Second City Slapdown

What's not to love about Chicago.

For the more historically minded, it’s a time for nostalgia. The past comes alive as Chicago’s grand tradition of corruption is sustained for another generation. As the Chicago Tribune once wrote, “corruption has been as much a part of the landscape as corn, soybeans and skyscrapers.” According to the Chicago Sun-Times, as of 2006 — when Blago’s predecessor, George Ryan, was sent to prison for racketeering — 79 elected officials had been convicted of corruption in the past 30 years. Among the perps: 27 aldermen, 19 judges, 15 state legislators, three governors, two congressmen, one mayor, two turtledoves, and a partridge in a stolen pear tree. Especially in this holiday season, it’s so very important to keep traditions alive for the kids. In a sense, Blago did it for the children.

And you can’t leave out the supporting cast. Mrs. Blago curses like the inmate working the cafeteria at a women’s prison who replies with an f-bomb to anyone objecting to a leaden ladle-thwack of unidentifiable green mush on their lunch tray.

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. — himself the son of a shakedown artist — is alleged to have offered (through a minion) a half-million bucks for Barack Obama’s vacant U.S. Senate seat. Jackson replaced former Rep. Mel Reynolds, who went to jail for getting jiggy with a 16-year-old campaign staffer and stayed in jail because of various fraud convictions. Reynolds, in turn, was the “reformer” who had replaced Rep. Gus Savage, the thug-congressman who groped a Peace Corps volunteer in Zaire while on a “fact-finding” trip. Savage held off Reynolds’ attempts to replace him for several years by claiming Reynolds was financed by “racist Jews.”

Hatip Instapundit

Senate Seat For Sale

Someone emailed me today and commented that my BHB postings had taken on particularly snarky tone. And he was right.
But I just can't help myself when I click onto Drudge everyday and read the news.

With so much government corruption and waste, coupled with wall street nonsense and outrageous executive compensation, it's just a target rich environment.

And that brings us to this man.
Governor Blagojevich of Illinois who's just been caught in a huge scandal involving serious fraud and attempted bribery.

Gov. "I want to make f**king money" Blagojevich

According to the Chicago Sun Times
A 76-page FBI affidavit alleges that Blagojevich was intercepted on court-authorized wiretaps during the last month conspiring to sell or trade Illinois’ U.S. Senate seat vacated by Obama for financial and other personal benefits for himself and his wife.
At various times, in exchange for the Senate appointment, Blagojevich allegedly discussed obtaining:
• A substantial salary for himself at a either a non-profit foundation or an organization affiliated with labor unions.
• Placing his wife on paid corporate boards where he speculated she might garner as much as $150,000 a year.
• Promises of campaign funds — including cash up front.
• A cabinet post or ambassadorship for himself.

And this is just the beginning.

“The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering,” U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said. “They allege that Blagojevich put a ‘for sale’ sign on the naming of a United States Senator; involved himself personally in pay-to-play schemes with the urgency of a salesman meeting his annual sales target; and corruptly used his office in an effort to trample editorial voices of criticism. The citizens of Illinois deserve public officials who act solely in the public’s interest, without putting a price tag on government appointments, contracts and decisions,” he added.

The Smoking Gun has all the details.

It was one thing when Governor Spitzer was caught in the hooker scandal.....after all that was just sex and hypocrisy. This is something altogether different.

And...you would have to be entirely naive to think that any politician could come through the Illinois machine and not get his hands really dirty.