By Steve Rhodes
1. 20 Questions For Blago Jury.
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My favorite is No 3: “There have been oodles of Chicago aldermen indicted, and county and state officials, even four governors, but never a Chicago mayor. Isn’t Chicago lucky that the fifth floor of City Hall is a magical, corruption-free zone?”
2. I missed this, but the Trib appears to be in the clear: “The Chicago Tribune Walks: Newly unsealed evidence shows the paper was never extorted.”
3. “The Illinois Republican Party today launched a comprehensive web site to follow the trial of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. The Blago Files will be updated regularly with summaries of the court proceedings and links to the vast news coverage expected over the next several weeks.”
4. “The sources say prosecutors fear Rezko brings with him much baggage of his own wrongdoing and that he’ll ‘go off the reservation’ in testimony,” the Sun-Times reports in “Too Risky To Put Rezko On Stand?”
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Thank you for finally explaining this.
5. Defense attorney Sam Adam Jr.’s website.
In which he approvingly notes that some have called his courtroom appearances “The Sam Adam Show.”
6. Blago prepares for trial by playing kickball.
7. Beachwood nickname for Blago that disappointingly never caught on: Gov. Baloneyvich. I mean, how perfect is that? I really thought that would be big.
8. When I first described Blagojevich as an empty suit and mediocre backbencher with no record of reform who was simply a front man? During his first gubernatorial primary, in an e-mail argument with Rich Miller of The Capitol Fax Blog, who was awed by Blago’s skills as a campaigner. The folks with the real power always like to put a smooth-talking pretty face out front. Sometimes they even instruct their pretty face to win by ripping the kind of politics they practice. Who says the Machine doesn’t adapt?
9. “Rod was the governor, yes, but he wasn’t the one with the real power,” John Kass writes. “In political terms, he was a nobody next to the real political kings of this state. They’ve made fortunes, or their friends and families have made fortunes. They have layers and layers of buffers between themselves and the levers that get pulled in their favor. Rod was foolish enough to pull his own levers.”
I’d say Rod’s real foolishness, though, was forgetting that he was installed by the powers-that-be and instead believing he made it on his own. He tried to act like the king when he was always the jester.
10. Just sayin’.
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Comments welcome.
Posted on June 3, 2010