# 14 years for Blago!!!!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 7, 2011, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-years-for-blago/605403 "2011-12-07T19:21:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Al\_Bundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@Al\_Bundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al_Bundy)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-years-for-blago/605403/21 "2011-12-07T23:22:49Z")
The judge said, “The jury did not believe you and I don’t believer you either” (referring to his supposed remorse). Nice when a judge does not beat around the bush. Too bad he did not demand a bench trial as he would be doing a century. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-years-for-blago/605403/22 "2011-12-08T01:01:00Z")
So, is he going to share a cell with George Ryan? ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-years-for-blago/605403/23 "2011-12-08T01:22:44Z")
His behavior since his arrest has always seemed bizarre for me. Like he was enjoying the fame that came with his bust. Always seemed on TV and clowning around like a douche like he never thought it was serious. Now I’m going to get to check in on him on MSNBCs Lockup! Nice! ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-years-for-blago/605403/24 "2011-12-08T01:34:48Z")
> [@](#): > > In announcing the sentence Judge James Zagel said Blagojevich’s abuse of the governor’s office “is more damaging than any other office in the U.S.” besides the presidency. I disagree. If a Supreme Court justice sold his office, it could be much more damaging, for a much longer time than a governor. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-years-for-blago/605403/25 "2011-12-08T02:51:48Z")
Anybody else think he’s going to use the next 8 weeks to figure out how to get out of the country? For some reason, I think he’s going to disappear some time before he has to surrender to the Feds. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-years-for-blago/605403/26 "2011-12-08T03:00:23Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > “If you are Rod Blagojevich , and you are in a room with 3 or 4 other former Illinois governors, then you are probably in prison.” > > Was that a Jon Stewart joke? I forget. I remember laughing so hard. Yes. It was “Let’s say you’re in room with a former governor of Illinois on your left and a former governor of Illinois on your right. Chances are the room you’re in is jail.” ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-years-for-blago/605403/27 "2011-12-08T03:18:27Z")
Does anyone know right offhand just how many ex-Illinois governors have done time? Illinois probably holds the record for this sort of thing. I could probably look it up on Google but I’m too lazy. I can add another to the list , though. Otto Kerner spent some years on an all-expenses paid forced vacation at one of the Illinois pens, sometime in the 60’s. I remember him in particular because his name was on my structural engineering license (in bigger letters than mine). I never displayed it on my wall; didn’t want to look up each day and see that bastard’s name beaming down at me. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_With_The_Golden_Gun)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-years-for-blago/605403/28 "2011-12-08T03:39:42Z")
> [@Daylate](#): > > Does anyone know right offhand just how many ex-Illinois governors have done time? Illinois probably holds the record for this sort of thing. I could probably look it up on Google but I’m too lazy. > > I can add another to the list , though. Otto Kerner spent some years on an all-expenses paid forced vacation at one of the Illinois pens, sometime in the 60’s. I remember him in particular because his name was on my structural engineering license (in bigger letters than mine). I never displayed it on my wall; didn’t want to look up each day and see that bastard’s name beaming down at me. According to Wiki, Blago is the fourth Illinois governor to do time in the past 40 years. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-years-for-blago/605403/29 "2011-12-08T03:56:28Z")
That seems like a lot of time, considering how violent criminals can serve less. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-years-for-blago/605403/30 "2011-12-08T04:05:55Z")
What will be accomplished by 14 years that couldn’t be accomplished in 8? ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-years-for-blago/605403/31 "2011-12-08T04:08:33Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > What will be accomplished by 14 years that couldn’t be accomplished in 8? 14 total years of rape, I would suppose. What guy in prison is going to be able to resist a head of hair like THAT? ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-years-for-blago/605403/32 "2011-12-08T04:09:46Z")
Physical violence is not always worse than subversion of our democratic republic. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-years-for-blago/605403/33 "2011-12-08T06:29:27Z")
Just think of the opportunities he’ll have for selling his seat now. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-years-for-blago/605403/34 "2011-12-08T12:53:10Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > Just think of the opportunities he’ll have for selling his seat now. You win the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-years-for-blago/605403/35 "2011-12-08T16:39:50Z")
> [@Daylate](#): > > Does anyone know right offhand just how many ex-Illinois governors have done time? Otto Kerner, Dan Walker, George Ryan, and Blago have done (or are about to do) hard time in the Big House. These are four of the seven governors elected during the 1960-2006 time period. (One other governor, Samuel Shapiro, served briefly after Kerner resigned to accept a federal judgeship.) Ryan’s conviction related to activities before he was governor, and Walker’s to activites _after_ he was governor. Kerner and Blago were nailed for actions _as_ governor. Of the three “clean” governors, Jim Thompson served on the board of Hollinger International, whose chairman, Conrad Black, was convicted in 2007 of fraud for diverting corporate funds for personal enrichment. As chairman of the audit committee Thompson approved every one of these supposedly illegal “diversions” and could thus be considered equally culpable. His defense was that he only “skimmed” the relevant documents, earning the nickname “Jim the Skim”. One earlier governor of Illinois, Len Small, was indicted in the 1920’s and should have served more time than the others put together. As state treaasurer during World War I he had the state treasury deposited into a shell bank that he created, and he loaned out the money at high wartime interest rates at a huge profit to himself. However the federal government in that era did not get involved in state political corruption, and it was too easy for Small as governor to corrupt the state courts. He secured his acquittal by jury tampering. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-years-for-blago/605403/36 "2011-12-08T17:35:16Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > Just think of the opportunities he’ll have for selling his seat now. There’s nothing funny about rape. (Just wanted to get that inevitability out of the way, because it was actually pretty funny.) ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-years-for-blago/605403/37 "2011-12-08T18:06:57Z")
And of that 14 years he’ll actually serve what, 6 months in a luxury resort prison? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-years-for-blago/605403/38 "2011-12-08T18:18:50Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > “If you are Rod Blagojevich , and you are in a room with 3 or 4 other former Illinois governors, then you are probably in prison.” A prison or Kenyan prison? Truthers wanna know ya know. Hawian is okay BTW. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-years-for-blago/605403/39 "2011-12-08T18:37:43Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > And of that 14 years he’ll actually serve what, 6 months in a luxury resort prison? No, he’s not eligible for parole until he’s served 12 years. ---
**Author:** ![FeAudrey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7feea3/32.png) [@FeAudrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FeAudrey)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-years-for-blago/605403/40 "2011-12-09T00:15:08Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > … Ryan’s conviction related to activities before he was governor, and Walker’s to activites _after_ he was governor … Ryan was convicted for offenses related to his duties in his previous office, Illinois Secretary of State. Walker would not have had the access that he did to commit his crimes without his prior service as governor. But the real enablers here are the voters of Illinois, who keep electing these types. :mad: ETA: In Chicago, we have been sending an average of an alderman a year to the slammer (City Council has fifty members) for close to forty years. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-years-for-blago/605403.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/14-years-for-blago/605403.md?page=3)