I’ve mentioned the story of Arnold Maremont before. The short version is Maremont wanted to be a US Senator and approached the first Mayor Daley about being the Democratic nominee. He was a big donor and had done quite a bit for the party hoping to have it count. Daley had him go to Central and Southern Illinois to see if a Jewish candidate could be accepted. He did so, and so Daley gave the spot to Sydney Yates, a Jewish Congressman.
Hull was strung along by Daley in the 2004 primary in a somewhat similar manner to have Daley not endorse Hull. Now, we find out Blagojevich pretty much wanted Hull as a piggy bank and viewed him as a clown.
Rod Blagojevich: Blair Hull actually thinks he thinks he can be Senator. Do you believe this guy? He’s an idiot.
Rob Blagojevich: So does Jesse Junior.
Rod Blagojevich: Yea. He’s got people calling to my house now, Jesse Junior.
Rob Blagojevich: Well, he’s putting the full court press on you. He’s gonna raise you money, pal.
Fox Chicago has a good archive of the audio released, though I couldn’t find the above there.
There isn’t much for me to say about the trial–it’s pretty much what I said he’d be on trial for back in 2006 when he was running for reelection. He ran the State of Illinois as his personal money making scheme. The one thing I will say is that if this assclown was this clueless and careless, I have to question why it took federal prosecutors so long to get him. I understand Patrick Fitzgerald is cautious, and that’s a good thing in a prosecutor. That said, Fitzgerald could have put an end to this guy sooner being a bit more aggressive. Now, the best defense against this mild criticism is who thought anyone was this stupid–to be talking openly on the phone which one should assume was bugged by this point is a special kind of stupid.