Will Rezko or Tapes Prove More Damaging in Case Against Ill. Gov?

Nikos Retsos
Dec 11, 2008 9:50 AM CST

With dozens of Illinois politicians, judges,  police officers,  top level bureaucrats, and the former governor sitting in federal prisons,  the Blagojevich corruption saga just started.  And, surely,  it spins around typical Illinois corrupt deals through emissaries, and interlocutors [like Antoin Rezko] to keep the main characters off the federal corruption investigation radar screen.  It is called “The Deniability Factor,”  and it has become the favorite mode of corruption   in Illinois.   

According to news reports, Antoin Rezko was
cooperating with the Feds earlier, but not now.
I have no doubt in my mind that after Obama’s election,  Rezko saw a presidential pardon from
president Obama in 8 years,  and opted out.  Despite the denials, Obama was a very close friend of Rezko,  and even though he kept Rezko and Revered Jeremiah Wright at distance
to be elected,  he owes them too much to write them off. 

But the scale of corruption in Illinois is so vast,  that somewhere along upcoming federal convictions the Obama name may become entangled in shady deals that may
scrap his chances for a second term.  Rezko
will certainly resurface in any Blagojevich trial.

Are Blagojevich’s taped conversations winnable in court?  Absolutely - no matter what the expert lawyers claim above.  The celebrated Rezko lawyer, Patrick Duffy,  made the same “Non-Winnable”  argument before the Rezko trial,  and many neophyte lawyers flocked the courtroom to steal his winning secrets.  But the bragging ended with the
conviction of Rezko.  And Rezko is not done.
The Feds will try him again for illegal schemes on his pizza business.

The same applies to Blagojevich.  The wiretapping for selling the U.S. senate seat is
just the icing of the cake.  The Feds have a mountain of other illegal schemes for which there were convictions and “guilty” pleas from
Blagojevich’s associates and alleged co-conspirators.  I expect that there will be more than one trial against Gov. Blagojevich,  and if at some point he decides to co-operate with the Feds for a reduced sentence,  Baraq Obama
may be ensnared directly, or indirectly,  into unknown matters or deals that may endanger his chances for a second term as president.

The Blagojevich’s arrest was expected by every Illinoisan - except the governor himself, who even thought it was a joke!  But this 76 pages criminal complaint is just the tip of the iceberg.  Blagojevich’s Pandora’s Box has not been opened by the Feds yet.  And when the Feds do so,  I expect the contents to make it to the top of the Illinois corruption history scale. Nikos Retsos, retired professor, Illinois

I take issue with the lawyer’s

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J.D.
Dec 11, 2008 10:03 AM CST

Texan, don’t you know? The Associated Press and Reuters said yesterday that Obama has absolutely no connection to this. You see, the Chosen One is pure, and according to Biden, also clean and articulate.

The “free” press will not investigate this. Unless, of course, Obama becomes a republican. Then it’s game on.

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Annie_M
Dec 11, 2008 1:41 PM CST

After reading this I weep for the future. Is this what it comes down to? Money? How about a sense of pride here people? Our Senator from Illinois was eleceted to run this great country of ours and then this happens??? I mean by the looks of it, its no surprise… Not even when it comes to Gov’s Illinois is so messed up. We have the 1919 Black Sox scandal, Sammy Sosa and steriod use/corking bats, a fire caused by a cow, plenty of riots, Al Capone and prohibition. This list goes on and on and its sad.

I actually worked on the same floor as Mr. Blago’s campaign was on and what a joke. The honest hardworking people who believed he would make a difference are now bombarded with court hearings and question after question of allegations of wrong doing HE made!

I was born in Chicago in 1984 and have lived here my entire life and in the same building. I wanted to raise my family here. But when you hear and see shit like this it makes you want to pick up and leave to a small town. And in all honesty I always thought that Chicago was a small town. It seems you always seem to run into someone that you know and that is a great feeling.

But what is not a great feeling is that when you have people like Blagojevich, Daley (M), Stroger, Jackson (Jr and his Daddy), Ryan, Walker, and Kerner deciding things like health care and taxes then you are royally FUC***!

I plan to leave Chicago with some good memories. I don’t know when but I know that this is not somewhere I want my kids growing up and working hard so people like that can ride in golden elevators, brand new jets, and have their buddies ride along with them. I dont want them to get passed up on a job when their skills are overlooked and given to a cousin who is way over paid and under qualified. But I guess this happens every where??? Like I said I weep for the future.

Shame on you you selfish a$$ho%#$! F the tollways, F the Olympics, F having THE HIGHEST county tax, F the meters, F the cops who are crooked and give the decent cops a bad name, F the “fair” court system, F who ever is in charge and is totally F’ing ME!

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george
Dec 12, 2008 8:47 AM CST

I don’t trust anything the media says about Obama.  If they say Obama is clean - most likely he is involved.

MSM is a party of the democratic socalist party in which the Kenyan Obama is leader.

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Bird Smack
Dec 12, 2008 10:30 AM CST

My knowledge of criminal law dates to law school with virtually no updates since that time.  But am I missing something in this statement:  “Chicago lawyer John Beal agreed from the article. ‘‘The weakness in the government’s case seems to be that Blagojevich schemed to do things but didn’t actually do them,’’ he told AP.”

I thought this is what they call “conspiracy,” with the scheming being the “overt act.”  No?

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DJ
Dec 12, 2008 5:44 PM CST

Fortunately, the good professor is NOT a defense lawyer, which he demonstartes by his ignorance of the actual charges including the content of the affidavit attached to the indictment—which only contains a rough summary of a small portion of the case against the good governor.

The charges against the governor were as follows:

Count One
From in or about 2002 to the present, in Cook County, in the Northern District of Illinois, defendants did, conspire with each other and with others to devise and participate in a scheme to defraud the State of Illinois and
the people of the State of Illinois of the honest services of ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH and JOHN HARRIS, in furtherance of which the mails and interstate wire communications would be used, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1341,1343, and 1346; all in violation of Title 18 United States Code, Section 1349.

Count Two
Beginning no later than November 2008 to the present, in Cook County, in the Northern District of Illinois, defendants ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH and JOHN HARRIS, being agents of the State of Illinois, a State government which during a one-year period, beginning January 1, 2008 and continuing to the present, received federal benefits in excess of $10,000, corruptly solicited and demanded a thing of value, namely, the firing of certain Chicago
Tribune editorial members responsible for widely-circulated editorials critical of ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH, intending to be influenced and rewarded in connection with business and transactions of the State of Illinois involving a thing of value of $5,000 or more, namely, the provision of millions of dollars in financial assistance by the State of Illinois, including through the Illinois Finance Authority, an agency of the State of Illinois, to the
Tribune Company involving the Wrigley Field baseball stadium; in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 666(a)(1)(B) and 2.

If I were a guessing man, candidate # 5 and his people spoke with the good governor, his chief of staff, and their cronies and that the conspiracy will prove to be specific, and well defined, and chock-full-of-overt-acts.  Presumably, there will be many other instances where other candidates were also so engaged. 

Also, the footnote and corroboration issue is misleading—but in any event, the Rezko testimony would only be one of a multitude of spokes in the conspiratorial circle.

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