reply to post by xoxo stacie
Why now?
From "CRIMINAL COMPLAINT - UNITED STATES OF AMERICA V. ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH, and JOHN HARRIS"
www.chicagotribune.com...
108. On November 12, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH talked with one of his Washington D.C.-based advisors. ROD BLAGOJEVICH explained the 501(c)(4)
organization idea to the advisor, and that “[the President-elect] gets these Warren Buffett types to [fund it].” The advisor asked ROD BLAGOJEVICH
if the 501(c)(4) is a real effort or just a vehicle to help ROD BLAGOJEVICH. ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated that it is a real effort but also a place for ROD
BLAGOJEVICH to go when he is no longer Governor. The advisor said he likes the Change to Win idea better, and notes that it is more likely to happen
because it is one step removed from the President-elect."
But the most interesting thing was this conversation between Blagejovich and the representative of the Service Employees International Union
(SEIU):
109. On November 12, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH spoke with SEIU Official, who was in Washington, D.C. Prior intercepted phone conversations indicate
that approximately a week before this call, ROD BLAGOJEVICH met with SEIU Official to discuss the vacant Senate seat, and ROD BLAGOJEVICH understood
that SEIU Official was an emissary to discuss Senate Candidate 1’s interest in the Senate seat. During the conversation with SEIU Official on
November 12, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH informed SEIU Official that he had heard the President-elect wanted persons other than Senate Candidate 1 to be
considered for the Senate seat. SEIU Official stated that he would find out if Senate Candidate 1 wanted SEIU Official to keep pushing her for Senator
with ROD BLAGOJEVICH.
ROD BLAGOJEVICH said that “one thing I’d be interested in” is a 501(c)(4) organization. ROD BLAGOJEVICH explained the 501(c)(4) idea to SEIU
Official and said that the 501(c)(4) could help “our new Senator [Senate Candidate 1].” SEIU Official agreed to “put that flag up and see where
it goes.”
Just how did Governor Blagojevich understand that the "SEIU Official was an emissary to discuss Senate Candidate 1’s interest in the Senate
seat?"
Remember, "Senate Candidate 1" was President-Elect Obama's choice for the seat he is vacating. Was the SEIU providing that vital arm's length
between Barack Obama and Rod Blagojevich?
How many 501(c)(4) organizations out there are run as pay-me's to guys like Rod Blagojevich who can't live on a salary of $177,000 (of course, as
liberal bloggers like to say about the fine people of the UAW, "that includes pension, Medicaid, Social Security withholding.... ")?
How big a sewer is Democratic Party issues advocacy, anyway? I can't believe that a bozo like Rod Blagojevich had an original idea in his life - he
has to have heard or known another guy who found a way not to actually work and still make several hundred thousand dollars a year. I think we know
where he got the idea of trading political favors for lucrative employment for his wife....
People, this is not "The West Wing." Barack Obama has brought the politics of his father's homeland to us.
