In the government’s opening statement, Assistant U.S. Attorney Carrie Hamilton used a stock phrase that she claimed encapsulated Rod Blagojevich‘s operative mindset as governor: “What about me?” In his closing, Hamilton’s colleague Chris Niewoehner is pounding away with another line: “Money is power.”
Nieowoehner brings up the various ways in which Rod Blagojevich tried to have critical Chicago Tribune editorial board writers fired. These efforts, the government has charged, included a threat not to provide state assistance for Tribune Co.’s efforts to sell Wrigley Field.
“Money is power,” says Niewoehner, “and power is power, too. And he didn’t want a threat to his political power. And of course political power translates into his financial power.”
Patti Blagojevich has shifted to the seat near her older daughter and put her arm around her in a comforting gesture. Rod Blagojevich is staring straight at Niewoehner.