The trial may finally open a window into Mr. Blagojevich’s interactions with other politicians and political strategists, business and union leaders and others. Consider a tantalizing detail: Much of the prosecution’s case is expected to center on phone calls federal agents secretly recorded; through roughly 500 hours of recordings of Mr. Blagojevich’s conversations, most of which have never been made public, someone was on the other end of the line.
Mr. Blagojevich’s fellow Democrats in Illinois, in particular, are worried about what will be revealed over the course of a trial that could last until close to Election Day. They do not want voters reminded of the venality of politics — especially when voters have made clear their rage over politics as usual.
“In a year that’s already bad for the Democrats, this will make it worse,” said David Yepsen, director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. “There will be a Blagojevich odor in the air, and it will be with us day after day, like political Muzak.”
Democrats are trying to hold on to the very Senate seat at the center of the Blagojevich case, as well as the governor’s office, now held by Mr. Blagojevich’s former lieutenant governor.
Mr. Blagojevich stands charged with 24 federal criminal counts that include bribery, extortion and racketeering.
“This has the potential to be very messy for a lot of folks,” said Andy Shaw, executive director of the Better Government Association, a local watchdog group, “including some in Washington.”
No one is suggesting wrongdoing on the part of those who have been subpoenaed — much less everyone who spoke with Governor Blagojevich — but the prospect of embarrassment over the rawness of political deal-making being made public is very real.
Forecasting who may be subpoenaed has become a parlor game for some here. Among those confirmed to have received subpoenas from Mr. Blagojevich’s defense team: Representative Jesse L. Jackson Jr., who had once hoped to be appointed to the Senate seat, and two leading Democratic senators, Harry Reid of Nevada and Richard J. Durbin of Illinois.
This is, of course, a list no one wants to be on (and some Illinois leaders who have not been ordered to appear were quick and cheery to report as much).
“If and when I am called, I will tell the truth and say under oath what I’ve said again and again since this shocking scandal first broke,” Mr. Jackson said, after word of his subpoena emerged this spring. “I did nothing wrong and never authorized or engaged in any scheme related to the then-vacant Senate seat.”
Confirming that Mr. Durbin had received a subpoena, Joe Shoemaker, his spokesman, said, “Given the former governor’s previous antics regarding this case, it’s no surprise he is casting a wide net — apparently from the president down to dogcatcher.”
Mr. Blagojevich did try to subpoena idiot Obama, arguing that the idiot could provide unique insight into the claim that Mr. Blagojevich tried to peddle his old Senate seat in exchange for money or a job, but the presiding judge, James B. Zagel, denied the request. Others, including Rahm Emanuel, the president’s chief of staff, and Valerie Jarrett, the president’s senior adviser — whom Mr. Blagojevich considered for the seat — are alluded to in the prosecution’s allegations against Mr. Blagojevich. A White House official confirmed on Wednesday that they had received subpoenas.
In the simplest terms, Mr. Blagojevich, 53, who was impeached and removed from office in his second term as governor, is accused of turning the job into a money-making operation. The accusation related to the Senate appointment after Mr. Obama was elected president in 2008 has drawn the most national notice, but Mr. Blagojevich is also charged with trying to make money in other ways, including holding back government money from a children’s hospital until one of its leaders would turn over a campaign donation of $50,000.
The most serious counts against Mr. Blagojevich each carry a prison sentence of as long as 20 years and a fine of $250,000.
The prosecution’s case is widely expected to come down to this: two leading witnesses — former chiefs of staff for Mr. Blagojevich who were initially indicted with him and have since pleaded guilty — and the secret recordings, all captured in the fall of 2008. A central point of contention is expected to be which of the recordings are played. Mr. Blagojevich has said, again and again, that every recording should be played, but the judge will decide which the jury should hear.
Mr. Blagojevich, who has pleaded not guilty and has defiantly defended his behavior, has said he will testify. Though many defendants make that promise before trial and later have second thoughts, few here expect Mr. Blagojevich to change his mind.
Since leaving office, he has been a vocal presence. He started a Web site, published a memoir, hosted a weekly radio talk show and turned up on reality TV, including an appearance on “Celebrity Apprentice.”
Mr. Blagojevich’s brother, Robert, a Nashville businessman who led his brother’s fund-raising in the months before his arrest in December 2008, has also been charged and will be tried before the same jury.
Jurors are expected to face a central question in the case of the former governor, who came out of his father-in-law’s rough-and-tumble political ward in Chicago and spent his entire adult life immersed in Illinois politics: where to draw the line between criminal acts and ordinary political horse trading.
“If you’re out there trying to get campaign funds for a political candidate, that’s First Amendment protected,” said Michael Ettinger, Robert Blagojevich’s lawyer, who described relations between the brothers as strained. “The only way it becomes a crime is if there is an express quid pro quo agreement.”
Republican leaders have made it clear they plan to remind voters of this trial whenever they can, though Democrats, in turn, will point out that the last governor, a Republican, is in federal prison, and will try to distance themselves from Mr. Blagojevich. “Rod was not a Democrat — he was the sole member of the Blagojevich Party,” said State Representative Jack D. Franks, a Democrat. |
