For Sale: Obama's Senate Seat (no, really)

[Chicken Little]

quote:"**** him. For nothing? **** him."

No, **** you, Governor.

[Gaspar]

Just read it.  It's starting to sink in with the media now and they are going to have to confront the information contained in the wiretaps eventually.  Stay tuned for another fantastic speech from Big O.  Apparently Blago, the hamburgerler,  was promised a high paying job in the unions by the Obama admin that hopefully wouldn't be connected to Obama.


paragraph 107, on page 68, summarizes the wiretapped conversation between the Governor and "Advisor B" to Obama, where the Advisor recommends setting up a job for Blago with the unions which "from the President-elect's perspective" would have "fewer fingerprints" on it.



This should prove to be entertaining as it evolves.

[cannon_fodder]

I don't think it is clear that Adviser B is an adviser of Obama, when I read it I was under the impression that Adviser B worked for the governor and was trying to formulate the best sales pitch/angle to present to the Obama camp.

We will know either very soon (more indictments to come, plenty of finger pointing for sure) or in 8 years (pardon) if Obama was involved.  

ABC is reporting that Candidate #5, that offered to buy the seat, is Jesse Jackson Jr.

[RecycleMichael]

This was one of my original concerns about Obama. It is not hard to be caught up in the mobster climate in Illinois, especially Chicago.

I hope he and his staff have kept their distance on this one.

[Gaspar]

quote:Originally posted by cannon_fodder

I don't think it is clear that Adviser B is an adviser of Obama, when I read it I was under the impression that Adviser B worked for the governor and was trying to formulate the best sales pitch/angle to present to the Obama camp.

We will know either very soon (more indictments to come, plenty of finger pointing for sure) or in 8 years (pardon) if Obama was involved.  

ABC is reporting that Candidate #5, that offered to buy the seat, is Jesse Jackson Jr.

Confirmed.  It was Jesse Jackson Jr. for $1,000,000.

Do you set up a payment plan?

If Jackson was going to pay a mill for this seat he would need a way to use funds off the radar.  That means that money and/or accounts exist among all of the players, or perhaps "Playas".  These would have to be untraceable accounts.

To quote a famous politician "This is going to get worse before it gets better".

[nathanm]

quote:Originally posted by RecycleMichael

This was one of my original concerns about Obama. It is not hard to be caught up in the mobster climate in Illinois, especially Chicago.

I hope he and his staff have kept their distance on this one.

It seems like they have from what I've read. Fitz is not one who is likely to pussyfoot around if Obama or his staff was involved.

Interesting how some folks are trying to claim that 'Adviser B' is on Obama's staff, rather than Blagojevich's staff. Not surprising, though.

[RecycleMichael]

It could be the other way around. This could be Obama using his new SuperPowers to bounce out the corruption he knows about.

Having federal agents start rounding up the bad guys is a good thing, it is just the timing that makes it weird.

[we vs us]

quote:Originally posted by Gaspar

quote:Originally posted by cannon_fodder

I don't think it is clear that Adviser B is an adviser of Obama, when I read it I was under the impression that Adviser B worked for the governor and was trying to formulate the best sales pitch/angle to present to the Obama camp.

We will know either very soon (more indictments to come, plenty of finger pointing for sure) or in 8 years (pardon) if Obama was involved.  

ABC is reporting that Candidate #5, that offered to buy the seat, is Jesse Jackson Jr.

Confirmed.  It was Jesse Jackson Jr. for $1,000,000.

Do you set up a payment plan?

If Jackson was going to pay a mill for this seat he would need a way to use funds off the radar.  That means that money and/or accounts exist among all of the players, or perhaps "Playas".  These would have to be untraceable accounts.

To quote a famous politician "This is going to get worse before it gets better".

Interesting that, even though Jackson is supposedly Candidate #5, he hasn't been charged with anything and the prosecution has essentially backed away from making this a blanket case.

So says the Trib:

quote: Montgomery [Jackson's attorney] said a high-ranking official in U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald's office told him and the congressman that Jackson is not a target of the investigation.

 Officials in the prosecutor's office declined to comment Wednesday. In announcing the charges Tuesday, Fitzgerald noted the only accusations in the alleged Senate scam were directed at Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris. Fitzgerald also had warned the media not to cast suspicion on individuals whose interactions with the defendants are described in court records in the case.

Jackson's meeting with the prosecution tomorrow, so maybe we'll see then if there's any fire to the smoke.

[guido911]

quote:Originally posted by RecycleMichael

This was one of my original concerns about Obama. It is not hard to be caught up in the mobster climate in Illinois, especially Chicago.

I hope he and his staff have kept their distance on this one.

Redefining what the words "no contact" means:

http://www.illinois.gov/govgazette/pdfs/Gazetteedition_2008Nov.pdf

I am sure Obama and the guv were just exchanging pie recipes or something.

[Hoss]

quote:Originally posted by guido911

quote:Originally posted by RecycleMichael

This was one of my original concerns about Obama. It is not hard to be caught up in the mobster climate in Illinois, especially Chicago.

I hope he and his staff have kept their distance on this one.

Redefining what the words "no contact" means:

http://www.illinois.gov/govgazette/pdfs/Gazetteedition_2008Nov.pdf

I am sure Obama and the guv were just exchanging pie recipes or something.

Non sequitor?

[we vs us]

I am crushed by your undated file photo of Blagojevich and Obama looking intensely at each other.

Obviously they were exchanging not only longing glances, but payola as well.  You may be wondering, where are their hands in this picture?  The answer is, under the table, shoveling handfuls of gold doubloons into each others' pockets.

[patric]

The best of the story is yet to come:
How the ball got rolling on this in the first place.

[USRufnex]

quote:Originally posted by Hoss

quote:Originally posted by guido911

quote:Originally posted by RecycleMichael

This was one of my original concerns about Obama. It is not hard to be caught up in the mobster climate in Illinois, especially Chicago.

I hope he and his staff have kept their distance on this one.

Redefining what the words "no contact" means:

http://www.illinois.gov/govgazette/pdfs/Gazetteedition_2008Nov.pdf

I am sure Obama and the guv were just exchanging pie recipes or something.

Non sequitor?

Guilt by association.
Kinda like Guido's association with other  lawyers...

[Gaspar]

Starting to get more interesting. . .

Chicago Sun-Times Reports:
President-elect Barack Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, is reportedly on 21 different taped conversations by the feds -- dealing with his boss' vacant Senate seat!

I'd say that constitutes "contact".

I withhold judgment.  Rahm may have just been discussing the opolstry of the seat.

[Hoss]

quote:Originally posted by Gaspar

Starting to get more interesting. . .

Chicago Sun-Times Reports:
President-elect Barack Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, is reportedly on 21 different taped conversations by the feds -- dealing with his boss' vacant Senate seat!

I'd say that constitutes "contact".

I withhold judgment.  Rahm may have just been discussing the opolstry of the seat.

This was discussed last night.  Contacts could be just that.  Who initiated them?  Was Blago doing so to try and leech money and got turned down 20 more times?

I think if something was really there then Fitzgerald would have already moved on it.