What is the length of his sentence and how many years will he actually do? What about his family, wife and a couple kids, right? Will they/can they stay in their home? What about income? Does she have any? Were they left with any assets? Feel sorry for the kids. W/regard to his wife, is she a bit on the caustic side?
The sentence is 14 years; he has to serve at least 12 of those.
Yes, he’s married to Patti, and they have two daughters.
I don’t think she’s worked much since he left office (other than that reality TV show appearance). She had been working at some fund-raising job, but was fired in the aftermath of Rod’s impeachment. ISTR that she’s worked as a real estate agent at some point.
Her father, Richard Mell, is a powerful Chicago alderman, and had been Rod’s political godfather, but Mell and Rod had a falling-out shortly after Rod became governor, and I don’t know how Patti’s relationship is with her father these days.
I’ve read that their house in Chicago is going to go on the market; I don’t think it’s been publicly stated where Patti and the girls are going to move. It does sound like the legal defenses ate up most, if not all, of their net worth. Bear in mind that a good chunk of Rod’s first trial centered around the extravagant spending habits which Rod and Patti had, and how he was seeking to line up jobs which would be more lucrative than being governor, for both himself and Patti.
“Caustic” is probably a mild term for Patti. In some of the wiretapped recordings which were presented at Rod’s trials, she came across pretty badly.
Too bad for the kids. Isn’t their home on Ravenswood just west of Clark?
No, it’s on Sunnyside, almost two miles west of Clark.
I kind of assumed that Dick Mell would probably take care of them, but who knows.
And is it just me, or is Patti kind of hot? In that “dirty nasty bitch that you don’t take home to momma” kind of way.
Yeah, Mell will probably take care of his daughter regardless of how he feels about his son-in-law. And he was loaded before he became an alderman. Owned a factory I believe.
As for Patti, I think she is an attractive woman. Nothing slutty about her.
At a minimum I would think he will see to it his granddaughters are taken care of. I mean…they are his granddaughters, y’know?
Different strokes, I guess. To me she’s the type that you think, hmmm, she’s kind of nice-looking, and then she starts to talk and suddenly you can’t get far enough away.
Does anyone else think that 12-14 years is kind of harsh? I understand the seriousness of political corruption, and think that he deserves to go to jail for a meaningful period of time, but 14 years seems like a long time for a non-violent offense. It’s not like he brought down Enron or or plundered a retirement plan or scammed people out of millions of dollars.
I’m not trying to defend him, I was just surprised to hear how long his sentence was.
My suspicion is that, at least in part, the length of the sentence was intended to send a message about political corruption in Illinois (where we have a particularly virulent and pervasive strain of it). He is, after all, the second straight governor to go to jail on corruption charges (not to mention all of the congressmen, aldermen, and other officials who have gone to prison in the past few decades).
I also suspect that Blagojevich’s behavior before and during his trials (constant TV appearances, rambling in court, etc.) did not exactly endear him to the judge, or convince the judge that there was any real remorse (other than remorse in being caught).
kenobi 65 gives a good explanation.
I would also add -watching this idiot parade in front of the cameras this week showed me he still doesn’t get it. I suspect he is in for a rude awakening now that he is locked up. I was listening to WBEZ on Wednesday afternoon where they were interviewing some former Illinois public officials who have served time. They all made the point that Blago needs to show a great deal of humility and mind his own business once he is locked up or he can expect a serious “attitude adjustment” from the guards and his fellow inmates. His behavior in front of the cameras later that day indicated he is still just as full of himself as ever.
Indeed…I’m not sure I can think of another political figure (with the possible exception of Sarah Palin) who combines such a massive ego with such weak actual credentials. Either he’s just a BS artist, or he truly still believes that the people of Illinois saw him as their beloved, and unjustly prosecuted, savior.
Honestly, I’m a little surprised that his sentence is so short. He tried to sell a U.S. Senate seat! There are few things that a governor could do that are more blatantly corrupt, or with greater impact on society at large, than to overtly sell major political offices. That’s the kind of shit that happens in third world dictatorships, not here, and I’d like to see harsh penalties imposed on officials who do that kind of thing.
I think you’re thinking of Emmanuel?
Maybe this is overly cynical, but I think there’s a sense that this is just what they were able to prove, but the weasel was undoubtedly guilty of other jerkish illegal behavior that the prosecution was unable to prove. Probably even stuff more heinous than he was charged with that they don’t even know about. The long sentence is sort of “just desserts” - punishment for what we imagine he probably got away with, as well as what he was convicted for. It’s like an Oscar awarded to a director for a mediocre movie after a superb career - we all kinda get that this award isn’t really just for this film, but rather in recognition of his career as a whole.
Is that the way it’s supposed to work? No, not really. But it’s a mindset formed from years of living in a pretty corrupt state.
You can probably tell I’m not a fan. I’m sick of the helicopters, I’m sick of the reporters, I’m sick of the traffic back ups. But I do feel horrible for his girls. Amy just found out this week thather high school is closing, too. What a heck of a year for her. 
Thanks for all the responses. It sounds like the ‘extenuating circumstances’ of the case - including Blago’s continuing defiance and lack of remorse - contriubted to the longer sentence. I can’t really argue with that. I do feel sorry for his family though.
His kids?
Yeah. I actually feel really bad for them.
His wife? Not so much. Frankly, I think she should be happy she wasn’t charged as a co-conspirator.
It wasn’t just the Senate seat, though. They tried him on 20 charges in the retrial (the Senate seat accounted for 11 of them), and he was found guilty on 17. The charges also included:
- Attempt to shake down Children’s Memorial Hospital for a fundraiser (plus a wire fraud charge with this): He called them and told them that they would be receiving $8-10 million extra from the state, and then only a few days later wanted them to host a fundraiser for him.
- Attempt to shake down a racetrack owner for a contribution (plus wire fraud and conspiracy to extort): Discussed calling the guy to tell him that a contribution/fundraiser would help Blago sign a bill on his desk that benefited the racetrack industry.
- Attempt to shake down a school in now-Mayor Emanuel’s district: Held up a grant for the school in an attempt to get Emanuel’s brother to hold a fundraiser for Blago.
- 2nd attempt to shake down Children’s Memorial: Held up a grant in an attempt to get the CEO to send contributions.
- Extortion/wire fraud around the Illinois Tollway Plan (highway building/expansion): Tried to force at least one road builder into coughing up campaign contributions, through various means.
If it was just the Senate seat, I could see thinking that 12 years was awfully long. But add to it at least two attempts to extort Children’s Memorial Hospital, a school, road builders, racetrack owners, and the comments about wanting to screw over the Tribune Corporation and their attempts to get help with Wrigley Field because they won’t fire an editorial staff member over his anti-Blago comments? You start wondering how deep the corruption ran. Did he ever sign anything that didn’t personally benefit him? Fuck him.
Was Blago successful at any of these corrupt shenanigans?
It seems he was trying his hardest to be a corrupt politician, but he just wasn’t very competent at it.
Not terribly, no. And this was actually part of his defense: that he talked a lot, but he never actually pulled a lot of this off. The prosecutors (and, ultimately, the jury) disagreed, noting that the crimes were in the attempts, not just the successful execution of them.
I’ll bet Obama pardons him on his way out of office. Either later this year (please, please, please) or at the latest in 2016 (Allah help us). No evidence, but I just have a hunch that a deal has been struck. It would explain Blago’s bizarre, cock-sure demeanor.