Jamie Floyd | Bio
In Session

As you may know – or you may not – Rod Blagojevich has been indicted. The former governor of Illinois was finally indicted last week.

The announcement was exceptionally quiet, especially given the fanfare that followed his arrest late last year on charges of conspiring to gain financially from his appointment to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama. In a press conference held by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, he called the charges against Blagojevich “a truly new low” and gratuitously added that “the conduct would make Lincoln roll over in his grave.” The 76 page FBI affidavit was laced with cuss words, the best bits read aloud, with seeming glee, across the 24/7 spectrum. There was also the unprecedented media tour conducted by the still-sitting governor on every outlet (including ours) to save his seat and perhaps change the course of criminal events.

It didn’t work.

Last Thursday, the feds handed down their indictment on 16 counts, including racketeering, fraud and extortion counts. Coming nearly four months after federal agents roused the governor out of his home in a pre-dawn arrest and weeks after lawmakers dumped him from office, the indictment of Blagojevich, his brother and four former top insiders was anti-climactic.

But that’s a good thing, if you ask me. This case shouldn’t be tried in the court of public opinion. It should be tried in a court of law. And now, it will be.

Ismael Estrada
AC360° Producer

It really wasn’t that long ago when people outside of Illinois didn’t know who Rod Blagojevich was. The Chicago Cubs held the crown of the biggest loser in Chicago. The Cubs faithful were fooled once again when the 2008 team, which was “supposed” to go to the World Series, was swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Order was restored in windy city. Then Chicago sent one if its own to the White House. The city was buzzing, White Sox and Cubs fans were getting along, people were happier than they have been since Michael Jordan had this city on his shoulders.

Then the headlines on December 9th, 2008: “Governor Busted” “Prosecutors: Blagojevich tried to sell Obama’s vacant senate seat!”

It was as if the air had been let out of the city. The allegations were eye opening. Did our Governor really do what the U.S attorney Patrick Fitzgerald says he did? The prosecutors touted wire taps where conversations were recorded. There were allegations that he tried to have Chicago Tribune editorial writers fired in return for the state of Illinois helping structure a sale of Wrigley Field. Suddenly, everyone forgot about the Cubs. Everyone was talking about Rod Blagojevich.

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Jami Floyd
In Session

Rod Blagojevich is back. After an arrest on charges that he tried to sell the senate seat vacated by Barack Obama; after he named relative unknown Roland Burris to the seat, generating a new storm of controversy; after he was finally impeached by the legislature in his home state of Illinois; after all that, Blagojevich is back — with a book deal.

Tentatively entitled “The Governor,” Blago’s book will chronicle his election to Congress and his election and re-election as governor. Of course, Blagojevich was also the first governor removed from office in Illinois history, but he wants to tell his side of the story.

He wants to write about what he calls “the phoniness and hypocrisy” of politicians: their drinking, womanizing and other bad behavior. For that, he will receive six figures, which is good for a former governor who is out of a six-figure job and who is facing the prospect of an expensive criminal case. The book could improve his image, not to mention make some money which he might need for his defense.

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Chicago Tribune
John Kass

Who the heck would ever plunk good money down to read a book titled "The Governor" by Rod Blagojevich?

That's the working title of Blagojevich's planned book, but it's a terrible title. That's why you readers are being enlisted to come up with a juicy, compelling title for our former Gov. Dead Meat's tell-all book, which was announced Monday.

If your title wins, you'll get a prize, and I mean a real prize this time, something tangible.

Because I'm writing the column, I get to go first. So how about this one:

"Et Tu, DeLeo?"

That's a reference to Blagojevich's former close friend, the former shadow governor of Illinois, state Sen. James DeLeo (D-How You Doin?), who abandoned Dead Meat and voted to remove him from office after all the good times they had.

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CNN

Illinois Sen. Roland Burris reiterated Monday that his sworn testimony regarding his contacts with then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich was not inconsistent with what he later said in an affidavit.

The Democratic senator's comments come a day after Illinois Republican leaders called for a perjury investigation into whether Burris deceived the public last month when he failed to tell state lawmakers that Blagojevich's brother solicited him for campaign cash at the same time that the governor himself was considering whether to appoint him to fill the Senate seat vacated by President Obama.

"We said in our testimony before the impeachment committee, my lawyer stated, that we will have to file additional information in our report because there were some questions asked where we had to get sufficient information for the committee," Burris said outside Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church on Chicago's South Side before a five-day statewide "listening tour" of his new constituents.

"We also stated that we might be incomplete in our report," he said.

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Editor’s Note: You can read more Jami Floyd blogs on “In Session.”

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was convicted at his impeachment trial shortly after delivering closing argument.

Jami Floyd
AC360° Contributor
In Session Anchor

Like a Shakespearean tragedy, the Blagojevich debacle just keeps getting better and better. Narcissism. Corruption. Colorful characters. And farce.

But it’s not funny. Not really. Because whatever really went down in this case, something is rotten in the state of Denmark. And Denmark isn’t the Prairie State. Rather, it’s a political state of mind in which entitlement and corruption have become the order of the day.

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A worker replaces ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's picture with that of Pat Quinn.

Steve Brusk and Greg Morrison
CNN National Desk

Workers at the Illinois Capitol wasted little time Thursday night changing the face of state government, shortly after Governor Pat Quinn replaced the ousted Rod Blagojevich.

The “welcome” sign visitors to the Capitol in Springfield see as they enter the building with Blagojevich’s face at the top was quickly brought down, with state employees watching and cameras snapping away.

Maintenance crews arrived, first removing the gold nameplate with Blagojevich’s name. Using drills and a ladder, they then brought down the large 5-foot high sign to make the official change.

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Jack Gray
AC360° Associate Producer

I finally saw them. Rod Blagojevich’s bangs.  I saw them with my own eyes and I lived to tell about it.  The disgraced Governor of Illinois had just finished up Larry King Live and was, I can only assume, on his way to steal money from terminally ill children when he passed me in the hallway here at CNN.

It all seemed to happen in slow motion, us walking toward each other.  It was a perfect example of why I need someone to follow me at all times with an iPod boombox playing the theme song from Chariots of Fire.

The governor had quite a large entourage, though I’m unsure if they were Illinois State Troopers there to protect him or U.S. Marshals there to make sure he didn’t flee the country.

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Editor’s Note: You can read more Jami Floyd blogs on “In Session.”

Jami Floyd
AC360° Contributor
In Session Anchor

For two days running everyone’s been talking about Blagojevich. Not just because he's been talking to any media outlet that will have him, but also because he's been impeached; and he's about to be convicted of abuse of power in the Illinois state Senate.

And as the governor admitted right here on Best Defense yesterday, impeachment trials are rare - very rare. There is very little precedent for the impeachment of a sitting governor in Illinois or any where else.

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Jack M. Burkman
Political Strategist

As a conservative Republican and former Whitewater investigator, I should be the last person to support embattled Illinois Governor Blagojevich. But he is getting a raw deal in every sense and the time has come to rally to his defense.

First, Senate Democrats stepped onto dangerous ground when they seriously considered not seating Senator Roland Burris in December. The seating of a state's Federal representative is the single most important component of the American democracy. Why should Illinois remain in the union if Washington won't seat its senators? To suggest that Burris would not be seated simply because a prosecutor had made allegations against the governor is downright crazy. Is this to suggest that any time any governor is under a cloud, he loses his powers of appointment without even a fair trial? The potential in this precedent for disrupting the Union is mammoth. What if one group of states decides to "gang up" on another and not seat their senators? We as a people did not grasp the importance of the events of December. I commend Sen. Dianne Feinstein for having the guts and the intellect to step out and break the logjam.

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