Illinois Scandal Continues to Unwind

Governor Rod Blagojevich (D-Ill) apparently did not get the memo that the practice of "squeeze" politics would not transcend to the upper levels of Washington. The Chicago Machine bread governor must have misinterpreted Barack Obama's promise of change from the business as usual style of quid pro quo, lobbyist funded earmarks, or the standard pay to play modus operandi that has plagued Illinois politics for generations.

It's possible that President-elect Obama's right hand man, chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel may have also missed the memo. According to the Washington Times, a "president-elect advisor" may have engaged the Obama team in questionable negotiations with the governor over who would inherit Barack Obama's senate seat:

Five days after Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich was arrested in a "pay-for-play" scandal, President-elect Barack Obama's transition team has yet to reveal the name of the "president-elect advisor" mentioned six times in a federal criminal complaint in the case or what the adviser's conversations with the governor were about. Chicago power player and Mr. Obama's newly named chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, continued Saturday to decline to comment, even as reports emerged that the Illinois congressman had conversations with Mr. Blagojevich's staff both before and after the Nov. 4 presidential election about Mr. Obama's preferred candidates for his now-vacated Senate seat. LINK

The article goes on to explain how Governor Blagojevich was taped saying he wanted the "president-elect advisor" to know he expected some valuable concessions for appointing candidate number one, (now understood to be Valerie Jarret) to take Obama's seat. While Mr. Emanuel remains quiet during these past few days, Obama has insisted that no one on his staff engaged in any wrong-doing:

On Thursday, Mr. Obama told reporters that nobody in his transition office tried to make a deal with the Illinois governor about filling the vacant Senate seat, adding that he had not been contacted by federal authorities during their investigation of the governor. Mr. Obama said his office was compiling and would present any contacts his staff had with the governor, but said he is "certain" they didn't cross any lines, although it was unclear when any such report would be made public.

"Our office had no involvement in any deal-making around my Senate seat. That I'm absolutely certain of. That would be a violation of everything this campaign is about," Mr. Obama said.

The media and the public will be waiting with baited breath for Mr. Obama's "presentation". One can be certain that it will be a well thought out dissertation revealing just enough red meat to give the "journalist" and bloggers indigestion, depending on which way the string is wound around the top. So far, our left-streamed media, (print and broadcast), has painstakingly reported this scandal with the same curiosity and disgust as the right-wingers who are salavitating over ever detail. The only obvious omission/neglect is the missing party affiliation when writing their stories. (Note to "journalist": this is a democrat scandal that measures with some of the worst corruption cases in this nation's history----and yes, our President-elect is indirectly involved.)