Blagojevich Makes Brief Courthouse Appearance

CHICAGO — Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich met with a renowned Chicago criminal lawyer Saturday as he weighed his legal options on how to fight a scandal that has left his career in tatters and disrupted President-elect Barack Obama's White House transition.

The Democratic governor had a four-hour meeting with Ed Genson in the lawyer's downtown office Saturday. Genson has defended newspaper baron Conrad Black, R&B singer R. Kelly and numerous public figures on corruption charges, earning a reputation as the lawyer big shots call when they get in a bind in Chicago.

Genson confirmed the two met but wouldn't discuss details of their dialogue. When asked if he would take the case, Genson said: "We'll make our mutual decision on Monday."

Blagojevich had brushed back calls for his resignation after he was charged with trying to sell Obama's Senate seat. He sought to project a business-as-usual image amid the turmoil, going to work every day and handling state business.

As the legal maneuvering intensified, some observers speculated that he might be trying to leverage the governorship to his advantage in his criminal case _ just like prosecutors said he did with the Senate seat for financial gain.

"I would be saying, 'Let me see what I can get in exchange for you resigning. Don't just give it up for nothing. Let me see if I can get you a better deal,'" said Steve Cron, a defense lawyer from Santa Monica, Calif.

Others suggested his lingering refusal to resign is more rooted in his ego than anything else. The governor has been known to love being in the spotlight, whether the attention is good or bad.

"You would think he would see his life collapsing around him," said Chicago defense lawyer John Beal, who was in the courtroom with Blagojevich this week and noted how carefree he seemed. "But he was the center of attention and seemed to love it."

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The scandal continued to hound Reps. Jesse Jackson Jr. and Rahm Emanuel, Obama's choice for chief of staff. About a dozen protesters stood outside Jackson's office Saturday demanding his resignation, and Republicans called for more information from Obama about Emanuel's role in the Senate selection process.

The Chicago Tribune reported that Emanuel had conversations _ captured on wiretaps _ before the election with the Blagojevich administration about who would replace Obama in the Senate. The report did not suggest any dealmaking in the conversations, and Obama has strongly denied that anyone on his team committed wrongdoing.

Jackson was identified as one of the candidates Blagojevich was considering to replace Obama, and a criminal complaint said his supporters were willing to raise $1.5 million for the governor to make the appointment happen.

Blagojevich's political future remains in limbo. The Legislature could start impeachment proceedings as soon as Monday, and the Illinois Supreme Court could act on a request by Attorney General Lisa Madigan to strip him of his powers.

Madigan's staff has taken steps to rewrite lender-assurance language on a short-term borrowing plan, according to a spokeswoman for state Comptroller Dan Hynes. That would head off any problems the state has had in paying its bills over the Blagojevich scandal.

The governor has not made any public comments about his future. Spokesman Lucio Guerrero said the governor plans to sign a bill Monday that provides tax credits to filmmakers in Illinois.

Beal, the Chicago lawyer, said Blagojevich may be contemplating a deal with prosecutors or be in denial. Beal said he has seen many white-collar clients go through a defiant denial stage after they're charged with a crime.

"It often takes awhile to sink in on a gut level how much trouble they've gotten themselves into and what their options are," Beal said.

Chicago defense attorney and former assistant U.S. attorney Ron Safer said the prospect of trading a resignation in a plea deal with federal prosecutors may be far-fetched, but Blagojevich's nature seems to be a self-serving one in which he gains a personal advantage from every action he takes.

Safer sized up the prospect of a possible resignation and plea deal from his perspective as a former federal prosecutor: "If he came in and said, 'Look, I want to plead guilty. I want to cooperate. I want to accept responsibility. I'm going to resign my office,' all of those would indicate to me acceptance and would be relevant to me as a prosecutor."

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Associated Press Writer Christopher Wills contributed to this report from Springfield.

Comments

[rroy]

To an "average"guy this mess and it's ensuing consequences is hard to figure out!
The first thing it does is give the print,electronic and blogger media an oportunity to engage in a feeding frenzie over an episode that is fraught with sensationalism that totaly clouds out the actual facts.
The informative evidence I have been able to identify is,the governor has exhibitted his amazing arogance and disdain for the the welfare of his state,and a commitment to his own oportunism.
But,at the present time the public has been given little evidense of actual criminal action!He has not been indicted but has a complaint filed against him by the FBI charging him with plotting to"sell"the
appointment of Obama's Senatorial seat for "monetary" and other future favors,such as political or civil jobs.
So,what the hell else is new?The only difference here is he was caught with his hands in the cookie jar,thanks to electronic survailance.
I still don't see any real hard evidense that he can be convicted of a felony because he talked about one.

[talkabout1]

From The Lipman Times (the new 24/7 Obama news site--so cool!):

Colbert Report Video of the Night

Rod Blagojevich's Birthday:

http://www.lipmantimes.com/?p=877

[wembakoy]

It is about power and the powerful. This is a clip of 7 minutes and can not have all information. If you need more information then you need to visit the link below.

http://okonda.com/please_save_my_people.html

I did my part and you need to do yours if you really care about human lives.

Thanks

[conscioushope]

"He'll have a lot to say......we'll just need to be prepared to fell in all the "bleeps".

[Formeralaskangal]

May it be a short trip from the courthouse to the big house.

[hialoha]

... or is that 'Worst Week'. I can't imagine the language with his wife this week.

[elcojonu]

" I'll have a lot to say............. "
Hmmmmmmm ?

[kylennblack]

I feel bad for the people of Illinois and for Obama and his people for being dragged into this, but I can't help but laugh: Gopher from the Love Boat...er...Blago is so entertaining in a trainwreck kind of way.

"I think that Blago is genuinely enjoying the attention."

For shameless guys like him there is no "famous" and "infamous." There is only "famous."

[Rendon76]

He looks like a sociopath, the kind that are so vain that they do horrendous things.

[conscioushope]

Rendon~

Agreed.

[123andy]

Refer to op eds in WSJ and NYT today about potential prosecutorial misconduct in this case. The US Atttorney dumped a major allegation on the table, and then proceeded to provide his judgement on how awful this all was. Then the AG of Illinois joined the action with obvious personal annimosity toward the governor. So far we have not heard a lot from the Governor, his attorney etc. Other than allegations which are pretty awful what else do we know? All other parties to the conspiracy have denied any involvement....if they are telling the truth then what we have is a Governor saying some awful things, wishing for some outcomes, but not much of a crime. If every governor was thrown out of office for awful comments or wishing for outcomes that benefit them or solve their problems I suspect few would be left in office. Ditto for Majors, Senators, Congressmen etc. This is a lousy situation once again demonstrating a lazy, non-investigating press in action. Willing to speculate based on the work of others, but not willing to do the hard work. It sucks

[Rachael78]

I think that Blago is genuinely enjoying the attention.

At very least, he'll get a book deal out of this.

People are mistaking utter shamelessness for insanity.

[larry278]

Print it on toilet paper so it will sell when its in the remainder bin.