Posted on 12/11/2008 9:58:23 AM PST by egannacht
After congratulating President-elect Barack Obama on his Nov. 4 victory, Governor Rod Blagojevich now begins the difficult task of finding a replacement for Illinois’ Senate seat. The Governor said he would be deliberate in his decision process and plans on using a diverse senior staff to assist him in selecting a suitable replacement for Obama.
“Last night’s victory was bittersweet for Illinois as we gain a great President, we lose a great Senator. And it goes without saying that our next Senator has big shoes to fill. Because it’s important that the best person for Illinois is selected, I want to be clear that the calendar won’t dictate our search. Instead, I want to ensure that Obama’s successor will understand and fight for the needs of average Illinoisans,” Governor Blagojevich said.
[Photo inset with slugline] Governor Blagojevich confers with now President-Elect Barack Obama
Governor Blagojevich will be looking for candidates that will support the President-Elect’s agenda for the people; effectively represent the interests of the state of Illinois in the U.S. Congress; work with the governor’s administration to achieve their shared goals of ensuring access to affordable healthcare, rebuilding Illinois’ infrastructure, improving the economic security and livelihoods of Illinois workers, and caring for our most vulnerable; and prioritize the average Illinoisan who is too burdened by taxes and economic hardship.
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Original news cast:
CHICAGO, ILL. -- Now that Barack Obama will be moving to the White House, his seat in the U.S. Senate representing Illinois will have to be filled.
That's one of Obama's first priorities today.
He's meeting with Governor Rod Blagojevich this afternoon in Chicago to discuss it.
Illinois law states that the governor chooses that replacement.
There's already been speculation about his selection...from Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. of Chicago's south side who co-chaired Obama's presidential campaign, to recently-retired state senate president Emil Jones, to the governor himself.
It's likely the governor will make his decision quickly so the new senator will get some seniority before newly-elected senators take office in January...
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Attempted retraction by KHQA TV Channel 7 (serving Illinois, Iowa and Missouri from Quincy/Hannibal) with the broadcast in question taken down from website.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 4:04 p.m.
KHQA TV wishes to offer clarification regarding a story that appeared last month on our website ConnectTristates.com. The story, which discussed the appointment of a replacement for President Elect Obama’in the U.S. Senate, became the subject of much discussion on talk radio and on blog sites Wednesday.
The story housed in our website archive was on the morning of November 5, 2008. It suggested that a meeting was scheduled later that day between President Elect Obama and Illinois Governor Blagojevich. KHQA has no knowledge that any meeting ever took place. Governor Blagojevich did appear at a news conference in Chicago on that date.
(source http://www.connecttristates.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=233822)
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Independent reports apart from KHQA TV Channel 7 licensed to serve the residents of Illinois, Iowa and Missouri from Quincy/Hannibal
By Alexis Hunt Saturday, November 08, 2008 at 9:48 p.m.
QUINCY, IL — Now that Barack Obama will be moving to the White House, his seat in the U.S. Senate representing Illinois will have to be filled.
Obama met with Governor Rod Blagojevich earlier this week to discuss it. Illinois law states that the governor chooses that replacement. There's already been speculation about his selection…from Congressman Jesse Jackson, Junior to Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth.
Duckworth made an appearance in Saturday's Veterans' parade in Quincy. We asked her about the possibility of filling Obama's seat.
"The Governor's office confirmed yesterday that he is considering me and I am deeply honored jus to be considered. I hope whoever is selected is someone who is willing to travel around the state and gets to know this wonderful state. I'm just honored to be considered," Duckworth said.
The governor expects to make his decision before Christmas. Part of the timing depends on when Obama officially vacates his senate seat.
3) http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2008/10/gov-mum-on-who-may-succeed-obama.html
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Another independent news report that Obama and Blago met:
Blagojevich mum on possible successors to Obama Chicago Tribune (IL) - Friday, October 31, 2008 Author: Rick Pearson and Monique Garcia, TRIBUNE REPORTERS
Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Thursday cited the potential for bad "karma" and avoided discussing potential Senate successors to Barack Obama should the Democratic nominee win the White House, but acknowledged he has a process in mind for making the most important appointment of his career.
"I just don't want to jinx him and I don't like the karma of me thinking that far ahead," Blagojevich said of Obama 's prospects in Tuesday's election. The governor added, "We have had some discussions about a process which we'll share ... if all goes well."
http://www.connecttristates.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=233822
Now that’s CHANGE (rewriting history) WE CAN BELIEVE IN
Someone needs to talk with this Alexis Hunt chick. She should know what’s going on here.
priceless
bookmark
That picture is pretty damning.
Fitzgerald’s crew walked out of Blago’s office with boxes and boxes of records. Some of those papers are likely Blago’s appointments and schedules. If he met with Obama it will be in there.
The media seem to think that there’s no implication of Obama because he’s not on tape. But only Blago’s phone and his office were tapped. They could have met at Obama’s home or office or in a hotel room or somewhere else not likely to be bugged.
This just looks like an unvalidated report that was made up KHQA. No other news source mentions anywhere that BO met with Blago.
Looks like KHQA just got caught making up stuff in their news report. If the Blago situation did not blow up in his face, then this report would never have been looked at twice. I seriously doubt that both Chicago mag’s would miss a Blago-BO meeting re: senate seat and a small quad cities newspaper would pick it up.
Big thanks to Freeper Enchante
December 10, 2008, 7:44 pm
Blagojevich’s Big Conference Call and Valerie Jarrett’s Clean Break
Cam Simpson reports on Rod Blagojevich.
Among the hundreds of hours of conversations involving Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich secretly recorded by the FBI since Oct. 22, one phone call is drawing particular scrutiny among politicos, journalists and others in Washington. It was a marathon conference call on Monday, Nov. 10.
The call lasted about two hours. On the phone were Mr. Blagojevich, his wife, his general counsel, an unnamed adviser, and John Harris, the governor’s chief of staff and his co-defendant in this week’s case.
But what’s drawing the most interest is who was on the line from Washington, and the sequence of political events that followed that same night and in the ensuing days regarding Barack Obama’s close friend and adviser, Valerie Jarrett.
According to the FBI, there were “various Washington, D.C., based advisers” on the call with Mr. Blagojevich & Co., although the Washington callers are not named. The FBI also said participants popped on and off the line throughout the conversation.
During the call, Mr. Blagojevich and those closest to him allegedly detailed virtually every one of their ideas for turning Mr. Obama’s open Senate seat into something valuable. Specifically, the governor asked “what he can get from the President-elect for the Senate seat,” the FBI alleged, adding later that callers talked about how to “monetize” Mr. Blagojevich’s connections.
Mr. Blagojevich also bemoaned what he called his financial struggles, although his post reportedly pays about $177,000 per year. “The immediate challenge,” the governor allegedly said, “[is] how do we take some of the financial pressure off of our family.”
Callers discussed the possibility of ambassadorships, which are made by the president. They talked about an appointment for Mr. Blagojevich as head of the Department of Health and Human Services, also made by the president. They explored the idea of getting Mr. Obama to use his clout to put the governor’s wife on corporate boards. And they discussed a deal involving the Service Employee International Union, which would be asked to install Mr. Blagojevich over one of its top political groups in exchange for the union getting to tell Mr. Obama that it was delivering the open U.S. Senate seat to his favorite candidate.
That candidate, Mr. Blagojevich believed, was Valerie Jarrett, according to sources familiar with this part of the probe.
There is no inference that Mr. Obama knew about or encouraged any of this alleged scheming, and he has explicitly denied it. But the big question today is this: Were any members of his transition team among the “Washington advisers” on the line during this marathon conference call, or did one of the participants fill them in about these wild ideas?
Mr. Obama’s people are not commenting on details about the case. But the reason that question is on so many minds today is because of what happened that very same Monday night.
At 7:56 p.m. Eastern Time, CNN reported that “two Democratic sources close to President-elect Barack Obama tell CNN that top adviser Valerie Jarrett will not be appointed to replace him in the U.S. Senate.”
That was an abrupt turnaround. While we can’t vouch for CNN’s reportage, the network had reported that same weekend that Ms. Jarrett was Mr. Obama’s top choice. (Ms. Jarrett herself confirmed that she was out of contention two days after it was reported by CNN, and two days after the marathon conference call. She told the PBS show The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, “Well, you know what? I`m actually not interested in the Senate position.”)
At a bare minimum, the timing of Team Obama’s decision to remove Ms. Jarrett’s name from contention, or at least to remove her name from the public speculation about the post, seems extraordinarily lucky. It came on the very same day the FBI secretly recorded Mr. Blagojevich telling a huge conference call loaded with politicos, in Illinois and Washington, that he wasn’t about to give the Senate spot away for nothing.
It’s also the same recorded conversation in which Mr. Blagojevich uses an obscenity to refer to Mr. Obama, before the governor makes clear he won’t give the president-elect the seat for free. “F— him. For nothing? F— him.”
Look for everyone to continue focusing on this call, and who from Washington was on the line.
Backstroke...backstroke...backstroke...they better watch out - the end of the pool is coming up quick - bonk!
Archived web stuff I examined last night had Obama going to his gym in the morning, returning home, and then going to his transition office in downtown Chicago in the afternoon (based on articles and multiple photos with cutlines).
The items I could find about Blago were photos from his press conference on Nov. 5th, and it does not appear that Obama was present.
>>>>I seriously doubt that both Chicago mag’s would miss a Blago-BO meeting re: senate seat<<<<<<<
They didn’t.
Blago *did* hold a press conference on Nov. 5th; and the press *was* there; and Obama wasn’t; and there *are* AP photos out there from the presser (I found several last night while google searching).
Will that be cash, check, Mastercard, or ambassadorship???
“Look for everyone to continue focusing on this call, and who from Washington was on the line.”
Did one of them keep saying “uhhhhhhhh, now understand, uh, ummmmmmmm...?
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