Thursday, December 11, 2008

Where are the bags of money?


Has anyone noticed that the feds aren't charging Rod Blagojevich with actually having pocketed bribes? The Justice Department complaint is all about conspiracy, about scheming, about conversations captured on wiretaps. In short, words, just words.

No bags of boodle have actually changed hands . . . so far as we know.

Of course this phenomenon is no defense against charges of conspiracy to commit crimes. Rather, it supports Pat Fitzgerald's assertion that he brought the federal complaint to prevent Blagojevich from selling Obama's former Senate seat.

But it brings up a certain question: Is there any hard evidence that Blagojevich has indeed managed to enrich himself by nefarious means during his governorship?

Otherwise, why would he have been allegedly so open in those wiretapped conversations about discussing his need for money?

As the case unfolds, we'll probably have answers from the feds. But it's an interesting question to ponder, since nothing seems actually to have gone down despite Blagojevich's alleged best efforts.

Maybe that just means he's an extraordinarily incompetent crook.

4 comments:

  1. I don't really understand US politics that well - the only question on my mind is how on earth can one sell a 'seat' in the senate? Doesn't a person have to be voted there? Excuse my ignorance on this matter!

    Cheers
    Robyn

    ReplyDelete
  2. In Illinois (the states differ on this), when a U.S. Senate seat falls vacant, the governor appoints someone to that seat. When Obama became president-elect, he had to vacate the Senate seat he held.

    And so you see the governor attempted to "sell" the appointment -- by soliciting bribes from people who want the seat.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ah - now I understand. That doens't happen here, no one appoints anyone - it's all done by democratic voting :)

    Does this mean the US political system is not a true democracy?

    Cheers
    Robyn

    ReplyDelete
  4. There are advantages to appointing someone to fill an unexpired term -- it saves time and money (special elections take quite a while and can be costly).

    The downside, of course, is the opportunity for chicanery that appointments provide for politicians.

    ReplyDelete