corruption
Blago's Personal Pearl Harbor
Pareene · 01/23/09 02:57PMBlago Impeached a Week Too Late
Pareene · 01/09/09 12:30PMRoland Burris Will Very Probably Be a Senator
Pareene · 01/07/09 12:14PMFast-Tracked Blago Impeachment Will Still Take Forever
Pareene · 01/02/09 02:33PMBlago Appoints Senator!
Pareene · 12/30/08 01:02PMSiemens Forced to Pay Billions in Fees for Paying Billions in Bribes
Pareene · 12/21/08 01:49PMBlago's Guilty Bangs
Pareene · 12/20/08 05:16PMGSA Chief-of-Staff Convicted in Ancient Abramoff Mess
Pareene · 12/20/08 01:18PMReporting No Longer Allowed In DC
Hamilton Nolan · 12/18/08 10:01AMChicago's Best Columnist Takes on Rahm Emanuel
Pareene · 12/17/08 12:23PMDid Blago Actually Break the Law?
Pareene · 12/16/08 11:20AMObama's Office Did Nothing Wrong, Obama's Office Finds
Pareene · 12/15/08 05:03PMObama Still Mum on Blago
Pareene · 12/15/08 11:53AMJesse Jackson Jr's Friends in Low Places
Pareene · 12/12/08 10:43AMMoral Highground Watch: Shame on Mrs Blago
Pareene · 12/11/08 05:34PMIs "Individual D" Ron Burkle?
Pareene · 12/10/08 03:57PMNow that we know (or are told at least) that Rod Blagojevich's "Senate Candidate 5" is Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr, well, we have almost more questions than we did before. Why was he such a great bargaining chip against Obama in the (admittedly crazy) mind of Blago? Did Obama really not want Jackson to take his seat? Also why did Blago expect he'd get something "tangible up front" in exchange for a Jackson appointment? That last question seems to hinge on an unnamed "Individual D." Try to guess who we are wildly speculating that is!
FBI Investigating Norm Coleman's Suit-Buyer
Pareene · 12/10/08 12:19PMMinnesota Senator Norm Coleman, currently fighting to protect his seat from vile comedian Al Franken, got some good news and some bad news this week. The good news? Minneapolis officials lost 133 ballots, and they just gave up on finding and counting them. Those 133 ballots would most likely have given Franken a net recount gain of about 46 votes, based on the voting habits of Minneapolitans. So Coleman's 192-vote lead is looking good, as the board of elections moves to considering the thousands of challenged ballots. But here's the bad news: Coleman's under investigation by the FBI!
Can Blago Still Appoint Himself Senator? (Yes.)
Pareene · 12/10/08 10:28AM"Illinois law is silent on whether a governor must leave office after he's arrested on corruption charges...." While that's hardly a shocking sentence to read, it does seem like it's come up often enough for Illinois lawmakers to have a plan in place. So. What happens now to Rod Blagojevich and the governorship and and Barack Obama's vacant senate seat? It's a hilarious, Chicago-style mess!
Obama Killed Blago!
Pareene · 12/10/08 10:15AMThree months ago, while Barack Obama was running for president and his rival John McCain kept kinda-sorta threatening to bring up corrupt Chicago politics, Obama called up his good friend in the Illinois State Senate, Emil Jones, Jr, and convinced him to change his mind on an important upcoming vote. The formerly doomed bill suddenly passed! Man, that Chicago machine. So dirty! Of course, it was the ethics bill. The one that forced Governor Blagojevich to get all his corruption in before it went into effect in January, leading to his convenient pre-inauguration downfall.