CHICAGO POLITICS
AG Patrick Fitsgerald: Hero or Horse Led to Putrid Waters?
T SNOWED LAST WEEK IN CHICAGO, AND I HAVE YET SEE A CITY TRUCK OUT SALTING THE STREETS. In any other city in the nation, residents could come up with some logical rationale for the lack of service. But in Chicago, everything is suspect.
As local pundits report breathlessly on the indictment of Governor Rod Blagojevich and his alleged "political corruption crime spree, what's missing from the debate is the timing of his arrest.
Blagojevich was imminently expected to name a successor to President-elect Barack Obama's former Senate seat (the one he pledged to hold at least for one term before he sought to run for president, but that's another story). Blagojevich has been accused of offering the seat up to the highest bidder, and the list of Senate wannabes is long: Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Rep. Danny Davis, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan among others. It was state AG Madigan who conveniently petitioned the state's Supreme Court to remove Blagojevich from office on Friday, thus yanking his privilege to appoint the next winner in the "Win-For-Life" lottery known as the U.S. Senate.
Here's why I'm scratching my head and siding with Jim Lehrer, who asks, ''what's the big deal here?"
Do not construe my indifference to the dealmaking as acceptance, but more as the resignation that comes with knowing that this is how the game plays. And anyone in government who pretends otherwise is either deluded or lying.
We need look no further than to the new appointees of President-elect Barack Obama's cabinet to find examples of this quid-pro-quo schema.
There's former Senator Tom Daschle, who since "leaving the Senate four years ago (has worked ) as a board member of the Mayo Clinic and a highly paid adviser to health care clients at the law and lobbying firm Alston & Bird, according to the New York Times.
Next up, Ill. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, who in a short stint between government jobs pocketed $18 millon in four years. He's also so cutthroat that he would reportedly hang up on donors offering what he viewed as paltry sums.
Let's quickly touch on Vice-President-elect Joe Biden's son, who was the beneficiary of his father's Senatorial post. "Hunter Biden is a partner in the lobbying firm of Oldaker, Biden & Belair, a Washington, D.C., firm which lobbies on behalf of clients in Sen. Biden's native Delaware. One such client, the University of Delaware, has received almost $25 million in federal earmark dollars for defense research and other activities. The University has paid Hunter Biden's firm fees totaling $1.5 million for its work on behalf of the school,'' so says news reports.
Now here comes Caroline Kennedy, whose greatest political asset is that she is the sole surviving daughter of a handsome, assassinated president, and who boarded the Obama train early and now wants to collect her reward.
Finally, let's not forget President Bill Clinton's pile of money accrued since leaving office. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but isn't it for the history books and public afterlife that these people raise one billion dollars to win a job that pays a measly $400,000 by comparison?
Pay-to-play goes together like bread-and-butter in politics. So Blagojevich's searching for a handout isn't different.
Here's what's new: In a city run off the stench of clout and political I.O.U.S, why did U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald only now catch Chicago pols on tape making deals? We've had almost two decades of Richie Rich Daley wielding clout and pushing deals to make his friends and family rich, but we only now catch a big fish on tape?
I don't doubt that Fitzgerald is all that urban lore says he is. I'm glad he's on the job. And in points for Obama, Fitzgerald has very generously announced that there is no evidence that Blagojevich had any contact with the future POTUS. He also has conveniently released select comments from the undercover tapings.
But here's something to throw in the mix: Fitzgerald, a born G-man appointed by a Republican, may be out of a job soon. What better way to ingratiate yourself with your new boss than clearing the way to enable him to pick his replacement? Or maybe Fitzgerald doesn't even realize that when his office talked to a higher-up in the President-elect's office, he was really just the proverbial horse being led to polluted waters.
Posted December 14, 2008
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