'That's just politics' won't cut it for gov
Defense failed for Ryan, Sorich -- and they weren't on tape
Under normal circumstances, nobody would think twice about one politician promising to help raise campaign funds for another in exchange for the latter's political backing.
It happens all the time, and it's not illegal.
The practice may not be the high point of our democracy, but I'd say it fairly falls under the category of what can be excused as: That's politics.
But filling the vacancy for the U.S. Senate seat created by Barack Obama's election to the presidency was a different animal.
This wasn't a matter of promising political support to a candidate running for election. There was to be no election.
The office was to be filled by direct appointment of the governor. That made it one of Rod Blagojevich's official duties, not just another political decision to be horse-traded at will.
You can't seek campaign donations in exchange for the performance of an official action. That's a quid pro quo, and it crosses the line between legal and illegal.
If that distinction seems obvious to you, please forgive me for spelling it out that way.
But I have to wonder whether our goofy governor was smart enough to recognize the difference before he started auctioning off the opening, not that even the recognition of such niceties would have slowed him down judging by all the other schemes he was juggling at the same time.
This is worth pointing out, though, because already we're hearing rumbles that Blagojevich's defense may follow along the general outline of "that's just politics."
Variations on that defense have come up a loser in several recent federal criminal cases here from George Ryan to Robert Sorich, and it certainly wouldn't appear any more promising this time with all those wiretap conversations available as evidence of the governor's intent.
The wiretaps make all the difference.
As we know, it's fairly common in Illinois -- and elsewhere -- for the beneficiary of some government contract or appointment to make a big campaign donation. Usually, though, there's no way of showing a direct cause and effect. The motivations -- or intent -- of the parties are in doubt. In fact, some of our dirtiest politicians undoubtedly are clever enough to never spell out their expectations.
But if the federal complaint sworn out against Blagojevich is a fair compilation of what he was overheard saying on the wiretaps, then he's given federal investigators all the intent they're going to need to convict him.
The irony is that if Blagojevich had appointed someone to the Senate seat, and that person just happened to show their gratitude a year from now by hosting a huge fund-raiser for him, not even U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitgerald could have made a federal case out of it.
Unfortunately for us, not all the crooks in Illinois are quite as brazen as the governor is alleged to be.
On top of the governor's fund-raising antics being sleazy, I keep thinking about just how foolish they were.
What was the point of raising campaign funds so aggressively at this stage of his doomed political career?
There can be only two explanations.
One: He wanted the money because he was determined to run for re-election, a notion that was destined for failure given the irreversibly low esteem with which he was already held by Illinois voters.
Two: He needed the money to pay for his criminal defense, which probably should have been enough of a tip-off in itself that he was just inviting further heat upon himself.
Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, who has been warning us for some time that Blagojevich is a bum, put the machinery in motion Monday for the governor's eventual impeachment.
While there's no other choice at this point, I will caution again that this could lead to problems if the impeachment is based on anything other than the real evidence against Blagojevich, not a collection of legislative slights -- real and perceived -- chalked up under the broad category of abuse of power.
I still don't see how you can use the current federal charges against Blagojevich as the basis for an impeachment proceeding and expect him to be able to fairly defend himself. As far as using evidence put into play during the Tony Rezko trial, we must remember that until the wiretaps, the U.S. attorney hadn't seen fit to bring charges against Blagojevich based on that same material.
When this all over, we don't want anybody to be able to say: That's just politics.