to Blagojevich's 2002 gubernatorial campaign, by all accounts, Blagojevich and Obama have been estranged for years. Blagojevich did not endorse Obama in the 2004 United States Senate race, and Obama did not invite Blagojevich to speak at the 2008 Democratic National Convention
, as he did Lisa Madigan, Hynes, and Giannoulias. Blagojevich has had a "friendly rapport" with the man who took over his congressional seat, Rahm Emanuel
.
Blagojevich has also disagreed publicly with Democratic Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley
; after their dispute over Chicago Transit Authority
funding, Daley called Blagojevich "cuckoo" and said he did not want to argue with the Governor since "He's arguing with everybody in America." Blagojevich replied, "I don't think I'm cuckoo."
Soon after a meeting of 2007 with Democratic State Senator Mike Jacobs, meant to convince Jacobs to vote for Blagojevich's health insurance proposals, Jacobs emerged telling reporters that the Governor "blew up at him like a 10-year-old child", acted as if he might hit Jacobs, screamed obscenities at him and threatened to ruin his political career if Jacobs did not vote for the bill. Jacobs went on to say that if Blagojevich had talked to him like that at a tavern in East Moline
, "I would have kicked his tail end." Blagojevich would not comment on the alleged incident. Jacobs said during 2008: "This is a governor who I don't think has a single ally, except for Senate president Emil Jones
— and that's tenuous at best." Jones and Blagojevich sometimes collaborated, while at other times they disagreed on funding for education.
During a 2008 Congressional race pitting Democratic state senator Debbie Halvorson
against Republican Marty Ozinga, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
ran television advertisements attempting to help Halvorson by linking Republican Ozinga to Blagojevich, asserting that Ozinga had given campaign donations to the Democratic governor.
to discuss his executive order that pharmacists must dispense any drugs for which a customer had a valid prescription, including birth control pills and Plan B
. This measure was being challenged on the show by state legislator Ron Stephens
from Greenville, Illinois
. Blagojevich was interviewed by Jason Jones
, who repeatedly pretended to be unable to pronounce Blagojevich's name and simply called him "Governor Smith". At one point in the interview, Jones, who was pretending to be against the governor's order, told him "I'll be in charge of what my listeners hear." This prompted Blagojevich to turn to the camera and ask, "Is he teasing me or is that legit?" Two weeks after the interview, Blagojevich said that he was unaware of the nature of the show. Stephens said he knew beforehand that the show was a comedy show: "I thought the governor was hip enough that he would have known that, too."
Stephens later said, "With all due respect to the governor, he knew it was a comedy show. It's general knowledge for people under 90 years of age. It was when he came off looking so silly that he said he thought it was a regular news program. Even assuming he didn't know about it beforehand, we had to sign a release before the interview."
Blagojevich made another appearance on The Daily Show
on August 23, 2010, after his removal from office. During his time on the show, he vehemently defended himself against Jon Stewart's critique of things that he had previously said on the show. Jon Stewart
focused on how formerly Blagojevich had expressed a great desire to tell his side in court, but then did not. Stewart attempted to get a promise that next time, Blagojevich would testify. Stewart also focused on Blagojevich's previous statement to him, that if one heard the famous "effing golden" statement in context, it would be seen as innocent. Stewart played the additional recording, and asked him how that sounded any different. The former governor had no concrete answers.
As of October 13, 2008, an unprecedented zero percent of Illinois voters rated Blagojevich as excellent in a Rasmussen Reports
poll, with four percent rating him good, 29 percent fair, and 64 percent poor. Blagojevich ranked as "Least Popular Governor" in the nation according to Rasmussen Reports By the Numbers.
On October 23, 2008, the Chicago Tribune
reported that Blagojevich suffered the lowest ratings ever recorded for an elected politician in nearly three decades of the newspaper's polls. The survey of 500 registered likely voters showed that 10 percent wanted Blagojevich re-elected in 2010, while 75 percent said they did not want him for a third term. The survey also showed only 13 percent approved of Blagojevich's performance, while 71 percent disapproved. Only eight percent of the state's voters believed Blagojevich had lived up to his promise to end corruption in government. 60 percent of Democrats did not want him to serve another term in office, and 54 percent disapproved of the job he had done. Among independent voters, 83 percent disapproved of his performance and 85 percent of them rejected a Blagojevich third term. Blagojevich said during October 2008 that if he were running for re-election this year, he would win, and the economy, not his federal investigations, had caused his unpopularity.
During February 2008, Blagojevich's approval ratings had been, by various accounts, between 16 percent and the low 20s, lower than those of then-President George W. Bush
in Illinois. After his federal arrest, his approval ratings decreased to seven percent.
Corp. over a shut-down factory in Chicago. On December 8, 2008 (the day before his arrest), all state agencies were ordered to stop conducting business with Bank of America to pressure the company to make the loans. Blagojevich said the biggest U.S. retail bank would not get any more state business unless it restored credit to Republic Windows and Doors
, whose workers were staging a sit-in
. John Douglas, a former general counsel for the FDIC
and attorney for Bank of America, called Blagojevich's gambit dangerous.
Governor Blagojevich was arrested at his home by federal agents and charged with corruption. The Justice Department
complaint alleged that the governor conspired to commit several "pay to play" schemes, including attempting "to obtain personal gain ... through the corrupt use" of his authority to fill Barack Obama
's vacated United States Senate
seat, claiming that in wiretapped recordings Blagojevich discussed his desire to get something in exchange for an appointment to the seat. After various outreach efforts he appointed former state attorney general Roland Burris
on New Year's Eve 2008. Burris was seated after some initial opposition in mid-January 2009. A trial was set for June 3, 2010 and U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald
spoke out on the charges, characterizing Blagojevich's actions as trying to auction the open seat off to "the highest bidder".
On January 27, 2009, Blagojevich began a media campaign planned by publicist Glenn Selig, founder of the crisis management public relations firm The Publicity Agency. During the two day campaign, he visited Today, Good Morning America
, The Early Show
, The View, multiple programs on Fox News Channel
, CNN
and MSNBC
where he proclaimed his innocence and insisted he would be vindicated.
The Illinois House and Senate moved quickly thereafter to impeach the governor for abuse of power and corruption. He was removed from office and prohibited from ever holding public office in the state of Illinois again, by two separate and unanimous votes of 59-0 by the Illinois State Senate on January 29, 2009. Blagojevich's lieutenant governor Patrick Quinn
subsequently became governor of Illinois. The Senate was acting as the trier of fact on Articles of Impeachment
brought by the Illinois House of Representatives
. The charges brought by the House emphasized Blagojevich's alleged abuses of power and his alleged attempts to sell gubernatorial appointments and legislative authorizations and/or vetos. One of the accusations was an alleged attempt to sell the appointment to the United States Senate
seat vacated by the resignation of now U.S. President
Barack Obama
. Blagojevich was frequently reported as having been taped by the FBI saying "I've got this thing, and it's fucking golden. I'm just not giving it up for fucking nothing." Blagojevich's impeachment trial and removal from office does not have any effect or bearing on his federal indictment
in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
, as impeachment is a political, not a criminal, action.
. On August 17, 2010, he was convicted on one of the 24 federal charges, a charge of lying to the FBI, and the jury was hung
on 23 other counts. The defense did not call a single witness, claiming that prosecutors did not prove their case. Because the jury could not agree on the remaining charges, a mistrial was ordered for those counts. Within fifteen minutes after the mistrial was declared, the prosecution team announced that they would definitely pursue a retrial on the twenty-three mistrial counts. A post-verdict
court date was set for August 23, 2010.
Federal prosecutors reduced the number of counts for Blagojevich's retrial, and on June 27, 2011 he was found guilty of 17 of the 20 charges, not guilty on one, and no verdict rendered by the jury on two counts. He was found guilty on all charges pertaining to the senate seat, as well as extortion relating to state funds being directed towards a children's hospital and race track. However, he was acquitted on a charge pertaining to the tollway extortion and avoided a guilty verdict (by split decision) on attempting to extort Rahm Emanuel
.
Judge James Zagel
set October 6, 2011 as the tentative date for sentencing and Blagojevich could face up to 300 years in prison; sentencing was later delayed indefinitely. However, as that is the sum total of all the years he would serve if each conviction's maximum sentence is used to calculate his overall sentence, it is expected that Judge Zagel will sentence the former governor to 10 years in prison. It is not clear if Blagojevich would need to be present (he has put up his house as collateral for a $450,000 bond allowing him to remain free until he has to report to prison). Knowing the date he is to be sentenced will allow Blagojevich to better prepare.
During 2008, Blagojevich proposed removing $16 billion in new bonds for the state to meet pension fund requirements. Blagojevich once told a gathering of black ministers on Chicago's South Side
that he was "on the side of our Lord" with his budget proposals.
Blagojevich proposed a budget for 2008 with a 5% increase from the year before. Budget reductions of some programs caused Blagojevich to attempt to close 11 state parks and 13 state historic sites, with his spokesman saying Blagojevich had never visited any of them. To plug state budget holes, Blagojevich at one point proposed selling the James R. Thompson Center
or mortgaging it. Blagojevich was also criticized for his handling of the 2007 state budget. In particular, critics cited his unprecedented use of line-item and reduction vetoes to remove his political opponents' "member initiatives" from the budget bill.
During 2003, more than 1,000 Illinois judges began a class action
lawsuit against Blagojevich, because Blagojevich had stopped constitutionally-required cost of living pay increases for the judges due to budget reductions. The case was settled in the judges' favor in 2005, with Blagojevich's veto ruled as violating the state's constitution.
During October 2005, Blagojevich announced All Kids, his plan to provide access to state-subsidized healthcare for every child in Illinois. Signed into law by Blagojevich in November 2005, All Kids made Illinois the first state in the U.S. to attempt to legally require itself to provide universal affordable and comprehensive healthcare for children, regardless of income and immigration status.
During March 2007, Blagojevich announced and campaigned for his universal healthcare plan, Illinois Covered. The plan was debated in the Illinois State Senate, but came one vote short of passing. He proposed to pay for the plan with the largest tax increase in Illinois history. He proposed a gross receipts tax on businesses, a $7.6 billion dollar tax increase, with proceeds earmarked to provide universal healthcare in Illinois, increase education spending by $1.5 billion, fund a $25 billion capital construction plan, and reduce the State's $40 billion pension debt. Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan called for a vote on a non-binding resolution on whether the state should impose a gross receipts tax. When it became apparent that the resolution would be defeated, Blagojevich announced at the last minute that supporters should vote against it, although the vote was intended to be a test vote to gauge whether the measure had any support. The request was seen by many lawmakers from both parties as an attempt to spin the loss positively. It was defeated by a vote of 107-0, which the Associated Press
termed "jaw-dropping." When asked about the vote of the day, Blagojevich said, "Today, I think, was basically an up. ... I feel good about it."
Blagojevich also attempted unsuccessfully to impose a new tax on businesses that do not provide health insurance to their employees.
Lawmakers did not approve another initiative of Blagojevich's, FamilyCare (which would provide healthcare for families of four making up to $82,000), but Blagojevich attempted to implement the plan by executive order unilaterally. In rejecting Blagojevich's executive order, a legislative committee questioned how the state would pay for the program. Blagojevich's decision has been called unconstitutional by two courts, which nullified the plan. However, during October 2008, pharmacies which had followed Blagojevich's directive to dispense drugs under the plan were informed by his administration that they would not be reimbursed and would have payments given under the system deducted from future Medicaid
payments. One state lawmaker, Republican Ron Stephens
, suggested that Blagojevich should pay the difference out of his own personal account. The Pantagraph agreed with Stephens in an editorial.
Associated Press Freedom of Information Act attempts to discover how the state planned to pay for the Blagojevich-ordered program, how many people were enrolled, or how much the care had cost the state were refused the information by state departments.
Blagojevich issued an executive order during 2004 requiring pharmacists in the state to dispense "morning after" birth control medication, even if they object on moral or religious grounds. This order was legally challenged. Later in 2007, opponents of the governor's executive order reached a settlement with the state, causing partial removal of the order. The settlement, which followed the Illinois Supreme Court's decision in September 2007 to hear an appeal of a lawsuit challenging the executive order, allowed pharmacists to decline to dispense birth control, so long as they provided information to customers about pharmacists who did.
Inc., Rock River Arms
, Les Baer
Custom and the Springfield Armory.
As a state legislator, Blagojevich tried to raise the price of an Illinois Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card from $5 to $500,
saying that such a large increase was necessary so people would think twice about wanting to own a gun. Blagojevich vetoed three gun bills in 2005, which would have:
Blagojevich's position in regard to guns was criticized by the Illinois State Rifle Association: "Rod should spend more time catching criminals and less time controlling guns." His support for making gun laws of Illinois more restrictive earned him the ire of gun owners' groups.
that he considered offering Winfrey Obama's vacant senate seat. Blagojevich summarized his reasons for considering Winfrey on various talk shows: Winfrey noted that although she was uninterested, she did feel she could be a senator.
Political analyst Chris Matthews
praised Blagojevich's idea of making Winfrey a senator suggesting that in one move it would diversify the senate and raise its collective IQ. Elaborating further he said: Lynn Sweet
of the Chicago Sun Times agreed with Matthews, claiming Winfrey would be “terrific” and an “enormously popular pick.”
indictment and trial; feuds with his father-in-law; contested state appointments; his residency, commute, and work hours; and allegedly withholding state funds from the Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago. In 2008, Blagojevich was investigated for and charged with crimes resulting from his role in the sale of the Chicago Cubs
and Wrigley Field
, as well as allegations he attempted to sell the Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama
.
According to the federal complaint, Blagojevich was trying to use the Illinois Finance Authority (IFA), a state agency that can provide financing for real estate deals, and grants of other state funds to persuade Tribune Company, the owner of the Cubs, to end its editorial campaign for the governor's impeachment. In a series of telephone conversations tapped by the FBI, Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, repeatedly discussed their efforts to obtain the dismissal of John McCormick, the deputy director of the Tribune editorial page, and other editorial writers.
In a complaint issued shortly after FBI agents arrested Blagojevich in a pre-dawn raid on his home on Chicago's North Side, federal prosecutors asserted in a nationally televised press conference that Blagojevich tried to use the Cubs sale as leverage in obtaining favorable treatment in the editorial pages of the Chicago Tribune
. Blagojevich is accused of saying, on a recorded wiretap, that if the Cubs wanted IFA financing for the sale of Wrigley Field or grants for remodeling of the ballpark, the Tribune had to "fire all those [expletive] people, get 'em the [expletive] out of there, and get us some editorial support." Prosecutors also said that they had information suggesting Blagojevich was about to appoint someone to fill Obama's Senate seat after he put it up for sale, and cited this as the main reason for why they arrested him. Amid widespread bipartisan calls for his resignation
, the General Assembly began proceedings to impeach Blagojevich and remove him from office. On December 9, the state house voted 114-1 (with one member voting present) to impeach Blagojevich. On January 29, 2009, all 59 state senators voted to find Blagojevich guilty and remove him from office. In a separate vote, the Illinois Senate voted unanimously to bar Blagojevich from ever holding office again in Illinois. One day after his removal from office, professional wrestling company TNA Wrestling offered Blagojevich a job as the on camera lead of the Main Event Mafia.
. The couple has two daughters, Amy and Anne. Anne was born just months after her father was sworn in as governor. Patricia, who goes by Patti, was a contestant on the NBC reality show I'm a Celebrity…Get Me out of Here
in June 2009, where she formed a close friendship with other contestants, most notably former NBA star John Salley
. She placed 4th in the competition.
Patricia Mell earned her bachelor's degree
in economics
from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
. As First Lady of Illinois, Patti Blagojevich supported the illiteracy eradication initiatives and the Illinois Pediatric Vision Initiative. In 2009 Patti was fired from a $100,000 a year fund raising job after controversy regarding alleged taped statements. Her sister is Deb Mell
, an LGBT rights
activist who was elected unopposed to the Illinois House of Representatives
in 2008 and was the only vote against impeachment.
, Blagojevich went on Late Show with David Letterman
, where he re-affirmed his innocence and stated that the Illinois legislature's decision to remove him from office was politically motivated due to his unwillingness to raise taxes. He has accused his successor, Pat Quinn
, of using state funds excessively for personal leisure. A report later released by the Governor's office showed that most of Quinn's transportation fees were paid for by himself and that Quinn never accepted the $32 meal allowance from the State.
Blagojevich attempted to make a deal to star in NBC
's 2009 summer reality show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here!. He made a request with the judge to ease his travel restrictions so that he could travel to Costa Rica
to star in the show, saying that his family needed to make money. However, his request was formally rejected by U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel, who was sympathetic to Blagojevich's financial situation, but nevertheless stated, "I don't think this defendant fully understands and I don't think he could understand...the position he finds himself in." Judge Zagel went on further to note that Blagojevich must prepare for his defense. Despite the ruling, NBC expressed an interest in negotiating with the judge to have Blogojevich as a part of the show. His wife took his place on the show, which began airing June 1, 2009. He told an interviewer he found it difficult to watch his wife eat a dead tarantula
on the broadcast but remarked that her willingness to participate in the show was "an act of love" because she was earning funds to alleviate their adverse financial position.
On June 13, 2009, Rod starred in improv group
The Second City
's musical Rod Blagojevich Superstar. He performed in order to support the charity Gilda's Club
Chicago, which offers support for people living with cancer.
On June 30, 2009, Blagojevich's autobiography
The Governor: The Truth Behind the Political Scandal That Continues to Rock the Nation was announced for print release on September 8, 2009. The book was also released by Amazon.com
for sale as an eBook on the Kindle
on the same day as the announcement.
Blagojevich appeared on Season 9 of The Celebrity Apprentice
in Spring 2010, asserting that he has the "skill and know-how to get things accomplished" on the series. Series star and producer Donald Trump
praised Blagojevich's "tremendous courage and guts", and predicted that he would become one of the show's breakout stars. Trump subsequently fired Blagojevich in the fourth episode of the season, which aired April 4, 2010.
In an interview with Esquire in January 2010, Blagojevich said about President Obama
, "Everything he's saying's on the teleprompter. I'm blacker than Barack Obama. I shined shoes. I grew up in a five-room apartment. My father had a little laundromat in a black community not far from where he lived. I saw it all growing up." He soon backpedaled from the term "blacker than", saying that he chose his words poorly, but he stood by his message that "the frustration is real, and the frustration is still, today, average, ordinary people aren't getting a fair shake."
Blagojevich made an appearance at the 'Wizard World Chicago' comic convention
in August 2010, conversing with and taking pictures with attendants. He charged $50 for an autograph and $80 for a photo. He also had a humorous televised meeting with Adam West
; Blagojevich remarked that he considered The Joker
to be the best Batman foil. Comic fandom website bleedingcool.com reported that Blagojevich met with a mostly positive reception, while Time Out Chicago described it as mixed.
12/2010 - has Rod appearing in a television commercial for pistachio nuts, appears to have first aired during the World Series, November 1, 2010.
, which represents the bomb launch codes never to be out of reach of the president.
1998
2000
2006 gubernatorial election, Illinois
Governor of Illinois
The Governor of Illinois is the chief executive of the State of Illinois and the various agencies and departments over which the officer has jurisdiction, as prescribed in the state constitution. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by popular suffrage of residents of the state....
from 2003 to 2009. A Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, Blagojevich was a State Representative
Illinois House of Representatives
The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The state House of Representatives is made of 118 representatives elected from...
before being elected to the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
representing parts of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. He was elected governor in 2002.
Blagojevich was arrested on federal corruption charges
Rod Blagojevich corruption charges
Rod Blagojevich, former Governor of Illinois, is an American politician under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation since 2005 for corruption. Blagojevich and his Chief of Staff John Harris were charged with corruption by federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald...
including conspiracy
Conspiracy (crime)
In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...
to commit mail and wire fraud
Wire fraud
Mail and wire fraud is a federal crime in the United States. Together, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341, 1343, and 1346 reach any fraudulent scheme or artifice to intentionally deprive another of property or honest services with a nexus to mail or wire communication....
and solicitation of bribery
Bribery
Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...
December 9, 2008. As a result, on January 9, 2009, the Illinois House of Representatives
Illinois House of Representatives
The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The state House of Representatives is made of 118 representatives elected from...
voted to impeach
Impeachment in the United States
Impeachment in the United States is an expressed power of the legislature that allows for formal charges against a civil officer of government for crimes committed in office...
Blagojevich by a 114–1 vote for corruption and misconduct in office, the first time such an action has been taken against a governor of Illinois, making him the second state official in Illinois history to be impeached. The Illinois State Senate unanimously found him guilty of the charges of impeachment, and he was removed from office on January 29, 2009. In a separate, also unanimous vote, Blagojevich was banned for life from holding public office in the State of Illinois. On August 17, 2010 Blagojevich was found guilty of lying to the FBI; on June 27, 2011, Blagojevich was found guilty on 17 of 20 counts presented during his retrial. On Thursday, September 29, 2011, it was announced that in mid-August, administrators for the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission asked the Illinois Supreme Court to suspend the former attorney's law license, in a likely prelude to the further disgrace of disbarment
Disbarment
Disbarment is the removal of a lawyer from a bar association or the practice of law, thus revoking his or her law license or admission to practice law...
.
Blagojevich, often referred to by the nickname "Blago" in print and other media, was the first Democrat to be elected Governor of Illinois since Daniel Walker
Daniel Walker
Daniel Walker was the 36th Governor of the U.S. state of Illinois from 1973 to 1977.-Early life and career:He was born in Washington, D.C. and raised near San Diego, California. He was the second Governor of Illinois to graduate from the United States Naval Academy. He served as a naval officer in...
in 1972. He struggled to pass legislation and budgets and had historically low approval ratings within Illinois; at one time the Rasmussen Reports
Rasmussen Reports
Rasmussen Reports is an American media company that publishes and distributes information based on public opinion polling. Founded by pollster Scott Rasmussen in 2003, the company updates daily indexes including the President's job approval rating, and provides public opinion data, analysis, and...
ranked him "America's Least Popular Governor" even before the news of his corruption investigation broke.
Early life
Rod Blagojevich was born in Chicago, Illinois, the second of two children. His father, Radislav, was an immigrant steel plant laborer from a village near KragujevacKragujevac
Kragujevac is the fourth largest city in Serbia, the main city of the Šumadija region and the administrative centre of Šumadija District. It is situated on the banks of the Lepenica River...
, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
. His mother, Mila Govedarica, is a Serb
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
originally from Gacko
Gacko
Gacko is a town and municipality in southeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Republika Srpska entity. It is situated in the Foča Region.-Geography:The town is in a short distance from Montenegro...
, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska is one of two main political entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina...
(then also a part of Yugoslavia). His parents moved to Chicago in 1947. Blagojevich has a brother, Rob, who worked as a fund-raiser for Rod in Rod's later political career. Blagojevich spent much of his childhood working odd jobs to help the family pay its bills. He was a shoeshiner and pizza
Pizza
Pizza is an oven-baked, flat, disc-shaped bread typically topped with a tomato sauce, cheese and various toppings.Originating in Italy, from the Neapolitan cuisine, the dish has become popular in many parts of the world. An establishment that makes and sells pizzas is called a "pizzeria"...
delivery boy before working at a meat packing plant. In order to afford university costs, Blagojevich worked for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System
Trans-Alaska Pipeline System
The Trans Alaska Pipeline System , includes the Trans Alaska Pipeline, 11 pump stations, several hundred miles of feeder pipelines, and the Valdez Marine Terminal. TAPS is one of the world's largest pipeline systems...
as a dishwasher.
Blagojevich does not have a middle name, but uses the initial "R" in honor of his deceased father. His nickname in the family was "Milorad," which some have mistakenly assumed was his given name.
Blagojevich graduated from Chicago's Foreman High School
Foreman High School
Edwin G. Foreman High School is a public 4-year high school located in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, USA. It is operated by the Chicago Public Schools. The school was named in the honor of a Chicago banker and civic leader, Edwin G. Foreman...
after transferring from Lane Technical High School
Lane Technical College Prep High School
Albert G. Lane Technical College Preparatory High School , is a public, four-year, magnet high school located on the north side of Chicago...
. He played basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
in high school and participated in two fights after training as a Golden Gloves
Golden Gloves
The Golden Gloves is the name given to annual competitions for amateur boxing in the United States. The Golden Gloves is often the term used to refer to the National Golden Gloves competition, but it also can represent several other amateur tournaments, including regional golden gloves...
boxer. After graduation, he enrolled at the University of Tampa
University of Tampa
The University of Tampa , is a private, co-educational university in Downtown Tampa, Florida, United States. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. In 2006, the University celebrated its 75th anniversary...
. After two years, he transferred to Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
in suburban Evanston
Evanston, Illinois
Evanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...
where he graduated with a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
in 1979. He earned his J.D.
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
from the Pepperdine University School of Law
Pepperdine University School of Law
The Pepperdine University School of Law is a law school located on the campus of Pepperdine University in Malibu, California.The school placed 54th among the nation's "Top 100" law schools according to the 2011 U.S. News and World Report rankings and is the third highest ranked law school in...
in 1983. He later said of the experience: "I went to law school at a place called Pepperdine in Malibu, California, overlooking the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
— a lot of surfing and movie stars and all the rest. I barely knew where that law library was." Blagojevich is married to Patricia Mell, the daughter of Chicago alderman Richard Mell
Richard Mell
Richard F. "Dick" Mell is an American politician and long-time member of the Chicago City Council. He is a Democrat. Mell is the chairman of the Rules Committee and has a history of feuding with former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley....
.
Prosecutor
Through his father-in-law's connections, Blagojevich clerked for Chicago Alderman Edward VrdolyakEdward Vrdolyak
Edward Robert Vrdolyak is a noted Chicago lawyer and politician and a convicted felon. He was a powerful longtime Chicago Alderman and also head of the Cook County Democratic Party before running unsuccessfully for Mayor of Chicago as a Republican...
.
Blagojevich then took a job as Cook County
Cook County, Illinois
Cook County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois, with its county seat in Chicago. It is the second most populous county in the United States after Los Angeles County. The county has 5,194,675 residents, which is 40.5 percent of all Illinois residents. Cook County's population is larger than...
Assistant State's Attorney (assistant prosecutor) under State's Attorney
State's Attorney
In the United States, the State's Attorney is, most commonly, an elected official who represents the State in criminal prosecutions and is often the chief law enforcement officer of their respective county, circuit...
Richard M. Daley
Richard M. Daley
Richard Michael Daley is a United States politician, member of the national and local Democratic Party, and former Mayor of Chicago, Illinois. He was elected mayor in 1989 and reelected in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007. He was the longest serving Chicago mayor, surpassing the tenure of his...
, specializing in domestic abuse crimes and felony weapons cases.
State and federal legislator
In 1992, with the backing of his influential father-in-law, Blagojevich toppled 14-year incumbent Myron Kulas in the Democratic primary for the 33rd state house district, which includes part of Chicago's North Side. As is the case in most elections in the Chicago area, this virtually assured him of election in November. He drew on his experiences as a prosecutor to draft bills that he argued would strengthen the state's judicial system and reduce crime.In 1996, Blagojevich surrendered his seat in the state house to campaign in , based on the North Side. The district had long been represented by Dan Rostenkowski
Dan Rostenkowski
Daniel David "Dan" Rostenkowski was a United States Representative from Illinois, serving from 1959 to 1995. Raised in a blue-collar neighborhood on the Northwest Side of Chicago, Rostenkowski rose to become one of the most powerful legislators in Washington. He was a member of the Democratic Party...
, who served as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Rostenkowski was defeated for re-election in 1994 after pleading guilty to mail fraud and had been succeeded by Republican Michael Patrick Flanagan
Michael Patrick Flanagan
Michael Patrick Flanagan is an American politician from Illinois, and a Republican. He served one term in the United States House of Representatives....
. However, Flanagan was a conservative Republican representing a heavily Democratic district, and was regarded as a heavy underdog. Blagojevich soundly defeated Flanagan by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, with support from his father-in-law. He was elected two more times, taking 74% against a nominal Republican challenger in 1998 and having only a Libertarian
Libertarian Party (United States)
The Libertarian Party is the third largest and fastest growing political party in the United States. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration...
opponent in 2000.
Blagojevich was not known as a particularly active congressman. In the late 1990s he traveled with Jesse Jackson
Jesse Jackson
Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. is an African-American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to...
to Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to negotiate with President Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
for the release of American prisoners of war.
On October 10, 2002, Rod Blagojevich was among the 81 House Democrats who voted
Iraq Resolution
The Iraq Resolution or the Iraq War Resolution is a joint resolution passed by the United States Congress in October 2002 as Public Law No: 107-243, authorizing military action against Iraq.-Contents:The resolution cited many factors to justify the use of military force against...
in favor of authorizing the invasion of Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
. He was the only Democrat from Illinois to vote in favor of the Iraq War.
2002 election
During 2002, Blagojevich campaigned for his party's nomination to become governor. Blagojevich won a close primary campaign against former Illinois Attorney General Roland BurrisRoland Burris
Roland Wallace Burris is a former United States Senator from the state of Illinois and a member of the Democratic Party....
and Chicago Public Schools
Chicago Public Schools
Chicago Public Schools, commonly abbreviated as CPS by local residents and politicians and officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, is a large school district that manages over 600 public elementary and high schools in Chicago, Illinois...
Superintendent Paul Vallas
Paul Vallas
Paul Gust Vallas is the superintendent of the Recovery School District of Louisiana, and former CEO of Chicago Public Schools and the School District of Philadelphia....
, who ran well in the suburban collar counties
Collar counties
The collar counties are the five counties of Illinois that border on Chicago's Cook County. The collar counties are tied to Chicago economically, but, like many suburban areas in the United States, have very different political leanings than does the core city...
of Chicago. Blagojevich finished strongly in Southern Illinois, winning 55% of the primary vote downstate, enough to win a primary victory by a thin margin.
During the primary, state Senator Barack Obama backed Burris but supported Blagojevich after he won the primary at Burris's suggestion, serving as a "top adviser" for the general election. Future Obama senior adviser David Axelrod
David Axelrod (political consultant)
David M. Axelrod is an American political consultant based in Chicago, Illinois. He is best known as the top political advisor to President Barack Obama, first in Obama's 2004 campaign for the U.S. Senate in Illinois and later as chief strategist for Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. Following...
had previously worked with Blagojevich on congressional campaigns, but did not consider Blagojevich ready to be governor and declined to work for him on this campaign. According to Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Israel Emanuel is an American politician and the 55th and current Mayor of Chicago. He was formerly White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama...
, he, Obama, Blagojevich's campaign co-chair David Wilhelm
David Wilhelm
A former campaign operative who rose to prominence as chair of the Democratic National Committee in the 1990s, today Wilhelm is an entrepreneur and impact investor devoted to building sustainable jobs and wealth in small town America....
, and another Blagojevich staffer "were the top strategists of Blagojevich's 2002 gubernatorial victory", meeting weekly to outline campaign strategies. However, Wilhelm has said that Emanuel overstated Obama's role in the sessions, and Emanuel said in December 2008 that Wilhelm was correct and he had been wrong in his earlier 2008 recollection to The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
.
In the general election, Blagojevich defeated Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Illinois Attorney General
Illinois Attorney General
The Illinois Attorney General is the highest legal officer of the state of Illinois in the United States. Originally an appointed office, it is now an office filled by election through universal suffrage...
Jim Ryan
Jim Ryan (politician)
James E. Ryan is an American politician who served two four-year terms as Illinois Attorney General. A career Republican, he received his party's nomination and ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Illinois against Rod Blagojevich in 2002. He has been a professor at Benedictine University since 2003...
. Blagojevich's campaign was helped by his well-connected father-in-law, Chicago alderman Richard Mell. Ethics scandals had plagued the previous administration of Republican George Ryan
George Ryan
George Homer Ryan, Sr. was the 39th Governor of the U.S. state of Illinois from 1999 until 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party. Ryan became nationally known when in 2000 he imposed a moratorium on executions and "raised the national debate on capital punishment"...
(no relation to Jim Ryan), and Blagojevich's campaign focused on the theme of "ending business as usual" in state government. Polls prior to the election found that many Illinois voters were confused about the names of George Ryan and Jim Ryan, a fact which Blagojevich used to his advantage. He asked, "How can you replace one Ryan with another Ryan and call that change? You want change? Elect a guy named Blagojevich." Blagojevich won with 52% of the vote over Jim Ryan. On election night, he said: “Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, Illinois has voted for change.”
2006 re-election
Democratic Governors Association
The Democratic Governors Association is a Washington, D.C. based 527 organization founded in 1983, consisting of U.S. state and territorial governors affiliated with the Democratic Party. The mission of the organization is to provide party support to the election and re-election of Democratic...
. Numerous scandals brought the governor's approval rating as low as 36 percent, with 56 percent disapproving near the end of 2005.
In 2005 Rod Blagojevich also served as a Chair of Midwestern Governors Association
Midwestern Governors Association
The Midwestern Governors Association is a 501 nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that brings together the Midwestern governors of states to work cooperatively on public policy issues of significance to the region. The MGA was created in December 1962 in Chicago, when articles of organization were...
.
By early 2006, five Republicans campaigned in the primary
Primary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
for the right to challenge him in the general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
, with state treasurer Judy Baar Topinka
Judy Baar Topinka
Judy Baar Topinka is the Illinois State Comptroller and former Illinois State Treasurer, having served as Treasurer from 1995 to 2007, and former chairwoman of the Illinois Republican Party. She was the first woman to become state treasurer, first to be elected to three consecutive terms and the...
eventually winning the nomination. Blagojevich formally began his 2006 re-election campaign for Governor of Illinois on February 19, 2006. He won the Democratic primary on March 21 with 72% of the vote against challenger Edwin Eisendrath
Edwin Eisendrath
Edwin Eisendrath served as the alderman of the 43rd ward of Chicago, serving the Lincoln Park area. He attended Harvard University and received a MA from National Louis University. In October 1993, he resigned to become the administrator for the Region V office of the Department of Housing and...
, whom Blagojevich would not debate.
He convinced Democratic state senator James Meeks
James Meeks
James T. Meeks is a Democratic member of the Illinois Senate, representing the 15th district since 2003. He is also an active Baptist minister in Chicago and chairs the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus...
not to launch a third party campaign by promising to attempt to lease out the state lottery to provide education funding. Blagojevich was endorsed by many Democratic leaders (with the notable exception of Attorney General Lisa Madigan
Lisa Madigan
Lisa Madigan has been the 41st Attorney General of the US state of Illinois since 2003, when she became the first female attorney general for Illinois...
, who claimed it was a conflict of interest since her office was investigating him), including then-Illinois Senator Barack Obama, who endorsed the governor in early 2005 and spoke on his behalf at the August 2006 Illinois State Fair
Illinois State Fair
The Illinois State Fair is an annual festival, centering on the theme of agriculture, hosted by the U.S. state of Illinois in the state capital, Springfield. The state fair has been celebrated almost every year since 1853. In 2008 there were more than 700,000 visits, up five percent from 2005,...
. Blagojevich was also endorsed by the state's Sierra Club
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by the conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president...
, the only Illinois governor ever endorsed by the organization. The union American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is the second- or third-largest labor union in the United States and one of the fastest-growing, representing over 1.4 million employees, primarily in local and state government and in the health care industry. AFSCME is part of the...
declined to endorse Blagojevich for re-election, citing the 500 jobs he eliminated from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources
Illinois Department of Natural Resources
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is a cabinet-level department of the state government of Illinois. It is headquartered in the state capital of Springfield...
, which left some state parks unsupervised.
In the general election, Blagojevich defeated Topinka and the Green Party's Rich Whitney
Rich Whitney
Rich Whitney is an Illinois politician and civil rights attorney who was the Illinois Green Party's nominee for Governor of Illinois in the elections of 2006 and 2010. During the 2006 campaign Whitney received endorsements from several newspapers, including the Rockford Register Star, Southwest...
, outspending Topinka $27 million to $6 million. He attempted to tie Topinka to former Republican governor George Ryan
George Ryan
George Homer Ryan, Sr. was the 39th Governor of the U.S. state of Illinois from 1999 until 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party. Ryan became nationally known when in 2000 he imposed a moratorium on executions and "raised the national debate on capital punishment"...
's corruption. Topinka ran advertisements detailing Blagojevich's federal investigations and non-endorsements by major state Democrats such as Lisa Madigan
Lisa Madigan
Lisa Madigan has been the 41st Attorney General of the US state of Illinois since 2003, when she became the first female attorney general for Illinois...
. A three-term state treasurer, Topinka said that she had attempted to stop Blagojevich from using money from special funds for general expenditures without approval of the legislature; she said Blagojevich used the funds for projects meant to distract voters from his associates' corruption trials: “This constant giving away of money … a million here, a million there, it raids our already hamstrung government and deadbeat state.” Topinka's spokesman claimed that Blagojevich was the most investigated governor in Illinois history. Topinka lost to Blagojevich by 11%.
Gubernatorial administration
After the 2002 elections, Democrats had control of the Illinois House, Senate, and all but one statewide office. While in office, Blagojevich signed much progressiveProgressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
legislation such as ethics reform, death penalty reform, a state Earned Income Tax Credit
Earned income tax credit
The United States federal earned income tax credit or earned income credit is a refundable tax credit primarily for individuals and families who have low to moderate earned income. Greater tax credit is given to those who also have qualifying children...
, a statewide comprehensive smoking ban and expansions of health programs like KidCare and FamilyCare (FamilyCare was ruled unconstitutional); critics claimed that Blagojevich was benefiting from the publicity more than the programs were helping the public. Blagojevich signed a bill in 2005 that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
in employment, housing, public accommodations, and credit. Blagojevich originally campaigned against pork barrel spending, but eventually used it himself to gain more votes for bills.
During a suspected shortage of the flu vaccine
Flu vaccine
The influenza vaccine, also known as flu shot, is an annual vaccine to protect against the highly variable influenza virus. Each injected seasonal influenza vaccine contains three influenza viruses: one influenza type A subtype H3N2 virus strain, one influenza type A subtype H1N1 virus strain, and...
in 2004, Blagojevich ordered 260,000 doses from overseas distributors, which the Food and Drug Administration
Food and Drug Administration
The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...
had warned would be barred from entering the United States. Although the vaccine doses had cost the state $2.6 million, the FDA refused to allow them into the country, and a buyer could not be found; they were donated to earthquake survivors in Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
a year later. However, the lots had expired, and Pakistan destroyed the vaccines. After Blagojevich pushed for a law banning sales of certain video games to minors, a federal judge declared the law violated the First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
, with the state ordered to pay $520,000 in legal fees.
Moratorium (law)
A moratorium is a delay or suspension of an activity or a law. In a legal context, it may refer to the temporary suspension of a law to allow a legal challenge to be carried out....
on executions of death row
Death row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...
inmates, even though no such executions are likely to occur for years (his predecessor, George Ryan
George Ryan
George Homer Ryan, Sr. was the 39th Governor of the U.S. state of Illinois from 1999 until 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party. Ryan became nationally known when in 2000 he imposed a moratorium on executions and "raised the national debate on capital punishment"...
, commuted all of the death sentences in the state shortly before leaving office in 2003). This support continued through his administration.
In 2004, Blagojevich ordered the Illinois Tollway to erect 32 signs at a cost of $480,000, announcing “Open Road Tolling. Rod R. Blagojevich, Governor.” In 2006, the signs were criticized for serving as campaign signs and costing significantly more than the common $200 signs. Shortly after his impeachment, the signs were removed from the tollway and in June 2011, Illinois banned signs with the names of public officials or candidates for public office.
Another notable action of his term was a strict new ethics law. When campaigning for re-election in 2006, Blagojevich said that if his ethics law had existed when former governor George Ryan had been in office, Ryan's corruption might not have occurred. Blagojevich also signed a comprehensive death penalty reform bill that was written by then-Senator Barack Obama and the late U.S. Senator Paul M. Simon. Organized labor and African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s were Blagojevich's staunchest political supporters. In 2008, he told a group of African-Americans that he sometimes considered himself the first African American governor of Illinois.
Education
Blagojevich oversaw record increases in funding for education every year without raising general sales or income taxes. He was criticized by Republicans and many moderate Democrats for using funds from the state pension system in order to fund other spending. Another early 2006 proposal included "PreSchool for All" for all three- and four-year-old children in Illinois. Legislation authorizing the program was adopted as part of the fiscal year 2007 budget.Proposed capital programs
On January 10, 2006, Blagojevich announced a proposal for a new $3 billion (US) spending plan for Illinois roads, mass transit, and schools, to be paid for by increased tax revenue and new gambling proposals (such as KenoKeno
Keno is a lottery or bingo gambling game often played at modern casinos, and is also offered as a game in some state lotteries. A traditional live casino keno game uses a circular glass enclosure called a "bubble" containing 80 balls which determine the ball draw result. Each ball is imprinted...
and lottery games). The proposal met with immediate opposition by members of the Republican Party of Illinois and many Democrats, who viewed it as "an election year ploy." The suggestion to legalize Keno within Illinois was later withdrawn. As of 2008, Blagojevich had been unable for five years to agree to a capital plan that would improve Illinois infrastructure.
In March 2008, Blagojevich announced a bipartisan coalition, chaired by former U.S. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert
Dennis Hastert
John Dennis "Denny" Hastert was the 59th Speaker of the House serving from 1999 to 2007. He represented as a Republican for twenty years, 1987 to 2007.He is the longest-serving Republican Speaker in history...
and Former U.S. Congressman Glenn Poshard
Glenn Poshard
Glenn Poshard is a former Illinois State Senator, U.S. Congressman, Gubernatorial Candidate, and is currently President of the Southern Illinois University system.-Early career:...
, to develop a capital construction plan that could pass the Illinois General Assembly. The Illinois Works Coalition toured the state and developed a compromise $34 billion package that relied on a lease of the Illinois Lottery, road funds, and expanded gambling for funding. The plan passed the Senate but stalled in the Illinois House, with opposition from Democrats.
Special sessions
Blagojevich called the Illinois General Assembly into special session 36 times while in office, which is half of the total number of special sessions called since 1970. The sessions were blamed for disrupting lawmakers' time off, while Blagojevich himself did not attend the sessions.Relationships with fellow lawmakers
Blagojevich disagreed with many state Democrats while in office, with House and Senate Republican leaders Frank Watson and Tom CrossTom Cross (politician)
Tom Cross is a Republican member of the Illinois House of Representatives, representing the 84th district where he has served since 1993...
often refereeing among the Democrats. During 2008, Blagojevich even expressed fear that House Democrats would gain more seats and he would face more opposition.
Blagojevich's lieutenant governor
Lieutenant Governor of Illinois
The Lieutenant Governor of Illinois is the second highest executive of the State of Illinois. In Illinois, the lieutenant governor and governor run on a joint ticket, and are directly elected by popular vote. Candidates for lieutenant governor run separately in the primary from candidates for...
was Pat Quinn
Pat Quinn (politician)
Patrick Joseph "Pat" Quinn III is the 41st and current Governor of Illinois. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Previously elected three times to statewide office, Quinn was the sitting lieutenant governor and became governor on January 29, 2009, when the previous governor, Rod Blagojevich,...
, with whom he had a sour relationship since taking office. Quinn and Blagojevich have publicly argued about, among many other subjects, Blagojevich's proposed Gross Receipts Tax to increase revenue for schools and other projects within Illinois. Quinn said in December 2008 that he had last spoken to Blagojevich in the summer of 2007. Blagojevich also feuded with Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Comptroller Dan Hynes
Daniel Hynes
Daniel W. Hynes is an American politician, formerly the Illinois Comptroller.-Background:Hynes was born in Chicago. He attended St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago, where he graduated in 1986. Hynes later attended the University of Notre Dame, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1990 with a...
, Secretary of State Jesse White
Jesse White (politician)
Jesse Clark White is a Democratic American politician. He is currently the 37th and second-longest serving Secretary of State of Illinois, after James A. Rose, and the first African American to hold this position....
, and state treasurer Alexi Giannoulias
Alexi Giannoulias
Alexander "Alexi" Giannoulias is an American politician who served as Illinois Treasurer from 2007 to 2011. A Democrat, Giannoulias defeated Republican candidate State Senator Christine Radogno in November 2006 with 54 percent of the vote, becoming the first Democrat to hold the office in 12...
-- all of whom are Democrats.
Blagojevich was often at odds with members of both parties in the state legislature who began to see him as "disengaged" and "dictatorial." Democratic legislator Jack Franks
Jack D. Franks
Jack Franks is a Democratic member of the Illinois House of Representatives, representing the 63rd district since 1999.-Career:In 2008, Franks was a member of Hillary Clinton's Illinois Steering Committee and February 5 Rapid Responders....
said that the reason Blagojevich had problems passing laws with the cooperation of the General Assembly is that he did not spend enough time with the legislature. "That’s a real reason he has such poor relations with the Legislature and can’t get any of his agenda passed, because he doesn’t talk to anybody." When lawmakers working on a budget during a special session met at 10 a.m. rather than 2 p.m., and Blagojevich's attorney threatened that the Governor was considering legal action against the involved representatives, Democratic Rep. Joe Lyons
Joseph M. Lyons
Joseph M. Lyons is a Democratic member of the Illinois House of Representatives, representing the 19th District since being elected in November 1996.In 2007, when state lawmakers working on a budget during a special session met at 10 a.m...
told reporters, "We have a madman. The man is insane."
Blagojevich had an ongoing feud "worthy of the Hatfields and McCoys" with Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan
Michael Madigan
Michael J. Madigan is the Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives and Chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois...
, a fiscal conservative who resisted Blagojevich's proposed increases in state spending. Madigan became Blagojevich's chief nemesis, blocking numerous Blagojevich proposals. Illinois senior Senator Dick Durbin said in 2008 that he received many constituent complaints about the dispute between Blagojevich and Madigan, with letter writers wanting him to step in to negotiate. Durbin said the subject is also often talked about in the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
among the Illinois congressional delegation. However, Durbin joked that he'd rather go to Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
to mediate than Springfield
Springfield, Illinois
Springfield is the third and current capital of the US state of Illinois and the county seat of Sangamon County with a population of 117,400 , making it the sixth most populated city in the state and the second most populated Illinois city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area...
. At one point in 2007, Blagojevich filed a lawsuit against Madigan after Madigan instructed lawmakers to not attend one of Blagojevich's scheduled special sessions on the budget.
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
served as an adviser to Blagojevich's 2002 gubernatorial campaign, by all accounts, Blagojevich and Obama have been estranged for years. Blagojevich did not endorse Obama in the 2004 United States Senate race, and Obama did not invite Blagojevich to speak at the 2008 Democratic National Convention
2008 Democratic National Convention
The United States 2008 Democratic National Convention was a quadrennial presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party where it adopted its national platform and officially nominated its candidates for President and Vice President of the United States. The convention was held in Denver,...
, as he did Lisa Madigan, Hynes, and Giannoulias. Blagojevich has had a "friendly rapport" with the man who took over his congressional seat, Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Israel Emanuel is an American politician and the 55th and current Mayor of Chicago. He was formerly White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama...
.
Blagojevich has also disagreed publicly with Democratic Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley
Richard M. Daley
Richard Michael Daley is a United States politician, member of the national and local Democratic Party, and former Mayor of Chicago, Illinois. He was elected mayor in 1989 and reelected in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007. He was the longest serving Chicago mayor, surpassing the tenure of his...
; after their dispute over Chicago Transit Authority
Chicago Transit Authority
Chicago Transit Authority, also known as CTA, is the operator of mass transit within the City of Chicago, Illinois and some of its surrounding suburbs....
funding, Daley called Blagojevich "cuckoo" and said he did not want to argue with the Governor since "He's arguing with everybody in America." Blagojevich replied, "I don't think I'm cuckoo."
Soon after a meeting of 2007 with Democratic State Senator Mike Jacobs, meant to convince Jacobs to vote for Blagojevich's health insurance proposals, Jacobs emerged telling reporters that the Governor "blew up at him like a 10-year-old child", acted as if he might hit Jacobs, screamed obscenities at him and threatened to ruin his political career if Jacobs did not vote for the bill. Jacobs went on to say that if Blagojevich had talked to him like that at a tavern in East Moline
East Moline, Illinois
East Moline is a city in Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. The population was 20,333 at the 2000 census. East Moline is one of the five Quad Cities,, along with the cities of Rock Island, Moline, and the Iowa cities of Davenport and Bettendorf. The Quad Cities has a population of 379,690...
, "I would have kicked his tail end." Blagojevich would not comment on the alleged incident. Jacobs said during 2008: "This is a governor who I don't think has a single ally, except for Senate president Emil Jones
Emil Jones
Emil Jones, Jr. was the President of the Illinois Senate from 2003 to 2009. A Democrat, Jones served in the Illinois Senate from 1983 to 2009, where he served as President of the Illinois Senate from 2003 to the end of his term...
— and that's tenuous at best." Jones and Blagojevich sometimes collaborated, while at other times they disagreed on funding for education.
During a 2008 Congressional race pitting Democratic state senator Debbie Halvorson
Debbie Halvorson
Deborah L. "Debbie" Halvorson is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 2009 until 2011. She is a member of the Democratic Party...
against Republican Marty Ozinga, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is the Democratic Hill committee for the United States House of Representatives, working to elect Democrats to that body. They play a critical role in recruiting candidates, raising funds, and organizing races in districts that are expected to yield...
ran television advertisements attempting to help Halvorson by linking Republican Ozinga to Blagojevich, asserting that Ozinga had given campaign donations to the Democratic governor.
The Daily Show appearances
During early February 2006, Blagojevich appeared on The Daily ShowThe Daily Show
The Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
to discuss his executive order that pharmacists must dispense any drugs for which a customer had a valid prescription, including birth control pills and Plan B
Levonorgestrel
Levonorgestrel is a second generation synthetic progestogen used as an active ingredient in some hormonal contraceptives.-Chemistry:...
. This measure was being challenged on the show by state legislator Ron Stephens
Ron Stephens
Ron Stephens is a Republican member of the Illinois House of Representatives, representing the 102nd district since 1993. He is currently the Assistant Republican Leader in the state House. The district includes portions of Bond County, Madison County, Effingham County, Fayette County and St. Clair...
from Greenville, Illinois
Greenville, Illinois
Greenville is a city in Bond County, Illinois, United States, east of St. Louis. The estimated population as of July 2009 is 7,284. The population was 6,955 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Bond County....
. Blagojevich was interviewed by Jason Jones
Jason Jones (actor)
Jason Jones is a Canadian actor and comedian who is a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.-Life and career:Jones was born in Hamilton, Ontario. He attended Ryerson Theatre School in Toronto...
, who repeatedly pretended to be unable to pronounce Blagojevich's name and simply called him "Governor Smith". At one point in the interview, Jones, who was pretending to be against the governor's order, told him "I'll be in charge of what my listeners hear." This prompted Blagojevich to turn to the camera and ask, "Is he teasing me or is that legit?" Two weeks after the interview, Blagojevich said that he was unaware of the nature of the show. Stephens said he knew beforehand that the show was a comedy show: "I thought the governor was hip enough that he would have known that, too."
Stephens later said, "With all due respect to the governor, he knew it was a comedy show. It's general knowledge for people under 90 years of age. It was when he came off looking so silly that he said he thought it was a regular news program. Even assuming he didn't know about it beforehand, we had to sign a release before the interview."
Blagojevich made another appearance on The Daily Show
The Daily Show
The Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
on August 23, 2010, after his removal from office. During his time on the show, he vehemently defended himself against Jon Stewart's critique of things that he had previously said on the show. Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian...
focused on how formerly Blagojevich had expressed a great desire to tell his side in court, but then did not. Stewart attempted to get a promise that next time, Blagojevich would testify. Stewart also focused on Blagojevich's previous statement to him, that if one heard the famous "effing golden" statement in context, it would be seen as innocent. Stewart played the additional recording, and asked him how that sounded any different. The former governor had no concrete answers.
Approval ratings
Rasmussen Reports
Rasmussen Reports is an American media company that publishes and distributes information based on public opinion polling. Founded by pollster Scott Rasmussen in 2003, the company updates daily indexes including the President's job approval rating, and provides public opinion data, analysis, and...
poll, with four percent rating him good, 29 percent fair, and 64 percent poor. Blagojevich ranked as "Least Popular Governor" in the nation according to Rasmussen Reports By the Numbers.
On October 23, 2008, the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
reported that Blagojevich suffered the lowest ratings ever recorded for an elected politician in nearly three decades of the newspaper's polls. The survey of 500 registered likely voters showed that 10 percent wanted Blagojevich re-elected in 2010, while 75 percent said they did not want him for a third term. The survey also showed only 13 percent approved of Blagojevich's performance, while 71 percent disapproved. Only eight percent of the state's voters believed Blagojevich had lived up to his promise to end corruption in government. 60 percent of Democrats did not want him to serve another term in office, and 54 percent disapproved of the job he had done. Among independent voters, 83 percent disapproved of his performance and 85 percent of them rejected a Blagojevich third term. Blagojevich said during October 2008 that if he were running for re-election this year, he would win, and the economy, not his federal investigations, had caused his unpopularity.
During February 2008, Blagojevich's approval ratings had been, by various accounts, between 16 percent and the low 20s, lower than those of then-President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
in Illinois. After his federal arrest, his approval ratings decreased to seven percent.
Bank of America
Blagojevich threatened to stop the state’s dealings with Bank of AmericaBank of America
Bank of America Corporation, an American multinational banking and financial services corporation, is the second largest bank holding company in the United States by assets, and the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by market capitalization. The bank is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina...
Corp. over a shut-down factory in Chicago. On December 8, 2008 (the day before his arrest), all state agencies were ordered to stop conducting business with Bank of America to pressure the company to make the loans. Blagojevich said the biggest U.S. retail bank would not get any more state business unless it restored credit to Republic Windows and Doors
Republic Windows and Doors
Republic Windows and Doors was a Chicago, Illinois-based producer of vinyl replacement windows. The company was founded in 1965 by William Spielman. The company was declared bankrupt on December 2, 2008...
, whose workers were staging a sit-in
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
. John Douglas, a former general counsel for the FDIC
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is a United States government corporation created by the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933. It provides deposit insurance, which guarantees the safety of deposits in member banks, currently up to $250,000 per depositor per bank. , the FDIC insures deposits at...
and attorney for Bank of America, called Blagojevich's gambit dangerous.
Impeachment trial and removal from office
Under the direction of US District Attorney Patrick FitzgeraldPatrick Fitzgerald
Patrick J. Fitzgerald is the current United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois and a member of the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Special Counsel...
Governor Blagojevich was arrested at his home by federal agents and charged with corruption. The Justice Department
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
complaint alleged that the governor conspired to commit several "pay to play" schemes, including attempting "to obtain personal gain ... through the corrupt use" of his authority to fill Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
's vacated United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
seat, claiming that in wiretapped recordings Blagojevich discussed his desire to get something in exchange for an appointment to the seat. After various outreach efforts he appointed former state attorney general Roland Burris
Roland Burris
Roland Wallace Burris is a former United States Senator from the state of Illinois and a member of the Democratic Party....
on New Year's Eve 2008. Burris was seated after some initial opposition in mid-January 2009. A trial was set for June 3, 2010 and U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald
Patrick Fitzgerald
Patrick J. Fitzgerald is the current United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois and a member of the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Special Counsel...
spoke out on the charges, characterizing Blagojevich's actions as trying to auction the open seat off to "the highest bidder".
On January 27, 2009, Blagojevich began a media campaign planned by publicist Glenn Selig, founder of the crisis management public relations firm The Publicity Agency. During the two day campaign, he visited Today, Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
, The Early Show
The Early Show
The Early Show is an American television morning news talk show broadcast by CBS from New York City. The program airs live from 7 to 9 a.m. Eastern Time Monday through Friday; most affiliates in the Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones air the show on tape-delay from 7 to 9 a.m. local time. ...
, The View, multiple programs on Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
, CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
and MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
where he proclaimed his innocence and insisted he would be vindicated.
The Illinois House and Senate moved quickly thereafter to impeach the governor for abuse of power and corruption. He was removed from office and prohibited from ever holding public office in the state of Illinois again, by two separate and unanimous votes of 59-0 by the Illinois State Senate on January 29, 2009. Blagojevich's lieutenant governor Patrick Quinn
Pat Quinn (politician)
Patrick Joseph "Pat" Quinn III is the 41st and current Governor of Illinois. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Previously elected three times to statewide office, Quinn was the sitting lieutenant governor and became governor on January 29, 2009, when the previous governor, Rod Blagojevich,...
subsequently became governor of Illinois. The Senate was acting as the trier of fact on Articles of Impeachment
Articles of impeachment
The articles of impeachment are the set of charges drafted against a public official to initiate the impeachment process. The articles of impeachment do not result in the removal of the official, but instead require the enacting body to take further action, such as bringing the articles to a vote...
brought by the Illinois House of Representatives
Illinois House of Representatives
The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The state House of Representatives is made of 118 representatives elected from...
. The charges brought by the House emphasized Blagojevich's alleged abuses of power and his alleged attempts to sell gubernatorial appointments and legislative authorizations and/or vetos. One of the accusations was an alleged attempt to sell the appointment to the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
seat vacated by the resignation of now U.S. President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
. Blagojevich was frequently reported as having been taped by the FBI saying "I've got this thing, and it's fucking golden. I'm just not giving it up for fucking nothing." Blagojevich's impeachment trial and removal from office does not have any effect or bearing on his federal indictment
Indictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois is the trial-level court with jurisdiction over the northern counties of Illinois....
, as impeachment is a political, not a criminal, action.
Federal trial
Blagojevich was indicted by a federal grand jury in April 2009. Most of the charges related to attempts to sell the Senate seat vacated by then-President-elect Barack ObamaBarack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
. On August 17, 2010, he was convicted on one of the 24 federal charges, a charge of lying to the FBI, and the jury was hung
Hung jury
A hung jury or deadlocked jury is a jury that cannot, by the required voting threshold, agree upon a verdict after an extended period of deliberation and is unable to change its votes due to severe differences of opinion.- England and Wales :...
on 23 other counts. The defense did not call a single witness, claiming that prosecutors did not prove their case. Because the jury could not agree on the remaining charges, a mistrial was ordered for those counts. Within fifteen minutes after the mistrial was declared, the prosecution team announced that they would definitely pursue a retrial on the twenty-three mistrial counts. A post-verdict
Verdict
In law, a verdict is the formal finding of fact made by a jury on matters or questions submitted to the jury by a judge. The term, from the Latin veredictum, literally means "to say the truth" and is derived from Middle English verdit, from Anglo-Norman: a compound of ver and dit In law, a verdict...
court date was set for August 23, 2010.
Federal prosecutors reduced the number of counts for Blagojevich's retrial, and on June 27, 2011 he was found guilty of 17 of the 20 charges, not guilty on one, and no verdict rendered by the jury on two counts. He was found guilty on all charges pertaining to the senate seat, as well as extortion relating to state funds being directed towards a children's hospital and race track. However, he was acquitted on a charge pertaining to the tollway extortion and avoided a guilty verdict (by split decision) on attempting to extort Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Israel Emanuel is an American politician and the 55th and current Mayor of Chicago. He was formerly White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama...
.
Judge James Zagel
James Zagel
James Block Zagel is a United States district judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and a novelist.- Early life and education :...
set October 6, 2011 as the tentative date for sentencing and Blagojevich could face up to 300 years in prison; sentencing was later delayed indefinitely. However, as that is the sum total of all the years he would serve if each conviction's maximum sentence is used to calculate his overall sentence, it is expected that Judge Zagel will sentence the former governor to 10 years in prison. It is not clear if Blagojevich would need to be present (he has put up his house as collateral for a $450,000 bond allowing him to remain free until he has to report to prison). Knowing the date he is to be sentenced will allow Blagojevich to better prepare.
State spending
Blagojevich was criticized for using what his opponents called "gimmicks" to balance the state budget. Republicans claimed that he was simply passing the state's fiscal problems on to future generations by borrowing his way to balanced budgets. Indeed, the 2005 state budget called for paying the bills by underfunding a state employees' pension fund by $1.2 billion.During 2008, Blagojevich proposed removing $16 billion in new bonds for the state to meet pension fund requirements. Blagojevich once told a gathering of black ministers on Chicago's South Side
South Side (Chicago)
The South Side is a major part of the City of Chicago, which is located in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Much of it has evolved from the city's incorporation of independent townships, such as Hyde Park Township which voted along with several other townships to be annexed in the June 29,...
that he was "on the side of our Lord" with his budget proposals.
Blagojevich proposed a budget for 2008 with a 5% increase from the year before. Budget reductions of some programs caused Blagojevich to attempt to close 11 state parks and 13 state historic sites, with his spokesman saying Blagojevich had never visited any of them. To plug state budget holes, Blagojevich at one point proposed selling the James R. Thompson Center
James R. Thompson Center
The James R. Thompson Center is located at 100 W. Randolph Street in the Loop, Chicago, Illinois and houses offices of the State of Illinois. The building opened in May 1985 as the State of Illinois Center. It was renamed in 1993 to honor former Illinois Governor James R. Thompson...
or mortgaging it. Blagojevich was also criticized for his handling of the 2007 state budget. In particular, critics cited his unprecedented use of line-item and reduction vetoes to remove his political opponents' "member initiatives" from the budget bill.
During 2003, more than 1,000 Illinois judges began a class action
Class action
In law, a class action, a class suit, or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued...
lawsuit against Blagojevich, because Blagojevich had stopped constitutionally-required cost of living pay increases for the judges due to budget reductions. The case was settled in the judges' favor in 2005, with Blagojevich's veto ruled as violating the state's constitution.
Health care
During March 2007, Blagojevich announced and campaigned for his universal healthcare plan, Illinois Covered. The plan was debated in the Illinois State Senate, but came one vote short of passing. He proposed to pay for the plan with the largest tax increase in Illinois history. He proposed a gross receipts tax on businesses, a $7.6 billion dollar tax increase, with proceeds earmarked to provide universal healthcare in Illinois, increase education spending by $1.5 billion, fund a $25 billion capital construction plan, and reduce the State's $40 billion pension debt. Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan called for a vote on a non-binding resolution on whether the state should impose a gross receipts tax. When it became apparent that the resolution would be defeated, Blagojevich announced at the last minute that supporters should vote against it, although the vote was intended to be a test vote to gauge whether the measure had any support. The request was seen by many lawmakers from both parties as an attempt to spin the loss positively. It was defeated by a vote of 107-0, which the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
termed "jaw-dropping." When asked about the vote of the day, Blagojevich said, "Today, I think, was basically an up. ... I feel good about it."
Blagojevich also attempted unsuccessfully to impose a new tax on businesses that do not provide health insurance to their employees.
Lawmakers did not approve another initiative of Blagojevich's, FamilyCare (which would provide healthcare for families of four making up to $82,000), but Blagojevich attempted to implement the plan by executive order unilaterally. In rejecting Blagojevich's executive order, a legislative committee questioned how the state would pay for the program. Blagojevich's decision has been called unconstitutional by two courts, which nullified the plan. However, during October 2008, pharmacies which had followed Blagojevich's directive to dispense drugs under the plan were informed by his administration that they would not be reimbursed and would have payments given under the system deducted from future Medicaid
Medicaid
Medicaid is the United States health program for certain people and families with low incomes and resources. It is a means-tested program that is jointly funded by the state and federal governments, and is managed by the states. People served by Medicaid are U.S. citizens or legal permanent...
payments. One state lawmaker, Republican Ron Stephens
Ron Stephens
Ron Stephens is a Republican member of the Illinois House of Representatives, representing the 102nd district since 1993. He is currently the Assistant Republican Leader in the state House. The district includes portions of Bond County, Madison County, Effingham County, Fayette County and St. Clair...
, suggested that Blagojevich should pay the difference out of his own personal account. The Pantagraph agreed with Stephens in an editorial.
Associated Press Freedom of Information Act attempts to discover how the state planned to pay for the Blagojevich-ordered program, how many people were enrolled, or how much the care had cost the state were refused the information by state departments.
Blagojevich issued an executive order during 2004 requiring pharmacists in the state to dispense "morning after" birth control medication, even if they object on moral or religious grounds. This order was legally challenged. Later in 2007, opponents of the governor's executive order reached a settlement with the state, causing partial removal of the order. The settlement, which followed the Illinois Supreme Court's decision in September 2007 to hear an appeal of a lawsuit challenging the executive order, allowed pharmacists to decline to dispense birth control, so long as they provided information to customers about pharmacists who did.
Gun control
During his February 2006 "State of the State" address, Blagojevich said the state should ban semi-automatic firearms, prompting threats from several gunmakers in the state that they will take their business elsewhere. Among these were ArmaLiteArmaLite
ArmaLite is the name of a small arms engineering facility founded in the early 1950s, and once associated with the Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation. ArmaLite was formally incorporated as a subdivision of Fairchild on October 1, 1954...
Inc., Rock River Arms
Rock River Arms
Rock River Arms, Incorporated is a manufacturing company based in Colona, Illinois that manufacturers parts and accessories for AR-15/M16 type rifles, as well as complete firearms.-Law Enforcement Use:...
, Les Baer
Les Baer
Les Baer Custom Inc. is an American weapons manufacturer of semi-custom M1911-pattern pistols and AR-15 type rifles. Les Baer Custom was founded by the gunsmith Les Baer, Sr. in 1991 in LeClaire, Iowa.-History:Les Baer Custom Inc...
Custom and the Springfield Armory.
As a state legislator, Blagojevich tried to raise the price of an Illinois Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card from $5 to $500,
saying that such a large increase was necessary so people would think twice about wanting to own a gun. Blagojevich vetoed three gun bills in 2005, which would have:
- Deleted records in gun database after 90 days—gun proponents argued that this was a privacy concern for law-abiding citizens
- Eliminated the waiting period for someone wanting to buy a rifle or shotgun, when trading in a previously owned weapon
- Overridden local laws regulating transport of firearms.
Blagojevich's position in regard to guns was criticized by the Illinois State Rifle Association: "Rod should spend more time catching criminals and less time controlling guns." His support for making gun laws of Illinois more restrictive earned him the ire of gun owners' groups.
Traffic laws
Blagojevich vetoed three bills that would permit trucks to drive 65 mph outside the Chicago area instead of the current 55 mph, stating that one bill "compromises safety".Oprah Winfrey
In early 2009 Blagojevich reported being so impressed by Oprah Winfrey's influence on the election of Barack ObamaOprah Winfrey's endorsement of Barack Obama
Oprah Winfrey’s endorsement of Barack Obama was one of the most widely covered and studied developments of the 2008 presidential campaign. Winfrey has been described as the most influential woman in the world for her impact on the culture and her proven record as a taste-maker and trend-setter,...
that he considered offering Winfrey Obama's vacant senate seat. Blagojevich summarized his reasons for considering Winfrey on various talk shows: Winfrey noted that although she was uninterested, she did feel she could be a senator.
Political analyst Chris Matthews
Chris Matthews
Christopher John "Chris" Matthews is an American news anchor and political commentator, known for his nightly hour-long talk show, Hardball with Chris Matthews, which is televised on the American cable television channel MSNBC...
praised Blagojevich's idea of making Winfrey a senator suggesting that in one move it would diversify the senate and raise its collective IQ. Elaborating further he said: Lynn Sweet
Lynn Sweet
Lynn Sweet is the Washington, D.C. bureau chief for the Chicago Sun-Times and a columnist for The Hill, a weekly newspaper that covers the U.S...
of the Chicago Sun Times agreed with Matthews, claiming Winfrey would be “terrific” and an “enormously popular pick.”
Controversies
During the course of his political career, Blagojevich was involved in a number of controversies including at least a dozen separate federal investigations; the Tony RezkoTony Rezko
Antoin "Tony" Rezko is a Assyrian -American businessman, political fundraiser, restaurateur, and real estate developer in Chicago, Illinois, convicted on several counts of fraud and bribery in 2008. Rezko has been involved in fundraising for local Illinois Democratic and Republican politicians...
indictment and trial; feuds with his father-in-law; contested state appointments; his residency, commute, and work hours; and allegedly withholding state funds from the Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago. In 2008, Blagojevich was investigated for and charged with crimes resulting from his role in the sale of the Chicago Cubs
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
and Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field is a baseball stadium in Chicago, Illinois, United States that has served as the home ballpark of the Chicago Cubs since 1916. It was built in 1914 as Weeghman Park for the Chicago Federal League baseball team, the Chicago Whales...
, as well as allegations he attempted to sell the Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
.
According to the federal complaint, Blagojevich was trying to use the Illinois Finance Authority (IFA), a state agency that can provide financing for real estate deals, and grants of other state funds to persuade Tribune Company, the owner of the Cubs, to end its editorial campaign for the governor's impeachment. In a series of telephone conversations tapped by the FBI, Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, repeatedly discussed their efforts to obtain the dismissal of John McCormick, the deputy director of the Tribune editorial page, and other editorial writers.
In a complaint issued shortly after FBI agents arrested Blagojevich in a pre-dawn raid on his home on Chicago's North Side, federal prosecutors asserted in a nationally televised press conference that Blagojevich tried to use the Cubs sale as leverage in obtaining favorable treatment in the editorial pages of the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
. Blagojevich is accused of saying, on a recorded wiretap, that if the Cubs wanted IFA financing for the sale of Wrigley Field or grants for remodeling of the ballpark, the Tribune had to "fire all those [expletive] people, get 'em the [expletive] out of there, and get us some editorial support." Prosecutors also said that they had information suggesting Blagojevich was about to appoint someone to fill Obama's Senate seat after he put it up for sale, and cited this as the main reason for why they arrested him. Amid widespread bipartisan calls for his resignation
Resignation
A resignation is the formal act of giving up or quitting one's office or position. It can also refer to the act of admitting defeat in a game like chess, indicated by the resigning player declaring "I resign", turning his king on its side, extending his hand, or stopping the chess clock...
, the General Assembly began proceedings to impeach Blagojevich and remove him from office. On December 9, the state house voted 114-1 (with one member voting present) to impeach Blagojevich. On January 29, 2009, all 59 state senators voted to find Blagojevich guilty and remove him from office. In a separate vote, the Illinois Senate voted unanimously to bar Blagojevich from ever holding office again in Illinois. One day after his removal from office, professional wrestling company TNA Wrestling offered Blagojevich a job as the on camera lead of the Main Event Mafia.
Patti Blagojevich
Blagojevich is married to the former Patricia Mell, daughter of Chicago Alderman Richard MellRichard Mell
Richard F. "Dick" Mell is an American politician and long-time member of the Chicago City Council. He is a Democrat. Mell is the chairman of the Rules Committee and has a history of feuding with former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley....
. The couple has two daughters, Amy and Anne. Anne was born just months after her father was sworn in as governor. Patricia, who goes by Patti, was a contestant on the NBC reality show I'm a Celebrity…Get Me out of Here
I'm a Celebrity…Get Me out of Here! (U.S. season 2)
The second season of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me out of Here! premiered on June 1, 2009 and concluded on June 24, 2009. The season, aired on NBC, a revival of the ABC series of the same name and continued to follow the same format as the original British series. It is also broadcast in Ireland and the...
in June 2009, where she formed a close friendship with other contestants, most notably former NBA star John Salley
John Salley
John Thomas "Spider" Salley is a retired American professional basketball player, actor and talk show host. He was the first player in NBA history to play on three different championship-winning franchises....
. She placed 4th in the competition.
Patricia Mell earned her bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
. As First Lady of Illinois, Patti Blagojevich supported the illiteracy eradication initiatives and the Illinois Pediatric Vision Initiative. In 2009 Patti was fired from a $100,000 a year fund raising job after controversy regarding alleged taped statements. Her sister is Deb Mell
Deb Mell
Deborah L. "Deb" Mell is an American politician from Chicago. She is a Democrat and a member of the Illinois House of Representatives representing the 40th district, elected in 2008 and taking office on January 14, 2009.-Early life, education and career:...
, an LGBT rights
LGBT social movements
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender social movements share inter-related goals of social acceptance of sexual and gender minorities. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their allies have a long history of campaigning for what is generally called LGBT rights, also called gay...
activist who was elected unopposed to the Illinois House of Representatives
Illinois House of Representatives
The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The state House of Representatives is made of 118 representatives elected from...
in 2008 and was the only vote against impeachment.
Post-removal activities
After being convicted and removed from office by the Illinois SenateIllinois Senate
The Illinois Senate is the upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the state of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. The Illinois Senate is made up of 59 senators elected from...
, Blagojevich went on Late Show with David Letterman
Late Show with David Letterman
Late Show with David Letterman is a U.S. late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and is produced by Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated. The show's music director and band-leader of the house band, the CBS Orchestra, is...
, where he re-affirmed his innocence and stated that the Illinois legislature's decision to remove him from office was politically motivated due to his unwillingness to raise taxes. He has accused his successor, Pat Quinn
Pat Quinn (politician)
Patrick Joseph "Pat" Quinn III is the 41st and current Governor of Illinois. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Previously elected three times to statewide office, Quinn was the sitting lieutenant governor and became governor on January 29, 2009, when the previous governor, Rod Blagojevich,...
, of using state funds excessively for personal leisure. A report later released by the Governor's office showed that most of Quinn's transportation fees were paid for by himself and that Quinn never accepted the $32 meal allowance from the State.
Blagojevich attempted to make a deal to star in NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's 2009 summer reality show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here!. He made a request with the judge to ease his travel restrictions so that he could travel to Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
to star in the show, saying that his family needed to make money. However, his request was formally rejected by U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel, who was sympathetic to Blagojevich's financial situation, but nevertheless stated, "I don't think this defendant fully understands and I don't think he could understand...the position he finds himself in." Judge Zagel went on further to note that Blagojevich must prepare for his defense. Despite the ruling, NBC expressed an interest in negotiating with the judge to have Blogojevich as a part of the show. His wife took his place on the show, which began airing June 1, 2009. He told an interviewer he found it difficult to watch his wife eat a dead tarantula
Tarantula
Tarantulas comprise a group of often hairy and often very large arachnids belonging to the family Theraphosidae, of which approximately 900 species have been identified. Some members of the same Suborder may also be called "tarantulas" in the common parlance. This article will restrict itself to...
on the broadcast but remarked that her willingness to participate in the show was "an act of love" because she was earning funds to alleviate their adverse financial position.
On June 13, 2009, Rod starred in improv group
Improvisational theatre
Improvisational theatre takes many forms. It is best known as improv or impro, which is often comedic, and sometimes poignant or dramatic. In this popular, often topical art form improvisational actors/improvisers use improvisational acting techniques to perform spontaneously...
The Second City
The Second City
The Second City is a improvisational comedy enterprise which originated in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood.The Second City Theatre opened on December 16, 1959 and has since expanded its presence to several other cities, including Toronto and Los Angeles...
's musical Rod Blagojevich Superstar. He performed in order to support the charity Gilda's Club
Gilda's Club
Gilda's Club, named in tribute to the late comic actress Gilda Radner, who died of ovarian cancer in 1989, is a community meeting place for people living with cancer, their families and friends. There are 22 open clubhouses and nine in development in North America...
Chicago, which offers support for people living with cancer.
On June 30, 2009, Blagojevich's autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
The Governor: The Truth Behind the Political Scandal That Continues to Rock the Nation was announced for print release on September 8, 2009. The book was also released by Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
for sale as an eBook on the Kindle
Amazon Kindle
The Amazon Kindle is an e-book reader developed by Amazon.com subsidiary Lab126 which uses wireless connectivity to enable users to shop for, download, browse, and read e-books, newspapers, magazines, blogs, and other digital media...
on the same day as the announcement.
Blagojevich appeared on Season 9 of The Celebrity Apprentice
The Apprentice (U.S. season 9)
The Celebrity Apprentice 3 is the ninth installment of the United States version of the reality television series, The Apprentice. On April 29, 2009, NBC officially announced the renewal of Celebrity Apprentice for Spring 2010. The show premiered on Sunday, March 14, 2010...
in Spring 2010, asserting that he has the "skill and know-how to get things accomplished" on the series. Series star and producer Donald Trump
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump, Sr. is an American business magnate, television personality and author. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump's extravagant lifestyle, outspoken manner and role on the NBC reality show The Apprentice have...
praised Blagojevich's "tremendous courage and guts", and predicted that he would become one of the show's breakout stars. Trump subsequently fired Blagojevich in the fourth episode of the season, which aired April 4, 2010.
In an interview with Esquire in January 2010, Blagojevich said about President Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
, "Everything he's saying's on the teleprompter. I'm blacker than Barack Obama. I shined shoes. I grew up in a five-room apartment. My father had a little laundromat in a black community not far from where he lived. I saw it all growing up." He soon backpedaled from the term "blacker than", saying that he chose his words poorly, but he stood by his message that "the frustration is real, and the frustration is still, today, average, ordinary people aren't getting a fair shake."
Blagojevich made an appearance at the 'Wizard World Chicago' comic convention
Fan convention
A fan convention, or con , is an event in which fans of a particular film, television series, comic book, actor, or an entire genre of entertainment such as science fiction or anime and manga, gather to participate and hold programs and other events, and to meet experts, famous personalities, and...
in August 2010, conversing with and taking pictures with attendants. He charged $50 for an autograph and $80 for a photo. He also had a humorous televised meeting with Adam West
Adam West
William West Anderson , better known by the stage name Adam West, is an American actor best known for his lead role in the Batman TV series and the film of the same name...
; Blagojevich remarked that he considered The Joker
Joker (comics)
The Joker is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain published by DC Comics. He is the archenemy of Batman, having been directly responsible for numerous tragedies in Batman's life, including the paralysis of Barbara Gordon and the death of Jason Todd, the second Robin...
to be the best Batman foil. Comic fandom website bleedingcool.com reported that Blagojevich met with a mostly positive reception, while Time Out Chicago described it as mixed.
12/2010 - has Rod appearing in a television commercial for pistachio nuts, appears to have first aired during the World Series, November 1, 2010.
Personal style
Blagojevich was famed for his flamboyant dress style, such as his taste for Charvet ties. Ever since the Justice Department complaint was made public, Blagojevich's hairstyle has become the subject of discussion and jokes for national and local media personalities. Blagojevich insisted his aides carry a hairbrush for him at all times, which he referred to as "the football", a reference to the term nuclear footballNuclear football
The nuclear football is a briefcase, the contents of which are to be used by the President of the United States of America to authorize a nuclear attack while away from fixed command centers, such as the White House Situation Room...
, which represents the bomb launch codes never to be out of reach of the president.
House of Representatives
1996United States House elections, 1996
The U.S. House election, 1996 was an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 5, 1996, which coincided with the re-election of Bill Clinton as President of the United States. Clinton's Democratic Party won a net of nine seats from the Republican Party, but the Republicans...
- Rod Blagojevich, DemocratDemocratic Party (United States)The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
: 64% - Michael FlanaganMichael Patrick FlanaganMichael Patrick Flanagan is an American politician from Illinois, and a Republican. He served one term in the United States House of Representatives....
(inc.IncumbentThe incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...
), RepublicanRepublican Party (United States)The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
: 36%
1998
United States House elections, 1998
The U.S. House elections in 1998 were part of the midterm elections held during President Bill Clinton's second term. They were a major disappointment to the Republican Party, which was expecting to gain seats due to the embarrassment Clinton suffered during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, and the...
- Rod Blagojevich (inc.), Democrat: 74%
- Alan Spitz, Republican: 24%
2000
- Rod Blagojevich (inc.), Democrat: 87%
- Matt Beauchamp, LibertarianLibertarian Party (United States)The Libertarian Party is the third largest and fastest growing political party in the United States. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration...
: 13%
Gubernatorial elections
2002 gubernatorial election, IllinoisIllinois gubernatorial election, 2002
The 2002 Illinois gubernatorial election pitted Congressman Rod Blagojevich and state Attorney General Jim Ryan. Rod Blagojevich won 52% to 45%.-Candidates:*Rod Blagojevich, U.S...
- Rod Blagojevich, Democrat: 1,818,823, 52.0%
- Jim RyanJim Ryan (politician)James E. Ryan is an American politician who served two four-year terms as Illinois Attorney General. A career Republican, he received his party's nomination and ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Illinois against Rod Blagojevich in 2002. He has been a professor at Benedictine University since 2003...
, Republican: 1,582,604, 45.2% - Cal Skinner, Libertarian: 73,404, 2.1%
- Marisellis Brown, IndependentIndependent (politician)In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
: 22,803, 0.7%
2006 gubernatorial election, Illinois
Illinois gubernatorial election, 2006
The Illinois gubernatorial election of 2006 occurred on November 7, 2006. The Governor of Illinois, Democrat Rod Blagojevich, won re-election for a four-year term scheduled to have ended on January 10, 2011. However, Blagojevich was impeached in 2009...
- Rod Blagojevich (inc.), Democrat: 1,736,219, 49.8%
- Judy Baar TopinkaJudy Baar TopinkaJudy Baar Topinka is the Illinois State Comptroller and former Illinois State Treasurer, having served as Treasurer from 1995 to 2007, and former chairwoman of the Illinois Republican Party. She was the first woman to become state treasurer, first to be elected to three consecutive terms and the...
: Republican: 1,368,682, 39.3% - Rich WhitneyRich WhitneyRich Whitney is an Illinois politician and civil rights attorney who was the Illinois Green Party's nominee for Governor of Illinois in the elections of 2006 and 2010. During the 2006 campaign Whitney received endorsements from several newspapers, including the Rockford Register Star, Southwest...
, GreenGreen Party (United States)The Green Party of the United States is a nationally recognized political party which officially formed in 1991. It is a voluntary association of state green parties. Prior to national formation, many state affiliates had already formed and were recognized by other state parties...
: 361,163, 10.4% - Randy StufflebeamRandy StufflebeamRandall C. Stufflebeam was a write-in candidate in the 2006 Illinois gubernatorial election against Democratic incumbent Rod Blagojevich Republican Judy Baar Topinka, and Green Rich Whitney. His running mate was Randy White. He is also the chairman of Illinois' Constitution Party and is a former...
(Write-in), ConstitutionConstitution Party (United States)The Constitution Party is a paleoconservative political party in the United States. It was founded as the U.S. Taxpayers' Party by Howard Philips in 1991. Phillips was the party's candidate in the 1992, 1996 and 2000 presidential elections...
: 19,020, 0.5% - Other Write-ins: 1,587, 0.0%
External links
- Indictment U.S. v. Blagojevich, et al. FindLaw
- Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich and his Chief of Staff John Harris Arrested on Federal Corruption Charges Department of Justice, December 9, 2008, press release
- United States District Court: United States of America v. Rod R. Blagojevich and John Harris, December 9, 2008, copy of 76-page complaint (text version)
- People of the State of Illinois v. Rod Blagojevich, Governor of Illinois brief, Motion for TRO, Supporting Record TRO
- Gov. Blagojevich Chicago Sun-TimesChicago Sun-TimesThe Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
, ongoing coverage - Complete Blagojevich Coverage Chicago TribuneChicago TribuneThe Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
, ongoing coverage - United States of America v. Rod Blagojevich, Alonzo Monk, John Harris and Robert Blagojevich Second Superseding Indictment, United States of America v. Rod Blagojevich, Alonzo Monk, John Harris and Robert Blagojevich