McHenry County Blog

Here is a summary of the changes in the government’s indictment changes in its case against impeached Governor Rod Blagojevich. They were presented to Judge James Zagel today.

Discussion.

At the status hearing held on December 16, 2009, the Court requested that, should the grand jury return a Second Superseding Indictment, the government file a brief on the Second Superseding Indictment and attach the briefs filed in the Supreme Court related to Weyhrauch v. United States.

On February 4, 2010, the grand jury returned a Second Superseding Indictment in the instant case. The Second Superseding Indictment maintains all of the original charges against defendant Rod Blagojevich and defendant Robert Blagojevich. [FN 1]

The new charges in the Second Superseding Indictment are based on the same underlying criminal conduct that supported the charges in the superseding indictment. However, because the defendants’ illegal conduct violated multiple criminal statues, additional statutes are charged in the Second Superseding Indictment.The Second Superseding Indictment presents the following eight new charges against various defendants.

• Count One charges defendant Rod Blagojevich with substantive racketeering in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1962(c).
• Count Fourteen charges defendant Rod Blagojevich with attempted extortion of United States Congressman A and United States Congressman A’s brother, in violation of Title 18, United State Code, Section 1951.
• Count Sixteen charges defendant Rod Blagojevich with bribery in relation to the Chief Executive Officer of Children’s Memorial Hospital, and Children’s Memorial Hospital, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 666.
• Count Eighteen charges defendant Rod Blagojevich and defendant Alonzo Monk with conspiracy to commit bribery in relation to Racetrack Executive, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371.
• Count Twenty charges defendant Rod Blagojevich with bribery in relation to Construction Executive, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 666.
• Count Twenty-One charges defendant Rod Blagojevich and defendant Robert Blagojevich with conspiracy to commit extortion in relation to the appointment of a United States Senator, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1951.
• Count Twenty-Two charges defendant Rod Blagojevich and defendant Robert Blagojevich with attempted extortion in relation to the appointment of a United States Senator, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1951.
• Count Twenty-Three charges defendant Rod Blagojevich, defendant Robert Blagojevich, and defendant John Harris with conspiracy to commit bribery in relation to the appointment of a United States Senator, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371.

Regarding Weyhrauch, per the Court’s request, the Weyhrauch briefing is attached to this filing as Government Exhibits A, B, and C.

The Second Superseding Indictment is fashioned in such a way that, should the Supreme Court rule Title 18, United States Code, Section 1346 unconstitutional, the charges, or section of charges, of the Second Superseding Indictment related to Section 1346 can be easily dismissed. Such dismissal would do little to effect the trial in the instant case as the underlying illegal conduct charged in the Section 1346 counts is alleged in other counts of the Second Superseding Indictment. [FN3]]

Accordingly, other than effecting the number of counts under consideration by the jury, the Weyhrauch decision should have minimal effect on the instantcase.

Respectfully submitted,
PATRICK J. FITZGERALD
United States Attorney
By:
REID J. SCHAR
CHRISTOPHER S. NIEWOEHNER
CARRIE E. HAMILTON
Assistant United States Attorneys
219 S. Dearborn Street, 5th Floor
Chicago, Illinois

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FN 1 The Second Superseding Indictment does not name William F. Cellini, Sr. as a defendant and it is the government’s current intention to proceed to trial against defendant Cellini based on the previously returned indictments.

FN 2 Certain counts have been renumbered from the superseding indictment to the Second Superseding Indictment:

• Count One of the superseding indictment (racketeering conspiracy) is now Count Two of the Second Superseding Indictment.
• Counts Two through Twelve of the superseding indictment (wire fraud) are now counts Count Three through Thirteen of the Second Superseding Indictment. Count Sixteen of the superseding indictment (attempted extortion of Chief Executive Officer of Children’s Memorial Hospital and Children’s Memorial Hospital) is now Count Fifteen of the Second Superseding Indictment. Count Seventeen of the superseding indictment (extortion conspiracy related to Racetrack Executive) remains
• Count Seventeen in the Second Superseding Indictment.
• Count Eighteen of the superseding indictment (attempted extortion of Construction Executive) is now Count Nineteen in the Second Superseding Indictment.
• Count Nineteen of the superseding indictment (false statements to the FBI) is now Count Twenty-Four in the Second Superseding Indictment.

FN 3 Defendants Harris and Monk have been charged with violating statutes that will be unaffected by the Weyhrauch decision and are not dependent on the validity of Section 1346. Neither defendant Harris nor defendant Monk are expected to proceed to trial on the new charges.

Last night at Crystal Lake’s 1776 restaurant will be a night that Jason Plummer, an aggressive Downstate candidate for lieutenant governor, will remember forever.

How do I know?

Lientenant governor candidate Jason Plummer begins speaking after being introduced by McHenry County Young Republican President Bryan Javor.

Because I’ve been on the same route he took twice, once in 1982 when I ran for State Comptroller against Roland Burris and twenty years later when I ran for governor in 2002 against Rod Blagojevich and Jim Ryan.

A statewide candidate doesn’t remember all the stops on the campaign trail, but some are memorable.

Like the night at some big meeting hall in Carbondale when all the candidates on the ticket were standing under a big photo of us all and Jim Thompson was commenting on the St. Louis Globe’s endorsement that day.

“Even Skinner got endorsed,”

he exclaimed.

Of course, I thought and still think I was more qualified than incumbent Burris to be State Comptroller, but even I was surprised I had received the endorsement.

Last night the McHenry County Young Republicans held a candidates’ night for county board candidates.

Thank goodness, the YR’s were not as hidebound as the DeKalb League of Women Voters in 1982, when I was not allowed to speak because I wasn’t a legislative candidate.

In any event, the tallest Republican candidate I have seen since Thompson walked to the podium and was told, as the other candidates had been told, that he had five minutes and that when he was at the four minute mark, he would be told.

He started by pointing out the Illinois lieutenant governor had “no constitutional duties.”

He cited the three statutes giving the office some things to do—probably all enacted while Neil Hartigan was serving under Governor Dan Walker—and said,

“Clearly it’s not an overwhelming workload.”

Plummer talked about his having created jobs in companies he had started, as well as his role in the family lumber business, RP Lumber, with 43 yards in Illinois and two in Missouri.

He told of how he was in intelligence in the Navy Reserve, had worked at the Heritage Foundation and for U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald.

And, how he had returned from Washington to run for Madison County Republican Party Chairman.

He talked about fighting corruption in Madison County, something that no knowledgeable person would deny exits.

“I battled corrupt legislators, a corrupt county board and a corrupt judiciary.”

Plummer said,

“The state needs someone who knows how to sign the bottom of a check, not just the back of a check.”

Great line, don’t you think?

While at a trade convention in Indiana, he told a woman he was running for lieutenant governor.

“In Indiana?” the woman asked.

“No, Illinois.”

The New Jersey resident reacted with dismay, wondering why anyone would want to run for office in our corrupt state.

“When the people of New Jersey are questioning the ethics of Illinois, (we’re in trouble).”

Then, a very bright light put up by YR President Bryan Javor went out.

Jason Plummer's expression after the bright light went out at 1776, plunging the room into relative darkness.

Then came the best quip of the night:

“Is that what you do at one minute?”

I’m still chuckling.

Tell me that Plummer won’t remember last night for the rest of his life.

In that last minute, Plummer listed some endorsements. I caught the Illinois State Rifle Association and the Illinois Federation of Right to Life.

Lientenant governor candidate Jason Plummer posing at 1776 in Crystal Lake with his campaign manager, Ray Marchiori.

Afterward I got a photo of Plummer with his campaign manager, Ray Marachiori. Marachiori staffed my Privatization Committee during the 1995-96 legislative session.

Plummer stayed until the end of the meeting. I guess he figured everybody in the room would vote in the GOP primary election.

I noticed 6th District county board candidate carrying one of Plummer’s signs out of the restaurant.

= = = = =
If this story interested you, this might, too:

“Jason Plummer calling“

I read the Chicago Tribune pretty thoroughly. This week after the Fox News expose on community organizing group ACORN Friday, a week ago, I was watching for stories.

The TEA Party folks had ACORN’s number. You can see that from the sign at the July 4th TEA Party demonstration in Crystal Lake.

So did a Liberty Trail TEA Party demonstrator last Saturday on Randall Road.  The sign read,

That was on the south side of Algonquin Road.  On the north side, there was a sign, too.  It said,

The Chicago Tribune didn’t notice that demonstration. Neither did the Northwest Herald.

But on Thursday–six days after this hilarious story broke on Fox News–the Chicago Tribune did notice.

It came to pretty much the same conclusion I did.  I was laughing out loud the Friday before last as Fox News blanketed its commentary shows with James O’Keefe’s and Hannah Gile’s undercover (well, not much cover on Giles) investigation.

Their videos showed ACORN’s willingness to help a “pimp” and a “prostitute” set up their own shop, complete with underage Salvadorian girls, whom, as ACORN helpfully suggested, could be claimed as dependents for income tax purposes.

On Thursday the Tribune’s first article appeared.  But it didn’t emphasize what the videos revealed.  It focused on ACORN’s response.

A little sidebar next to the Thursday article explained what the Tribune had ignored since the Friday before.  The sidebar does not tell what happened the Baltimore video that was on Fox News six days before.

So, six days after the story surfaced, the Chicago Tribune noticed.

On the seventh day of the story, Friday, the Tribune ran an article about the “backlash” in Washington.  That backlash started Monday with a U.S. Senate vote, by the way.

The Tribune also wrote an editorial. It even pointed out that Illinois Democrats Dick Durbin and Roland Burris were 2 of 7 U.S. Senators who voted against prohibiting Federal grants to ACORN.

Friday, the Tribune reported, as early as possible this time, that the House of Representatives had followed suit.  But, strangely, the story does not emphasize the names of the four congress folks who voted on ACORN’s side.

They were, just in case you’re interested,

On Thursday, by the way, Jackson made the news because the U.S. Justice Department had asked the House Ethics Committee to suspend its probe into his role in the appointment of a replacement for U.S. Senator Barack Obama.

There was no interview of Illinois’ two United States Senators.  Fox tried to interview Burris yesterday and only got that he supported ACORN.  The Tribune apparently has not sought justifications from any of our members of Congress.

The state’s leading paper did interview videographer O’Keefe, however.  The story provides some background I had not heard or read elsewhere. The telephone “proposition,” as the Tribune put it, for the project came from Giles.

McHenry County’s State Rep. Jack Franks has been granted permission to post an opinion piece on liberal blog Huffington Post.

His topic?

Franks talks about “the embarrassment and shame” of having fellow Democrat Roland Burris in the U.S. Senate, but he wasn’t willing to put the office of U.S. Senate in his recall legislation.

Franks does not mention that in the post.

The issue of not including his office was even mentioned by U.S. Senator Dick Durbin while the measure was being debated.

That’s what former Illinois State Representative Roscoe Cunningham says in a front page letter to United States Senator Roland Burris in his Sumner Press.

Cunningham, with whom I served in the 1970’s before he, like I, caught congressional fever, continually pleads the case for the poverty of his Southeastern part of Illinois. He seeks additional prisoners for the Lawrenceville state prison.

“RE: Transfer of Guantanamo Releasees to Lawrence Correctional Facility

“Dear Friend of 40 Years:

“We implore you to inform Attorney General Eric Holder today that the Press’ suggested transfer has the overwhelming support of this poverty stricken area.

“We are authorized by the Mayors of Sumner, Bridgeport, Lawrencville and Olney to add their names to our plea. We are assured by the state legislative leaders that designation of a portion of the facility ‘Federally controlled,’ is a formality.

“The community wants this transfer because it is our civic duty to accept the burden of the releases’ further care and the economic boost such relocation will bring. Unlike Leavenworth’s ‘Jayhawk’ Rich, our area needs the business.

“If the Attorney General wishes to make a personal inspection of this facility, remembering that he went to Guantanamo, we’ll appeal to Warden Ryker to unfurl the red carpet any day chosen.

“Lawrenceville Correctional Facilty is located 15 minutes from Mid-American Air Central, the state’s fourth largest, one mild runways.

“We need your help.

“Best wishes,

“Sincerely,

“The Sumner Press”

Call them earmarks.

Call them pork.

Illinois legislators call them “member initiatives.”

In Illinois, the Pork King is U.S. Senator Dick Durbin.

Taxpayers for Common Sense is the “go to” source for such information.

Since last Friday McHenry County Blog has in the process of listing all of the pork its bleary-eyed editor could find. Articles will be published every day at least through this weekend.

And the winner is…

Dick Durbin with 48 projects adding up to $35,577, 250.

Roland Burris – zero.

Don’t know whether this is real or a joke.

I found in on an NPA’s “Political Junkie” blog by Ken Rudin.

Saturday Night Live was in reruns last night. The January 10th show was broadcast again.

It featured a clueless Roland Burris and a just impeached Rod Blagojevich.

Just like Fox News, Saturday Night Live featured Illinois’ dynamic duo, Roland Burris and Rod Blagojevich.

Burris was portrayed as a persistent, if repetitive, African-American repeatedly presenting his credentials and trying to enter the U.S. Senate, the last time falling through the ceiling of break room.

When escorted out by police, he is seen wearing a beard and mustache.

That night he tried to get into a popular D.C. Nightclub, explaining that he had served the people of Illinois twenty years and that he was “the junior senator from the State of Illinois.”

The picture above is what was shown as he was escorted out.

Next up was Governor Rod Blagojevich.

He told the female interviewer that he had tried to clean up his language.

So, instead of using “Bleep you,” when he was asked a hostile question, he replied,

Blagojevich was asked about the 114-1 vote for impeachment.

“Yeah. It was close.”

He was asked if the use of people he had helped at his press conference wasn’t “exploitative.”

“When will you leave office?”

It was better than Blagojevich and his wife’s first appearance.

Later in the highlights of the new section, Blagojevich’s lopsided impeachment was mentioned again.

A picture of the one “No” vote was shown.

It was one of Blagojevich with a beard and mustache. Unfortunately, I missed the shot.

Aggressively defending Roland Burris against Republican questioning during the House Impeachment Committee proceedings was Rahm Emanuel seat seeker John Fritchey.

Today the Chicago Tribune points out Fritchey is being attacked for that defense

Now, Fritchey says he wants elections to replace U.S. Senators with elections.

A federal constitutional amendment, don’t you know.

A shield for his shielding of Burris, I suppose.

That probably was not the topic covered in his conversation with Burris as the soon-to-be United States Senator was leaving the hearing room.

Aggressively defending Roland Burris against Republican questioning during the House Impeachment Committee proceedings was Rahm Emanuel seat seeker John Fritchey.

Today the Chicago Tribune points out Fritchey is being attacked for that defense

Now, Fritchey says he wants elections to replace U.S. Senators with elections.

A federal constitutional amendment, don’t you know.

A shield for his shielding of Burris, I suppose.

That probably was not the topic covered in his conversation with Burris as the soon-to-be United States Senator was leaving the hearing room.