Rod Blagojevich

Summary (posts follow):

Illinois governor, arrested on December 9, 2008 for allegedly trying to sell the Senate seat of Barack Obama to the highest bidder. This doesn't come as much of a surprise due to the level of corruption in Illinois and also due to "Blago"'s strong support for illegal immigration. That went as far as giving illegal aliens a better deal than veterans and supporting illegal aliens marching through Chicago at events organized by those linked to the Mexican government. More on that and related issues here.

Last modified Dec 10, 2008

Discussed in (click each link for the full post):

Rod Blagojevich to write tell-all book "The Governor" - 3/02/2009

Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich is writing a tell-all tome for Phoenix Books (link). Tentatively titled "The Governor", he's reportedly received a six-figure advance. If it's really a tell-all, he'll probably have to spend half of that on bodyguards: Mr. Blagojevich’s book will cover the governor’s downfall directly, a news release from Mr. Selig’s agency sa...

"Dear Rod": form letter from Obama to Blagojevich - 1/06/2009

... obtained two letters sent to Rod Blagojevich; one from Barack Obama himself, the other from his transition team. PDFs at that link. Unfortunately, both appear to be form letters sent out after the National Governors Association on December 2, 2008 in Philadelphia. The one from Obama pawns off all contact on Nick Rathod. The other letter is from Valerie Jarrett, John Podesta, and Pete Rouse, and l...

Obama transition releases report on staff contacts with Rod Blagojevich - 12/23/2008

... "qualified candidates" to Rod Blagojevich after Valerie Jarrett pulled out of the running. Those on the list "included" (were there other names?): Jan Schakowsky, Jesse Jackson Jr, Dan Hynes, and Tammy Duckworth:

Sun-Times: Rahm Emanuel had direct contact with Blagojevich over Senate seat - 12/19/2008

From Natasha Korecki comes this: President-elect Barack Obama's incoming chief of staff Rahm Emanuel had a deeper involvement in pressing for a U.S. Senate seat appointment than previously reported, the Sun-Times has learned. Emanuel had direct discussions about the seat with Gov. Blagojevich, who is is accused of trying to auction it to the highest bidder. Emanuel talked with the governor ...

Obama/Blago picture deleted from Illinois state website - 12/15/2008

... recently-arrested Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich? If not, see this 12/10 post. Now, the state of Illinois has deleted from their website the PDF that contained that picture. It was in the state publication "Governors Gazette" and originally at illinois.gov/govgazette/pdfs/Gazetteedition_2008Nov.pdf That page now returns a 404 not found, as does Version 2 of that Gazette (originally l...

Illinois Governor's Gazette: homepage and Version 2 - 12/15/2008

The following two documents were originally located at illinois.gov/govgazette/ and at illinois.gov/govgazette/pdfs/Gazetteedition_2008Nov_2.pdf. Those two were basically the same, and that entire document tree was deleted. Both documents were retrieved from Google's cache. They don't appear to contain anything noteworthy, but neither cached document had whatever photos were in the origi...

KHQA pulls 11/5 article on Obama meeting with Blagojevich (cached copy) - 12/10/2008

... recently-arrested Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich on the afternoon of 11/5. It was previously at this link, but that now says it's "unavailable". However, here's a copy from the Google cache: Ill. governor meeting with Obama today By Carol Sowers Wednesday, November 05, 2008 at 10:39 a.m. CHICAGO, ILL. -- Now that Barack Obama will be moving to the White House, his seat in t...

Photo: Barack Obama and Rod Blagojevich confer about Senate replacement - 12/10/2008

... recently-arrested IL governor Rod Blagojevich. It could conceivably have taken place months before and in relation to something else, but there's a very good chance it was taken sometime just after Obama was elected. A screengrab of the first page of the Gazette is here. The PDF of the Gazette is here. Note that the text of that portion of the Gazette is the same as this page dated November ...

Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich arrested by FBI on federal corruption charges; accused of trying to sell Obama's senate seat - 12/09/2008

Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich - aka "Blago" - and his chief of staff have been arrested for trying to sell Barack Obama's Senate seat. And, Barack Obama - or at least his advisor Valerie Jarrett - probably knew what he was doing; see the "SEIU Official" paragraph below. And, Obama may have lied about his recent conversations with Blago; see the first update. Uh-oh: Oba...

FactCheck looks, can't find "Chicago Way" (McCain Obama ad) - 9/23/2008

... Daley, Emil Jones, Tony Rezko, Rod Blagojevich. Per them, the first isn't dirty, the second is only a little dirty, and there's no evidence that BHO was involved in any funny business with the last two.

Felipe Calderon Feb. 2008 U.S. visit: Eliot Spitzer, Blagojevich, Schwarzenegger, Villaraigosa, Fabian Nunez - 2/09/2008

Mexico's president Felipe Calderon will be visiting parts of their former territory next week, stopping in New York, Boston, Chicago, Sacramento, and Los Angeles but apparently avoiding Washington DC. In addition to U.S. officials, and some who are supposedly U.S. officials, he'll probably also be meeting with community leaders, such as those from non-profits, "hometown associati...

Illinois gov. Rod Blagojevich now part of FBI's "pay-to-play" corruption investigation - 12/22/2007

From this: Federal prosecutors for the first time brought their corruption investigation to the desk of Gov.

Felipe Calderon explicitly wants Mexican consuls to meddle in U.S. immigration debate (non-profits) - 12/07/2007

The only thing shocking about this is that he'd openly admit it: [Today, Mexican president Felipe Calderon] asked his diplomatic representatives in the U.S. to participate in the public debate on immigration by appearing at public events, talking more to the media and working with nonprofit groups to promote Mexican immigrants' role in supporting the U.S.

DOJ sues Illinois over statewide sanctuary policy (Blagojevich) - 9/24/2007

From a U.S. Department of Justice press release [1]: The Department of Justice today filed a lawsuit in federal district court seeking to invalidate an Illinois state law that attempts to prevent employers from using DHS's E-Verify system, which allows them to check in real-time whether new hires are authorized to work in the United States.

Rod Blagojevich, Luis Gutierrez, and the alleged FALN terrorist - 9/08/2007

... high-ranking official in Gov. [Rod Blagojevich]'s office spent nearly two years in a federal prison for refusing to aid a government terrorism probe into a series of bombings in Chicago and New York City. Steven Guerra, Blagojevich's $120,000-a-year deputy chief of staff for community services, was identified by federal prosecutors as a member of the Puerto Rican separatist group, FA...

Media alert: Elvira Arellano has left the sanctuary (L.A., DC on tour) - 8/17/2007

Elvira Arellano - the illegal alien who was ordered to be deported after being convicted of using a false Social Security number and who's been holed up in a Chicago church for a year and who's only a sympathetic figure to those on the far-left - has left her "sanctuary" and is currently on a road trip. The first stop: Los Angeles' La Placita Catholic Church, aka Our Lady ...

Esther J. Cepeda: towns enforcing immigration laws could lead to "neighborhood lynchings" - 7/05/2007

The column here ("Beginning of the end?/Towns across America are taking illegal immigration control into their own hands a

Senate immigration amnesty bill: the downsides - 5/23/2007

The concept of amnesty is bad, and almost everything in the Senate's illegal immigration amnesty bill is bad as well. It's fairly obvious to just about everyone that this is an extremely flawed piece of legislation, so what I'd suggest is using it to further discredit its supporters. However, please don't lose sight of the forest: we need to stop amnesty in general, not just th...

Illinois House approves driver's licenses for illegal aliens - 3/28/2007

The Illinois House approved HR 1100 earlier today, which would give illegal aliens "driving certificates" which supposedly would (link to text): clearly state on its face that it may not be accepted by any federal agency for any federal identification or other official purpose...

Can Barack Obama answer this? - 2/25/2007

Please go to Barack Obama's campaign appearances and try to ask him the question on the video (reprinted below). The media isn't going to ask politicians any difficult questions, so it's up to us to do it. Note that the same question applies to others who spoke at the May 1 rally: U.S. Reps. Rahm Emanuel, Jan Schakowsky, and Luis Gutierrez.

Will Rod Blagojevich pro-illegal immigration scheme violate law? - 12/13/2006

... November 2005, Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich - a very strong supporter of illegal immigration - created the "New Americans Immigrant Policy Council" (press release link) to come up with ways to deal with immigrants in his state. The report from the NAIPC has been released, as has a report from a similar panel. Blago has endorsed their findings, but has not committed any money.

ICIRR in suit against Terry Goddard over Western Union wire transfers - 10/19/2006

The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights ("ICIRR") is "sponsoring" a class action lawsuit against Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard over that state's program that tries to stop human smuggling by seizing Western Union wire transfers that meet certain criteria.

FBI probes Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich; hiring kickback? - 9/12/2006

... allegations by the wife of Gov. Rod Blagojevich's former campaign treasurer that her state job may have come in return for a $1,500 personal check her husband wrote to one of Blagojevich's children. The inquiry is the first public indication that Blagojevich and his personal finances are under federal scrutiny as part of a sweeping criminal probe of political hiring in his administra...

Chicago illegal immigration march organizer is PRD official - 7/20/2006

... PRD Party. Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, and mayor Richard M. Daley all attended and spoke at that rally. This is yet another link between the Democratic Party and Mexican political parties.

March 10 Committee (illegal alien rally) want immediate citizenship for all - 5/23/2006

The March 10 Committee organized the big Chicago rally in favor of illegal immigration.

Chicago immigration "debate": ICIRR pulls out; far-lefties go nuts - 5/05/2006

An immigration "debate" was scheduled in Chicago yesterday, to feature the local Minuteman Project chapter squaring off against the Blagojevich-linked Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

The "Immigrant" Rights Movement - 4/30/2006

Did you know there's a growing "Immigrant" Rights Movement? Of course, most Americans will refer to that "movement" as "foreign citizens who are here illegally marching in our streets making a show of force and demanding rights to which they aren't entitled", but many news/propaganda organizations seem to prefer the first term. And, not just because it'...

Links between the Democratic Party and the Mexican government - 4/22/2006

Many Democratic politicians and pundits supported the recent illegal immigration marches, and some Democratic politicians appeared at some of the rallies or even helped organize some of them. And, some other organizers of the rallies have various kinds of links to the government of Mexico. While that's not enough to claim that the Democratic Party has direct links to the Mexican government, t...

Mexicans demand rights in U.S. What happens if we refuse? - 3/21/2006

Could you please send the article "Saturday's Immigrant Rights March: Who kicked the sleeping giant?" to all of your representatives and urge them to read it? It concerns the recent illegal alien rally in Chicago and it's written by Joshua Hoyt of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, a group closely linked to

Illegal aliens march in Chicago, get support from Blago, Gutierrez, local media - 3/10/2006

Up to a few hundred thousand illegal aliens and their supporters marched for immigration "reform" in Chicago earlier today. Among those supporters are the local news media and politicians. The news media took the opportunity to send out their ethnically-biased reporters who offer some rather non-journalistic propaganda. First up, Rafael Romo of CBS 2 Chicago offers highly biased cover...

Blagojevich-linked group agitating illegal aliens, calls for general strike - 3/08/2006

A group of illegal aliens and supporters of illegal immigration are planning a large march in Chicago on Friday, March 10: somosunpueblo.com/March%2030/English.htm That page explains that they want to legalize "undocumented immigrants". They also want Illinois to be a "SANCTUARY" for "all immigrants". And, they're calling for a "National GENERAL STRIKE&qu...

Blagojevich stand behind NOI member on Illinois hate crimes commission - 3/03/2006

From this (nofollowpolicy): "On Wednesday, [Governor Rod] Blagojevich expressed support for Claudette Marie Muhammad, director of community outreach for the Nation of Islam, a black Muslim group led by the Rev. Louis Farrakhan...

Blagojevich gives illegal aliens better deal than veterans - 1/27/2006

Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois is truly a piece of work. His latest attempt to give benefits to illegal aliens is opening a state-sponsored low-interest mortgage loan program to citizens of other countries who are here illegally: "People who are working hard, paying their taxes, are of good moral character ... regardless of their immigration status, they, too, should be able to share in th...

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich gets a $720,000 heated driveway - 9/13/2005

... that the governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, is spending almost three-quarters of a million dollars to install a heated driveway at the governor's mansion, "even though he doesn't stay there much." The state is picking up the cost with a 25 year bond, making the final tally well over $1 million. In news from 2003: Gov.

Jim Oberweis for Illinois governor - 9/12/2005

Last year, the GOP decided it was better to lose a Senate seat to Barack Obama than to run a candidate who's opposed to illegal immigration: Jim Oberweis. Despite finishing second in the primary, he was basically ignored by the GOP leadership because of his pro-borders views.

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