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Friday, April 19, 2024

Rod Blagojevich

Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich speaks during a news conference outside the Dirksen Federal Courthouse before filing a suit to challenge the Illinois General Assembly’s disqualifying resolution that prohibits him from running for any state or local office, Monday afternoon, Aug. 2, 2021.
Rod Blagojevich
'Just Go': Federal judge channels Dr. Seuss in tossing Rod Blagojevich’s ‘publicity stunt’ lawsuit
If the problems in Blagojevich’s complaint were fish in a barrel, the judge wrote, the lawsuit contained ‘an entire school of tuna.’
By Jon Seidel
 
The New York Times DealBook DC policy forum
Entertainment and Culture
Maggie Haberman’s new Trump book: How Rod Blagojevich got really lucky
Haberman is the New York Times reporter who, as she writes, spent her career at “news outlets Trump cares most about.”
By Lynn Sweet
 
The Illinois State Capitol.
Politics
Monitor found state hired person on the ‘Blagojevich clout list’
An investigation found two people hired by the Illinois Capital Development Board previously were fired from state jobs. Another was the son of one of the agency’s top officials and didn’t meet the minimum qualifications.
By Manny Ramos
 
Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich speaks during a news conference outside the Dirksen Federal Courthouse before filing a suit to challenge the Illinois General Assembly’s disqualifying resolution that prohibits him from running for any state or local office, Monday afternoon, Aug. 2, 2021.
Elections
Blagojevich fights for right to run for state, local office — but insists, ‘I don’t have any particular plan to do it’
With a camera crew following him around, the former governor told the reporters he’d invited to the Dirksen Federal Courthouse, “I don’t like this place.”
By Jon Seidel
 
Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, left, talks to NBC5’s Mary Ann Ahern on Friday; Gov. J.B. Pritzker meets with the Sun-Times Editorial Board Thursday.
Politics
Blagojevich credits Pritzker’s rebuke to ‘Toilet Gate’ and says ‘I wish he would show a little more backbone’
Rod Blagojevich, freshly freed from federal prison this week, had some biting words for his one-time friend and campaign contributor in an interview with NBC5 Chicago’s political reporter Mary Ann Ahern.
By Tina Sfondeles
 
Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, left; Rod Blagojevich, right.
Rod Blagojevich
‘He’s been gone for such a long time’ ... Or has he?
Blagojevich could go back out there on the campaign trail tomorrow if need be, and not miss a beat. He launched into his old stump speech Wednesday as naturally as if he were campaigning for a third term, which luckily he is prohibited from doing.
By Mark Brown
 
Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich thanks Mark Vargas, a political strategist and advisor, as he speaks to reporters outside the family’s Ravenswood Manor home the day after he was released from a Colorado prison, Wednesday afternoon, Feb. 19, 2020. President Donald Trump on Tuesday commuted Blagojevich’s 14-year prison sentence on charges of public corruption.
Rod Blagojevich
Who is Mark Vargas? Blagojevich thanks ‘the kinda guy who can get you out of prison’
Vargas stood behind the former governor and his wife, Patti, at the ex-governor’s speech outside his Ravenswood Manor home.
By Lizzie Schiffman Tufano
 
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Rod Blagojevich
Blagojevich, calling himself ‘freed political prisoner,’ praises Trump, vows to reform ‘broken’ criminal justice system
“I saw what they do to families because I saw it happen to my own,” Rod Blagojevich said.
By Jon Seidel, Mitchell Armentrout, and 1 more
 
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Rod Blagojevich
Pressing the flesh, signing autographs, Rod Blagojevich returns home to Chicago
Just hours after the president commuted his sentence, the ex-governor seemed more like a campaigning pol working a rope line than a disgraced ex-convict.
By Jon Seidel and Sam Charles
 
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Rod Blagojevich
President frees imprisoned ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich — now a grateful ‘Trumpocrat’
Blagojevich returns to his home in Chicago early Wednesday after Trump’s move brought to an end one of the most bizarre legal dramas in Illinois history.
By Jon Seidel, Lynn Sweet, and 2 more
 
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Commentary
Free Blago movement got unlikely boost from Chicago police union
FOP leaders Kevin Graham and Martin Prieb wrote President Trump a few weeks ago urging him to free former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
By Michael Sneed
 
President Bill Clinton shares the stage with U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds, right, and Hillcrest High School principal Gwen Lee, left, at the Country Club Hills high school in 1994. File Photo.
Rod Blagojevich
Before Trump spared Blago, Clinton went to bat for Rosty and Reynolds
In his final weeks in office, President Bill Clinton gave executive clemency to two former Democratic congressmen, Dan Rostenkowski and Mel Reynolds.
By Sun-Times staff
 
Blago shampoo and conditioner are stamped with the slogan “It’s Bleep’n Golden!”
Rod Blagojevich
A decade after company created Blago shampoo, conditioner, they’re still on tap
Recognizing a good marketing gimmick and Blagojevich’s helmet of hair, Dennis Fath created Blago shampoo and conditioner. Their slogan is “It’s Bleep’n Golden,” from the infamous wiretap in which the then-governor said Barack Obama’s vacant U.S. Senate seat was “[Bleepin’] golden.”
By Maureen O’Donnell
 
Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in 2005.
Editorials
Trump gets it right in freeing Blagojevich, but his real reasons for doing so should sicken us
Trump does nothing for anybody that is not, at bottom, for himself. In this case, Blagojevich became the beneficiary.
By CST Editorial Board
 
Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich
Crime
Rod Blagojevich pens column arguing Lincoln would have been impeached
The disgraced former governor is still hoping for clemency from President Donald Trump.
By Jon Seidel
 
Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th) enters the Dirksen Federal Courthouse on Jan. 3, 2019, after being charged.
Commentary
From Blago to ‘Fast Eddie’ to Ed Burke, a decade in political corruption
Think Illinois saw a historic series of convictions in the 2010s? Get ready, the next round of federal housecleaning appears to be coming.
By Mark Brown
 
NATO Leaders Summit Takes Place In The UK - Day Two
Letters to the Editor
‘We cannot have a criminal as president’
If we believe that no one is above the law, then Trump must be impeached and removed from office.
By Letters to the Editor
 
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Politics
President Trump surveyed donors on Blagojevich pardon
Trump asked for a show of hands at a fundraiser in Chicago of those who supported clemency for the 62-year-old Democrat.
By Associated Press
 
The Illinois State Capitol in Springfield.
Editorials
Real reform in Springfield takes FBI raids, secret recordings and people going to prison
The state Senate and House may tighten restrictions on legislators working as lobbyists. Isn’t that nice?
By CST Editorial Board
 
Patti Blagojevich is shown outside her home in 2015, discussing a federal appeals court ruling in the case of her husband, former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Columnists
This might not be the outrage Patti expected, but it’ll have to do
Schock got a fancy office; Illinois got Sen. Roland Burris. Those are not equal harms.
By Neil Steinberg
 
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