Rod Blagojevich

Rod Blagojevich (2008)

Milorad "Rod" R. Blagojevich (born December 10, 1956 in Chicago , Illinois as Rod Blagojevich ) is an American politician ( Democratic Party ). From 2003 until his impeachment in January 2009, he was the 40th governor of the state of Illinois. In 2011 he was sentenced to 14 years in prison for corruption . In February 2020, he was released early after a pardon by US President Donald Trump .

Early years and political advancement

Blagojevich comes from Serbian parents. He attended Foreman High School and then Northwestern University until 1979 . He then studied law until 1983 at Pepperdine University in Malibu ( California ) and received a Juris Doctor degree . He then practiced as a lawyer.

Between 1986 and 1988, Blagojevich was an assistant prosecutor in Cook County . From 1993 to 1996 he was a member of the Illinois House of Representatives ; from 1997 to 2003 he represented his congressional district (5th congressional district of Illinois) in the US House of Representatives in Washington . In 2002 he was nominated by the Democratic Party as a candidate for the gubernatorial elections and was subsequently also elected to this office by the voters.

Illinois Governor

Rod Blagojevich took up his new post in January 2003. After his re-election in 2006, he would originally have remained in this post until January 2011. In his first term of office he campaigned for an improvement in the health system, better education policy and better internal security. He also tried to revive the country's economy. In 2004, the Illinois minimum hourly wage was set at $ 6.50, and over 150,000 new jobs were created in Illinois during his first term, according to the National Governors Association .

Corruption allegations, impeachment and conviction

Police photo of Rod Blagojevich after his arrest

On December 9, 2008, Blagojevich was arrested on suspicion of corruption following an FBI ( Operation Board Games ) investigation. Among other things, he was accused of wanting to sell the vacant Senate seat of the elected US President Barack Obama in exchange for financial donations. Obama himself distanced himself from the “Chicago principle”, the “machine politics”, the corruption and profiteering in the politics of Chicago: “That would be a non-compliance with everything that my campaign was about.” He himself was “horrified and disappointed” .

Lisa Madigan , Attorney General for the State of Illinois, petitioned the State Supreme Court to have Blagojevich incapacitated. However, this application was rejected by the court. December 15, 2008 was officially by the Illinois House of Representatives an impeachment brought against him. Nonetheless, on December 30, 2008, Blagojevich announced that he would appoint former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris to succeed Obama as a US Senator. Whether this appointment would take effect was initially questionable as Illinois' Secretary of State , Jesse White , initially stated that he would refuse to countersign the appointment; in addition, the Senate leadership in Washington announced its refusal to accept a senator appointed by Blagojevich. Eventually the appointment was accepted, and Burris was sworn in as a Senator on January 15, 2009.

On January 8, 2009, the Illinois House of Representatives passed 114-1 votes to move Blagojevich's impeachment. On January 29, 2009, the State Senate decided unanimously to remove Rod Blagojevich from his office. The new governor was the Democrat Pat Quinn , previously a lieutenant governor .

In 2010, Blagojevich was charged on 24 counts, including corruption and attempted extortion; however, in August 2010 the jury was unable to reach a verdict on 23 of these issues. The former governor was only found guilty of false statements to the FBI.

In a second trial in Chicago in June 2011, Blagojevich was found guilty on 17 out of 20 counts. The court considered it proven that Blagojevich had tried to sell Barack Obama's vacant seat in the United States Senate after Barack Obama's victory in the 2008 US presidential election . In December 2011 the sentence was changed to 14 years in prison. Since the late 1960s, Blagojevich has been the fourth former governor of Illinois to be sentenced to several years in prison, after Otto Kerner , Daniel Walker and his direct predecessor George Ryan .

On May 31, 2018, US President Trump said he was considering exercising his right to pardon and reducing Blagojevich's sentence. He made this happen on February 18, 2020 by suspending Blagojevich's sentence. Trump called the 14-year sentence "ridiculous" and stated that Blagojevich was "stupid", but also the kind of things "many other politicians say". The decision drew criticism from both Republicans and Democrats. As expressed JB Pritzker , the Democratic governor of Illinois, the pardon will send the wrong message at the wrong time.

Others

In November 2011, Blagojevich's former fundraiser Tony Rezko was sentenced to ten and a half years in prison.

Private

Rod Blagojevich is married to Patricia Mell and has two daughters with her. His parents came from Serbia ; he is the second governor of Serbian origin of a US state after George Voinovich ( Ohio ). The "R" in his name does not stand for an intermediate name, but was recorded by him in memory of his late father Radiša.

Web links

Commons : Rod Blagojevich  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Rod Blagojevich in the National Governors Association (English)
• Rod Blagojevich in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Illinois Blue Book History and Election Results

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Ex-Governor Blagojevich sentenced to 14 years imprisonment at sueddeutsche.de, December 7, 2011 (accessed December 7, 2011).
2. ↑ Governor wanted to sell Obama's Senate seat , Spiegel Online, December 9, 2008
3. ↑ Corruption scandal surrounding Obama's Senate seat ( Memento from December 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
4. ↑ America, Obama and Corruption: The Chicago Principle ( Memento of the original from December 14, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ^ Obama News Conference Dominated by Illinois Case
6. ^ The court rejects Blagojevich's suspension. Spiegel Online from December 18, 2008, accessed December 22, 2008.
7. ↑ Impeachment proceedings initiated
8. ↑ Blagojevich appoints Obama Senate successor. www.msnbc.msn.com, December 30, 2008, accessed January 2, 2009
9. ↑ Burris sworn in as senator ( Memento of the original from January 17, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , www.suntimes.com, January 15, 2009, accessed January 15, 2009 
10. ↑ NZZ Online : Governor of Illinois removed from office January 30, 2009
11. ^ Corruption trial against Rod Blagojevich. Former governor found guilty of only one point on faz.net, accessed September 15, 2010
12. ^ Ex-Governor of Illinois convicted of corruption ( Memento of January 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Tagesschau.de, June 27, 2011, accessed on June 3, 2016.
13. ↑ FAZ.net May 31, 2018: Trump wants the corrupt governor to be released early from prison
14. ↑ washingtonpost.com June 1, 2018 / James Hohmann: The Daily 202: Floating clemency for Blagojevich, Trump diminishes the gravity of political corruption
15. ↑ Brooke Singman: Trump says he's considering pardoning Martha Stewart, Rod Blagojevich. May 31, 2018, Retrieved February 26, 2020 (American English). 
16. ↑ Jeremy Diamond CNN: Trump floats Martha Stewart pardon, Rod Blagojevich commutation. Retrieved February 26, 2020 . 
17. ↑ Trump weighs leniency for Martha Stewart and Blagojevich, will pardon conservative Dinesh D'Souza. Retrieved February 26, 2020 . 
18. ↑ ^{a b} Trump shortens ex-Governor Blagojevich's sentence. In: tagesschau.de. ARD, February 19, 2020, accessed on February 19, 2020 . 
19. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated January 11, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.