I was thinking the same thing. How much money would it take to slip away?
Which means that violent criminals should serve more time, not that Blago should serve less.
No. He should serve less. That’s quite a bit of your life.
Disclaimer: My dad spent 3 years at Leavenworth for ‘white collar’ crime and that was harsh enough.
If you propose that we drastically reduce prison sentences across the board until we’re closer to a Scandinavian model, then sure, I could accept that. But Blaggo’s offense dwarfs the offenses of pretty much all other nonviolent crimes, inasmuch as it strikes at the heart of our social system.
Hmmm. Perhaps you are right.
Perhaps more should’ve gone down with him.
Rezko got 10 years. I forget about the others.
I think it was the local US Attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, who basically said ‘the previous corruption sentences apparently weren’t stiff enough; we have to up the penalties until they get it.’
It’s possible we’ll see a bunch of crooked pols grabbing the cookie tins and retiring “to spend more time with family”. Plus, with any luck, there will be a deterrent effect on some future electees.
Not from Chicago, of course.
In our defense, Blago was an energetic young congressman (with fabulous hair!) who seemed to be a likeable sort. Republican George Ryan was already feeling the heat for his previous indescretions and did not seek re-election. The Democrat Blagojevich appeared to represent a shift away from corruption, and he had a lot of us fooled. It wasn’t until after he was elected that his true nature began to come to light.
I admit to helping vote him into his first term, but I wised up before the second. Problem was, an old-school insider Republican ran against him, and she didn’t swing many independent voters, so we got stuck with more of the same.
Quinn, so far, seems relatively honest, if somewhat ineffectual. It’s possible the tide is beginning to change.