That wouldn't even be troubling if he hadn't, but in fact he did yesterday. He doesn't claim to have never had contact with the guy. He claims not to have talked to him about the Senate appointment. Your post is the thing playing loose with the truth, I'd say. barfo
Yes, the key passage is "Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members." A senate appointment by a governor doesn't count as an election or election return. And the Supreme Court has already ruled that the Senate's judging of qualifications is limited to age, citizenship and residency. So, the Senate apparently has no Constitutional power to refuse to seat an appointed senator.
The irony is that while Blagojovich was busted for trying to sell his Senate seat for a better paying job, he's probably holding the Democratic Party hostage by refusing to resign to achieve the same goal. If he makes a quick and quiet exit, expect some hedge fund to pick up he or his wife. If he heads to the pokey, a nice job will be waiting. Blago wins either way.
This story has legs. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/10/AR2008121003232_pf.html [SIZE=+2]Case Confirms Rezko Is Talking With Prosecutors[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]By Joe Stephens and Carrie Johnson Washington Post Staff Writers Thursday, December 11, 2008; A06 [/SIZE] A footnote to the 76-page criminal complaint and affidavit charging Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) with soliciting bribes confirms what has long been rumored -- that a former longtime friend and fundraiser for President-elect Barack Obama is talking to federal prosecutors in hopes of a reduced sentence. Antoin "Tony" Rezko's offer to provide authorities with evidence of others' wrongdoing is "not complete," and prosecutors are working to corroborate the claims he has made so far, the footnote said. Rezko, a 53-year-old developer, was convicted in June of 16 criminal counts, including fraud, money laundering and abetting bribery. He is in custody awaiting sentencing. Prosecutors depicted Rezko at trial as a fixer for Blagojevich and the man to see to secure a high-level appointment with the governor's administration. Rezko had been a longtime fundraiser for Blagojevich and other Illinois politicians, including Obama. Obama was not implicated in the months-long trial, and he has said that Rezko sought no favors from him. At a news conference on Tuesday, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, went out of his way to dampen speculation about Obama. "I should make clear, the complaint makes no allegations about the president-elect whatsoever," Fitzgerald said. "We make no allegations that he's aware of anything, and that's as simply as I can put it. . . . "There's no reference in the complaint to any conversations involving the president-elect or indicating that the president-elect was aware of it. And that's all I can say." Legal experts said it was unusual for a prosecutor to make such a blanket statement while an investigation was continuing. "That carries a great deal of weight," said Jan Witold Baran, a Washington lawyer who represents politicians on ethical complaints and campaign finance matters. "It is really unusual for a U.S. attorney to say someone is not implicated. "Could evidence pop up in the future to the contrary? Sure, it's possible. Is it likely? I think that, based on what he said yesterday, the answer is no," Baran added. The ongoing investigation is sure to present political complications for the Obama Justice Department, because advisers close to the president-elect are referenced in the criminal complaint and will be interviewed by federal prosecutors, legal analysts said. A lawyer for the Obama transition team did not return calls or e-mails yesterday. Fitzgerald was appointed U.S. attorney by President Bush, but he is a political independent. Obama could retain Fitzgerald, lending an element of continuity to the Blagojevich case and insulating himself somewhat from accusations that he is seeking to remove a dogged prosecutor from a case targeting Illinois Democrats. Rezko's reappearance in the headlines in recent years has been of continuing use to Obama's political opponents -- including Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), both of whose presidential campaigns pointed out that Obama shared a long history with the Chicago developer. Over Obama's political career, Rezko raised contributions for him and introduced him to powerful aldermen. Rezko even offered real estate advice when Obama bought an expensive house on Chicago's South Side. The two met in the early 1990s. Obama has said he was finishing his studies at Harvard Law School when Rezko and his business associates first contacted him about a job possibility in development. Obama declined a job offer from Rezko, instead accepting a position at a small Chicago law firm that would later represent Rezko's company and whose senior partner would in time go into business with Rezko. A few years later, Obama entered politics. Records list three checks arriving on his first day of fundraising for the Illinois Senate. Two of them, totaling $2,000, came from companies associated with Rezko. Over time, the businessman and Obama began meeting regularly for lunch and dinner, occasionally with their wives. After he joined the U.S. Senate in 2005, Obama took Rezko on a tour of a six-bedroom house in an upscale Chicago neighborhood. Rezko recommended that Obama buy the home and, on the day Obama closed the deal, Rezko's wife closed on an adjoining lot. The Rezkos resold a portion of their lot to Obama to expand his yard. Lawyers in the Blagojevich case said information provided by Rezko and others who testified at Rezko's trial could form the backbone of several additional charges against the governor. Blagojevich's wife, Patricia, had worked on real estate deals with Rezko. Nearly half of the criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday deals with allegations that members of the Blagojevich administration offered access to jobs and state contracts in exchange for campaign cash. Neither Blagojevich nor his chief of staff, John Harris, was immediately charged with involvement in those alleged schemes. Several of the fundraisers testified at Rezko's criminal trial this year. Fitzgerald said authorities did not "rely upon" information from Rezko in the complaint. Joseph Duffy, a defense attorney for Rezko, did not return calls yesterday.
Hey, maybe they can form a club and play bridge or pinochle together while singin' them naughty prison blues.
Rahm seems to be in some trouble. http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/1326788,rahm-emanuel-blagojevich-obama-121108.article Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel ducks reporters' questions December 11, 2008 <!-- Article By Line --> BY FRAN SPIELMAN AND ABDON M. PALLASCH Staff Reporters <!-- Article's First Paragraph --> <!-- BlogBurst ContentStart --> 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. The complaint states Blagojevich wanted a promise of a high-level appointment or some other reward for Blagojevich in exchange for Blagojevich naming Obama’s friend Valerie Jarrett to replace him in the U.S. Senate. <!-- BlogBurst ContentEnd --> <!-- start sidebar --> <!-- BlogBurst ContentStart --> Emanuel was uncharacteristically absent from Obama’s news conference this morning. He was spotted two hours later in the lobby of Chicago’s City Hall. He was there to listen to his two children performing in a concert with their school, Anshe Emet. A Sun-Times reporter pressed him to comment about whether he was the emissary named in the criminal complaint. “You’re wasting your time,” Emanuel said. “I’m not going to say a word to you. I’m going to do this with my children. Dont do that. I’m a father. I have two kids. I’m not going to do it.” Asked, “Can’t you do both?” Emanuel replied, “I’m not as capable as you. I’m going to be a father. I’m allowed to be a father,” and he pushed the reporter’s digital recorder away. Blagojevch was caught on tape saying that he wanted the Obama advisor in question to know what Blagojevich wanted in exchange for the Jarrett appointment. Blagojevich said, “He asks me for the fifth CD thing, I want it to be in his head.” Emanuel represents the 5th Congressional District in Illinois. No one in the Obama campaign or administration has been charged with any wrongdoing. Obama said this morning that none of his staff has had a hand in any dealmaking on his Senate replacement.
By a 2/3rds vote they can vote to expel him. I said that in my original post. They can't choose not to seat him, since he wouldn't be elected, and they only have oversight over elections (and judging qualifications, but that's limited to age, citizenship and residency, per the SCOTUS).
Chicago politics is as dirty as it gets. We have Chicago pols ready to run this country come late January. Should anyone be surprised that corruption is already rearing its ugly head?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-rahm-obama13dec13,0,3359611.story Rahm Emanuel talked with governor's office about who should fill Obama's Senate seat Chief of staff for Obama had list of names <dl class="byline">By Bob Secter<dd> December 13, 2008</dd></dl> Rahm Emanuel, President-elect Barack Obama's pick to be White House chief of staff, had conversations with Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration about who would replace Obama in the U.S. Senate, the Tribune has learned. The revelation does not suggest Obama's new gatekeeper was involved in any talk of dealmaking involving the seat. But it does help fill in the gaps surrounding a question that Obama was unable or unwilling to answer this week: Did anyone on his staff have contact with Blagojevich about his choice for the Senate seat? Blagojevich and John Harris, his former chief of staff, face federal charges in an alleged shakedown involving the vacant Senate seat, which Illinois law grants the governor sole authority to fill. Obama said Thursday he had never spoken to Blagojevich about the Senate vacancy and was "confident that no representatives" of his had engaged in any dealmaking over the seat with the governor or his team. He also pledged Thursday that in the "next few days" he would explain what contacts his staff may have had with the governor's office about the Senate vacancy. Emanuel, who has long been close to both Blagojevich and Obama, has refused to respond to questions about any involvement he may have had with the Blagojevich camp over the Senate pick. A spokeswoman for Emanuel also declined to comment Friday. One source confirmed that communications between Emanuel and the Blagojevich administration were captured on court-approved wiretaps. Another source said that contact between the Obama camp and the governor's administration regarding the Senate seat began the Saturday before the Nov. 4 election, when Emanuel made a call to the cell phone of Harris. The conversation took place around the same time press reports surfaced about Emanuel being approached about taking the high-level White House post should Obama win. Emanuel delivered a list of candidates who would be "acceptable" to Obama, the source said. On the list were Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, Illinois Veterans Affairs director Tammy Duckworth, state Comptroller Dan Hynes and U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Chicago, the source said. All are Democrats. Sometime after the election, Emanuel called Harris back to add the name of Democratic Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan to the approved list, the source said. Blagojevich and Harris, who resigned his state post Friday, are charged with plotting to sell the selection of Obama's replacement in exchange for lucrative jobs or campaign cash for the governor. Among other things, a government affidavit filed with the charges claimed that Blagojevich had kicked around the idea of using his Senate selection to leverage an appointment to an ambassadorship or Cabinet post in the Obama administration. Federal authorities have not suggested Obama or his team knew about Blagojevich's alleged schemes. In an interview, Schakowsky said she spoke to Emanuel on Thursday and he seemed unfazed by the controversy. Schakowsky also spoke of a conversation she had with Emanuel shortly after he was named chief of staff. She said she called Emanuel him "to get some intelligence" on whether Obama might approve of her selection as senator. "He indicated that the president-elect would be fine with certain people and I was one of them," Schakowsky said. Schakowsky said it was natural for Obama to take an interest in the selection process for his Senate seat. "It makes perfect sense for the president-elect or his people to have some interaction about filling the seat he was vacating," she said. Though now working full-time on Obama's transition, Emanuel has yet to resign his congressional seat. Illinois law has a different process for filling vacant House seats than Senate seats. When Emanuel resigns, a special election will be held for his replacement. One alleged scheme outlined in the charges against Blagojevich involves the special election for Emanuel's seat. The government affidavit said Blagojevich and others were recorded talking about an unnamed "president-elect adviser" concerned about the election for Emanuel's congressional seat who might help the governor land a new job at a non-profit organization. Tribune reporter David Heinzmann contributed to this report. bsecter@tribune.com
