Rod Blagojevich - Controversies

Controversies

During the course of his political career, Blagojevich was involved in a number of controversies including at least a dozen separate federal investigations; the Tony Rezko indictment and trial; feuds with his father-in-law; contested state appointments; his residency, commute, and work hours; and allegedly withholding state funds from the Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

In 2004, Blagojevich ordered the Illinois Tollway to erect 32 signs at a cost of $480,000, announcing “ Open Road Tolling. Rod R. Blagojevich, Governor.” In 2006, the signs were criticized for serving as campaign signs and costing significantly more than the common $200 signs. Shortly after his impeachment, the signs were removed from the tollway and in June 2011, Illinois banned signs with the names of public officials or candidates for public office.

During a suspected shortage of the flu vaccine in 2004, Blagojevich ordered 260,000 doses from overseas distributors, which the Food and Drug Administration had warned would be barred from entering the United States. Although the vaccine doses had cost the state $2.6 million, the FDA refused to allow them into the country, and a buyer could not be found; they were donated to earthquake survivors in Pakistan a year later. However, the lots had expired, and Pakistan destroyed the vaccines. After Blagojevich pushed for a law banning sales of certain video games to minors, a federal judge declared the law violated the First Amendment, with the state ordered to pay $520,000 in legal fees.

In 2008, Blagojevich was investigated for and charged with crimes resulting from his role in the sale of the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field, as well as allegations he attempted to sell the Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama.According to the federal complaint, Blagojevich was trying to use the Illinois Finance Authority (IFA), a state agency that can provide financing for real estate deals and grants of other state funds, to persuade Tribune Company, the owner of the Cubs, to end its editorial campaign for the governor's impeachment. In a series of telephone conversations tapped by the FBI, Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, repeatedly discussed their efforts to obtain the dismissal of John McCormick, the deputy director of the Tribune editorial page, and other editorial writers.

In a complaint issued shortly after FBI agents arrested Blagojevich in a pre-dawn raid on his home on Chicago's North Side, federal prosecutors asserted in a nationally televised press conference that Blagojevich tried to use the Cubs sale as leverage in obtaining favorable treatment in the editorial pages of the Chicago Tribune. Blagojevich is accused of saying, on a recorded wiretap, that if the Cubs wanted IFA financing for the sale of Wrigley Field or grants for remodeling of the ballpark, the Tribune had to "fire all those people, get 'em the out of there, and get us some editorial support." Prosecutors also said that they had information suggesting Blagojevich was about to appoint someone to fill Obama's Senate seat after he put it up for sale, and cited this as the main reason for why they arrested him. Amid widespread bipartisan calls for his resignation, the General Assembly began proceedings to impeach Blagojevich and remove him from office. On December 9, the state house voted 114–1 (with one member voting present) to impeach Blagojevich. On January 29, 2009, all 59 state senators voted to find Blagojevich guilty and remove him from office. In a separate vote, the Illinois Senate voted unanimously to bar Blagojevich from ever holding office again in Illinois. One day after his removal from office, professional wrestling company TNA Wrestling offered Blagojevich a job as the on camera lead of the Main Event Mafia.