The big story today was of course the shocking arrest of Illinois Governor Blagojevich for corruption, including the brazen attempt to sell the soon to be vacant Senate seat of Pres Elect Obama.

How impossibly stupid.

“Staggering.”

On the issue of the U.S. Senate selection, federal prosecutors alleged Blagojevich sought appointment as Secretary of Health and Human Services in the new Obama administration, or a lucrative job with a union in exchange for appointing a union-preferred candidate.

Blagojevich and Harris conspired to demand the firing of Chicago Tribune editorial board members responsible for editorials critical of Blagojevich in exchange for state help with the sale of Wrigley Field, the Chicago Cubs baseball stadium owned by Tribune Co.

Blagojevich and Harris, along with others, obtained and sought to gain financial benefits for the governor, members of his family and his campaign fund in exchange for appointments to state boards and commissions, state jobs and state contracts.

“The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering,” U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said in a statement.

Fitzmas arrives early this year. I haven’t followed the Blago saga, but it’s as old as Hot Air is: The investigation’s been active for three years and his cronies have been rolling over on him for months, culminating in a former aide named John Wyma having somehow cooperated with the feds to obtain recordings of Blagojevich yakking about graft. (The Tribune, which broke the news, won’t say if he wore a wire.) Another top crony was convicted six months ago of mail fraud, among other things, but his sentencing was postponed from October to January amid rumors that he was singing to the U.S. Attorney about the Chicago machine in hopes of a better deal. You might have heard of him.

This is classic pay as you go Chicago politics.  

Then in a surprising turn, Louisiana actually voted on ethics and ousted indicted Rep William “is that a bribe in your freezer or are you just happy to see me” Jefferson.  He as you may recall took a 100k bribe and was caught with 90k of it in his fridge.  His claims that he was just holding on to it to help the FBI were transparently pathetic, but the House of Representatives virtually ignored it, and his constituents reelected him in 2006.  Well, this year they did what should have been done long ago:  They fired him.

This is my happiest election result since Cynthia “Checkpoint? What checkpoint?” McKinney lost a few years ago.

In all cases, one of the interesting points is how prominent democrats are treating the arrests.  When Jefferson’s house was raided, the FBI also searched his office causing the Democrats to cry foul over perceived separation of powers violation.  According to them, apparently, if you are corrupt at the office, it should be sacrosanct.

Likewise, the radio had quotes today from some democrats questioning the fact that the police actually came to his home and *gasp* arrested him when they determined that he had in fact committed crimes, you know the way that most everyone has to deal with crimes they commit.  His defenders insisted that just because he was a lying, cheating corrupt man, he would never stoop to being a flight risk, because that would be wrong.

Right.

I say hurray!  End the era of privilege for elected officials, lock their sorry asses up like the lowest drug dealer when they are arrested if they have been found to have violated the public trust and the law.

Our elected officials treat this country as a giant doormat to sweep their foul crimes under, then express shock and amazement when they are actually accused by the very people they victimize.

I say enough.

This also applies to people like Sen Craig of Idaho, who was arrested on what I thought was flimsy evidence, but he chose to plead guilty.

He learned that choices, particularly hasty ones, have consequences.  He tried to railroad his way out of this with his elected position, and then fearing scandal,  he plead out.  If he was innocent, he should have fought it.

And now his appeals to have his guilty plea withdrawn are exhausted, as belatedly, he realized that he could have trusted the justice system to determine the truth.  He didn’t.  So he deserves the penalty, as he was cognizant of the consequences.

So my dislike here is not just of the corruption and the violation of trust, but also of the privilage most politicians seem to feel by virtue of their positions.

But I digress.

Locally, the fun part of this debacle was watching the local Democrats deal with the corruption that they have long denied exists in their party.

Goldy, the local horses ass (who blogs at horsesass.org) was stunned into reasonable honesty.

Good riddance

by Goldy, 12/09/2008, 8:27 AM

We’ve all learned to be rightly skeptical of Bush Justice Department prosecutions of Democratic officials,…

Rolling my eyes….

… but US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald doesn’t exactly have a reputation as a partisan hack, so it’s hard to dismiss this morning’s indictment and arrest of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich as mere politics as usual.

The amazing beauty is that Fitz is unimpeachable as he is the Democrat hero who defended the lying Joe Wilson and his pseudo agent wife against the Bush administration, even though they did nothing wrong, and the only crime committed was Scooter Libby making false statements about not committing a crime that he was found to have actually not committed.

Assuming the allegations against Blagojevich are supported by the facts, I say good riddance.  Same goes for recently defeated Rep. William “Money in My Freezer” Jefferson (D-LA), who if he really loved his party and his nation would have resigned from Congress long ago, rather than bringing disgrace on the institution, and handing his seat over to an unknown Republican through sheer hubris.

Right on the money (no pun intended).

Institutional and individual corruption, and the perceived tolerance of it, was at the heart of the Democrats’ historic defeat in 1994, and the Republican sequel in 2006, and my party would do well to learn a lesson from history.  Our numbers may be lessened by the fall of the likes of Blagojevich and Jefferson, but we are stronger without them, and we should resist the natural urge to defend our own when our own have violated the public trust.

Of course, not every allegation is substantiated, and not every scandal or ethical lapse is a criminal (or even a fireable) offense, so the line between corruption and mere bad judgment is not always clear.  But if the Democrats want to govern, and govern effectively, we should be prepared to err on the side of ethics over loyalty.

I am tempted to check Goldy for lobotomy scars, as he sounds rational. 

It is somewhat refreshing that even he has his limits with the dishonesty in his own party, despite defending the lies of local candidates.

But there it is:  Democrats corruption so blatant that even the Puget Sound’s loudest liberal has to step up and be honest about it.

Pigs are flying and hell is freezing over, I just know it.¹

Trackposted to Rosemary’s Thoughts, DragonLady’s World, Cao’s Blog, Democrat=Socialist, Conservative Cat, , third world county, Allie is Wired, Woman Honor Thyself, Walls of the City, The World According to Carl, Pirate’s Cove, Rosemary’s News and Ideas, The Pink Flamingo, A Newt One, and Right Voices, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

1. Note:  I have met Goldy, and actual found him to be a nice guy.  We disagree on quite a few issues, obviously, so it is no surprise I take exception with his opinions quite often.  His blog reflects those opinions, but in my opinion, he takes it a step further into a level of unhinged hostility and abuse I generally deplore.  So while I have had sport with him at having to swallow his partisan pride, I do actually hold him to a certain level of respect as I do most bloggers.  There is nothing wrong with having passion for your cause, and my opinions on his writing style and ethics are not the final arbiters of right or wrong, they are just my opinions, and my own personal ethics.  It should also be noted that the public comments on his post were highly appreciative of his reasonable stance, and in agreement. [back]