This typical mess we’re in
Rod Blagojevich is an out of touch egomaniacal sociopath who has lost all connection to what it should mean to be an elected public servant. The man’s disconnection and lack of self-awareness was at first amusing and mildly embarrassing to Illinois and its residents, but now he’s moved far beyond being caught with his politics ridiculously underdressed to the point where his hubristic actions could trigger several constitutional crises that could cost the people he was elected to serve quite a bit in unfair and undeserved legal bills.
This whole issue can kinda be traced back to that fateful day when we elected Barack Obama, (who for the foreseeable future will now be known on this site as Barry O just because it sounds friendly and he deserves more than an Our Fine President…) Once that happened it fell to the Illinois governor to appoint someone to fill the position. Rod Blagojevich was in that role and took on his new responsibility in fine Illinois political tradition, which of course means he looked to get something in return.
Now, Illinois has seemingly always had a quid pro quo kinda politics and Blago probably felt he was just doing things the Illinois way when he went out seeking some form of compensation for the appointment. However, he failed to take into account the current corruption investigations hanging over his head and has apparently been caught on tape making some unseemly statements in regards to the Senate selection process. Underestimating federal prosecutor #1 Patrick Fitzgerald is not proving to be a wise career move.
When Fitzgerald had Blago arrested several weeks ago, he went public with allegations of the various taped statements outlining how Blago truly viewed his appointment responsibility. Sure the political system he’s a part of should call for him to receive something in return for the appointment, but his direct statements to that point made over the (tapped) phone made him sound, naive, thickheaded, unclever and, worst of all in Illinois, overt.
Quite simply, Blago should have resigned right away. The type of statements attributed to him make it impossible for anything he does as governor to be taken at face value. They add a layer of “but what did he get for that” suspicion to everything he does and open the state to all sorts of expensive litigation from parties not on the beneficial end of his decisions. Yes, yes, he’s innocent until proven guilty, but that’s only the standard for criminal prosecution. The (still undenied) allegation alone, make him unfit to serve as governor.
Again, here’s the problem he just doesn’t seem to see. He has yet to deny making the statements about selling a Senate seat. His lawyer seems to be angling for a technical defense hoping to make such evidence inadmissible in court. That may work to clear him of criminal responsibility, but it does nothing to absolve him of responsibility for the actions and statements apparently caught on tape. If he said the things he’s accused of, he is unable to fulfill the duties of his position without every action coming under justified scrutiny.
Of course, it’s quite obvious by now that Blago just doesn’t get it. He was caught be selfish and self-serving and a public service position. Instead of taking what little high road left to him, he vowed to fight to his very last. He claims he owes the fight to the people who elected him to serve, yet remains willfully ignorant of how his fight does much more to harm those people and their interests than if he’d simply step aside.
Yet with all this taint hanging over him and his every move, Blago again proves that if he has just one thing besides his boyish flop of hair, that thing is the balls enough to defy public pressure, internal logic and all common sense. He’s now officially dusted off mostly irrelevant Illinois politico Roland Burris and nominated him to fill the Senate seat. Burris has been game to tie his reputation to Blago’s scandal-tarred name, and even with the threat of the Senate trying to block the appointment, Blago showed no qualms in making his move.
The decision sets up a fight between federal and state authorities and this sort of constitutional muddle can be expensive to sort out. The only certain winners in this will be the taxpayer-funded lawyers working for both sides on this one. Burris is now painted with Blago’s taint and just like the man who appointed him, everything he does will be suspicious and subject to extra scrutiny. Still he seems ready to force action from Congress to oppose him, showing that like the man who appointed him, Burris has no respect for the people he’s trying to represent and only cares about himself.
To make this sordid matter uglier, Congressman Bobby Rush showed his support of Burris (and by proxy Blago) and inserted the race card into the affair. His notion that the Senate needs a black member to replace a black member flies in the face of the content of a man’s character precept and sells short all progress against prejudice. Race seems to be the only qualification for the job he cares about, and that is a truly sad sidebar.
But it is just an annoying sidebar to an annoying mess that could harm the state of Illinois and seems very likely to cost the state’s residents a lot of cash on top of the ongoing embarrassment. If Blago truly cared about the job he was elected to do, he would resign because that is what is best for the state. He’d then be free to fight these charges, and if vindicated, he’d be able to start rebuilding that political career of his.