The United States vs. Rod R. Blagojevich
CHICAGO — Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and five others were indicted on federal corruption charges Thursday.
Alleging “pervasive fraud,” the 19-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury outlined a trail of fraud that dated back to 2002, before Blagojevich was first elected governor.
Blagojevich was arrested Dec. 9 on federal corruption charges that included allegedly trying to sell President Barack Obama’s vacant U.S. Senate seat. The Illinois House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly in January to impeach the governor, accusing him of abusing his gubernatorial power, and he was removed from office on Jan. 29.
In Thursday’s indictment, Blagojevich was charged with 16 felony counts, including racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud, extortion conspiracy, attempted extortion and making false statements to federal agents. Patrick Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said Blagojevich allegedly used his office in numerous matters involving state appointments, business, legislation and pension fund investments to seek or obtain such financial benefits as money, campaign contributions, and employment for himself and others, in exchange for official actions, including trying to leverage his authority to appoint a United States Senator.
Also charged as co-defendants were Alonzo Monk, Blagojevich's associate who was his first gubernatorial chief of staff from 2003 through 2005, and later chairman of his campaign fund;
Robert Blagojevich, Blagojevich’s brother and chairman of his campaign fund; Christopher Kelly, chairman of Blagojevich’s campaign fund from early 2004 until August 2005; and William Cellini, Sr., a businessman who raised significant funds for Blagojevich.
Also charged was John Harris, Blagojevich’s chief of staff from late 2005 until last December after he was arrested along with Blagojevich. According to the indictment, Harris, who is charged with a single count of wire fraud, has said he has agreed to cooperate with the United States Attorney’s Office in the prosecution of this case.
The charges are part of Operation Board Games, a continuing public corruption investigation of pay-to-play schemes, including insider-dealing, influence-peddling and kickbacks involving private interests and public duties.
Thursday’s indictment added several new allegations to previous listed charges, including that Blagojevich and others agreed to use the offices of governor and chief of staff for financial gain, which would be divided among them after Blagojevich left public office.
Shortly after the indictment was announced late Thursday afternoon, Sen. Gary Dahl (R-Granville) issued the following press release:
“While the former governor’s indictment isn’t a surprise, it underscores many of the concerns I had about his administration. For six years, I expressed my sincere belief Gov. Blagojevich based many of his decisions on factors other than what was in the public good. This indictment suggests those fears were well-founded.”
Spring Valley’s Democratic Mayor Jim Narczewski also said the indictment was “not unexpected.”
“From looking at the material included with the indictment, it appears to me he has probably done some things in violation of the law,” Narczewski said. “While everyone is innocent until proven guilty, he’s put himself in this position, and it’s hard to feel sorry for him for some of the things he’s apparently done.”
County Board Chairman and Republican Dale Anderson said the whole situation was “too bad.”
“We thought we were done with this kind of thing,” he said. “He said he was going to change the way Illinois was governed, but it was the same old politics. He did not live up to his promises and gave Illinois another black eye.”
Comment on this story at www.bcrnews.com.
