Blagojevich Deeply In Debt: Owes Over $1M In Legal Fees, Mortgage Payments

CBS 2:

A criminal complaint isn't the only problem Governor Rod Blagojevich and his wife have to deal with. CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker reports their financial future looks as dim as any political future.

According to published reports, when times were good for Governor Blagojevich and his wife, the couple made nearly a million dollars a year. Most of it was from Patti Blagojevich's real estate commissions. As of late, Patti's position as a fundraiser for a social service agency makes her only $80,000 dollar a year. Her salary combined with her husband's yearly salary of $177,000 is just over a quarter of a million dollars. That is not bad for most, but perhaps not good enough for the governor.

Cindy Canary is with a non partisan public advocacy group. She says the governor seems to be in a good deal of personal financial debt.

Blagojevich owes $750,000 in first and second mortgages on his Chicago home, another $150,000 on a Washington condo, and $500,000 in legal fees and if he decides to fight his latest legal problems, Canary says corruption cases can cost millions of dollars.

Read the whole story: CBS 2

Comments

[BabsfromKansas]

So when will we start hearing about the women and the powder habit?

[bbridges1962]

Swing low...sweet chariot...coming for to take your home....

[randeg]

What I can't understand is with a past like his, how did he get elected to his office? Another issue on this that might come up is the fact that Patti's commission earnings my be cited as earned through activities that may be regarded as a conflict of interest. Would people buy real estate from her just because her husband is the governor? As for the money they owe, they can only blame themselves because they were earning almost a million dollars a year and now just over a quarter of a million dollars a year. Still that's a lot of money and with their perks should be enough.

Evelyn Guzman
http://www.debtchallenges.com (If you want to visit, just click but if it doesn’t work, copy and paste it onto your browser.)

[harriettubman]

Even though IL is one state you'd think it had a 38th parallel like Korea because Chicago gets all the money, perks, infrastructure repairs, the political appts, jobs while the Southern part of the state gets the crumbs.

[taceva]

This Blago guy looks so unstable, that I belief we will hear in the near future that he decided on the suicide solution....shame

[Freedomscap]

Too narcissistic to commit suicide.

[terkid]

This guy looks like a street thug- and obviously operates like one.

Let him fry!!

[mamala4]

I think he looks like a cabbage patch doll...at least he has the brain of one...

[edwarvir]

Now it becomes clear why Patti is screaming for more
money. Living within their means is out of the question.
MO MONEY MO MONEY!

[AddictedToHope]

I'd feel for him, but I can't reach that low.

[LeonBNJ]

I suspect that much of his debt was to pay to run for office, especially for governor. Over the last 10 or so years it is getting to be that only the very rich or those that can attract the money of the rich can run for many higher political offices in both parties. That leads to the rich to control our politicans even more or massive personal debt.
As noted, Blago could have got a $171,000/year pension but will lose it if convicted. All states should cap all state pensions nationwide at something like $40,000/year wether a janitor or governor and a lot less for those that only serve a few years in elected public service.

[watchingthings]

Maybe Blago's well on his way to his next big lifestyle change........Tent City.......after he does his jailhouse routine.

[MPeter]

How much do Governors in Illinois make? This man is in a worse financial shape than a High School kid at a McJob! Is Illinois a bad employer or this Blago guy is just a poor financial manager?

[Freedomscap]

Poor financial manager. Read the piece, sweetie.

[afgail]

Blagojevich is finanacially and mentally desparate right now and he will lkley go postal any day now. He's dangerous and people should run the other way if they see him coming.

[Right-turn]

I guess we know now why it was "Pay-To-Play". Looks like he needed a cash injection to keep himself afloat.

[BartLA]

If this couple cannot manage their finances with what they make, he deserves to go down. He certainly is inept to be governor. It's the same thing as the Colemans in MN living beyond their means. Answer: turn to corruption to get more cash flow. Our response: OUST THE SOBS!

[Totto]

When one makes $1 million a year, it might be a good idea to pay off the mortgage. May he soon owe $2 million for what he's putting good people through. Why couldn't he be a Republican like so many other crooks?

[Hrotea]

MORE BIG NAMES ARE LIKELY TO EMERGE FROM GOV. BLAGOJEVICH'S HUNDREDS OF HOURS OF FBI-TAPED PHONE CONVERSATIONS RELATED TO “SENATE SEAT FOR SALE”

By Hermie Rotea

President-elect Barack Obama's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel has been identified as one of many persons that Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois had conversed over the telephone about who he should appoint to the U.S. senate seat that Obama has vacated, which the FBI had secretly taped.

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has used the conversations as evidence in his federal indictment of Blagojevich on charges that he had tried to misuse his appointing power as governor to appoint Obama's senate successor by offering to sell it to the highest bidder. Obama and 50 Democratic U.S. senators have urged him to resign.

Out on bail, Gov. Blagojevich has refused to quit and defied impeachment. Described as "crazy," he appears bent on fighting back. In so doing, he might drag down with him other big names who might have been involved in his "Senate Seat For Sale" scheme. Actually, though, there is nothing wrong even if Emanuel or Obama had talked to him about who he should appoint.

It would be unnatural for them not to care about who should succeed Obama in his former Senate seat. They would naturally prefer a Democrat or an ally to be named in order to bolster Democratic control of the Senate. There is nothing illegal about that, unless there was evidence of payment offer.

[bygollymissmolly]

Well, that's what happens when you live beyond your means. I would be happy to be making half of what this couple makes and could make a quite comfortable life for myself. As it is, I make a little more than $24,000 a year and I am living comfortably. Of course I don't find it necessary to own fancy cars and live in fancy houses. The ego of this man is stunning.