Morning Spin: Comparing and contrasting Rod Blagojevich, then and now

Resentencing hearing for former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich

Welcome to Clout Street: Morning Spin, our weekday feature to catch you up with what"s going on in government and politics from Chicago to Springfield.

Topspin

As the resentencing hearingfor Democratic former Gov. Rod Blagojevich unfolded Tuesday, the thoughts and memories and context and perspective came rushing back.

*Compare and contrast, Part 1: Blagojevich in December 2008: "I will fight, I will fight, I will fight until I take my last breath. I have done nothing wrong."

Blagojevich on Tuesday, who talked about mistakes: I recognize it was my actions and my words that led me here.

Prosecutors noted that the former governor has never taken responsibility for the crimes he was convicted of or shown true remorse, that he thinks his actions were still in a gray area of politics.

*Compare and contrast, Part 2: Former Illinois first lady Patti Blagojevich, as recorded by federal agents in 2007 (suggesting that Tribune Co. ownership should just fire Chicago Tribune editorial writers if the company wanted the state to help it unload Wrigley Field to ease its crushing debt):

"Hold up that (expletive) Cubs (expletive)," she is quoted as saying in the background as her husband talked on the phone, authorities alleged. "(Expletive)them."

In a letter released Monday night: Please give Annie the chance for a normal,happy childhood, that has slipped away from Amy, she wrote of the couples two children. I am pleading with you, indeed begging you, to please be merciful.

*Compare and contrast, Part 3: Blagojevichs hair, December 2011: big and black. On Tuesday: big and white. Or gray, depending on your perspectiveof the closed-circuit TV screen in the courtroom.

*Hospital: A new hospital opened in McHenry Countyon Tuesday, the same day as Blagojevichs resentencing hearing. No small measure of irony there. The Centegra Hospital in Huntley opened more than a decade after a Blagojevich-era hospital siting board was engulfed in a bribery scandal that ended up with the rejection of a competitors proposed hospital in Crystal Lake.

*Ex-gov finds G*d?As a politician, Blagojevich liked to talk about love, especially the kind hed find from audiences on the campaign trail during his two statewide runs for governor. Its a preacher thing to do, and Blagojevich was nothing if not a seasoned speech-giver who could connect with a crowd. On Tuesday, he talked about having a chance to study the Bible while in prison and that it helped him leave the anger behind and embrace love.

What"s on tap

*Mayor Rahm Emanuel will make an announcement about a tech incubator for manufacturers.

*Gov. Bruce Rauner has no public schedule.

*U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk will be at a discussion on getting an immigration bill through Congress. It"s put on by the Illinois Business Immigration Coalition, a group that says it wants a bill that expands visas for high- and low-skilled workers and agricultural workers, and creates a path to citizenship for undocumented workers.

*U.S. Sen. d**k Durbin and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy will talk at the Haymarket Center about the prescription opioid and heroin epidemic.

What we"re writing

*No dice for Blagojevich as Judge Zagel sticks to 14-year federal prison sentence.

*A look at what Blagojevich told his daughters (via video screen) after sentencing.

*Blagojevich resentencing photo gallery.

*CPS CEO Claypool warns (again) of classroom cuts if no CTU contract concessions.

*Second of five City Hall hearings on CPD oversight brings call for elected civilian board.

*Monday was deadliest day in Chicago in 13 years.

What we"re reading

*Top Emanuel adviser who doesn"t like to talk to press on the record gives interview, kinda.

*Is conservative Utah really up for grabsin presidential race?

*Mexicos richest man confronts new foe: state that helped make him wealthy.

From the notebook

*Lopez renews no-kill push: After the recent death of a dog at Chicagos city-run animal shelter, a Southwest Side alderman and noted animal lover is trying to get some lift for his ongoing push to make it a no-kill facility.

Ald. Raymond Lopez, 15th, said the fact the Chicago Animal Care and Control shelter is allowed to euthanize animals because there isnt enough space to house them leads employees there to be not as attentive as they should be to the humane needs of the creatures under their care.

Lopez, who owns several dogs, helped get the City Council to pass a resolution this year calling for hearings on requiring all Chicago shelters to adopt no-kill policies. By national standards, shelters are considered no-kill if no more than 10 percent of the animals brought in are euthanized. It could be costly for the cash-strapped city to put in place the rules to meet those standards.

Lopezs measure had no legislative power, and though Mayor Rahm Emanuel has expressed general support for the idea, it has not been enshrined in city law. (John Byrne)

Follow the money

*Track campaign contribution reports in real time with this Tribune Twitter account:https://twitter.com/ILCampaignCash

Beyond Chicago

*Trump back on track? Day after economic speech, suggests "Second Amendment people" could stop Clinton.

*GOP donors turning to Clinton?

*RNC tries to getBill Clinton"s schedulesreleased.

*Putin, Erdogan warming relations send shiverdown West"s spine.

Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-rod-blagojevich-compare-contrast-then-now-20160809-story.html

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What new prison sentence does Illinois" Rod Blagojevich deserve ...

Judge Declines to Cut Rod Blagojevich"s 14-Year Prison Sentence

"My life is in ruins. ... I have nobody to blame but myself for my stupidity."

Rod Blagojevich, pleading for mercy at his sentencing, Dec. 7, 2011

"Every governor, even our worst, helps someone. ... Very few criminals are all bad. ... I am more concerned with the occasions when you wanted to use your powers to do things that were only good for yourself."

U.S. District Judge James Zagel, sentencing Blagojevich to 14 years in prison

They will meet again Tuesday, this time via videoconferencing the felonious and defrocked governor doing time below Colorado mountains, and the judge who decided there should be no more cushy gentlemen"s sentences for gentlemen guilty of blatant public corruption.

Four-plus years into that sentence, Rod Blagojevich will want to dwell Tuesday on letters that fellow inmates have written to Zagel, encouraging a sentence reduction for "the Gov," as they call him. The testimonials relate how U.S. Bureau of Prisons inmate 40892-424 "was my teacher in the GED class." How he encouraged prisoners, telling them, "If I could be Governor, some of you guys could be President." How, at meetings of fellow Christians, "His talks are mostly about people in history that have fallen but went on to do good things. He would tell us to learn from those examples." How Blagojevich is so helpful and nice that "it"s hard to imagine him being on the wrong side of the law."

Blagojevich won"t want to dwell, though, on the Chicago appellate court ruling that, a year ago, sent his case back to Zagel for resentencing. The appellate judges did vacate Blagojevich"s conviction on five of his 18 felonies. But they also empowered Zagel to give him a shorter prison term or a longer one.

The convict"s apologists want the rest of us to focus on those five counts, as if tossing them sorta, kinda makes him less guilty. As if Blagojevich as Gerald Ford said of Richard Nixon in pardoning him has suffered enough. But Illinoisans who do their homework know better:

The appellate judges vacated the five counts over a technicality involving jury instructions, not because of innocence. In fact, they said that prosecutors could re-try Blagojevich on those counts. That the evidence against him at trial was sufficient to convict him. That although Zagel had sentenced Blagojevich to 14 years, his felonies qualified for a range of 30 years to life. That vacating five counts doesn"t reduce that range. That a 14-year sentence might just be too light: "Any error in the guidelines calculation," the judges said, "went in Blagojevich"s favor."

In other words, Blagojevich is entitled to a new sentence, not a lesser sentence. The last of the opinion"s 23 pages said that, "It is not possible to call 168 months unlawfully high for Blagojevich"s crimes, but the district judge should consider on remand whether it is the most appropriate sentence."

So Zagel can do as he wishes.

We won"t intrude on his reverie. We do hope he re-reads his own words of the day he first sentenced Blagojevich. We wrote at the time of how Zagel, speaking at high noon, focused on the much-abused people of Illinois, who have watched four of their last 10 governors frog-marched to federal prisons. By giving Blagojevich more than double the 61/2 years given the preceding corrupt governor, George Ryan, Zagel made corruption a more serious crime than it previously had been in Illinois. He essentially told every other judge who hears these cases that, to curb this crime, penalties need to rise. Giving Blagojevich 14 years was a rigorous precedent on which future judges could, and should, sentence the next crooked Illinois pols.

Zagel"s most searing words attested to Blagojevich"s self-imposed, life-long penalty: If citizens have placed their public trust in you, then you can do to your life and your loved ones what this criminal freely chose to do to his. Corruption doesn"t just happen; people who may have fine attributes, impressive resumes and substantial accomplishments make it happen. Exemplary fathers and mothers, career professionals, officials who have done many good things for the people they serve (or serve time with) these otherwise upstanding folks, not just thieving mopes, drive the Illinois culture of political sleaze.

The harm Blagojevich caused, Zagel said, isn"t quantified in dollars. "The harm is the erosion of public trust in government." When a governor goes bad, he damages a system that relies on the willing participation of its citizens. "You," Zagel stated, "did that damage."

The prisoners" letters, by contrast, confer nobility. One recurring theme: Blagojevich, a humble man, "still believes in our American legal system." "He still expresses his belief in our legal system." "He maintains unwavering belief and honor in our judicial system." And generic advice from one inmate to the judge: "By the way, the sentences of most all of us serving time for nonviolent victimless crimes are way, way, overkill."

In letter after letter, inmates attest that although the Gov is wrongly incarcerated, he has faith that, on Tuesday, Judge Zagel will do the right thing.

So do we.

Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-rod-blagojevich-sentence-edit-20160805-story.html

Continue Reading ..

What new prison sentence does Illinois" Rod Blagojevich deserve ...

Sentence Stands for Former Ill. Gov. Blagojevich

"My life is in ruins. ... I have nobody to blame but myself for my stupidity."

Rod Blagojevich, pleading for mercy at his sentencing, Dec. 7, 2011

"Every governor, even our worst, helps someone. ... Very few criminals are all bad. ... I am more concerned with the occasions when you wanted to use your powers to do things that were only good for yourself."

U.S. District Judge James Zagel, sentencing Blagojevich to 14 years in prison

They will meet again Tuesday, this time via videoconferencing the felonious and defrocked governor doing time below Colorado mountains, and the judge who decided there should be no more cushy gentlemen"s sentences for gentlemen guilty of blatant public corruption.

Four-plus years into that sentence, Rod Blagojevich will want to dwell Tuesday on letters that fellow inmates have written to Zagel, encouraging a sentence reduction for "the Gov," as they call him. The testimonials relate how U.S. Bureau of Prisons inmate 40892-424 "was my teacher in the GED class." How he encouraged prisoners, telling them, "If I could be Governor, some of you guys could be President." How, at meetings of fellow Christians, "His talks are mostly about people in history that have fallen but went on to do good things. He would tell us to learn from those examples." How Blagojevich is so helpful and nice that "it"s hard to imagine him being on the wrong side of the law."

Blagojevich won"t want to dwell, though, on the Chicago appellate court ruling that, a year ago, sent his case back to Zagel for resentencing. The appellate judges did vacate Blagojevich"s conviction on five of his 18 felonies. But they also empowered Zagel to give him a shorter prison term or a longer one.

The convict"s apologists want the rest of us to focus on those five counts, as if tossing them sorta, kinda makes him less guilty. As if Blagojevich as Gerald Ford said of Richard Nixon in pardoning him has suffered enough. But Illinoisans who do their homework know better:

The appellate judges vacated the five counts over a technicality involving jury instructions, not because of innocence. In fact, they said that prosecutors could re-try Blagojevich on those counts. That the evidence against him at trial was sufficient to convict him. That although Zagel had sentenced Blagojevich to 14 years, his felonies qualified for a range of 30 years to life. That vacating five counts doesn"t reduce that range. That a 14-year sentence might just be too light: "Any error in the guidelines calculation," the judges said, "went in Blagojevich"s favor."

In other words, Blagojevich is entitled to a new sentence, not a lesser sentence. The last of the opinion"s 23 pages said that, "It is not possible to call 168 months unlawfully high for Blagojevich"s crimes, but the district judge should consider on remand whether it is the most appropriate sentence."

So Zagel can do as he wishes.

We won"t intrude on his reverie. We do hope he re-reads his own words of the day he first sentenced Blagojevich. We wrote at the time of how Zagel, speaking at high noon, focused on the much-abused people of Illinois, who have watched four of their last 10 governors frog-marched to federal prisons. By giving Blagojevich more than double the 61/2 years given the preceding corrupt governor, George Ryan, Zagel made corruption a more serious crime than it previously had been in Illinois. He essentially told every other judge who hears these cases that, to curb this crime, penalties need to rise. Giving Blagojevich 14 years was a rigorous precedent on which future judges could, and should, sentence the next crooked Illinois pols.

Zagel"s most searing words attested to Blagojevich"s self-imposed, life-long penalty: If citizens have placed their public trust in you, then you can do to your life and your loved ones what this criminal freely chose to do to his. Corruption doesn"t just happen; people who may have fine attributes, impressive resumes and substantial accomplishments make it happen. Exemplary fathers and mothers, career professionals, officials who have done many good things for the people they serve (or serve time with) these otherwise upstanding folks, not just thieving mopes, drive the Illinois culture of political sleaze.

The harm Blagojevich caused, Zagel said, isn"t quantified in dollars. "The harm is the erosion of public trust in government." When a governor goes bad, he damages a system that relies on the willing participation of its citizens. "You," Zagel stated, "did that damage."

The prisoners" letters, by contrast, confer nobility. One recurring theme: Blagojevich, a humble man, "still believes in our American legal system." "He still expresses his belief in our legal system." "He maintains unwavering belief and honor in our judicial system." And generic advice from one inmate to the judge: "By the way, the sentences of most all of us serving time for nonviolent victimless crimes are way, way, overkill."

In letter after letter, inmates attest that although the Gov is wrongly incarcerated, he has faith that, on Tuesday, Judge Zagel will do the right thing.

So do we.

Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-rod-blagojevich-sentence-edit-20160805-story.html

Continue Reading ..