Illinois Governor Blagojevich in Federal Custody

Illinois’ Governor Rod R. Blagojevich

Illinois’ Governor Rod R. Blagojevich was arrested this morning at his Chicago Northside home for conspiring to sell an appointment to president-elect Barack Obama’s recently open US senate seat, prosecutors said.

Patrick Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney, Northern District of Illinois said that around 6 a.m. he called Governor Blagojevich’s house and woke him from sleep by informing him that he was under arrest and that two agents were at his door to take him into custody. The governor’s response was "is this a joke." The governor complied, was handcuffed and taken to the FBI office.

Governor Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, were also accused to trying to "induce purge of newspaper editorial writers," critical of him at the Tribune Company, the US attorney’s office said in a statement.

"The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering," US attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said in a statement.

"They allege that Blagojevich put a ‘for sale’ sign on the naming of a United States Senator; involved himself personally in pay-to-play schemes with the urgency of a salesman meeting his annual sales target; and corruptly used his office in an effort to trample editorial voices of criticism."

Blagojevich was intercepted on court-authorized wiretaps discussing obtaining how he could profit from the fact that it is the governor’s role to appoint a US senator when a seat becomes vacant, according to a 76-page FBI affidavit.

Illinois’ governors, like Chicago’s aldermen, have a long history of corruption, cheating, lying, and otherwise treating their elected office like the rear booth of a smoky bar room.

If convicted, Rod R. Blagojevich will become the fourth Illinois governor in recent history to be convicted of white-collar crimes, following George Ryan, Dan Walker and Otto Kerner. Ryan becomes the second Illinois Secretary of State with evidence of an affinity for cash, following Paul Powell who upon his death was found to have $800,000 in shoe boxes in his hotel room.

Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan was sentenced last year to more than six years behind bars. The former governor, who stunned the world in 2003 when he suspended executions and cleared out death row in his state, was found guilty of racketeering and other charges.

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