JOB OPENING IN ILLINOIS

Apparently the governor of Illinois was taken into custody today by the Feds. That would be two consecutive Illinois governors taken into Federal custody. George Ryan was convicted and is in Federal prison. Blago (the current governor) has not yet been convicted of anything.

The criminal complaint is here. It seems as if the main allegations have to do with Blago bullying the Tribune, and bullying the state into offering to buy Wrigley Field. That is interesting. Especially since the Tribune broke the story of the arrest.

Also, the last substantive paragraph has some real doozies:

116. In addition, in the course of the conversations over the last month, ROD BLAGOJEVICH has spent significant time weighing the option of appointing himself to the open Senate seat, and has expressed a variety of reasons for doing so, including frustration at being “stuck” as governor, a belief that he will be able to obtain greater resources if he is indicted as a sitting Senator as opposed to a sitting governor, and a desire to remake his image in consideration of a possible run for President in 2016, avoid impeachment by the Illinois legislature, make corporate contacts that would be of value to him after leaving public office, facilitate his wife’s employment as a lobbyist, and assist in generating speaking fees should he decide to leave public office.

Wait, wait, wait. Blago is contemplating SIMULTANEOUSLY whether it is better to be an indicted governor or Senator, while also positioning himself to run for President in 2016? Holy shit!

UPDATE: Apparently Blago was unabashedly trying to auction off Obama's Senate seat. At one point he is alleged to have said that a Senate seat is a "fucking valuable thing" and that it ought not be given away for "nothing." Of course, it looks like Blago's chief of staff HAD to be arrested so that the Feds could build a conspiracy case. Obviously Blago could not have conspired alone. Check out a reasonable explanation of conspiracy law here.