Chicago -
By Steve Rhodes
I had so much fun yesterday I’m going to do the same thing today. I’ve only got about an hour here this morning before I have a couple of appointments, but I’ll pick it up later this afternoon.
For Starters
* Blago’s Facebook Frenemies.
* Blago Bonanza.
Posted on December 12, 2008
By Steve Rhodes
I’ll be building this column as I go this morning (and afternoon), right before your eyes. You’ll have to scroll through it for updates and additional items at the bottom. There’s a reason we didn’t set this up as a blog, which may not serve us well today, but believe me it’s served our purposes otherwise.
Hating Rod
Who is the biggest Blago hater in the land right about now?
I take a shot at it here, using a 10-point scale with one being “he’s still kind of a lovable goofball” and 10 being “I’d like to tear off his head and puke into his dead skull.” You can add your own names to the list.
Holy Defiler!
Blago tried to sell out Cub fans and sick children.
Insanity Watch
Fox’s Good Day Chicago is picking up on the “Is Blago Insane?” meme right now, wondering if he has a personality disorder.
Posted on December 11, 2008
By Steve Rhodes
The reporting and commentary about Rod Blagojevich’s arrest is so voluminous that it’s hard for even a junkie like me to wrap my head and hands around. As near as I can tell, the Tribune’s online coverage has been fantastic, and I have nothing but good things to say about what Fox Chicago has done. Not only did I find Jack Conaty, Dane Placko, Larry Yellen and Patrick Elwood the most knowledgeable and compelling, but I believe they had Patrick Collins – the former right-hand man to Patrick Fitzgerald who prosecuted George Ryan – on first when he was still fresh. (Collins, who is terrific, made appearances on at least two other stations yesterday, and by the time he was on Chicago Tonight last night there was nothing new to glean from him.)
Fox is just all over this story. This morning they had John Kass and Jay Stewart on Good Day Chicago, and Fox reported that Jesse Jackson Jr. is the mystery Candidate 5. I know that’s been speculated on, and maybe others had reported by then, but it was the first reporting I had seen on it that was sourced.
Posted on December 10, 2008
By Steve Rhodes
BREAKING: “Source: Feds Take Gov. Blagojevich Into Custody
Do you think they could stop and pick up Sam Zell on the way?
Maybe the worst punishment for both Blagojevich and George Ryan would be to force them to share a cell.
The hits will keep coming!
UPDATE 9:15 A.M.: Mike Flannery just said on-air that if the allegations are true, Rod Blagojevich is the stupidest politician he has ever met. Why? Because even as everyone knew he was under federal investigation, he allegedly continued to wheel and deal up to just a few days ago, trying to sell Obama’s Senate seat to possible replacements and trying to get the Tribune Company to fire some editorial writers in exchange for cooperation on Wrigley Field. The Trib has the complaint on its website, I hear.
Carlos Hernandez Gomez on CLTV is reminding viewers that legislators have honestly questioned Blagojevich’s sanity; apparently the court papers say that Blagojevich thought that if he was indicted as a sitting U.S. Senator instead of a governor, he could remake his image and run for president in 2016.
I’m just going to live-blog this the rest of the morning.
Posted on December 9, 2008
By Steve Rhodes
LATE UPDATE: See the end of the column for an internal Sun-Times memo and a Tribune Co. press release about TribCo’s bankruptcy filing.
*
Maybe Chicago is the center of the world right now. And not just because GQ (ugh) and Lonely Planet have named us their favorites.
Consider:
* The sit-in by workers at Republic Windows and Doors is more than one of the first labor actions of the new economic era; it’s already a national symbol of the economic times.
* In a further sign of overextended debt and an industry even dumber than automakers, the Tribune Co. is considering filing for bankruptcy protection. A wave of other media companies – including the Sun-Times Media Group – could follow.
* We have our own entrant in hedge fund madness.
* Our mayor is selling off our assets in order to balance his budget.
And somehow it seems fitting that it’s almost certain we’re going to send our second consecutive governor to jail even while our political power structure now occupies the White House. (The cherry on top is Todd Stroger addressing the Council of Governmental Ethics Laws this morning).
Posted on December 8, 2008
By Natasha Julius
It’s getting downright biblical out there. The Weekend Desk is on-hand to monitor the developments.
Exodus
America’s troubles deepened this week with news that we face a massive downturn in the previously thriving cheap plastic women sector. Fortunately, the crisis has yet to impact related industries such as tactless douche bags.
Posted on December 6, 2008
By Steve Rhodes
Wyma wore a wire.
[UPDATE 12/8: Or did he?]
No wonder Rod Blagojevich is already laying the groundwork for a pardon. It’s almost a foregone conclusion that he’s going to jail.
“Federal investigators recently made covert tape recordings of Gov. Rod Blagojevich in the most dramatic step yet in their corruption investigation of him and his administration,” the Tribune is reporting in an exclusive.
Posted on December 5, 2008
By Steve Rhodes
A profile in audacity. Is the case finally closed?
Kenya Or Bust
“Back in 2006, Obama visited Kenya and railed about wholesale political corruption there that robbed the people of their right to honest government,” John Kass writes.
“Then, he was campaigning for president of the United States as a reformer, though he forgot to mention that if elected, he’d bring half of Chicago’s Daley Machine to the White House.”
Posted on December 4, 2008
By Steve Rhodes
More news from the Pardon, Clemency and Commutation Desk. And then The Bureau of Parking Meter Affairs Division will weigh in.
* “See how easily redemption is won in Illinois? Durbin has become high priest of the secular liturgy: All Ryan has to do is demonstrate emotion, squirt some tears for the cameras and express some unspecified sorrow for unspecified crimes. And presto. Redemption,” John Kass writes.
“So if Bush grants Durbin’s wish, Ryan will surely make a statement of vague regret for the children who died as a result of the corruption on Ryan’s watch. Then it’ll be off to Gibson’s on Rush, or LuxBar, where George will have a steak with Combine master Big Jim Thompson. They might even save a choice seat for Senator Water Boy. ‘What a stand-up guy,’ Big Jim will say.
Posted on December 3, 2008
By Steve Rhodes
Where do you start with Dick Durbin?
Maybe with Andy McKenna, chairman of the Illinois Republican Party.
“This issue is not one of party, but of bringing real change to Illinois by the way we conduct business,” McKenna said in a statement.
“A commutation of Governor Ryan’s sentence sends the wrong message to not only those who betray the public trust but also to the honest, hardworking men and women of Illinois who expect public corruption will be punished to the fullest extent of the law.”
This is a no-brainer. It’s not even close. What in the world is Dick Durbin thinking?
Posted on December 2, 2008
