Posted on 06/29/2010 5:06:01 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
I believe Fitzgerald arrested Blago when he did to protect the WH from themselves “to stop any further crime from occuring” was the quote I read.
“White House officials went radio silent on the trial Tuesday afternoon — but didn’t deny the substance of Balanoff’s testimony.”
***Flashback ..
“Top union leader Thomas Balanoff said he was at dinner the night before the November Presidential election when he got a call that was blocked.
So he didn’t take it.
Later he listened to his messages: “I walked outside, listened to it and it was from President Obama,” Balanoff said.
“Tom, this is Barack, give me a call,” the soon-to-be President-Elect said on the message.
After Balanoff sent word through an Obama aide to call him back, Obama returned his call later that night.
“Tom, i want to talk to you with regard to the Senate seat,” Obama told him.
Balanoff said Obama said he had two criteria: someone who was good for the citizens of Illinois and could be elected in 2010.
Obama said he wasn’t publicly coming out in support of anyone but he believed Valerie Jarrett would fit the bill.
“I would much prefer she (remain in the White House) but she does want to be Senator and she does meet those two criteria,” Balanoff said Obama told him.
“I said: ‘thank you, I’m going to reach out to Gov. Blagojevich.”
Balanoff then described a Nov. 6, 2008 meeting he had with Rod Blagojevich to recommend Valerie Jarrett for Barack Obama’s Senate seat.”
I’m with you .. and it’s becoming more and more obvious.
If so, that means the US Attorney .. Libby-delusional Patrick Fitzgerald .. is part of the Chicago Thug Swamp and a thug himself.
How unexpected.
The trial is a sham ...
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/blagojevich/2336924,CST-NWS-blagoprose31.article
Leading the government’s team will be Schar, 38, a Northwestern University Law School graduate who has tried some 157 cases for the federal government since 1999, including fraud and corruption cases. He graduated undergrad from Stanford University with departmental honors, clerked for U.S. District Judge Elaine E. Bucklo and worked as an associate with Sidley & Austin from 1998-1999.
“Anyone in the office would say Reid is one of the best trial lawyers in recent memory,” said Cramer. “Reid knows how to structure a case with a lot of moving pieces.”
In the Blagojevich case, that will include cooperating witnesses, playing 97 recorded conversations, referring to seized documents, analyzing bank and tax records.
They will try to convince the jury that Blagojevich was a greedy, desperate politician, grasping at a chance to benefit from his power to appoint a replacement to President Obama’s vacant Senate seat. But the prosecution has a wide-ranging case that will delve into Rod Blagojevich’s — and his wife, Patti’s — dealings with Tony Rezko, who is not expected to take the stand.
“Reid is extremely adept at weaving a cohesive, coherent and persuasive narrative,” Cramer said. “He’s probably one of the best I’ve ever seen do that.”
Niewoehner, 40, was the lead prosecutor in the Rezko case as well as the corruption case against former 10th Ward Ald. Edward Vrdolyak. He earned his law degree from Harvard with high honors and joined the U.S. attorney’s office in 2000. He clerked for U.S. District Judge Milton I. Shadur from 1997 to 1998 and worked as an associate at Sidley Austin from 1998-2000.
Hamilton, 39, is a Bloomington native and a 1996 Northwestern Law School graduate who also worked as an associate at Katten Muchin as well as Grippo & Elden. Hamilton joined the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago in 2001 and prosecuted Muhammad Salah, a Bridgeview man accused of fund-raising for a Palestinian terrorist organization, and ex-Death Row inmate Aaron Patterson.
Also on the trial team are FBI, IRS and U.S. Postal Service investigative agents, including FBI Special Agent Daniel Cain. Working behind the scenes is FBI supervisory agent Patrick Murphy, described by insiders as the architect of the underlying Operation Board Games investigation, which included the cases against Blagojevich, Rezko, Stuart Levine, Ed Vrdolyak and businessman William Cellini.
//
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2544059/posts
http://inform.com/united-states/nononsense-blagojevich-judge-actor-novelist-607637a
The 68-year-old (Judge James B. Zagel) is a Chicago native who graduated from the University of Chicago and got his law degree from Harvard. He became a prosecutor in the Cook County state’s attorney’s office and later chief of the criminal division of the Illinois attorney general’s office.
In that post, he appointed a budding young lawyer, Jayne Carr, as his top aide. She later became Jayne Carr Thompson, wife of former Illinois Gov. James R. Thompson.
Gov. Thompson picked Zagel to head the Illinois Department of Law Enforcement in his administration and eventually recommended him to President Ronald Reagan for a judgeship. He was appointed to the District Court bench in 1987.
//
(no link)
Senate OKs James Zagel as U.S. judge
Chicago Sun-Times - Wednesday, April 22, 1987
Author: Michael Briggs
WASHINGTON The Senate yesterday confirmed President Reagan’s nomination of James B. Zagel , the Illinois State Police Department director, to be a federal judge in Chicago.
Without debate, the Senate approved Zagel ‘s appointment to the bench of the U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois.
Zagel , 46, has headed the state law enforcement agency since 1980. Prior to that he was Revenue Department director in Gov. Thompson ‘s Cabinet.
When Zagel is sworn in as a judge, Thompson is expected to nominate Jeremy D. Margolis, now inspector general, to the top State Police post.
Groomed as an understudy to Zagel , Margolis has been a troubleshooter for Thompson since the governor created the inspector general job in part as a political foil to what turned out to be a short-circuited 1986 gubernatorial challenge by Illinois Attorney General Neil F. Hartigan.
//
http://illinoiscorruption.blogspot.com/2008/12/why-is-illinois-so-corrupt.html
Friday, December 12, 2008
Why is Illinois So Corrupt?
Watch the videos on this site:
http://www.crimefilenews.com/2008/12/chicago-corruption-fighter-and-author.html
Robert Cooley is a former mafia lawyer who worked with corrupt Illinois officials and judges. He turned state’s witness and he explains how the Chicago “Machine” still run by Alderman Ed Burke who “picks” the judges and controls the Chicago City Finance Committee and his wife corrupt Illinois Supreme Court Justice Ann Burke still are up to their ears in corrupt politics as usual. He talks how this cabal of corruption:
1- controls the media,
2-pays off the U S Attorney (former and probably still pays off his middle men, hired during this super corrupt era, who hide stuff from present US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald so the only people prosecuted are fall guys like Blagojevic so as to take the heat off the real top dog crooks like:
A- Jim Thompson (former Gov X 16 years, Director of CIA oversight committee under 1st
President Bush and member of 911 Commission under W)
B-Madigans (Speaker of the House Michael and his daughter Attorney General Lisa, who
lauder all the bribery money kicked back from State, County and City contracts through
their political fund “friends of Madigan”),
C-the Burkes, and
D-the Daleys(Richard - Chicago Mayor and partner of John Burge [the torturer to get
murder confessions] while he was state’s attorney, John - Cook Co. Commissioner who
controlled Co. Board President John Stroger Sr and his Son Todd who replaced him, and
William former Commerce Secr. under Cliniton and now wants to be Gov of IL and
therefore needs to discredit Blagojevic and Lisa Madigan).
A summary of the “system” running Illinois in my view is as follows:
Illinois for too long has been under the control of the:
1- Kingdom of former Gov. Jim (Prince John) Thompson and
2-his Lords, Chicago Mayor Richard M. and Cook Co. Commissioner John Daley (sons of former Mayor Richard J.), County Board Pres. John Stroger Jr. (son of former County Board Pres. John Stroger),
3-House Speaker Michael and his daughter Atty Gen. Lisa Madigan,
4-Alderman Ed (buddy of Fast Ed[dy] now convict Vrydoliak - both of them were leaders against African American Mayor Washington in the “cousel wars” 20 years ago) and IL. Supreme Court Justice Ann Burke,
5-former Sheriff (of Nottingham) Sheahan, and
6-State’s Attorney Richard (Gisbourne) Divine, as well as
7-other Lords such as former Sen. President Emil Jones and now his son Emil Jones Jr.
(snip)
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