Word: chicago
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...next President of the United States. He was accused not merely with planning extortion but with trying to force the Tribune Co. to fire editorial writers in exchange for a tax break worth about $100 million. According to authorities, he even threatened to revoke millions in funding for a Chicago children's hospital if its CEO did not pay his campaign a $50,000 tribute. The full buffet of alleged graft was laid out in a 76-page federal complaint that described the sort of corruption superheroes battle in comic books...
...Blagojevich scandal will prove to be a distraction for Obama, a Chicago pol made good who was hoping to put old-fashioned Chicago politics in his rearview mirror. The criminal complaint produced no evidence that Obama or his aides have done anything wrong. Blagojevich was, in fact, recorded complaining that Obama's people were "not willing to give me anything except appreciation." Obama himself maintains that he never talked to Blagojevich about the Senate seat, and during the recent campaign, the two men kept their distance from each other...
...Dick Simpson, a former local elected official who now teaches at the University of Illinois at Chicago, counts hundreds of politicians who have been sent to jail since 1971, including 30 aldermen and three of the past seven governors. "The whole mess has to be taken in context," he explains. But even by Chicago standards, Blagojevich seems especially kleptocratic, according to prosecutors. He tried to shake down highway contractors, job seekers and health-care administrators. He talked of holding up bill-signings in exchange for favors - and seemed not to understand when his targets balked at his demands. When...
...demand that Tribune executives fire editorial writers who Blagojevich felt had it in for the governor. During one call, Blagojevich's wife Patti can be heard calling out from the background, "Hold up that f______ Cubs s___ ... F___ them." Though the message was apparently transmitted to corporate representatives, the Chicago Tribune said none of Blagojevich's critics were pressured to leave...
...With reporting by Eric Ferkenhoff and Steven Gray / Chicago...