Related: Saying Goodbye to Blago
Globe just said hello.
"Judges focus on politics in case of former Ill. governor" by Michael Tarm | Associated Press, December 14, 2013
CHICAGO — Judges considering an appeal by imprisoned former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich spent much of oral arguments Friday focusing on one question: At what point does run-of-the-mill political horse-trading veer into corruption?
During an hourlong hearing, three judges of the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit frequently interrupted a prosecutor and pressed her to explain just how the former Democratic governor’s actions had strayed beyond what is otherwise acceptable in politics.
‘‘If you could help me with this, I’d be so grateful: Where is the line that differentiates legal horse-trading from a federal offense that puts you in prison?’’ Judge Ilana Diamond Rovner asked at one point.
I'll tell you where. It's when you tell banks you are going to stop making debt interest payments because they shut down a factory in Chicago with no notice. That's when you cross the line and the decades of communication collection come in quite useful.
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Blagojevich, who was once a contestant on NBC’s ‘‘Apprentice,’’ did not attend the hearing; he remained at the Colorado prison serving his sentence. But his wife, Patti Blagojevich, watched the proceedings.
After the hearing, she told reporters she hoped her husband, who turned 57 Tuesday, will win his freedom and return home to her and their two school-aged daughters.
FBI agents arrested then-Governor Blagojevich five years ago this week, and jurors convicted him of wide-ranging charges in 2011, including for trying to profit from his power to name someone to President Obama’s old US Senate seat.
That allegation was at the core of Friday’s hearing.
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Related: Detroit Bankruptcy Means Government Can Break Promises
Yeah, maybe you guys should be more worried about that money.
