OBAMA, CLINTON, CONNECTED TO BLAGO SCHEME

Obama sent Blago a list of 16 people he wanted Blago to hire

By Andrew Greiner • Published October 16, 2009 • Updated on October 16, 2009 at 8:38 am

No one needs more evidence that Rod Blagojevich is corrupt.

The Sun-Times dug some up anyway, and the latest round of Blago shadiness goes all the way to the top.

Turns out that when the former governor instituted a state-hiring freeze back in 2003, it was just a ruse so that he could do favors for a bunch of politically connected buddies. He ended up hiring just over 2,500 people during the so-called freeze.

But these weren’t ordinary applicants; politicians, including then-state-senator Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, pushed all the job seekers on Blago.

None of the politicians in the report are accused of doing anything wrong – leaning on clout is the status quo in Springfield – but the report does illustrate the insider game that occurs on all levels of government.

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, the guy who nailed Blago, said in a 2006 letter that there were "very serious allegations of endemic hiring fraud" under the former governor.

Obama, for his part, sent Blagojevich a list of 16 people that he would have liked to see get sweet jobs.

He got five of them through. Two of them landed $75,000 a year jobs as administrators at the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Affairs and the Department of Children and Family Services.

"I think we submitted just a list of people that were mostly, you know, some of them were people who'd sent us resumes in the past or other people we thought … might be interested," Obama said. "But they weren't people who were connected to our political organization in any meaningful way. Or they weren't people I knew particularly well."

Hillary Clinton sponsored her childhood friend Voda “Betsy” Eveling for a job transfer within the Illinois Department of Human Rights.

Rahm Emanuel sponsored seven people, and got four hired.

The list goes on to include Alderman Ed Burke, Senate candidate Cheryle Jackson, Tony Rezko and others.

The clout list likely won’t have any effect on Blago’s upcoming trial.

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/politics/obama-clinton-connected-to-blago-scheme/1888721/

Here's why Blagojevich was left to rot in prison.

Also, how much he does not like Hussein.

>>8212647

Here's the Wikipedia short list. See "father in law"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Blagojevich_controversies

>>8212511

White House Travel Staff controversy, anyone?

Maybe he's just undoing what had been done by the previous inhabitant.

>>8212784

Obama vacated his seat and wanted to name his successor. IL politics is built on Clout. (See Mike Royko's book BOSS about Richard J Daley). Blago wanted his pro quo for the quid. Go directly to jail.

BLAGOJEVICH and "SENATE CANDIDATE 5" in his trial-

Blago: Senate Candidate 5 Wanted To Trade Campaign Cash For Seat

Talking Points- Zachary Roth- 12/9/2008

We don’t know for sure who Senate Candidate 5 is. But we’ll likely find out. So it’s worth understanding what his or her (though it appears to be his) alleged role in the affair is.

For Candidate 5, the most damaging passage in the document is this:

On December 4, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH spoke to Advisor B and informed Advisor B that he was giving Senate Candidate 5 greater consideration for the Senate seat because, among other reasons, if ROD BLAGOJEVICH ran for re-election Senate Candidate 5 would “raise money” for ROD BLAGOJEVICH, although ROD BLAGOJEVICH said he might “get some (money) up front, maybe” from Senate Candidate 5 to insure Senate Candidate 5 kept his promise about raising money for ROD BLAGOJEVICH. (In a recorded conversation on October 31, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH described an earlier approach by an associate of Senate Candidate Five as follows: “We were approached ‘pay to play.’ That, you know, he’d raise me 500 grand. An emissary came. Then the other guy would raise a million, if I made him (Senate Candidate 5) a Senator.”)

That last part, in which the governor says he was approached by an “emissary” from Candidate 5 proposing a pay-to-play deal for Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat, is the key. Though it’s worth noting, of course, that Blagojevich hardly has a reputation for honesty.

There is also this passage:

Later on December 4, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH spoke to Fundraiser A. ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated he was “elevating” Senate Candidate 5 on the list of candidates for the open Senate seat. ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated he might be able to cut a deal with Senate Candidate 5 that provided ROD BLAGOJEVICH with something “tangible up front.” ROD BLAGOJEVICH noted he was going to meet with Senate Candidate 5 in the next few days. ROD BLAGOJEVICH told Fundraiser A to reach out to Individual D, an individual who ROD BLAGOJEVICH is attempting to obtain campaign contributions from and who, based on intercepted phone calls, ROD BLAGOJEVICH believes to be close to Senate Candidate 5. ROD BLAGOJEVICH told Fundraiser A to tell Individual D that Senate Candidate 5 was very much a realistic candidate for the open Senate seat, but that ROD BLAGOJEVICH was getting “a lot of pressure” not to appoint Senate Candidate 5. ROD BLAGOJEVICH told Fundraiser A to tell Individual D that ROD BLAGOJEVICH had a problem with Senate Candidate 5 just promising to help ROD BLAGOJEVICH because ROD BLAGOJEVICH had a prior bad experience with Senate Candidate 5 not keeping his word. ROD BLAGOJEVICH told Fundraiser A to tell Individual D that if Senate Candidate 5 is going to be chosen to fill the Senate seat “some of this stuffs gotta start happening now . . .right now. . . and we gotta see it. You understand?”

ROD BLAGOJEVICH told Fundraiser A that “you gotta be careful how you express that and assume everybody’s listening, the whole world is listening. You hear me?” ROD BLAGOJEVICH told Fundraiser A to tell Individual D if there is “tangible political support (campaign contributions) like you’ve said, start showing us now.” Fundraiser A stated he will call Individual D on the phone to communicate ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s message. ROD BLAGOJEVICH responded that “I would do it in person. I would not do it on the phone.” ROD BLAGOJEVICH told Fundraiser A to communicate the “urgency” of the situation to Individual D.

So it certainly seems clear that the governor believed Candidate 5 would play along — though that’s not proof that he was correct in that assumption.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/blago-senate-candidate-5-wanted-to-trade-campaign-cash-for-seat