Lessons From Blagojevich

Audio tapes can be much more devastating (OJ, Blago) than video tapes (Rodney King).

If you think you are being investigated, assume that the government, especially the Feds, is bugging your electronic means of communications.

No money, no lawyer, no defense! The US Attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, freezed Blago’s campaign funds and the Attorney General of Illinois, Lisa Madigan, refused to let the State pay Blago’s legal fees.

Blago should have appointed Lisa Madigan, a mortal enemy, to the Senate seat.

Blago did not receive due process, but life’s not fair, and politics can be purely Darwinian.

Arrogance in politics can be both common and deadly.

Governor Blago spent almost all his time in Chicago rather than fraternizing with legislators in Springfield.

The ability to get elected to office is not the same as the ability to succeed in office.

Be nice to those you pass on the way up because you may see them again on the way down.

Loyalty is fleeting in politics.

Congressman Phil Burton drew a gerrymander work of art in California after the 1980 census. It dramatically changed the California Congressional delegation from 22-21 Democratic to 27-18 Democratic. The Republicans responded by getting the voters to approve a different plan. Chief Judge Rose Bird of the California Supreme Court wrote the opinion invalidating the ballot provision. A removal campaign was mounted in 1986 against Rose Bird and two of her colleagues. The Democrats, whose seats had been saved by the judges, ran away from them.

Blago had no friends when it counted.

Hypocrisy in politics is an art. One wonders how many of the Illinois legislators who voted to impeach and convict Blago have their own ethical issues?

Jesus said “Let him without sin cast the first stone.” Those with sin often cast every stone to get elected.

Why is it that when Republicans get in trouble, the media refers to them as Republicans, such as Republican Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham, but when Democrats get in trouble, their political affiliation is hardly ever mentioned?

Did you know that earlier this week, Salvatore DiMasi, the Democratic Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives resigned, or that he is but the latest in a chain of Democratic House leaders to mess up? His predecessor, Thomas Finneran, pled guilty to obstruction of justice (sounds like Clinton), and a long term speaker, William Bulger, has a brother, Whitey Bulger, who has been on the lam for over a decade. Did you know that a few months ago Massachusetts Democratic State Senator Diane Wilkinson was caught on video taking a bribe?

Unless you are the Man in Black, Johnny Cash, don’t always wear black.