The Looming Shadow of Rod Blagojevich
Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich in 2008. Photo taken by Daniel X. O’Neil and obtained courtesy of Wikimedia Commons under an Attribution 2.0 Generic License.
Illinois is no stranger to corruption. Republican and Democratic politicians, representing Illinois on national, state and municipal levels, have been accused and convicted on corruption charges, with a report recently published by the University of Chicago placing Illinois as the third most corrupt state in the U.S. Another report has Illinois as the most corrupt state in the nation 891 convictions concerning public corruption since 2000.
In 2011, Rod Blagojevich, the former governor of Illinois, was tried and found guilty on 17 counts of corruption, the most well-known being his recorded conversation and attempt to get monetary compensation or a job from his obligation to fill Barack Obama’s empty Senate seat after the latter was elected President in 2008. Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison for his crimes. On February 18th, 2020, President Donald Trump commuted Blagojevich’s sentence, ending his prison-time four years early.
Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution of the United States of America gives the President of the United States the power of clemency. This power can be used to either commute or pardon a federal sentence. President Donald Trump has issued 25 pardons and 10 commutations throughout his presidency, with several controversial figures among them, including Sherriff of Maricopa County Joe Arpaio. Arpaio was convicted in 2017 for continuing extensive racial profiling activities against Latino individuals and families concerning perceived immigration statuses despite court orders barring him from doing so. The pardon was condemned by civil rights activists and groups. Trump’s commutation of Blagojevich’s sentence mirrors that of Arpaio’s.
Trump’s commutation of Blagojevich’s sentence is also highly paradoxical. A key aspect of Trump’s campaign for the presidency was his promise to ‘drain the swamp’ of corrupt politicians. Blagojevich is a corrupt politician. Despite their political differences, Trump found similarities between his own persecution and that of Blagojevich, and chose to end his sentence four years early, saying that ‘serving eight years in jail… was [already] a tremendously powerful, ridiculous sentence in [his] opinion’.
However, Illinoisan politicians from both sides of the aisle have condemned Trump’s actions. Democratic governor J.B. Pritzker released a statement about President Trump’s commutation, saying that he ‘abused his pardon power in inexplicable ways to reward his friends and condone corruption’, sending ‘the wrong message at the wrong time’. The five Illinoisan Republican representatives in the House of Representatives wrote a statement condemning Trump’s actions: ‘As our state continues to grapple with political corruption, we shouldn’t let those who breached the public trust off the hook. History will not judge Rod Blagojevich well’. Of the past seven governors of Illinois, four of them have served time in prison. In a state which is already disillusioned by the actions of the government, Blagojevich’s release is extremely damaging to the public trust.
Contributing to that is Rod Blagojevich’s continued media presence. After being released, he gave a press conference calling himself a ‘freed political prisoner’, a declaration challenged by Anderson Cooper on CNN. During the interview with Cooper, Blagojevich repeated his belief on being falsely accused, stating that he had done nothing wrong. Cooper returned this sentiment by stating that Blagojevich had generated ‘a whole new alternate universe of facts, and that may be big in politics today, but it's still, frankly, just bullshit’. Blagojevich has also called himself a “Trumpocrat” (a Democrat who supports President Trump). Rod Blagojevich won’t fade away, and his constant media presence is a consistent reminder to the people of Illinois that corruption exists in all forms of political life. It is also a constant reminder to the American people that under the Trump administration loyalty is rewarded above all else, and corruption is not always punishable.
Rod Blagojevich is not going to fade away quietly. He will continue to be present in the media. However, no matter what attempts former Illinois governor Blagojevich makes to improve and mend his legacy, the commutation of his sentence is unlikely to change his complicated and tarnished legacy within the state of Illinois and nationwide. His shadow and that of his commutation will continue to lurk as a reminder of all that is broken in Illinoisan politics.
