Lost Point in Obama-Blago
Paraphrasing a dscott comment here:
the real issue is that Obama did not contact the proper authorities, the FBI, to report Blagojevich for attempting to engage in fraud, i.e. enterprise corruption.
Though the exact term(s) for the crimes involved may differ, it remains a really, really, good, point.
I would be inclined to limit the assertion to Obama’s DC or other advisors, but ONLY if they did not communicate to Obama what they learned about what Blago was trying to do. If they did communicate with Obama, then he’s in the mix too, unless Obama and/or his peeps really did contact Fitzgerald et al about what was going on themselves.
An Obama non-involvement defense only works if you assume that advisors concluded that “it’s best not to tell the boss.” This would be a troubling precedent for how an Obama administration’s Cabinet and others might feel about arbitrarily keeping their boss the President in the dark.
UPDATE, 11PM — It’s everywhere:
Fox’s Chicago affiliate is reporting that future White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel had “multiple conversations” with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich about filling President-elect Barack Obama’s Senate seat.
The report is sourced to an unnamed person “close to the investigation” who also said that Blagojevich’s office was given a list of contenders for the seat who would be “acceptable” to Obama.
The question, besides the credibility of the president-elect, which starts at barely above zero with me anyway, is “why?” Why lie about something so unimportant and so obviously and provably false? It makes people think you have something to hide even when you don’t.
UPDATE 2, 11:15 p.m.: Ed Rendell makes an observation quite a few people made before November 4:
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell today criticized Barack Obama for not being more upfront about the Illinois corruption scandal.
Now, he said, the story will continue to dominate the media’s attention.
“They have never been in an executive position before,” Rendell said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Some of us thought that the last thing we needed was a newbie; but a newbie is what we got.
There is another possibility over and above what’s noted above. Maybe Obama’s staff is deliberately lying to him — already.
True, it might be the wrong term: The enterprise in this case would be the State of Illinois, administered by Governor Blagojevich. http://www.pjhs.piikkio.fi/oppilaat/tatuka/Kotisivu/Mafia.htm
S 460.20 Enterprise corruption.
1. A person is guilty of enterprise corruption when, having knowledge
of the existence of a criminal enterprise and the nature of its
activities, and being employed by or associated with such enterprise,
he:
(a) intentionally conducts or participates in the affairs of an
enterprise by participating in a pattern of criminal activity; or
(b) intentionally acquires or maintains any interest in or control of
an enterprise by participating in a pattern of criminal activity; or
(c) participates in a pattern of criminal activity and knowingly
invests any proceeds derived from that conduct, or any proceeds derived
from the investment or use of those proceeds, in an enterprise.
2. For purposes of this section, a person participates in a pattern of
criminal activity when, with intent to participate in or advance the
affairs of the criminal enterprise, he engages in conduct constituting,
or, is criminally liable for pursuant to section 20.00 of this chapter,
at least three of the criminal acts included in the pattern, provided
that:
(a) Two of his acts are felonies other than conspiracy;
(b) Two of his acts, one of which is a felony, occurred within five
years of the commencement of the criminal action; and
(c) Each of his acts occurred within three years of a prior act.
3. For purposes of this section, the enterprise corrupted in violation
of subdivision one of this section need not be the criminal enterprise
by which the person is employed or with which he is associated, and may
be a legitimate enterprise.
http://ypdcrime.com/penal.law/article460.htm NY State definition
Comment by dscott — December 12, 2008 @ 2:37 pm
What makes this especially troubling for the Obama administration is that it was well known that Blago was under investigation. If this came out of the blue and if Blago was sufficiently vague in his requests then being reluctant to report a powerful governor is understandable. However, if you know he is under investigation then common sense says you report anything that seem out of bounds.
Comment by largebill — December 12, 2008 @ 3:15 pm
Here is the criminal complaint against Blagojevich: 2 counts, however there is actually a number of more charges that could be levied for each of the nepotism placements and friends. Read the summary of Probable Cause. http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/acrobat/2008-12/43789434.pdf
You should note in the Chicago Tribs list of all things Blagojevich, the December 5 story illuted to in the complaint is missing: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-rodblagojevich-storygallery,0,6150647.storygallery
So who wrote the story, where did this person get the scoop on the FBI investigation which ended up forcing the FBI’s hand in seeking the indictments early? The December 5th story has been scrubbed from the internet. Does anyone have the Chicago Trib paper of December 5th? Get the name of the writer and then run them on opensecrets.org to see if this was a campaign contributor to Obama or Clinton. You will then have the motivation as to why they broke a story on a secret ongoing investigation.
Comment by dscott — December 12, 2008 @ 3:48 pm
#3, if you know, e-mail me a series of uninterrupted key words from that story ASAP.
Comment by TBlumer — December 12, 2008 @ 4:37 pm
So Tom, now you’re concerned about an “administration’s Cabinet and others … arbitrarily keeping their boss the President in the dark?” Where have you buried that thought for the past 95 months?
Comment by Tony B. — December 12, 2008 @ 11:03 pm
#5. Right here. Don’t waste your time with specifics. You have none of importance.
Comment by TBlumer — December 12, 2008 @ 11:07 pm
Maybe that little military action in Iraq…
Comment by Tony B. — December 12, 2008 @ 11:34 pm
I look at the staff and the exec from a different POV. If Obama permits his staff to do things in his name without his permission, then what does that tell us about his executive ability. He has been trying to portray himself as being like FDR with his save the jobs program and like HST in being from a cesspool political climate and being clean. The difference is that both FDR and HST took responsibility for what their staffs did. Remember that “the buck stops here.” From what I have seen of Bambi is that he shoves the responsibility off on whoever he can and says he did nothing. That may give him deniability but is that really what we need in the executive office? Not IMNSHO.
Comment by dick — December 12, 2008 @ 11:43 pm
#7, you mean that war we’ve won?
#8, that is indeed the point.
Comment by TBlumer — December 13, 2008 @ 5:57 am
#8, Right on the money.
President-Elect Oblivious
http://conservablogs.com/publiusforum/2008/12/13/president-elect-oblivious/
My shameless plug of course.
Comment by dscott — December 13, 2008 @ 9:26 am
Tom, Were you able to find anything on the Chicago Trib December 5th story? This would be a great way to keep up the heat on the MSM and the Dems to come clean, remind them that they are under close scrutiny and they are not going to get a free pass when it comes to corruption.
Comment by dscott — December 15, 2008 @ 9:20 am
Found the Story, it finally popped up. http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2008/12/trib-exclusive.html
Feds taped Blagojevich
Adviser cooperated with corruption probe, sources say
By Jeff Coen, John Chase and David Kidwell
Comment by dscott — December 15, 2008 @ 9:54 am
#12, thx. I wanted to look at Proquest but didn’t get a chance.
News today is that the Trib forced Fitz’s hand before all investigating was done. May be because it was seeing a trail heading to advisers or Obama himself?
Comment by TBlumer — December 15, 2008 @ 10:02 am
#13, As I have speculated on NB, I agree they were afraid their Messiah Obama (or at minimum a member of Team Obama)was going to be caught red handed. A Chicago journalist knowing Blagojevich’s history and associations – Obama, knowing the Rezko affair was just the tip of the iceberg could see the sale of the Senate seat from the other side of the planet. Now the MSM is circling the wagons to protect Obama by making the ludicris claim, every pol is corrupt to a degree. They are trying to obfuscate the most damning thing about Obama, his condoning and complicity in a sea of Chicago political corruption.
If I were the RNC chair, I would more than just be reminding the public of how corrupt the Dem party is but take every opportunity to remind them of the contrast between Obama and Palin.
Comment by dscott — December 15, 2008 @ 10:29 am
Oh this is something new, Jesse Jackson Jr. was a federal informant for the last few years. Wow, an example of one Democrat with some ethics! One Democrat who exposed political corruption. Where was Obama all this time??????? Chicago political corruption was so pervasive, Obama just went with the program so the MSM gave him a free pass and didn’t make waves, but here we have A Democrat in the exact same environment who did just the opposite. What more proof do you need, Obama has ZERO character.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2008/12/17/blagojevich-reportedly-denied-jackson-jrs-wife-job/
Comment by dscott — December 17, 2008 @ 8:48 am