Who Will Go Down with Blagojevich?

By John Nichols, TheNation.com. Posted December 9, 2008.

That final reference is to an alleged scheme by the governor and his chief of staff to demand the firing of editors of the Chicago Tribune -- a newspaper that has long been critical of Blagojevich -- in return for state aid for the financially troubled Tribune Co.'s sale of Chicago's Wrigley Field.

What emerges is a picture of a governor gone wild -- including scheming to shakedown billionaires Warren Buffett and Bill Gates -- and the FBI reportedly has the tapes to prove it.

The question of course, is who, if anyone, will go down with the governor.

In addition to Obama, many Illinois politicians with national reputations are going to be facing questions about their relationships with Blagojevich.

Included on the list will be Reps. Danny Davis, Jesse Jackson Jr. and Jan Schakowsky, all of whom served in the House with Blagojevich before he became governor and all of whom have been angling for appointment to Obama's seat. Jackson, for instance, met with Blagojevich on Monday.

If Jackson was cooperating with the investigation, he could come out as a hero, and perhaps a senator. Certainly, there will be speculation about that prospect because of the timing of the arrests of Blagojevich and his chief of staff Tuesday morning.

Any pol who spoke with Blagojevich will likely be on those FBI tapes, and if conversations took a corrupt turn, then the investigation could spread far beyond the governor's office.

Perhaps the most intriguing twist in the whole sordid tale is this: Blagojevich's arrest makes it likely that someone else will be appointing the next senator from Illinois.

If the governor is forced to resign -- or is impeached -- his office would go to Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, a veteran reformer and rabble-rouser who has often, although not always, been at odds with Blagojevich. (In fact, Quinn's record over the past several decades has been one of battling the Illinois political and corporate establishment. He won the nomination for his current post by upsetting the candidate preferred by Blagojevich and the Democratic machine.)

As word of the federal investigation of Blagojevich and his aides spread in recent weeks, Quinn was outspoken in demanding that the governor "come forward and level with the people of Illinois."

Frankly, if Quinn is empowered to select Obama's successor, both Illinois and the Senate will be better served. Of course, a special election would be an even better option -- and that democratic route seems to have been opened at the encouragement of Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat.

That's the bottom line: No one should mourn for Blagojevich.

Rather, we should be interested in answering all the questions about corruption in Illinois and about when and if Quinn will be in a position now merely to send a new senator to Washington -- or to arrange a special election -- and to begin cleaning up the mess in Springfield.

See more stories tagged with: corruption, obama, patrick fitzgerald, blagojevich, illinois governor

John Nichols is the Nation's Washington correspondent.

Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from AlterNet! Sign up now »