Op Ed on Blago trial

From Andy Shaw:


The Better Government Association's executive director, Andy Shaw, pens an Op Ed in today's Chicago Sun-Times that takes a look at the upcoming Blagojevich trial from a "good government" standpoint, since the prosecutors are alleging in the indictment that government was perverted and subverted by the ex-governor and his cronies when they allegedly turned the state into a pay-to-play ATM for the ex-governor's campaign fund, his wife and themselves. The indictment also includes a cast of alleged "enablers" who went along to get along instead of quitting or speaking up. And according to BGA board member and former federal prosecutor Pat Collins, the "culture of corruption" in Illinois won't change until we have more heroes and fewer enablers. The ex-governor says he is being "persecuted," not "prosecuted," and he is of course presumed innocent until a jury says otherwise. But the allegations touch on everything the BGA stands for and cares about, so we plan to be an active voice before and during the trial on issues relating to good government.


BY ANDY SHAW

Chicago's a great theater town, and culture buffs have been enjoying an unusually robust season that features hits such as "Billy Elliot," "Million Dollar Quartet" and "The Lost Boys of Sudan."

But the most riveting drama of the year may turn out to be the free show scheduled to open June 3 in a packed courtroom on South Dearborn. Titled "United States vs. Rod Blagojevich," it will play to an overflow crowd from jury selection to final verdict months later, and the main story is well-known:

Disgraced former governor who claims to be an innocent victim of government persecution, not prosecution, tries to convince a jury that has been watching his bizarre national media circus that he didn't really do anything that would "make Abe Lincoln turn over in his grave."

In other words, he wasn't trying to sell the Obama Senate seat to the highest bidder; or conspiring with a few insiders to get rich in office; or threatening to withhold state contracts from a children's hospital CEO, a movie producer and a racetrack owner who didn't cough up enough campaign cash; or selling a top state job to a major contributor for 25 large, or talking about getting an acerbic editorial writer fired.

That's the crux of the government's case, and Blagojevich says it's nonsense, so his lawyers will have at it daily with their rhetorical flourish and legal wrangling. We'll be served up a tasty sampling of profanity-laced wiretap recordings, and the wild card will be the behavior of the voluble and unpredictable defendant.

The denouement will be delivered by a jury that tells us if Rod R. Blagojevich goes free or becomes the latest addition to Illinois' ignominious "Hall of Shame."

That's the main story. But former federal prosecutor Patrick Collins, who is now a Better Government Association board member, says we also should pay close attention to the subtext: For a "culture of corruption" to survive and thrive, as it has here in Illinois, you need enablers who aid the perpetrators, minions who go along to get along and a cast of inside characters who know that something's amiss but do nothing about it.

Some already have pleaded guilty, and they'll be prosecution witnesses: Former Blagojevich lieutenants John Harris and Lon Monk; fixer Joe Cari, and one-time state official Ali Ata. We may hear from lobbyist John Wyma, one of Blagojevich's closest friends until he traded immunity for information. And perhaps the ultimate "Mr. Fixit," Tony Rezko.

Read on.