"Testicular Virility": BuzzFlash Predicted Feds Would Nail Blagojevich, Now We Predict He'll Plea Bargain to Save His Wife

THE BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG: The View from Chicago
by Mark Karlin

Rod Blagojevich was a serial extortionist of the most buffoonish kind.  Trying to figure out how he could be so dumb as to continue his shake down spree -- and in such an over the top fashion -- while knowing he was the target of a three-year federal investigation is like trying to get inside the brain of George W. Bush; you'd need a jack hammer to break through the rock.

But those of us at BuzzFlash who have been stationed on the "Blago Watch" from our perch in Chicago know that he has had an intimately close booster of his "pay to play" spree: his wife, Patti.

Patti emerges as an obscenity-laden character literally in the background of the infamous FBI bugging tapes of the last few weeks, urging "Blago" on as he tries to use the threat of withholding state financing and tax breaks to renovate Wrigley Field (which the Tribune company is trying to sell to crawl out of financial ruin) in return for having some Trib editorial writers fired for calling for Blagojevich's impeachment.

But over the years, the Feds and the Chicago papers have dropped tantalizing hints that Patti profited from "pay to play" politics through commissions that she received as a real estate agent and in other ways.  The renovation of the relatively modest Ravenswood Manor Blagojevich home (in a sleepy Chicago neighborhood of upscale bungalows) is another one of the Blagojevich family financial dealings that has come under scrutiny.  (There's even a large $1500 check, allegedly for one of his children, from a third party that is part of the overall investigation by the Feds.)

"Mrs. B" hasn't been legally charged as of yet.  And maybe she won't be.  But remember this, the U.S. Attorney's list of illegal behavior filed against the Governor of Illinois basically only covers the last few weeks during which Blagojevich was being taped.  It was a hurry-up charge list that was meant to stick, even though it did not go through a grand jury, because Patrick Fitzgerald was -- it appears -- concerned that Blagojevich was on the verge of selling off Obama's former U.S. Senate seat.  (Obama resigned from the Senate a few weeks back and Blagojevich publicly stated that he would appoint a replacement by Christmas.) We doubt that Fitzgerald -- who is a straight arrow -- wanted to knowingly let someone be appointed to the U.S. Senate who had paid for his/her seat in one way or another. In fact, the head of the FBI in Chicago justified the rare dawn arrest of the Governor at his home by noting: "So it wasn't about ... tying this in a bow, waiting until spring, letting things be done that damaged the State of Illinois, damaged the United State Senate, hurt people."

So although Patti Blagojevich -- daughter of the infamous Chicago Alderman Richard Mell (who was part of a faction of white aldermen who obstructed the mayoral administration of Harold Washington and who has been publicly humiliated by his son-in-law, that would be Rod) -- has not been formally accused of any crimes, remember that what we saw released by Patrick Fitzgerald is just the tip of the iceberg, the tail end of a three-year investigation that began with revelation of the "pay to play" sale of food concessions on the Illinois Tollway in December of 2005.

Should the Feds have substantial evidence of Patti's involvement in her husband's apparent long-term record (he was first elected as Governor in 2002) of putting up a for-sale sign on state government, they will pressure "Blago" to fess up and strike a plea bargain.

In return for his cooperation and admission of guilt to yesterday's charges -- and more to come, you can bet on that -- the Feds will not indict or prosecute Patti.  If that turns out to be how it pans out, you can bet that Blagojevich (who flew home virtually every night from Springfield, at taxpayer's expense, while the legislature was in session) would swallow his manly hemlock and protect his wife from potential jail time.

Now, we must again emphasize that Patti Blagojevich has neither been legally accused of any wrongdoing nor been formally identified as a "target" in the multi-year investigation.

But if Patrick Fitzgerald doesn't have that possibility in his hip pocket to use as leverage to get Blagojevich to sing, then they will have to shave "Blago's" prized head of hair (he's got a Rick Perry mop of big hair) to get him to plea bargain.

But we think the Patti trade-off will do the trick.

When his bizarre public dispute with his father-in-law (Alderman Mell) was front page news, "Blago" justified an impetuous closing of a waste dump that Mell had an interest in and was owned by a Mell relative by saying, "This is the kind of thing that I think frankly separates the men from the boys in leadership. Do you have the testicular virility to make a decision like that knowing what's coming your way? I say I do."

If Blagojevich is given the option of fessing up or seeing his wife charged too, it will be the real test of his "testicular virility." 

THE BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG: The View from Chicago

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