IL Never Dull Emanuel Was Congressman A

[Annie]

Yeah, that was known. On the other hand, got more interesting yesterday. I can't wait to hear more folks saying how great Blago is:

The Volokh Conspiracy - -

[Jim Lindgren, April 3, 2009 at 1:40am] Trackbacks
Indictment Suggests Rahm Emanuel Was Extortion Victim. Ben Smith at Politico is reporting that Congressman A in the Blagojevich indictment is Rahm Emanuel. In 2006, he and his brother were allegedly victims of an extortion scheme:
P

atrick Fitzgerald's indictment refers to two incidents involving "Congressman A": In one, Blagojevich discusses approaching the unnamed congressman to broker a deal for Obama's Senate seat.

In another, unrelated, charge, Blagojevich in 2006 allegedly demanded that the congressman or his brother — Emanuel's high-profile sibling is super-agent Ari Emanuel — hold a fundraiser for the governor in exchange for releasing $2 million to support a publicly funded school.

Blagojevich "wanted it communicated to United States Congressman A that United States Congressman A's brother needed to have a fundraiser" for Blago, the indictment says.

The grant, the indictment says, had already been approved, and the school had begun to incur expenses.

That description, a source in the Chicago education world told me this evening, closely matches the Chicago Academy's 2006 battle for the release of a $2 million grant to improve athletic facilities, which was unaccountably held up by the governor even as the project was underway. The school is in Emanuel's district, and Emanuel was among the elected officials fighting for its approval.​

I wonder if this 2006 alleged extortion attempt was brought to Fitzgerald by Emanuel after the larger scandal broke last December, or whether they knew of it all along.

The more recent extortion attempt against Emanuel (and Obama) was to be made through intermediaries (as was the approach to Jarrett), so the Obama report, limited as it was only to direct contacts with Blagojevich, failed to mention whether these attempted shakedowns occurred.

Perhaps someday the press will get around to asking Obama about the shakedown attempts specifically alleged by the US Attorney. After all, it's already April.

 

[editec]

I gotta tell ya, I'm not one bit in doubt that Blago was a corrupt pol.

But more corrupt that the rest of them?

How exactly?

 

[Annie]

I gotta tell ya, I'm not one bit in doubt that Blago was a corrupt pol.

But more corrupt that the rest of them?

How exactly?

That's what the prosecutor is to reveal. All I know is that in the time he's been in office, everything in the state has deteriorated. Roads, bridges, schools, The Capitol Building, literally everything the state should have been maintaining. At the same time, record spending, (on what?), while no increase on income taxes. However, sales taxes; gasoline and utility taxes; service taxes; etc., skyrocketed. So he pledged 'no tax increases' but did. Where did the money go?