Word: complaints
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...laying out the federal criminal complaint, U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald said Blagojevich went far beyond the realm of hard-knuckle politics into a "political-corruption crime spree." The central allegation is that the governor schemed to extort money and jobs for himself and his wife from the Obama transition team in exchange for naming Obama's preferred candidate (unnamed in the charges) to the open Senate seat. The complaint details Blagojevich's attempts to contact intermediaries to the transition, and in one case it shows him soliciting favors from a union official he identifies as an "emissary." All of this alleged...
...time being, Obama and his aides have declined to comment on the complaint. Asked about the matter at a photo op Tuesday afternoon, Obama said he was "saddened and sobered" by the news but that he had not been in contact with Blagojevich and was "not aware of what was happening." But in the coming days and weeks, the campaign will have to address whether Blagojevich or any of his representatives actually talked to an Obama adviser or emissary on the matter. The transition team will also, undoubtedly, try to distance Obama from a man whom he helped elect...
...Senate-seat scheme is only one of the allegations lodged against the two-term governor, whose administration has been under investigation for alleged "pay to play" patronage practices for years. The complaint claims that Blagojevich tried to extort the owners of the Tribune Company to fire editors at the Chicago Tribune and withhold $8 million of state funds for a children's hospital in hopes of extracting a $50,000 campaign contribution from one of its executives. Blagojevich, who came into office in 2002 with promises to clean up the state's culture of graft, made no comment Tuesday during...
...Blagojevich appears to have started thinking about approaching the President-elect's transition team almost immediately after the election, according to the FBI complaint unsealed Tuesday in Chicago, which is based on wiretapped conversations. In a discussion with his deputy governor on Nov. 5, Blagojevich talked about getting an ambassadorship or a Cabinet position (like Secretary of Health and Human Services) in exchange for the Senate seat. The same day he said, "I've got this thing, and it's f______ golden and, uh, uh, I'm just not giving it up for f______ nothing. I'm not gonna...
...conference call with his wife, close aides and a handful of Washington-based advisers in which he complained that the advisers were telling him he had to "suck it up" and give this "motherf_____ [Obama] his Senator. F___ him. For nothing? F___ him." At this point in the complaint, it's not clear whether Blagojevich, his advisers or any other representatives had actually approached the Obama transition team. Over the next two days, however, Blagojevich stepped up his efforts. On Nov. 11, Blagojevich told his chief of staff and fellow defendant in the complaint, John Harris, that he knew Obama...