Mr. First Amendment, Blago: Fire the editorial board

jhan63@gmail.com has forwarded the following Law Bulletin Article to you.
June 30, 2010 Volume: 156 Issue: 127

Blago to the Tribune: Fire the editorial board

By Janan E. Hanna


"And our recommendation is fire all those [expletive] people. Get 'em the [expletive] out of there. And get us some editorial support." Rod R. Blagojevich (Nov. 4, 2008)

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"So, did you tell [Deputy Governor Bob] Greenlee that, ah, [editorial writer John] McCormick's gonna get bounced at the Tribune?" Rod Blagojevich (Nov. 21, 2008)
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"What's the deal? McCormick stays at the Tribune? I mean those layoffs were minor." Rod Blagojevich (Dec. 5, 2008)
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Throughout his trial on federal corruption charges, Mr. First Amendment, a.k.a. Rod Blagojevich, has voiced respect and affection for the First Amendment in several contexts.

He argued that the entire case should be thrown out because the charges against him amount to the criminalization of speech.

When there was talk that he might be gagged from speaking to the media outside of the courtroom, Mr. First Amendment said he would fight for his right to speak. (U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel refused prosecutors' request that Blagojevich be gagged, implying that the defendant's remarks have been benign.)

The former governor has told reporters that "The First Amendment is sacrosanct in the United States"; that "One of the things we're fighting for is the First Amendment"; that the First Amendment is "the cornerstone of our democracy"; and that people have "laid down their lives" to protect our constitutional right to speak freely.

Evidently those rights don't extend to members of the fourth estate who speak critically of him.

Prosecutors last week played for the jury excerpts of wiretapped conversations that seriously undermine his constitutional grandstanding. The governor is charged with running the state as a racket, conspiring with aides to sell state contracts, jobs and grants for campaign cash. In most of the conversations regarding the Tribune, it was reporters' heads, not cash, that he sought.

He was talking with his chief of staff John Harris (now a government witness) and directing him to ask executives of the Chicago Tribune to fire the paper's editorial board — specifically John McCormick — if the company still wanted support from the state in structuring a sale of the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field.

In several conversations, Blagojevich tells Harris that this is a priority and asks him to speak specifically to Nils Larsen, the executive vice president-chief investment officer at Tribune Co.; Crane Kenney, who served as Tribune's general counsel before being named chairman of the Chicago Cubs in April 2008; and Tribune Co. owner Sam Zell, according to the tapes and the testimony of Harris.

And he had leverage. He told Harris to tell Tribune executives that unless they got rid of those writers who were critical of him, the governor would not be able to help the Cubs structure a deal through the Illinois Finance Authority (IFA), which is essentially a state bank that issues bonds and doles out loans. Blagojevich had sole authority to approve such a deal without getting permission from the General Assembly.

Here are some snippets of conversations the FBI recorded, from the official court transcripts, which show a desperate-seeming governor fighting for his reputation and career as the feds are closing in on him.

Blagojevich Tapes Played In Court: Ex Gov Irked By 'Thankful' Message From Obama Aide ‎

Huffington Post | Janan Hanna First Posted: 06-24-10


Sounding at times desperate and dispirited, and at other times enthusiastic and grandiose, Rod Blagojevich was captured on tape strategizing about how he could benefit politically and financially by choosing a candidate to replace the Senate seat vacated by President Obama.

The prosecution continued Thursday to play recorded conversations for the jury in the former governor's federal corruption trial. Most of the calls are between Blagojevich and his then chief of staff, John Harris, and take place in November, and early December 2008 - soon before both men were arrested. Harris pleaded guilty to a corruption charge and is a cooperating witness.

"I need to find a way to get financial mobility," Blagojevich said in a conversation with Harris and Fred Yang, a prominent political pollster who did some work for Obama. At the same time, he wanted a position on a board or at a not for profit organization that would be funded by people like Warren Buffet and other "friends" of Obama, according to the tapes.

His wish list was long: He talked about appointing himself to the Senate seat and getting his wife, Patti, a job as a lobbyist in Washington; getting a job as the head of a union campaign organization; being appointed to a cabinet position, and, establishing an issues-oriented foundation that would have more than $10, $15 or $20 million --money that Obama's billionaire friends would contribute, Harris testified. One thing was clear; he did not want to serve out the remaining two years of his term as governor.

He was clearly anxious about his future financial security, saying in one recording: "How am I gonna send my F****** kid to college," and in another conversation: "These three criterion in his order; our legal situation, our personal situation and my political situation."

Blagojevich's salary as governor was $170,000.

jhan63@gmail.com has forwarded the following Law Bulletin Article to you.


June 17, 2010 Volume: 156 Issue: 118
Is using Citizens United as a defense a good idea?

By Janan E. Hanna

The last time I read the First Amendment, I didn't see anything about bribery and extortion, wire and mail fraud, conspiracy, racketeering, or lying in a criminal investigation.

Those are among the crimes Rod R. Blagojevich is facing in his federal corruption trial. But in a last-minute motion filed on the first day of trial, Blagojevich's lawyers argued that the entire prosecution was a violation of the impeached governor's First Amendment right to speak freely.

Creative? Maybe. Desperate? More likely. Particularly when you consider that the motion cites the U.S. Supreme Court's holding in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (558 U.S. 50 (2010)) to bolster the defense argument.
Huh? Citizens United?

You might recall that that case, decided earlier this year, opened the door for large corporations to give unlimited funds for political advertising. The majority held that corporations are "persons" under the law and, as such, are free to dole out as much campaign cash as they'd like to political organizations that favor a particular federal candidate, provided they disclose how much they give. And, yes, its ruling was grounded in the First Amendment.

But it did not say that individual candidates can extort or attempt to extort that cash in exchange for favors, or enter into the sorts of quid pro quo deals in which Blagojevich is alleged to have engaged. Nothing about that decision speaks to the conduct in which Blagojevich is alleged to have participated — seeking campaign cash in exchange for contracts, jobs and a U.S. Senate seat.

And the argument doesn't even square with the defense's theory of the case — that Blagojevich was a bit of a dunce surrounded by lawyers, fundraisers and lobbyists far more sophisticated who were calling the shots, maneuvering behind the scenes without his knowledge, to bulk up his campaign fund. It's as if he's saying, "Well, I might've said stuff that sounded like I was involved in extortion or bribery, but really, it was just talk."

Maybe he's talking about that conversation he had in December 2008, just days before his arrest, when, according to the prosecution's evidentiary proffer, he talks about getting something from "candidate A" in exchange for appointing candidate A to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President Obama:

"Blagojevich told Robert Blagojevich [a co-defendant] to tell Individual P that while Senate Candidate A being named to the Senate seat was:
'possible … some stuff has to start happening now… right now. And we gotta see it. You understand?

'now you gotta be careful how you express that. And assume everyone's listening, the whole world's listening. But if there's tangible political support like you've said, start showing us now."

Free speech? Sure. But one could also easily infer from the words that the governor had a quid pro quo state of mind.

Political operative says Blagojevich tried to shake down Rahm Emanuel

By Janan Hanna

A prosecution witness painted a portrait of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich as someone who rarely went to the office, was oftentimes hard to reach and who sometimes took no part in deciding whether legislation should be signed or vetoed.

That task was often left to then Deputy Gov. Bradley Tusk, who testified Monday at Blagojevich’s federal corruption trial. But Tusk, a powerful political operative who served as deputy governor during Blagojevich’s first term, testified about one occasion where he was able to reach the governor and did not like what heard coming out of his boss’s mouth.

Tusk was inquiring about a $2 million grant that had been approved for a school and teaching academy in former Congressman Rahm Emanuel’s district. The school, counting on the grant money, had begun building an athletic field but was unable to pay contractors because it had not been given the approved funds. Emanuel and others began pressuring Tusk who called Blagojevich late in the summer of 2006 to talk about the grant. “He [Blagojevich] said before the money could be released he wanted Rahm’s brother to hold a fundraiser,” Tusk testified. Emanuel’s brother is a Hollywood agent.

Tusk said he believed Blagojevich was saying there would be no grant if there was no fundraiser and that Blagojevich wanted “that message delivered to Rahm Emanuel.”

“I believed that doing that [asking Emanuel’s brother to hold a fundraiser] would be both illegal and unethical,” Tusk testified.