"Chicago isn’t the most corrupt American city. It’s the most theatrically corrupt." — Studs Terkel.
Assuming Studs didn’t work this one out in a sitdown with Jesus and Molly Ivins, he’s missing a hell of a show. Are you enjoying it so far? From our seats it’s a doozy, a real feds-n-taps first-lady-bleepin’ circus. As if that eye-popper of an indictment wasn’t enough (and really, you should read it), Jesse Jr.’s performance yesterday was masterful acting. To claim that before Tuesday, Jesse hadn’t spoken to Blagojevich in four years? As if he’d just shown up for their Tuesday meeting re: the Senate seat with no introduction, no talk beforehand, like some unknown going to a job interview. Like he was just nobody. In this town, where you need an emissary (known as a “chinaman”) just to get a job cleaning sidewalks?
Oh, how we laughed.
We were shocked, too. We’re not completely jaded. Even we were caught off guard by a governor who would shake down a children’s hospital. That’s some stone cold corrupt right there. But perhaps we underestimated him. Up until now, Blagojevich was that guy who only speaks when he has a bad idea--the man had a 13% approval rating before all this happened. Nobody liked him anyway.
We certainly underestimated his ambition. He’s thinking president (!?!), and we all thought he was a local guy. Illinois politicians fall into two categories: Local guys and national guys. It’s all about the scope of your ambition. National guy: Dick Durbin. Local guy: Mayor Daley. The local guys are interested in moving only so high. Their whole goal is to stake out a territory, hold onto it with both fists, and then maybe pass it to your kids. Emil Jones has been in the state legislature since 1973, has been Senate president since 2003, and wants to hand the seat directly to his son. Donald Stephens was mayor of Rosemont from 1956 until he died in 2007 (yes, 40 years), and his son now runs the place. Mayor Daley… well, you see what I mean.
The question now is, what next?
Once the governor resigns (and he will, probably by Sunday), and Jesse Jr.’s chinaman is named, the rest of the country is going to lose interest. The camera trucks will disappear and you all will remember him as, “…That corrupt guy from Illinois. The one with the hair. Blajogavitz?” But don’t leave yet. There’s a whole second act coming, possibly with musical accompaniment. What do I mean? I mean Blagojevich is going to sing.
Talking to the feds won’t keep him out of jail--he IS going to jail. Those tapes (assuming they aren’t thrown out) are going to sink him but good. But he also has two young daughters, and it’s Christmas. He’s going to look at them by the pretty tree with all the lights and think, Prison? No [bleeping] way. Because he thinks he’s a negotiator, he’ll try to cut a deal, and he may have something good to offer. He’s been backstage at Chicago/Illinois politics for a long time. What he knows could fill a very lurid and highly classified book.
Besides, it’s not like he has any friends left to alienate. So he’s going to do whatever he can, and probably earn himself 18-24 months in the George Ryan Memorial Home for Governors in Wisconsin. The public will know that he’s being punished (sort of), and he’ll get out while he’s still young enough to have a life.
Of all the people worrying about what he might say—there were so many unnamed characters in that indictment—the person who should be the most worried is Mayor Daley. Maybe he and Blagojevich don’t like each other, but they have people in common. Remember, Blagojevich wasn’t the only person arrested by the feds. They also arrested his chief of staff, John Harris...who spent years working for Mayor Daley, first in the mayor's office and then at O'Hare Airport—a job you don't get without Daley's approval. What does THAT guy know?
And in ways that only work in Chicago, Daley would be a bigger prize for the feds than Blagojevich. They have wanted to catch that particular fish for years. Jesse just happened to jump into the net. So, unless someone pays Blagojevich enough to keep quiet—and with a federal rap, they really can’t pay him enough—he may sing. He may sing until they ask him to shut up.
Stay tuned. This is just getting good.
