Scandal in Illinois: Is it airtight?
Posted: Tuesday, December 16, 2008 9:15 AM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:
Courts, States, Democrats
The New York Times reports that some experts are wondering whether the part of the criminal complaint accusing Blago of selling the senate seat is truly an airtight case. "Robert S. Bennett, one of Washington’s best-known white-collar criminal defense lawyers, said Mr. Blagojevich faced nearly insurmountable legal problems in a case that includes a raft of corruption accusations unrelated to Mr. Obama’s Senate seat. But Mr. Bennett said the case raised some potentially thorny issues about political corruption.”
“‘This town is full of people who call themselves ambassadors, and all they did was pay $200,000 or $300,000 to the Republican or Democratic Party,” said Mr. Bennett, referring to a passage in the criminal complaint filed against the governor suggesting that Mr. Blagojevich was interested in an ambassadorial appointment in return for the Senate seat. ‘You have to wonder, How much of this guy’s problem was his language, rather than what he really did?’”
"Blagojevich's political isolation intensified Monday evening, with the Illinois House voting 113-0 to create a bipartisan committee that will study the allegations against Blagojevich and recommend whether he should be impeached," the AP writes. "Democrats in the Senate shelved action on a special election to fill Barack Obama's vacant U.S. Senate seat, for now leaving the decision in Blagojevich's hands… Madigan canceled plans to consider a special election to replace Obama in the Senate because he said Democrats are split over the best way to fill the vacancy. Opponents of a special election cite its cost. Republicans harshly criticized leaving the power to appoint a senator in Blagojevich's hands."
”On another front,” the Washington Post says, “Obama delayed the release of a review of his team's political contacts with the Blagojevich administration. He said the review confirmed that his staff had done nothing inappropriate and that the corruption case had ‘nothing to do with my office.’ Obama said he delayed the release at the request of U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald whose investigators are hurrying to interview witnesses in the Blagojevich case. Fitzgerald confirmed the request for a delay. ‘I would ask for your patience because I do not want to interfere with an ongoing investigation,’ Obama said. ‘But there is nothing in the review that was presented to me that in any way contradicted my earlier statements.’”
