Turning The Page on WhatsHisName

State Senator Ricky Hendon said something remarkable during the impeachment trial yesterday, and I'm paraphrasing here:

"Congratulations to the press. You have reestablished your power. Use it wisely."

Its going to take ALL of us to "turn the page", move beyond our former governor, and move Illinois forward.

And just as even the lowliest fungus needs a ray of light to survive, our former governor needs media attention.

Bloggers, t.v. reporters, newspaper editors: You want to stick it to our former governor? Stop covering him.


I realize this can't happen immediately. There will be the necessary stories today, the editorials this weekend.

But starting Monday, can we declare an end to his 15 minutes of fame?

1. Just because WhatsHisName has a press conference, doesn't mean we need to show up. We know it'll be the same-old circus, hardly newsworthy.

2. Just because the U.S. Attorney has a press conference, doesn't mean we have to seek a comment from WhatsHisName or his attorneys. Why should we aid them in their defense?

3. Just because the legislature advances campaign reform or ethics reform legislation, doesn't mean we have to mention WhatsHisName by name. Reform is needed, no matter who the governor was or his party.

4. Just because WhatsHisName says or does something outrageously stupid, we don't have to write about it. Again, nothing "new" there.

In keeping with that spirit, this is the last time I'll be blogging about WhatsHisName.

Here are my final thoughts on WhatsHisName's final chapter:

Even if we are to give him the benefit of the doubt in every instance, even if we are to believe the point-of-view he articulated in his closing statement, the best thing I can say about WhatsHisName is that he was a Dictator, not a Governor.

WhatsHisName can argue that he was elected by the people. Even if you ignore the fact that his election had more to do with the lack of leadership from the GOP, or that he got less than 50% of the vote in his last election, or that his popularity now is at historic lows for any governor ever. There have been lots of popular dictators who've won elections overwhelmingly. Fidel Castro comes to mind.

WhatsHisName can argue that he was trying to what was right for the people. Even if you believe that his heart was in the right place, trying to expand health care, create jobs, increase education funding. Despite the evidence from his trial that he was willing to thwart health care programs, hold up jobs projects, and run our state finances to advance his own personal interests, you can believe those things. But nearly every dictator has used populist ends to justify breaking the law as a means.

At the end of the day, WhatsHisName believed and acted as though he was Above The Law. Violating the Constitutional separation of power. Breaking state and federal laws. Using his office for his own personal, financial and political gain. Dictator, dictator, dictator.

Finally, in response to some of the pundits and reporters out there who want to give U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald ALL the credit and the Illinois General Assembly NONE of the credit for yesterday's turn-of-events.

Its certainly true that WhatsHisName's arrest and revelations about efforts to auction off a U.S. Senate seat crystallized public opinion, making impeachment a slam-dunk.

Its also true that many of the allegations included in the impeachment indictment happened during WhatsHisName's first term, and so he surely could have been impeached sooner.

Why then, did it take so long?

First, when lawmakers, led by Speaker Madigan, complained about WhatsHisName's efforts to subvert the General Assembly, ignore the Constitution, violate state laws like those granting JCAR rulemaking authority, what did the pundits and reporters do? They covered it as a battle of personalities and personal intrigue, instead of advancing public discussion of the fundamental legal questions at the core of Madigan's arguments.

Secondly, while there were certainly enough Representatives to indict WhatsHisName, and probably enough Senators willing to convict last Spring, no one who pays close attention can honestly believe that House prosecutors would have gotten a fair hearing as long as Emil Jones was President of the Senate, or even be certain that a trial would have taken place.

Personally, I think WhatsHisName would have been impeached this year even without the U.S. Attorney's actions. owing to the change in leadership in the Senate. And Senate President John Cullerton, and the members of the Senate who elected him, deserve as much if not more of the credit than the U.S. Attorney.

Sine die.

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Mike Robinson writes: Durbin: Keep Fitzgerald as U.S. attorney

Guess this is what happens to the Gov when he doesn't return Durbin's phone calls. From Mike Robinson at the AP,

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said Friday that he will recommend another term for corruption-busting federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald if he wants to stay on as Chicago’s U.S. attorney.

Durbin told a news conference that he first wants to sit down with Fitzgerald and ask him what he wants to do. Asked if he would recommend that President-elect Barack Obama renominate Fitzgerald, Durbin said: “Yes.”

“I think he has done an extraordinary job as U.S. attorney; I have the greatest confidence in him,” Durbin said. “I want to do what he wants to do, I want to support what he wants to do, and I won’t presume what that is.”

That'll be an interesting one-on-one.

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Operation Board Game snags another piece

The U.S. attorney’s office in Northern Illinois is advancing its way around Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s inner circle, and Thursday’s indictment of GOP political bigwig William Cellini could be just another attempt to recruit one more person to testify against the governor, says Kent Redfield, political scientist with the University of Illinois at Springfield.

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald indicted Cellini today on four charges of federal corruption. The 21-page indictment spells out a classic pay-to-play scheme of trading political campaign cash for state business. But Cellini’s attorney, Dan Webb of Winston & Strawn in Chicago, already combats the charges as “unfair and unjust” and based on shaky evidence.

The feds allege that Cellini was one of many people who conspired to rig state boards to hire investment firms that would, among other financial benefits, donate to the political campaign of Public Official A, previously identified as Blagojevich. The scheme allegedly happened between spring 2003 and summer 2005. Other conspirators already charged include Blagojevich insider Tony Rezko, former state board member Stuart Levine, attorneys Joseph Cari and Steven Loren and construction contractor Jacob Kiferbaum. Cellini’s indictment lists two more: Co-Conspirator A and a Teachers Retirement System Staffer A, yet to officially be identified. Co-Conspirator A is widely thought to be Christopher Kelly, who already was indicted on separate charges of tax fraud.

Cellini’s indictment alleges that he participated in a scheme to pressure Chicago businessman Thomas Rosenberg to give money to Blagojevich’s political campaign. The alleged ultimatum was that Rosenberg’s company, Capri Capital, had to raise money or donate to Blagojevich’s political fund to get a $220 million business deal with the Teachers’ Retirement System. The system oversees and handles investments for public pensions of teachers and administrators outside of Chicago. Private investment firms handle TRS assets. Through a statement, TRS administrators declined to comment but said the staff will “continue to uphold their fiduciary duty to our participants.”

According to Cellini’s indictment, the schemers decided it was too risky to continue pressuring Rosenberg when he threatened to go to authorities. But after that, Cellini, Rezko and others “discussed the possibility of removing the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois in an effort to stop any investigations into the co-conspirators and others,” according to the indictment.

Webb’s statement describes Cellini as “completely innocent of these charges, and he will fight this case because he has done absolutely nothing wrong.” It highlights the point that while a grand jury found Rezko guilty of 16 counts of corruption, they found him not guilty on one of the most serious charges of attempted extortion, relating to the charges involving Rosenberg. It states that Rosenberg testified in Rezko’s trial that “Bill Cellini never asked him for any money and that Rosenberg never paid any money to Cellini or anyone else.”

Redfield says if the assumption is that the U.S. attorney’s ultimate goal is to get all the way to Blagojevich, indicting Cellini makes sense. But there's no guarantee it'll work.

“At this point, Cellini thinks that this is not a slam dunk,” says Redfield. “And he’s willing to be indicted rather than to cooperate.”

And if the federal grand jury agrees with prosecutors’ assessment of Cellini’s involvement in the scheme, why would a successful, wealthy political insider at all levels of government work to secure funds on behalf of Blagojevich, a Democratic governor? Redfield says it’s all about power. “I don’t think it was so much about fighting for the governor as it was about power in the board and playing the game. He was as mover and shaker when [Jim] Thompson, [Jim] Edgar and [George] Ryan were governors. That’s what he knows and what he does … Power is addictive.”

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Just in Case You Think the Only Corrupt People are Politicians

There are business crooks, too.

And U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has indicted two such alleged crooks today.

George Konjuch, a former LaSalle Bank first vice president in charge of security is charged with

“allegedly” accepting “$400,000 in cash and other benefits in return for steering tens of millions of dollars worth of “above market-price(d) for preventative maintenance on security equipment and other services” to Armando Navarrete and his company, Navarrete Industries, doing business as “Integrated Security Solutions” and “INS.”

From 2001 through 2006, the security firm over billed LaSalle and the bank that bought LaSalle, ABM AMRO.

When’s the last time you heard of a politician getting $400,000 in bribes?

The overcharging is said to have been $45 million.

Less than a one percent kickback, as I figure it.

There is one similarity to the charges brought against former Governor George Ryan.

Both were alleged to have received wedding presents for their children in their indictments.

You can read the entire press release here. Posted first on McHenry County Blog.

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Times of London: Conrad Black could get just a five year sentence

Former newspaper baron Conrad Black, former CEO of the Hollinger Group which once published the London Telegraph, the Jerusalem Post, and Canada's National Post, could receive a surprisingly light prison term of five years when he is sentenced in Chicago next month, according to an exclusive report by the Times of London.

The rump of Hollinger is now called the Sun-Times Media Group, which publishes the Chicago Sun-Times, the Daily Southtown and a whole bunch of suburban newspapers, including the Morton Grove Champion.

Lord Black was found guilty of fraud and corruption charges in a federal court earlier this year, the office of US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald prosecuted the case. The prosecution is asking for a sentence of 24-30 years, a possible death sentence for a 63 year-old man.

The Hollinger case was a major story in Great Britain and Black's native Canada, but not so here. Authors Dominick Dunne and Mark Steyn were regulars in the visitors section of the courtroom during the trial.

Former Illinois Governor Jim Thompson is a former Hollinger board member.

To comment on this post, please visit Marathon Pundit.

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Equal Rights Corruption

I have long observed that a woman in the Chicago metro area has about a five percentage point advantage over a male opponent.

And I have a hypothesis why.

I think it is because since Jim Thompson was U.S. Attorney far more men have been indicted for political corruption than women.

With the attendant publicity.

When a voter goes into a polling place and has no clue whom to vote for, how does he or she make a decision?

Let’s say honest government is important to them voter.

Would they pick a man or a woman, knowing nothing else about the candidates?

Based on my hypothesis, a disproportionate number would vote for the woman.

Yesterday, ex-Chicago AlderWOMAN Andrea Troutman made her contribution to leveling that playing field. She's the one who remarked that most alderman are "hos." (For those of you who lead sheltered lives, that "ho" means "whore.")

Even though ordinary Chicago citizens can't own firearms, alderman have passed an ordinance allowing themselves to have such personal protection. Troutman did so.

She was indicted for

accepting “a $5,000 cash bribe and a check for $5,000 payable to the ‘Twentieth Ward Woman Auxiliary,’ in exchange for taking official action to support alley access on behalf of a purported private developer who was cooperating with law enforcement as part of an undercover investigation,”

according to a press release from U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald.

If convicted, Troutman would lose the government pension she is now presumably receiving for having served as alderman since 1992.

And go to jail.

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The photograph of the recently defeated Alderman Andrea Troutman was taken from her aldermanic web site.

Posted first on McHenry County Blog, of course.

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Romney Picks on Patrick Fitzgerald

When I saw the first Republican Presidential Debate, I noted that Patrick Fitzgerald would be out, if Mitt Romney were elected president.

Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass noted the same thing in his Thursday column:

The famous varmint hunter, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, implied he’d pardon Libby and he personally attacked the special prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald of Chicago, an attack that will win Romney points among the GOP power brokers in the Illinois Combine now under federal investigation.

There’s a bit more you read here, if you wish.


More every weekend at McHenry County Blog, of course.

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More State Licenses for Sale

I’d have used the word “alleged” in headline, but that would have made it longer.

Now a Illinois Department of Public Health private sanitarian (restaurant worker) license examiner is charging restaurant owners something in the neighborhood of $300 a certificate. No exam required.

Look what just came from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago:

In response to each form, Koll caused to be shipped from the IDPH a specifically requested number of Sanitation Certificate Exam Books, which were the exclusive property of the state and were intended by the IDPH to be used for the specific purpose of testing an individual’s knowledge of topics relating to food service, preparation, and sanitation.

Upon receiving the exam books from the IDPH, Koll and/or others allegedly fraudulently completed the Sanitation Certificate exam answer sheets for individuals, ensuring that they would pass the course and exam necessary to obtain an Illinois Sanitation Certificate.

Koll then sent via mail or commercial interstate carrier a class enrollment form, the exam books, the answer sheets, and an attendance list to the IDPH, falsely representing that the individuals listed on the documentation had taken the course and exam necessary to obtain a Sanitation Certificate.

The IDPH would ultimately ship via commercial interstate carrier Illinois Sanitation Certificates to the individuals listed on the documentation, entitling the individuals to serve and prepare food in food establishments.

n exchange for fraudulently arranging to provide State of Illinois and City of Chicago Sanitation Certificates, these individuals paid money -- in some instances detailed in the complaint approximately $300 -- to Koll and/or her co-schemers, the complaint alleges…

The investigation is continuing, they said. The case is being prosecuted in Court by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michelle Nasser Weiss and Tinos Diamantatos.

If convicted, mail fraud caries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The public is reminded that a complaint contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

First the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board; now this.

Public Health, Illinois-style.

Posted first on McHenry County Blog.

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Romney In, Fitzgerald Out?

I wasn’t taking notes during the Republican presidential debate on MS-NBC last night, but it surely appeared to me that Patrick Fitzgerald will not be reappointed Chicago’s U.S. Attorney, if Mitt Romney is elected president.

Fitzgerald’s name was not mentioned, but Romney went into a virtual rant about what the Federal prosecutor did to Vice President Scooter Libby in a question of whether each thought Libby should be pardoned. Fitzgerald, of course, was that Federal prosecutor.

Nothing was mentioned about Fitzgerald’s fight against corruption in Illinois.

In the analysis after, Chris Mathews did mention Fitzgerald’s name.

Bob Kjellander is Romney’s Illinois chairman.

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Sat. 1:26 PM

A commenter below says he has seen no evidence that Kjellander is Illinois chairman. Upon reflection, he may be correct. I talked to Bob about being able to come to Romney's event earlier this year in Chicago and he sounded as if he were in charge of it. That, of course, does not mean he is is the Illinois chairman. If I am incorrect, I apologize for the misrepresentation.

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My first article on how Romney could save the Illinois GOP is here.

And, of course, there is more on McHenry County Blog.

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