No good can come from this and it goes to show how much power the US Attorney's office does have.

He may or may not be guilty. We can debate that. But we can't debate whether or not he can continue to govern effectively. It is absurd for him to argue that he can stay in office and continue to be trusted by the people of Illinois. Unfortunately he must step down

Democrats are not convicting anyone. The US Attorney has filed a complaint. Not up to us to assume anything, but it is not in question that Blagojevitch said what he said. Draw your own conclusion.

I suspect an agenda if we are bending over backward to protect the goofball. I would not be happy if he dragged down any Democrats with him, and resent any attempt to block Democrats' hard-learned caution.

How do we know? It depends on what "corrupt" means.

One can be corrupt without having been convicted.
And people who are not corrupt have been convicted.

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/01/madigan-possible-impeachment-vote-next-week.html

It's quite clear that there is a strong political push to do in Blago. This move by DHS might be sufficient leverage to impeach Blago.

I was one of the first to decry Fitzgerald's "trial by press conference". But the fact the Fitz. should be condemned, censured, or even fired for politicizing an FBI investigation, does not exonerate Blago.

I have a growing suspicion that some of the evidence collected since 2003 implicates Very Important People who would strongly prefer that it not come out at trial (the defense would have access to all prosecution evidence related to the case). So it's quite possible that Blago will be summarily removed from power without having a chance to confront his accusers in court. That is, the FBI charges might be dropped or even further reduced from the two wimpy counts in the criminal complaint.

In the name of Due Process, I commend you for also raising the issue.

The mistake everyone seems to be making about the criminal complaint against Blagojevich and Harris is that it was primarily concerned with his attempt to sell Obama's Senate seat. That is woefully in error. Blagojevich's alleged attempt to sell Obama's Senate seat was instead the trigger which caused Fitzgerald to file the complaint earlier than he intended, and was only a small part of the total criminal complaint:

Count One: From in or about 2002 to the present, in Cook County, in the Northern District of Illinois, defendants did, conspire with each other and with others to devise and participate in a scheme to defraud the State of Illinois and the people of the State of Illinois of the honest services of ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH and JOHN HARRIS, in furtherance of which the mails and interstate wire communications would be used, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1341,1343, and 1346; all in violation of Title 18 United States Code, Section 1349.

Count Two: Beginning no later than November 2008 to the present, in Cook County, in the Northern District of Illinois, defendants ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH and JOHN HARRIS, being agents of the State of Illinois, a State government which during a one-year period, beginning January 1, 2008 and continuing to the present, received federal benefits in excess of $10,000, corruptly solicited and demanded a thing of value, namely, the firing of certain Chicago Tribune editorial members responsible for widely-circulated editorials critical of ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH, intending to be influenced and rewarded in connection with business and transactions of the State of Illinois involving a thing of value of $5,000 or more, namely, the provision of millions of dollars in financial assistance by the State of Illinois, including through the Illinois Finance Authority, an agency of the State of Illinois, to the Tribune Company involving the Wrigley Field baseball stadium; in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 666(a)(1)(B) and 2.

Evidence Concerning the Solicitation and Receipt of Campaign Contributions in Return for Official Acts by ROD BLAGOJEVICH Prior to October 2008

• Information Provided by Ali Ata - testifying under oath spring of 2008
• Information Provided by Joseph Cari - testifying under oath at the Rezko Trial on April 15 and 16, 2008
• Information Provided by Stuart Levine - testimony given as part of a plea agreement

The alleged Senate Pay-for-play scheme is not just predicated on wiretap information. There is Information Obtained From Individual A, who was a Blagojevich insider. Not mentioned in the complaint, which came out later is Jesse Jackson Jr's providing evidence to the US Attorney and/or the FBI.

There is much more evidence based on testimony, than was obtained through the wiretaps. It is the selling of the Senate seat that gets the most press, but that is only a small part of the total allegations. Fitzgerald is not stupid, sloppy or politically motivated. There will be a more than two multi-count indictment coming down on both Blagojevich and Harris.

Personally, I believe Reid's stated plan to refuse seating Burris is based on shaky Constitutional ground, but it still has a very strong moral base to it. Any Senator the Blagojevich appoints is going to be tainted, and will be mince meat come re-election time.

I hope somebody takes the time to read this comment, because I think I have an angle on the situation everyone has overlooked.

The writer is absolutely correct. As reprehensible as Gov. Rod Blagojevich is widely considered to be -- and I count myself among those who see him that way -- no one, and I mean NO ONE knows whether his actions will convince a jury that he committed the crimes of which he stands accused. The greatest exposure he faces is on the conspiracy charge, since conspiring to commit a crime is a separate offense from the crime itself, which does not have to be committed or even attempted for a conspiracy charge to have merit. Blago's defense counsel probably has a good argument that this is an issue to be handled in ways other than a criminal prosecution, and the Illinois legislature is doing just that through impeachment. If impeachment fails, the voters in theory get their shot, beginning with the voters of Blago's own party in the primary, but we all know he won't even get that far. The voters have spoken loud and clear already. His party knows Blago is utterly unelectable even if (and that's a big "IF") he survives impeachment proceedings and is exonerated of criminality.

So why did Fitz bring the charge when he did? Here's why: he saw an opportunity to do something almost unheard of for a prosecutor at any level and that's prevent a crime from taking place, even if no crime can be proven up to the time of the arrest (remember, the standard is "beyond a reasonable doubt"). The worst possible thing Fitzgerald could have done was wait until the crime was completed. There was absolutely no way to know when he would make the appointment to fill Obama's seat, and even if it was only made on a promise of payment, the taint is there.

It would have been infinitely selfish for Fitz to wait until a conviction was more certain to bring the charge and allow a Senate seat to be purchased, which is most certainly what was going to happen. He saw what was going down, and he stepped in to stop it. In addition, Rod Blagojevich's political career was over from the moment he was arrested. His defense costs may personally bankrupt him. Even if he spends absolutely no time incarcerated, even if he beats every single charge of criminality, Fitzgerald prevented a tainted appointee from joining the Senate and assured the State of Illinois would end up with a more honest governor. Though, granted, that bar is set pretty low, first in line is Lieutenant Governor Patrick Quinn who could never have won the governorship outright because he is exactly the kind of crusader that Springfield hates. He'll hold the seat warm for Illinois A.G. ("Aspiring Governor") Lisa Madigan, whose dad, Michael, is Speaker and a big-time political boss in his own right, but there's never been a whiff of scandal about his daughter who has succeeded as much on merit as on name. In fact, I'd say her worst act was her over-reaching in going to the Illinois Supreme Court to have the Governor declared "incapacitated" by reason of his arrest. Thankfully, the state supremes rejected that, knowing what a dangerous precedent it could be, so even the judiciary performed its role in the system well.

Above all, a prosecutor's job is to do justice. Fitzgerald preempted a crime and set the Governorship of Illinois on a path to reform with the simple action of a credible arrest. Whether this action results in a conviction is irrelevant. The commenter who said "no good can come of this" should take note: the U.S. Senate, the Executive Branch of Illinois government, the people of Illinois, the Democratic Party and even the incoming President, who was able to deal with this honestly and avoid a serious distraction during his time in office, are better off for it. Those who say the arrest was an over-reaction are over-reacting yourself. From what I've seen of the public record, there was more than enough to justify the arrest. Nor is this the kind of fact pattern that is easily repeated. Many Senators have moved to the Executive Branch via appointment or election -- it took a consummate Chicago Machine Democrat with no scruples to turn a Senate appointment into his personal political eBay event.

Waiting for greater justification before an arrest was made, as might be needed to secure a conviction, had its own huge downside. Rod gets his day in court and that's as good as it will get for him. I am, however, offering February 14 as the over-under on a plea bargain.

Justice was done. Thank you, Mr. Fitzgerald.