U.S. District Judge James Zagel finally ended the saga of Rod Blagojevich by sentencing him to 14 years in prison. The sentence was based on his conviction on 17 or 20 charges in June of this year ranging from extortion, to wire fraud to conspiracy and his August 2010 conviction on one count of lying to an FBI agent in 2005.
Blagojevich, who ran for and became governor of Illinois on an ethics reform platform will now join a list of three recent Illinois governors who have prison time on their Wikipedia pages – George Ryan (governor immediately before Blagojevich), Otto Kerner and Dan Walker. In total, that means that four of Illinois’ last eight former governors will have served time in prison.
The sentencing means that when he probably gets out of prison, the now 54 year - old Blagojevich will have missed the teenage and early-adulthood years of his 15 and 8 year - old daughters and probably reenter society as a grandfather. He will not be able to practice law or have a pension and his legal fees will have probably bankrupted him.
His publicity seeking during the federal trials were at minimum, unorthodox, and at most, pathetic. Instead of maintaining a low-profile, Blagojevich appeared on television commercials, late-night and day-time talk and news shows and even had a part-time stint as a talk radio host. The lowest points may have been when he and his wife Patti appeared on reality television shows pretty much extinguishing any dignity held in holding the office of CEO of Illinois government. His need for the spotlight may have only been exceeded by his lust for money which led to his downfall. Instead of being remembered for his All Kid’s health insurance program or his free bus rides for seniors initiative, he will probably be remembered most for his taped statement of “ I’ve got this thing and it is f… golden.” The “thing” he referenced was his legal power to appoint a replacement to President Obama’s U.S. Senate seat.
At one-time, Blagojevich looked like a star on the rise. In 2002, he became the first Democrat to hold the Illinois Governor’s Office since 1977. He was even elected to a second term which was surprising because by then, the federal investigation that would ultimately bring him down had started to become public and was even common knowledge among the insiders in the Illinois Statehouse.
Technically, Blagojevich could have been sentenced to 350 years in prison, but the prosecution sought a sentence between 15 and 20 years and the defense wanted a sentence of 3 ½ years. But, to put it in perspective, former Illinois Governor George Ryan, who was of an advanced age and ill health, was sentenced to 6 ½ year on 18 counts and Blagojevich’s co-conspirator, Tony Rezko, was sentenced to 10 ½ years.
As a final slap in the face, Blagojevich will not even have his portrait hanging in the rotunda of the state capitol building in Springfield. He wasn’t the only Illinois governor to end up in prison, but he was the only one to be impeached and removed from office. One could argue that having his portrait in the rotunda could make a bigger statement about Illinois political history than omitting it.
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