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Rod Blagojevich - Latest Stories

Video: Burris’ backing from God recalls Bachmann’s, Palin’s

By Chris Steller | 01.07.09 | 3:42 pm

“We are hoping and praying that they will not be able to deny what the Lord has ordained,” Roland Burris said before his fateful trip to Washington. Now that Democrats in the U.S. Senate appear ready to…

Appointed by Blago, Burris shut out of Senate

By Paul Schmelzer | 01.06.09 | 11:21 am

What fate might Al Franken have faced today had he tried to take his seat in the U.S. Senate today? Although unlikely, he could’ve ended up where Roland Burris did: shut out and in the rain. The…

Franken, Burris pose dilemma for Democrats

By Mike Lillis | 01.06.09 | 8:14 am

In the first week of the 111th Congress, Democrats already have themselves in a pickle. Party leaders hoping to block the appointment of Roland Burris to replace President-elect Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate are pointing to the same legal technicality that Republicans hope to use to keep Al Franken from taking a seat of his own.

Barkley’s short Senate tenure cited as example for Blago pick Burris

By Chris Steller | 12.30.08 | 2:41 pm

Roland Burris, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s pick to replace President-elect Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate, should follow the example of former U.S. Sen. Dean Barkley of Minnesota by agreeing to serve only an abbreviated tenure. That’s the…

Nixon too suffers guilt by Blagociation

By Chris Steller | 12.17.08 | 2:05 am

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is a guy it’s better not to have known — even if for only one flash-lit moment. Blago-smears have stained President-elect Barack Obama, U.S. Reps. Jesse Jackson, Jr. and Rahm Emanuel, and even…

MnIndy’s Steller talks recount, Norm and Blago in twin radio appearances

By Paul Schmelzer | 12.17.08 | 12:05 am

Minnesota Independent reporter Chris Steller discussed two of his recent stories on two radio programs yesterday. On Air America’s “Doing Time with Ron Kuby,” he discussed what he calls the “funnel of love” — schemes to fund elected officials via their wives’ jobs. He cited the Rod Blagojevich scandal as well as similar alleged plans involving Sen. Norm Coleman and Tom DeLay. On WORT, Madison, Wisconsin’s community radio station, he offered an on-the-ground perspective on the final days of the Minnesota Senate recount.

Listen to the WORT segment here and download the Ron Kuby show here.

Obama unsullied by Blagojevich scandal

By Paul Demko | 12.15.08 | 1:45 pm

The Republican Party is looking to spoil Barack Obama’s transition honeymoon by tying him to disgraced Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his comically brazen attempt to sell off the president-elect’s former Senate seat to the highest bidder. This weekend…

Blago’s relationship with lieutenant gov recalls Minnesota’s 1962 recount rivals

By Chris Steller | 12.12.08 | 3:19 pm

Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn is calling for the resignation of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a man with whom he shared a ticket but apparently little else except antipathy. According to Quinn, the two men haven’t spoken since Aug. 2, 2007. That was the day after the I-35W bridge fell in Minneapolis, an event that did not trigger estrangement between Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau, who was then also Transportation Commissioner. But the distant relationship between Blagojevich and his second-in-command does have at least one parallel in Minnesota, from the time of the last great statewide election recount in 1962.

Sorry Illinois, North Dakota is ‘more corrupt’

By Paul Schmelzer | 12.11.08 | 5:00 pm

Despite the Blagojevich feeding frenzy, Illinois is NOT the most corrupt state in the union, at least according to a USA Today story that puts our neighbor to the west at the top of the crookedest states

Blago’s bad hair meme (with Pawlenty cameo!)

By Paul Schmelzer | 12.11.08 | 2:31 pm

Forget Gov. Rod Blagovejich‘s “supercilious attitude towards government ethics, we’re more concerned with his super silly cilium (he was trying to line his coffers when he shoulda been lining up a new coiffure!).” That’s how pop culture…