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Now is the time to contact our politicians and let them know we prefer open and
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4.
Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 1349 - Conspiracy - In the actual criminal
complaint, Blagojevich is not actually accused of violating the above
sections directly, since almost all politicians do the same. Governor
Blagojevich is accused of conspiring with others to violate the law.
This sure sounds like typical politician activity - often getting
involved in conspiracies through staff, family and friends to maintain
some plausible denial defense Conspiracy is a useful tool in prosecution
since once the conspiracy is proved, the prosecutor can use the
testimony of a co-conspirator against another co-conspirator. On the
other hand, Clarence Darrow once said that if a child goes into a store
and steals a piece of gum, it's petty theft. However, if two children
plan to go into that same store to steal that same piece of gum, it's
felony conspiracy. Under this statute, a conspirator is subject to the
same penalties as one who actually commits the crime. Since
politicians staff, lobbyists and special interest groups all do this
with politicians, the fundamentals of two party rule would be destroyed
by using this section.
Count Two
1. 18 U.S. Code, Section 666(a)(1)(B) and 2 - Theft or bribery
concerning programs receiving federal funds - This involves a government
agent "corruptly" soliciting or demanding something of value with the
intent to be influenced, or "corruptly" giving anything of value with
the intent to influence a government agent. This is, obviously, typical
politician activity
When the facts showed Fannie and Freddie were supporting loans that
could not be paid back, Dodd, Barney Frank, the Black Caucus and their
supporters insisted USA tax payer money continue to be used to support
loans that would not be paid back. Most of the earmark money goes for
"improper purposes."
Blagojevich is more open in
his political dealings. While he is a poster child for America's corrupt
two-party system, we need to keep this investigation and its results
open to the public. While Blagojevich cannot reasonable be
prosecuted for doing what all politicians do, learning about
Blagojevich's open corruption lets us see the often hidden spectacle of
the USA's ugly political corruption
...A security detail is positioned outside the home of Illinois Gov. Rod
Blagojevich in Chicago, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2008....
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is defying
hypocritical politician and media calls for his resignation.
(source)
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich fights for his office.
Blagojevich on the job despite calls to quit
Support pours in for
Blagojevich and his family
Patti Blagojevich's family rallies to her defense
We need to support the honest corrupt Blagojevich.
His honest and open brand of political corruption has already created
revelations of the incipient Democratic Party corruption.
Look at this insight to corrupt politics already provided by Blago's honest and
open corruption.
Case Confirms Rezko Is Talking With Prosecutors A footnote to the
76-page criminal complaint and affidavit charging Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich
(D) with soliciting with Rezko.
Jesse Jackson Jr. has been revealed as having been involved in trying to buy
Obama's Senate Seat.
(source)
Rahm Emanuel tied to Blago scandal. Refuses to talk to reporters.
Michelle Obama "Specifically Named Individual" on page 66 of Blago Indictment?
Blago Indictment Document - Chicago Tribune ^ | December 11, 2008 | Feds
Posted on Thursday, December 11, 2008 11:35:51 AM by Bon mots
Is Michelle Obama the "Specifically Named Individual" on page 66 of the Criminal
Complaint against Governor Rod Blagojevich.
From the indictment:
ROD BLAGOJEVICH said that the consultants (Advisor B and another consultant are
believed to be on the call at that time) are telling him that he has to suck it
up for two years a More..nd do nothing and give this motherf***er [the
President-elect] his senator. F**k him. For nothing? F**k him. ROD BLAGOJEVICH
states that he will put [Senate Candidate 4] in the Senate before I just give
f**king [Senate Candidate 1] a f**king Senate seat and I dont get anything.
(Senate Candidate 4 is a Deputy Governor of the State of Illinois).
ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated that he needs to find a way to take the financial stress
off of his family and that his wife is as qualified or more qualified than
another specifically named individual to sit on corporate boards.
The specifically named individual is Michelle Obama, who was appointed to the
Board of TreeHouse Foods, a WAL-MART vendor, on June 25, 2005, even though she
did not have experience in the private sector previous to the appointment and
knows absolutely nothing about food distribution nor retail.
Here are the benefits the Obama family received as a result of Michelle Obamas
stint with the WAL-MART vendor:
____________________________________________________________________________________
According to the couples tax returns, Mrs Obama earned $51,200 (#25,700) for her
work as a non-executive director on Treehouses board last year, on top of the
$271,618 salary she was paid as a vice-president of the University of Chicago
Hospitals.
_____________________________________________________________________________
She also received 7,500 Treehouse stock options, worth a further $72,375, as she
did the previous year, when she banked a $45,000 salary from the company.
Rahm Emanuel tied to Blago scandal. Refuses to talk to reporters.
President-elect Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, refused to take
questions from reporters this morning about whether he was the Obama “advisor”
named in the criminal complaint against Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
source
Prosecuters say the wiretaps portray blatant
corruption: But is Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich openly scheming to barter his
power for favors anything new for politicians. Have politicians not
already written laws to allow them the "work together for the common good?"
Are Blagojevich tapes enough evidence to convict?
It was suggested when it launched that the Obama
website tool would bring uncomfortable questions to the fore, but the results so
far are the opposite: Obama's supporters appear to be using -- and abusing -- a
tool allowing them to "flag" questions as "inappropriate" to remove all
questions mentioning Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich from the main pages of
Obama's website.
The Blagojevich questions -- many of them polite and reasonable -- can be found
only by searching words in them, like "Blagojevich," which produces 35 questions
missing from the main page of the site.
"Given the current corruption charges involving Blagojevich, will 'serious'
campaign finance reform that takes money completely out of politics through
publicly funded elections be a priority in the first term?" asked Metteyya of
Santa Cruz, California.
"This submission was removed because people believe it is inappropriate," reads
the text underneath it.
Also removed as "inappropriate":
"In light of the recent corruption scandals (Blagojevich, Rangel, Jefferson,
Stevens, etc) that have dominated the political scene,is there any ethics
legislation being crafted to actually curb corruption and prevent another wave
of nixonian cynicism?", a question from "lupercal," of Gainesville.
And: "Is Barack Obama aware of any communications in the last six weeks between
Rod Blagojevich or anyone representing Rod Blagojevich and any of Obama's top
aides?", a question from Phil from Pennsylvania.
Declaring a question "inappropriate" is different from merely voting it down;
it's calling foul on a question, not just disapproving of it.
Community reporting systems like this are often vulnerable to abuse from
committed partisans -- YouTube has wrestled with a parallel problem -- and the
only solution is conscious efforts to remedy it.
So far, Obama's team does not seem to have stepped in to allow uncomfortable
questions to rise to the top, and instead is allowing his supporters to sanitize
the site.
(source)
The stinging criminal complaint against Illinois
Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff John Harris raises lots of questions
for President-elect Barack Obama – a few of which he answered on Thursday, at
his first news conference since Blagojevich was charged in the
cash-for-Senate-seat affair..
Here are seven worth asking:
1 – “Did you communicate directly or indirectly with Blagojevich about picking
your replacement in the U.S. Senate?”
Obama issued a categorical statement Tuesday that he personally hadn’t spoken
with Blagojevich about the seat — but seemed to correct himself in a way that
suggested others around Obama might have.
“I had no contact with the governor or his office and, so we were not – I was
not aware of what was happening," Obama said.
Yet, according to prosecutors’ characterizations of Blagojevich’s wiretapped
telephone conversations, the Illinois governor seemed to believe he had a
channel of communications with Obama’s team.
For instance, Blagojevich was recorded speaking to a union official who
Blagojevich “understood … was an emissary” to discuss the interest of Obama
confidant Valerie Jarrett in the seat, according to the criminal complaint
unveiled Tuesday.
But at some point, Blagojevich seemed to become aware that Obama’s team had no
interest in his favored option – he would pick Jarrett in exchange for being
named secretary of health and human services, prosecutor allege. How did he know
that?
Asked at the press conference if he or his people had interacted with
Blagojevich or his office about filling the vacant Illinois Senate seat, Obama
said he, personally, had not.
But he left the door open to the possibility that his aides may have and
promised that he would reveal the results of an investigation of any such
interactions “in the next few days.”
He said: “what I want to do is gather all the facts about any staff contacts
that may have taken place between the transition office and the governor’s
office.”
He asserted, though, that no one on his staff engaged Blagojevich in his alleged
efforts to trade the Senate seat for personal benefit.
2 – “Why didn’t you or someone on your team correct your close adviser David
Axelrod when he said you had spoken to Blagojevich about picking your
replacement?”
Last month, Axelrod unambiguously described a conversation between Obama and
Blagojevich about filling the seat.
“I know he's talked to the governor and there are a whole range of names, many
of which have surfaced, and I think he has a fondness for a lot of them,"
Axelrod told an interviewer from Chicago’s Fox affiliate.
But then, Axelrod retracted the comment – after the president-elect asserted
Tuesday that he hadn’t spoken to Blagojevich. Axelrod issued a statement saying
he "was mistaken when I told an interviewer last month that the President-elect
has spoken directly to Governor Blagojevich about the Senate vacancy. They did
not then, or at any time, discuss the subject."
3. “When did you learn the investigation involved Blagojevich’s alleged efforts
to ‘sell’ your Senate seat, or of the governor’s impending arrest?”
Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said it was not until Tuesday that Obama learned
the details of the complaint against Blagojevich – the same day it was released
to the public – and wouldn’t say exactly when or how Obama was notified.
But at least some people got an early heads-up: Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. told
reporters that he was notified Monday night by federal prosecutors that the
investigation was coming to a head, that an arrest was imminent and that Jackson
was not a target.
(source)
Land of Lincoln once again mired in controversy
Posted: 04:56 PM ET
From CNN's Ed Hornick
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is accused of scheming to sell Barack Obama's
Senate seat to the highest bidder.
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Illinois state politics read more like a script from "The
Sopranos" than a page out of the history books.
On Tuesday, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, and his chief of staff,
John Harris, were arrested on federal corruption charges involving an alleged
pay-for-play scheme to award Barack Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder —
among other accusations.
Each was charged with a count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and a
count of solicitation of bribery, authorities said. If convicted, the two could
spend a maximum of 30 years in prison.
U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald called Blagojevich's actions a "political crime
spree" and said his behavior would make Abraham Lincoln "roll over in his
grave."
Watch more on the complaints against the
Illinois governor »
Lincoln, after all, is one of the state's most famous figures, having served as
a congressman and later as president.
U.S. Attorney
Patrick Fitzgerald called Blagojevich's
actions a "political crime spree" and said
his behavior would make Abraham Lincoln
"roll over in his grave."
Lincoln, after all, is one of the state's
most famous figures, having served as a
congressman and later as president
.
Watch: CNN's Ed Hornick discusses the story
»
The FBI special agent in charge of the case, Robert Grant, went so far as to say
that "if [Illinois] isn't the most corrupt state in the United States, it's
certainly one hell of a competitor." Video Watch more on the complaints against
the Illinois governor »
Watch more on the complaints against the
Illinois governor »
But accusations of corruption like those against Blagojevich are nothing new to
Illinois.
"Corruption is in the DNA of this state," said CNN contributor and Chicago
resident Roland Martin. "The voters in this state, when I talk to people, since
I have been here, they're pretty much like, 'You know what? This is what we
expect.' " (source)
The so-called case against Blagojevich.
While such vauge and imprecise terms may be the mainstay of you posts, they are Constitutionally unacceptable in statutory language. In fact, in the specific statutory allegations, the word "corruption" doesn't even appear. I agree. This is why I question whether or not Blago will be convicted for doing things that are not considered criminal by lawyers
Gov. Blagojevich is alleged to have violated the following criminal statutes: (As you know anyone can allege anyone has violated criminal statutes)
Count One
1. Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 1341 - Mail Fraud - This involves a scheme to obtain money or property by false pretenses using the mail. So, when you compare Blagojevich's actions with those of other politicans, ask yourself if you can prove that they committed mail fraud, not whether they appear to be "corrupt" to you. It is possible to allege that most political mail send out to solicit funds for promises that will not be met violate this
2. Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 1343 - Wire fraud - This is essentially the same as section 1341 except that instead of using the mail, it involves using wire (including telephone), radio or televison in interstate or foreign commerce. Once again, when you compare Blagojevich's actions with those of other politics, ask yourself if you can prove that they committed wire fraud, not whether they appear to be "corrupt" to you. It is possible to allege that most political wire messagessend out to solicit funds for promises that will not be met violate this
3. Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 1346 - This is an inclusive definition of the phrase "scheme or artifice to defraud" as it is used in the statutory language of the above statutes. It is defined as "includes a scheme or artifice to defraud another of the intangible right of honest service." This sure sounds like typical politician activity Now we are getting to a close statutory defintion of "corruption." So, instead of saying "corrupt," you might state what actions a politican has taken "to defraud antoher of the intangible right of honest service," remembering, of course, that in order to be considered mail or wire fraud, the scheme must involve the use of the mail or wire, televsion or radio.
4. Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 1349 - Conspiracy - In the actual criminal complaint, Blagojevich is not actuall accused of vioating the above section directly. He is accused of conspiring with others to do so. This sure sounds like typical politician activity - often getting involved in conspiracies through staff, family and friends to maintain some plausible denial defense Conspiracy is a useful tool in prosecution since once the conspiracy is proved, the prosecutor can use the testimony of a co-conspirator against another co-conspirator. On the other hand, Clarence Darrow once said that if a child goes into a store and steals a piece of gum, it's petty theft. However, if two children plan to go into that same store to steal that same piece of gum, it's felony conspiracy. Under this statute, a conspirator is subject to the same penatlies as one who actually commits the crime.
Count Two
1. 18 U.S. Code, Section 666(a)(1)(B) and 2 - Theft or bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds - This involves a government agent "corruptly" soliciting or demanding something of value with the intent to be influenced, or "corruptly" giving anything of value with the intent to influence a government agent. This sure sounds like typical politician activity
Now, the term "corruptly" defined elswhere in the code as being for an improper purpose. And that becomes the crucial difference beween lobbying and bribery. A lobbyist may offer inducements as to why a particular program may benefit the state or district of a government representative. However, what is lacking is where the inducments are not being offered "for an improper purpose." This is something lawyers can debate in this case, but it seems clear that the typical politician use of taxpayers money to enrich lobbyists clients is an improper use of taxpayer money.
So, if you are going to insist on saying that other politicians are no different than Blagojevich, you will have to demonstrate the "improper purpose," which, of course, requires more than simply making the conclusory statement, without factual support, that it is improper. See above - Here is an example. When the facts showed Fannie and Freddie were supporting loans that could not be paid back, Dodd, Barney Frank, the Black Caucus and their supporters insisted USA tax payer money continue to be used to support loans that would not be paid back. Most of the earmark money goes for "improper purposes."
I don't expect that this will change your posts, but at least we all
know that, now, you know better. I
appreciate your help. I would add that I feel your post proves MY
point. Blagojevich has done nothing that is different than what most
politicians do all the time EXCEPT that he was less careful of hiding
his corruprion.
"What, you mean I cannot use my political power to get rich? I'm out of
here."
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