Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) has been sentenced to 14 years in federal prison for trying to sell the Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama.
The Chicago Sun Times reports from the courtroom that “Blago” told the court he was “unbelievably sorry.” The judge said Blagojevich’s sentence reflected his acceptance of responsibility:
“I believe he did, in fact, accept [responsibility],” U.S. District Judge James Zagel said in announcing how long Blagojevich should spend in prison after being convicted of 18 corruption charges that included attempting to sell or trade an appointment to fill the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by the election of President Barack Obama.The judge said he had given credit to Blagojevich, in deciding his sentence, for accepting responsibility for his crimes.
The sentence was just under the 15 to 20 year term prosecutors were seeking.
Ryan J. Reilly
Ryan J. Reilly is a D.C.-based reporter for TPM. Prior to joining TPM, he worked for a news website covering the Justice Department and was a researcher for Bloomberg News. His email address is ryan(at)talkingpointsmemo.com.
'Acceptance of responsibility?' What acceptance? Before he was even in court he tried to taint the jury pool by screaming he was innocent on every talk or late night show that would have him. Now that they found his ass guilty he's sorry and only gets 14 years?
This is the knd of thing that makes people feel that there's one justice for them an another for the well-connected.
Throw his ass off the edge of the world for 24 years and you'll see a lot less of this crap.
Let this be a lesson to all you corrupt crony politicians, wheeling and dealing with the public trust: Just don't be such a pugnacious dick about it and you'll be fine.
Agreed. The sentence would not have been as severe if he was not such an incredible asshole. hotch
Rod Blagojevich, Sentenced to 14 years in prison for doing what politicians do? This is an outrage!
A fall from grace to go from millionaire politicians to prison. Fourteen years is a long time.
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Frankly, this sentence is bullshit. It will be reduced on appeal. Considering the near-vendetta level ferocity of the prosecution, it is entirely possible they have endangered the underlying conviction as well. I am no fan of Blago, certainly one of the most corrupt politicians in the United States. This sentence, however, is unprecedented and apparently based on an imaginary $1.5 million bribe from some Jesse Jackson supporter.
buttersquash Tony Rezko got 11 years, wasn't as big a fish as Blago, and cooperated with the investigation from early on. So it might be a bit of an exaggeration to say it's unprecedented.
MarkDownbuttersquash Actually, I understand Rezko did not cooperate until late in the game, and hence got a relatively harsh sentence.
At least the next time we see him, he won't have that wacky hair anymore.
Mickey Bitsko If only he'd thought it through...
Mickey Bitsko
and no parole in the federal system. bye bye
And yet Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz remain free.
noen How about Obama, Clinton and Durbin? They are all rotten to the core.
fail! dwitkowitz noen
dwitkowitznoen Really? I'd sure like to hear one, just one, thing that Obama has done that is 'rotten'. Saying 'Solyndra' doesn't count, since that load started in the Bush admin.
dwitkowitz me smell a troll... Obama didn't do jack shit to be in jail.. unlike the palins, cheneys, bushes, and other GOP losers..
noen Given the severity of the Bush-Cheney crimes, I wonder how many years in prison they'd qualify for. How many counts of murder -- Iraqi and American -- would there be?
Nationally, it is thought he was only convicted of trying to sell Obama's senate seat for $1,000,000. He was really convicted of something like 19 counts - one being holding up state funds to a Children's Hospital if they would give him a campaign contribution. His schemes were rampant, not just isolated to one case.
voisjoe1 He's a poster boy for our effed up pay-to-play political system.
Wow, the judge knocked a year of the sentence.
Blagojevich accepted responsibility as clearly evidenced by his "not guilty" pleas and his talk show tour insisting he was framed.
If you believe it's important to give an accused person a fair trial, you can't hold it against them if they plead their innocence. No one should be expected to hang themselves. Also, the negative publicity was out there, so it was up to Blagojevich to counter it. Chesire
PlentyOfReason I absolutely believe it's important to give the accused a fair trial, but taking responsibility for one's actions is not reconcilable with repeated insistence that you didn't do anything wrong.
ChesirePlentyOfReason Unless you didn't.
ouch
This is common practice in Chicago politics. It's quite common here in Massachusetts as well. The last 3 Speakers of the House are convicted felons.
Clarification: Blago was the Governor of ILLINOIS, not Chicago. Just because Chicago has more than it's share of corruption, does not mean that all Illinois corruption stems from Chicago.
Yes, admittedly, I am more than tired of the entire state at this point, but my other options are Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri or Kentucky !?! Lord, give me strength!!!
.Wigglesworth11
PearlyWhite
At least you can always be comforted by the fact its not Texas.
“The idea that a congressman would be tainted by accepting money from private industry or private sources is essentially a socialist argument.” ~Newt Gingrich
Rod should have tried to sell Obama's seat to GE., oh wait G,E Goldman Sachs, et al. already own all the seats they need.
I voted for Blago - the alternative would have been some kind of Tea Party person (for example we are now stuck another 5 years with Kirk, a real Tea Party clown). Blago deserves this long sentence for making fun of the judicial system with all of his reality show clownsmanship.
The sentence is just, in that the punishment fits the crime; what is not just, however, is that so many powerful people who have done as bad or worse are still walking about free.
David I'm much more upset about some guy who is sentenced 26 years to life for lying on a drivers license application than I am about Blago.
Carlos Fiance I'm not upset about Blago; I'm upset that I still have to see pictures of Karl Rove which aren't partly obscured by iron bars.
David Yeah, I'm with you there. I just don't think it's highly relevant (instructive?) to bring up those cases in this one.
Tom Delay only got 3 years, and they're giving Blagojevich 14...
odiousobservation that is pretty crazy isn't it ....
odiousobservation Milorad should have switched parties so as to get the Republican 11-year bonus deal.
Great ! And Bush and Cheney are free.
Justice served !
imfabulous13 If only he had the foresight to have first hired a hack attorney to give him a legal opinion saying that it is legal to auction a Senate seat to the highest bidder. If he had, he too could have walked free.
Chesireimfabulous13 He should have sought out John Yoo- he'll do anything!
"Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) has been sentenced to 14 years in federal prison for trying to sell the Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama."
Looks like he's going to be selling something else pretty soon.
his own seat?
Sorry couldn't resist.peterprinciple
Eric Madsenpeterprinciple Many people find prison rape jokes extremely offensive.
Tell me why prison rape is so accepted, and in fact, causes exclamations of glee? I really don't care what a dirt bag someone is, institutional rape should never be OK.
In any case, Blagojevich is unlikely to go to that kind of a prison. He'll probably end up with Cunningham in the country club prison, although I hear Cunningham has had about enough of it.Eric Madsen peterprinciple
hate to say it but i feel bad for the guy.
lalilyman That was my first thought but I quickly recovered. Cherryice's comment down thread "and yet Wall Street thugs go free" misses the connection between political corruption and financial corruption.
Doremus Jessup 2.0 point taken, just a little reluctantly.
lalilyman Maybe if we all pitched in we could afford to buy an honest politician that would work for the benefit of the middle class.
There once was a guvnah named Blago
Who thought he was smart, like Iago
Impeached for his crimes
He defended with rhymes 'Cuz dat's how dey roll in Chicago.
Now Blago is headed for prison
'Cause that's how much trouble he is in
It's fourteen in stir For the ex-governor
And a lifetime of public derision.
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