What's up With Illinois?

As if Obama doesn't already have enough on his plate. This is sure to test him. I'm expecting a press conference tomorrow. 
Blagojevich didn't like Obama but may drag him into his web:

AP: And Blagojevich himself, in taped conversations cited by prosecutors, suggested that Obama wouldn't be helpful to him. Even if the governor was to appoint a candidate favored by the Obama team, Blagojevich said, "they're not willing to give me anything except appreciation."

The two Illinois politicians have never been especially close and have largely operated in different Democratic Party camps in the state. Blagojevich's disdain for Obama was clear in court documents; he is quoted as calling the president-elect a vulgar term in one phone conversation recorded by the FBI.

Still, at the very least, the episode amounts to a distraction for Obama at an inopportune time just six weeks before he's sworn into office. It also raises the specter of notorious Chicago politics, an image Obama has tried to distance himself from during his career.

There were signs the continuing investigation could still involve him. read more.

What's up with Illinois, the land of Oprah? Now I understand why it was so easy for the wingnuts to lump Obama in with Chicago corruption. Politico discusses Illinois politics:

Politico: So just what is the problem with Illinois?

It certainly seems like Illinois has a particular sweet spot for corruption: Blagojevich’s own predecessor as governor, George Ryan, went to jail in 2007 in a 6-1/2 year sentence for corruption of his own.

And two other Illinois governors have faced legal trouble in modern times: Governor Otto Kerner, Jr., who was mocked locally as “Blotto Otto,” and former governor Daniel Walker, who was charged in a savings and loan scheme involving fraudulent loans for repairs on his yacht, which was called The Governor’s Lady.

Fitzgerald, who is known as a crusading prosecutor for his role in the Valerie Plame CIA leak case, seemed to throw up his hands in despair, saying: “We’re not going to end corruption in Illinois by arrests and indictments alone.” He stressed that rooting out corruption would depend on the willingness of the people of Illinois to solve the problem.

In that, Fitzgerald may be on to something. It turns out that a state’s culture is at least as important to its degree of corruption as the aggressiveness of its law enforcement officers. Read more