Perhaps the most telling moment of the news conference Rod Blagojevich held hours after President Donald Trump granted the disgraced ex-Illinois governor a full pardon came even before he answered a single question from the media scrum gathered outside his Ravenswood Manor home.
“Patti, honey,” Blagojevich said with a smile to his wife Monday night. “They’re back.”
The comment reflected one of Blagojevich’s most prominent and defining traits — witnessed at campaign rallies, during his time in office and later in countless TV appearances in which he declared his innocence — that of a cockalorum, a boastful and self-important person in need of public attention and adoration.
After eight years in federal prison for public corruption and nearly five years after his release when his sentence was commuted by Trump in his first term as president, Blagojevich as he spoke Monday remained an immutable character in Illinois’ political lore.
There was never an acknowledgment of guilt or an apology to the public that elected him twice, in 2002 and 2006, before he was impeached and removed from office in 2009. Instead, Blagojevich continued to maintain he had done nothing wrong and that he was the victim of a “politicized” justice system. And he said he believed the citizens and the state had been denied the fruits of his continued governance.
“I could never give in and sell the people of Illinois out and let these corrupt prosecutors criminalize things that are routine and legal in politics and take you away from me,” Blagojevich said, ignoring the fact that a Tribune poll taken just weeks before his December 2008 arrest showed him with a 13% job approval rating after years of scandal, with only 10% saying they wanted to see him re-elected in 2010.
“A terrible thing that they did to me, a Democrat governor. Even worse to what they did to a Republican president, President Trump. And his resilience, his strength, his fortitude, his unwillingness to give in is an inspiration and an example of the kind of leader that he is,” the self-described “Trumpocrat” said in trying to liken his prosecutions to those faced by Trump.
Never mentioned by Blagojevich were his convictions for trying to shakedown the CEO of a Chicago children’s hospital and a local racetrack owner for campaign contributions in exchange for official acts.
And when he said he had been cleared of charges that he tried to sell the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by then-President elect Barack Obama, he didn’t explain that five charges had been dropped because of a technicality involving muddled jury instructions and that a wire fraud conviction remained in place regarding conversations Blagojevich had in which he discussed trying to personally profit by dealing the Obama Senate seat.
In upholding 13 corruption charges against Blagojevich, federal Judge Frank Easterbrook wrote that “the evidence, much of it from Blagojevich’s own mouth, is overwhelming.”
Out of Blagojevich’s mouth on Monday night came the thought that “Abraham Lincoln was our greatest president, maybe Trump will surpass him.”
So now that Trump has cleaned the criminal slate for Blagojevich, what’s next?
“I’m writing a book about the experiences, the story that starts with one president, President Obama, ends with another, President Trump, and most of the stories about a governor in prison with Crips and Bloods and Gangster Disciples and seeing … cartel drug dealers who look up to El Chapo, the drug lord,” Blagojevich said.
“I’m writing that book and I do some business and some consulting work and things of that sort, and I’ll keep doing that and I’ll be as helpful as I possibly can be to President Trump and his efforts to save our democracy and make our country better,” he said.
Blagojevich declined to identify his consulting clients, saying they were “private” and wouldn’t appreciate being made public.
The former governor also indicated an interest in prison rights, citing the “First Step Act,” which was passed with bipartisan congressional support and signed into law in Trump’s first term. The law reduced mandatory minimum federal prison sentences for some nonviolent drug offenses and created programs to reduce recidivism.
“I think it’s very important for us to build on President Trump’s First Step Act that he was able to pass. Criminal justice reform,” Blagojevich said. “I’d like to see us take a second step. I learned a lot of hard lessons from that experience I was in.”
Blagojevich also maintains a presence on Cameo, the video website that allows users to pay for personalized video messages from celebrities and charges $100 for his work. The Cameo website said he finished a personalized video at 11:40 a.m. Monday, just hours before he was formally pardoned.
“Whether you’re looking for a birthday shoutout, pep talk, or roast, former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has you covered!” the website says, with customers giving glowing reviews of his work. “So if you need a boost of energy, a dose of humor, or just want to celebrate someone special, let the Blago himself work his magic!”
Blagojevich declined to discuss speculation that Trump was considering appointing him as the next U.S. ambassador to Serbia. He said his father came from Serbia and that in recently visiting the country he met with President Aleksandar Vucic to “do some business.” He declined to say who paid for his travel.
Trump, asked by reporters if Blagojevich was under consideration for the post while signing the pardon in the Oval Office, said, “No, but I would. He’s now cleaner than anybody in this room. He got a pardon.”
U.S. diplomats to foreign countries are required to have a security clearance and the Blagojevich pardon, wiping away his felony convictions, could make it easier to meet the criteria and win approval.
Trump associate Roger Stone, himself a convicted felon who was pardoned during the president’s first term, went on social media to declare that “My good friend Governor Rod Blagojević will not be Ambassador to Serbia, but probably will be the next mayor of Chicago.”
While Blagojevich last month referred to Stone on social media as a “political wizard,” the chances of the former governor being able to run for mayor or any other state or local office are virtually nil. That’s a result of the state Senate’s 59-0 vote to convict him of impeachment, which removed him from office, and a second unanimous vote delivering the political death penalty, barring him from “holding any future public office of the State of Illinois.”
Those actions on Jan. 29, 2009, came well before Blagojevich was convicted in federal court. Courts also have said impeachment proceedings are not a judicial or criminal proceeding. As a result Trump’s pardon has no effect on his disqualification.
State law generally describes “public office” as a position created by or under the state constitution or state law in which the officeholder is charged with the exercise of some portion of the state’s sovereign power.
Blagojevich had previously tried to open the door to a return to office, acting on his own behalf in asking the federal courts to overturn the disqualification as an unconstitutional civil rights violation that denied voters an opportunity to vote for him.
But in a withering 10-page decision that included quoting Dr. Seuss, U.S. District Judge Steven Seeger told Blagojevich the case should never have been filed and to “Just go. Go. GO!”
“An impeachment proceeding is not a criminal prosecution. After all, Blagojevich didn’t go to federal prison because of what happened in the Illinois legislature. Blagojevich went to federal prison because of what happened in the federal courthouse. Impeachment didn’t lead to prison time. The Illinois General Assembly took away his job, not his liberty,” Seeger wrote.
Noting that the U.S. Supreme Court has said issues of impeachment cannot be judged in the courts, Seeger wrote, “The bottom line is that the judiciary has no power to unimpeach, unconvict, and unremove a public official. The legislature taketh away, and the judiciary cannot giveth back.”
Blagojevich always had the ability to run for Congress, the U.S. Senate or president, even as an inmate in federal prison, because the qualifications for those offices are contained in the U.S. Constitution and cannot be altered by state law. Additionally, there is no prohibition on a felon holding those offices — as Trump proved by taking office Jan. 20 after earlier being convicted in a New York state “hush money” case.
At his Monday-night post-pardon news conference, Blagojevich declined to say whether he was considering running for office again or if he would appeal the federal court ruling against him.
“I haven’t thought that far ahead. This isn’t about me running for office again, honestly. It is, however, a step towards me trying to serve my country some more and doing what I think is right,” he said.
While Blagojevich’s future remains unclear after the presidential pardon, a top state pension official said Tuesday that Blagojevich will not be eligible to start picking up state pension checks despite Trump’s action.
Timothy Blair, who oversees pensions for elected state officials, said his staff conducted a review of case law and while criminal convictions trigger pension bans, the pardon doesn’t wash that ban away.
“You don’t have to pretend that there was not a conviction,” said Blair, executive secretary of the General Assembly Retirement System. A pardon “doesn’t expunge a public record.”
Blagojevich, 68, has never applied for a pension and has not asked for a refund of the $101,000 he contributed during his years as a state lawmaker and governor, Blair said.
Blagojevich, however, has remained eligible for a federal pension because he served six years in the U.S. House.
If anything, Trump’s pardon created a rare and temporary sense of unity among Illinois Democrats and Republicans who decried the president’s move.
State Treasurer Michael Frerichs was a Democratic state senator who made the motion to disqualify Blagojevich from holding future public office.
“Our disgraced ex-governor held hostage funds for sick kids in a campaign cash shakedown,” Frerichs said Monday night. “It’s no surprise Trump doesn’t think Blagojevich committed any crimes.”
John Curran, the Republican leader of the Illinois Senate, said he “strongly” disagreed with Trump’s pardon.
“Illinois taxpayers have and continue to be burdened with the cost of public corruption, and this pardon sends the wrong message,” he said.
Tribune reporter Ray Long contributed.
Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich remains an immutable character in Illinois’ political lore following President Donald Trump’s pardon.
Perhaps the most telling moment of the news conference Rod Blagojevich held hours after President Donald Trump granted the disgraced ex-Illinois governor a full pardon came even before he answered a single question from the media scrum gathered outside his Ravenswood Manor home.
“Patti, honey,” Blagojevich said with a smile to his wife Monday night. “They’re back.”
The comment reflected one of Blagojevich’s most prominent and defining traits — witnessed at campaign rallies, during his time in office and later in countless TV appearances in which he declared his innocence — that of a cockalorum, a boastful and self-important person in need of public attention and adoration.
After eight years in federal prison for public corruption and nearly five years after his release when his sentence was commuted by Trump in his first term as president, Blagojevich as he spoke Monday remained an immutable character in Illinois’ political lore.
There was never an acknowledgment of guilt or an apology to the public that elected him twice, in 2002 and 2006, before he was impeached and removed from office in 2009. Instead, Blagojevich continued to maintain he had done nothing wrong and that he was the victim of a “politicized” justice system. And he said he believed the citizens and the state had been denied the fruits of his continued governance.
“I could never give in and sell the people of Illinois out and let these corrupt prosecutors criminalize things that are routine and legal in politics and take you away from me,” Blagojevich said, ignoring the fact that a Tribune poll taken just weeks before his December 2008 arrest showed him with a 13% job approval rating after years of scandal, with only 10% saying they wanted to see him re-elected in 2010.
“A terrible thing that they did to me, a Democrat governor. Even worse to what they did to a Republican president, President Trump. And his resilience, his strength, his fortitude, his unwillingness to give in is an inspiration and an example of the kind of leader that he is,” the self-described “Trumpocrat” said in trying to liken his prosecutions to those faced by Trump.
Never mentioned by Blagojevich were his convictions for trying to shakedown the CEO of a Chicago children’s hospital and a local racetrack owner for campaign contributions in exchange for official acts.
And when he said he had been cleared of charges that he tried to sell the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by then-President elect Barack Obama, he didn’t explain that five charges had been dropped because of a technicality involving muddled jury instructions and that a wire fraud conviction remained in place regarding conversations Blagojevich had in which he discussed trying to personally profit by dealing the Obama Senate seat.
In upholding 13 corruption charges against Blagojevich, federal Judge Frank Easterbrook wrote that “the evidence, much of it from Blagojevich’s own mouth, is overwhelming.”
Out of Blagojevich’s mouth on Monday night came the thought that “Abraham Lincoln was our greatest president, maybe Trump will surpass him.”
So now that Trump has cleaned the criminal slate for Blagojevich, what’s next?
“I’m writing a book about the experiences, the story that starts with one president, President Obama, ends with another, President Trump, and most of the stories about a governor in prison with Crips and Bloods and Gangster Disciples and seeing … cartel drug dealers who look up to El Chapo, the drug lord,” Blagojevich said.
“I’m writing that book and I do some business and some consulting work and things of that sort, and I’ll keep doing that and I’ll be as helpful as I possibly can be to President Trump and his efforts to save our democracy and make our country better,” he said.
Blagojevich declined to identify his consulting clients, saying they were “private” and wouldn’t appreciate being made public.
The former governor also indicated an interest in prison rights, citing the “First Step Act,” which was passed with bipartisan congressional support and signed into law in Trump’s first term. The law reduced mandatory minimum federal prison sentences for some nonviolent drug offenses and created programs to reduce recidivism.
“I think it’s very important for us to build on President Trump’s First Step Act that he was able to pass. Criminal justice reform,” Blagojevich said. “I’d like to see us take a second step. I learned a lot of hard lessons from that experience I was in.”
Blagojevich also maintains a presence on Cameo, the video website that allows users to pay for personalized video messages from celebrities and charges $100 for his work. The Cameo website said he finished a personalized video at 11:40 a.m. Monday, just hours before he was formally pardoned.
“Whether you’re looking for a birthday shoutout, pep talk, or roast, former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has you covered!” the website says, with customers giving glowing reviews of his work. “So if you need a boost of energy, a dose of humor, or just want to celebrate someone special, let the Blago himself work his magic!”
Blagojevich declined to discuss speculation that Trump was considering appointing him as the next U.S. ambassador to Serbia. He said his father came from Serbia and that in recently visiting the country he met with President Aleksandar Vucic to “do some business.” He declined to say who paid for his travel.
Trump, asked by reporters if Blagojevich was under consideration for the post while signing the pardon in the Oval Office, said, “No, but I would. He’s now cleaner than anybody in this room. He got a pardon.”
U.S. diplomats to foreign countries are required to have a security clearance and the Blagojevich pardon, wiping away his felony convictions, could make it easier to meet the criteria and win approval.
Trump associate Roger Stone, himself a convicted felon who was pardoned during the president’s first term, went on social media to declare that “My good friend Governor Rod Blagojević will not be Ambassador to Serbia, but probably will be the next mayor of Chicago.”
While Blagojevich last month referred to Stone on social media as a “political wizard,” the chances of the former governor being able to run for mayor or any other state or local office are virtually nil. That’s a result of the state Senate’s 59-0 vote to convict him of impeachment, which removed him from office, and a second unanimous vote delivering the political death penalty, barring him from “holding any future public office of the State of Illinois.”
Those actions on Jan. 29, 2009, came well before Blagojevich was convicted in federal court. Courts also have said impeachment proceedings are not a judicial or criminal proceeding. As a result Trump’s pardon has no effect on his disqualification.
State law generally describes “public office” as a position created by or under the state constitution or state law in which the officeholder is charged with the exercise of some portion of the state’s sovereign power.
Blagojevich had previously tried to open the door to a return to office, acting on his own behalf in asking the federal courts to overturn the disqualification as an unconstitutional civil rights violation that denied voters an opportunity to vote for him.
But in a withering 10-page decision that included quoting Dr. Seuss, U.S. District Judge Steven Seeger told Blagojevich the case should never have been filed and to “Just go. Go. GO!”
“An impeachment proceeding is not a criminal prosecution. After all, Blagojevich didn’t go to federal prison because of what happened in the Illinois legislature. Blagojevich went to federal prison because of what happened in the federal courthouse. Impeachment didn’t lead to prison time. The Illinois General Assembly took away his job, not his liberty,” Seeger wrote.
Noting that the U.S. Supreme Court has said issues of impeachment cannot be judged in the courts, Seeger wrote, “The bottom line is that the judiciary has no power to unimpeach, unconvict, and unremove a public official. The legislature taketh away, and the judiciary cannot giveth back.”
Blagojevich always had the ability to run for Congress, the U.S. Senate or president, even as an inmate in federal prison, because the qualifications for those offices are contained in the U.S. Constitution and cannot be altered by state law. Additionally, there is no prohibition on a felon holding those offices — as Trump proved by taking office Jan. 20 after earlier being convicted in a New York state “hush money” case.
At his Monday-night post-pardon news conference, Blagojevich declined to say whether he was considering running for office again or if he would appeal the federal court ruling against him.
“I haven’t thought that far ahead. This isn’t about me running for office again, honestly. It is, however, a step towards me trying to serve my country some more and doing what I think is right,” he said.
While Blagojevich’s future remains unclear after the presidential pardon, a top state pension official said Tuesday that Blagojevich will not be eligible to start picking up state pension checks despite Trump’s action.
Timothy Blair, who oversees pensions for elected state officials, said his staff conducted a review of case law and while criminal convictions trigger pension bans, the pardon doesn’t wash that ban away.
“You don’t have to pretend that there was not a conviction,” said Blair, executive secretary of the General Assembly Retirement System. A pardon “doesn’t expunge a public record.”
Blagojevich, 68, has never applied for a pension and has not asked for a refund of the $101,000 he contributed during his years as a state lawmaker and governor, Blair said.
Blagojevich, however, has remained eligible for a federal pension because he served six years in the U.S. House.
If anything, Trump’s pardon created a rare and temporary sense of unity among Illinois Democrats and Republicans who decried the president’s move.
State Treasurer Michael Frerichs was a Democratic state senator who made the motion to disqualify Blagojevich from holding future public office.
“Our disgraced ex-governor held hostage funds for sick kids in a campaign cash shakedown,” Frerichs said Monday night. “It’s no surprise Trump doesn’t think Blagojevich committed any crimes.”
John Curran, the Republican leader of the Illinois Senate, said he “strongly” disagreed with Trump’s pardon.
“Illinois taxpayers have and continue to be burdened with the cost of public corruption, and this pardon sends the wrong message,” he said.
Tribune reporter Ray Long contributed.
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