Although the arrest, on Tuesday, of Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois does not implicate President-elect Obama, it may yet tarnish him, said The Times in an editorial yesterday. Excerpts:
Even before his arrest, Rod Blagojevich knew that he was under investigation for alleged fraud. The FBI assumed he also knew that his phones were being tapped. If so, he did not appear to care.
Under Illinois state law, the governor has the power to appoint a successor to the Senate seat vacated by Obama. Had Blagojevich endorsed the president-elect’s creed of “change we can believe in”, he might have held public interviews for this powerful public post. Instead he allegedly tried to sell it to the highest bidder. He denies the allegation but is reported to have said: “I’ve got this thing and it’s (expletive) golden.”
The price allegedly depended on the candidate. Mere millionaires might offer donations of up to $15 million to a foundation in the governor’s name. Jobs paying upward of $250,000 a year would also be considered. In return for appointing Obama’s preferred candidate, Valerie Jarrett, the governor is said to have wanted a Cabinet position or an ambassadorship. He was offered no such thing.
The invitations to tender are shameless. The anger is puerile. The overall impression, five weeks after Obama’s epoch-making victory and halfway through a transition that trumpets transparency above all, is of a political culture so mired in greed and cynicism that even the wave of enthusiasm that has swept him to power will surely prove powerless to dislodge it.
Five Illinois governors have been indicted for white-collar crime since 1960. Three have been convicted, serving jail sentences for bank fraud, perjury, misapplication of funds, bribery, tax evasion and horse-race fixing. Chicago’s FBI chief, Robert Grant, asked yesterday if the latest gubernatorial arrest made this the most corrupt state in the Union, replied, dead-pan: “If it isn’t, it’s certainly one hell of a competitor.”
But no more than that. Alaska, home to the convicted Sen. Ted Stevens, is a contender. So are Louisiana, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia, where the Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff was disgraced last year.
This scandal comes at a terrible time for Obama, whose team may yet have to admit to closer ties to Blagojevich than it has so far, and whose rescue plan for the US economy depends so heavily on his efforts to rebrand American government as honest and accountable. It has revealed that the world’s most open democracy is also one of the dirtiest.
Obama’s rise through the Chicago swamp was not closely scrutinized during his White House campaign. It will be now. He must lead by example, with full disclosure at all costs.
