Update: Blagojevich arrived at the courthouse this morning with journalist Jimmy Breslin in his entourage. He tried to introduce Breslin, who is writing a book on him, to the phalanx of TV cameras, but Breslin looked visibly uncomfortable at being highlighted.
Before that, Blagojevich’s attorneys filed a motion this morning to dismiss the case “on the improper criminalization of his rights under the First Amendment.” The order claims the government has violated his right of free expression by alleging that “the political process he engaged in was criminal.” In addition, the defense filed a motion to dismiss count 24 of the indictment, which charged the ex-governor with making false statements.
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At a mid-afternoon break during jury selection Monday of the Rod Blagojevich corruption trial, the two opposing tables holding the two opposing sides could not look more in opposition.
The prosecution’s table –- on the left side, facing Judge James Zagel‘s bench –- was almost completely clean and clear, save for a couple of stapled packets of documents. The defense’s table, on the other hand, looked like an explosion at an Office Depot, with legal tablets and papers strewn about along with partially filled water bottles and laptops and briefcases.
The difference in workspace tidiness – ship-shape versus ship-wrecked – is not just indicative of stylistic differences, but of its litigation approach. The government wants to keep this case as simple and straightforward as they think the evidence makes it. The collective wisdom from lawyers and experts outside the case is that the defense’s best shot to get a non-conviction is to muddy that evidence up.
It’s been almost 18 months since Blagojevich and his former chief of staff John Harris were taken into custody by FBI agents.
Presuming there is no hitch to Tuesday’s schedule, the government is set to begin laying out its case that the former governor, his wife, and associates “conspired to use the powers of the Office of the Governor of the State of Illinois to take and cause governmental actions in order to obtain financial benefits for themselves and others, including campaign contributions for Rod Blagojevich, and employment for Rod Blagojevich and his wife.”
The case against the former governor begins with Blagojevich and others allegedly trying to shake down lawyer Joseph Cari, an attorney at Ungaretti & Harris, who served as national finance director for Al Gore’s presidential campaign in 2000. Cari had an interest in a private equity firm, Healthpoint Capital. The government claims that in October 2003, Blagojevich told Cari that, if elected, “Blagojevich could award contracts, legal work, and investment banking to help with Blagojevich’s fundraising.”
Cari declined the offer, but prosecutors will argue that is the point at which the ex-governor’s corruption-palooza began. According to the government’s indictment, Blagojevich and his associates continued to plot, before he was elected, how he and they could gain financially from pay-to-play schemes. Stratagems involved the state’s Pension Obligation Bonds, the Teachers’ Retirement System of Illinois public pension plan and the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board. In each scenario, Blagojevich and his lieutenants talked about the various ways in which state contracts could be doled out in exchange for campaign payola. And in the case of Ali Ata, a former aide to Blagojevich, the government alleges that a “high level appointment” in Blagojevich’s administration was explicitly put on the table for the cost of $75,000.
The prosecution will argue that after federal agents had gotten their hands on former Blagojevich fundraiser Stuart Levine, they shifted the focus to real estate. Since August 2003, prosecutors say that Patti Blagojevich had pocketed unearned real estate commissions and retainer fees at Rezko’s behest. Prosecutors will argue that Blagojevich later tried to use his authority and influence to land his wife a six-figure job, either on a paid state board or with a financial institution that had business with the state.
In 2006, the government says Blagojevich tried to “extort” campaign contributions from “Congressman A,” who was later confirmed in media reports as White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. According to the indictment, Emanuel was at the time trying to procure a $2 million state grant for the Chicago Academy, a school in his congressional district. In the summer of 2008, Blagojevich is said to have attempted trading contracts through the Illinois Toll Highway Authority in exchange for campaign donations from engineering firms that were interested in conducting the work. Around that same time, Blagojevich allegedly tried to get a campaign contribution or fundraising help from the top executive at Children’s Memorial Hospital in exchange for increasing the state’s Medicaid reimbursement rates for pediatric specialists. And then, in late 2008, Blagojevich deputies are accused of trying to squeeze a racetrack executive for money before Blagojevich would sign a bill that had passed the legislature.
The government said that in at least one instance, Blagojevich was not looking for money. As 2008 was coming to a close, Blagojevich is said to have been more-than-a-bit annoyed with the Chicago Tribune’s editorial board, which he felt was fueling his opponents. To that end, and allegedly at Patti Blagojevich’s urging, Rod Blagojevich is said to have discussed threatening the Chicago Tribune Co., owner of the Chicago Tribune and then owner of the Chicago Cubs, with holding up the sale of Wrigley Field to the Illinois Sports Facility Authority if it did not get rid of these Op-Ed antagonists.
Then of course, the piece de resistance: the attempted selling of President Barack Obama’s former U.S. Senate seat. Blagojevich is alleged to have asked for everything from an ambassadorship, to an appointment as Secretary of Health and Human Services, to a $1.5 million campaign contribution from supporters of Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., to “something big” in the private sector. He ended up with nothing for it. The government is hoping that when the trial is over, his earnings will be measured in decades as opposed to dollars.
Assuming there is no hitch in the schedule, Judge Zagel has set opening arguments to begin at 11 a.m. Assistant U.S. attorney Carrie Hamilton will draw the aforementioned out over 45 minutes. A media circus is expected at Dirksen Federal Courthouse.
Follow Dateline: Chicago throughout the day for liveblogging of the day’s events.
Speed read:
AP: A “dramatic first act
Tribune: Quinn reaffirms his independence
Sun-Times: 219 Dear meets 30 Rock
Illinois Statehouse News: Fourth of July
Chicago Magazine: Blago’s law school fib
NBCChicago.com: A bunch of no-nothings
CNC: “African Americans love Rod Blagojevich”
IT MAKES ME SICK READING THE COURT TRANSCRIPTS. HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN THE BUNK SHARING WITH GEORGE RYAN. GEORGE IS CALLING BLAGO. DOES HE GET CUSTOM MADE ORANGE SUIT. I WAS TOLD THAT FEDS HAVE TAKEN MEASUREMENT SO THAT OXFORD TAILORS ARE CUSTOM MAKING ORNAGE JUMP SUIT. HE IS A DISGRACE TO ILLINOIS AND SO ARE OTHER POLITICIANS.