Well, first the other person that the US Attorney's Office went after on their Criminal Complaint, John Harris, Blagojevich's Chief of Staff resigned.
Harris is implicated all through that Criminal Complaint. Expect a deal with the feds and for the snitching to commence.
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The rumors swirl around Obama's Chief of Staff, Rahm Emauel and his possible contact with Blagojevich or the Blagojevich staff.
President-elect Barack Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, refused to take questions from reporters this morning about whether he was the Obama "advisor" named in the criminal complaint against Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
The complaint states Blagojevich wanted a promise of a high-level appointment or some other reward for Blagojevich in exchange for Blagojevich naming Obama's friend Valerie Jarrett to replace him in the U.S. Senate.
Emanuel was uncharacteristically absent from Obama's news conference this morning. He was spotted two hours later in the lobby of Chicago's City Hall. He was there to listen to his two children performing in a concert with their school, Anshe Emet.
Well, Emanuel got pissy with the press asking questions about if he was the emissary in the US Attorney's Criminal Complaint.
Look, the bottomline is this, Obama have not had direct contact with Blago or his staff, but it is ridiculous that Obama's staff have not.
Why? Blagojevich is the Governor of Illinois, and of course the Obama Team expressed Obama's wishes on who will replace his senate seat. Just like Obama's Team more than likely have contact with Chicago's Mayor Richard Daley and his staff. This is protocal.
What Obama needs to do is release all information of his staff, on all contacts with Blagojevich's office.
Why? If you read through the criminal complaint it is obvious that Blagojevich had the thought that he could get something from the Obama Team, once he found out Obama's Team would not "pay to play" he lavished all the F-BOMBS that he could on Obama. So, to think that some type of contact from the Obama Team to the Blagojevich staff did not happen is crazy, there was contact.
Obama put the information out there, make sure it is clear and concise, so you can move on from this scandal and continue to roll out your cabinet and staff.
••
Not looking good for Jesse Jackson, Jr.
As Gov. Rod Blagojevich was trying to pick Illinois' next U.S. senator, businessmen with ties to both the governor and U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. discussed raising at least $1 million for Blagojevich's campaign as a way to encourage him to pick Jackson for the job, the Tribune has learned.
Blagojevich made an appearance at an Oct. 31 luncheon meeting at the India House restaurant in Schaumburg sponsored by Oak Brook businessman Raghuveer Nayak, a major Blagojevich supporter who also has fundraising and business ties to the Jackson family, according to several attendees and public records.
Two businessmen who attended the meeting and spoke to the Tribune on the condition of anonymity said that Nayak and Blagojevich aide Rajinder Bedi privately told many of the more than two dozen attendees the fundraising effort was aimed at supporting Jackson's bid for the Senate.
Among the attendees was a Blagojevich fundraiser already under scrutiny by federal investigators, Joliet pharmacist Harish Bhatt.
That meeting led to a Blagojevich fundraiser Saturday in Elmhurst, co-sponsored by Nayak and attended by Jesse Jackson Jr.'s brother, Jonathan, as well as Blagojevich, according to several people who were there. Nayak and Jonathan Jackson go back years and the two even went into business together years ago as part of a land purchase on the South Side.
Now we have Jackson Jr.'s brother embroiled in this. This collaborates the notion that Candidate #5, which is Jackson, Jr. possibly did have an emissary on his behalf to "pay for play." Still this does not mean Jackson, Jr. knew about it, but this is surely drawing him closer to attempting to pay for Obama's senate seat.
And IL Attorney General Lisa Madigan asks IL Supreme Court to remove Blagojevich from office, information and docs, here.
Damn, this Blago mess is just scandalous.
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