Jesse J Jr. denies making a $500G or more offer to Blago. He’s innocent until he’s guilty, same as Blago, as Prosecutor Fitz said of the latter several times in his news conference yesterday.
Also on the tape are the two or more conversations with an SEIU official about Blago’s getting the $300G/year SEIU-related Change to Win job. Note that neither of these called 9-1-1 to report these calls, reeking of illegality as they were. Twice or more the SEIU naif conversed. Blago may be dumb and brazen, but what of those who did not hang up on him or his guy who did the calling? They are so used to these things, it’s no big deal, apparently.
Chi SEIU local 1 president Tom Balanoff also got a
6 a.m. Tuesday visit from his local FBI, but was out of town for a union meeting. The focus of SEIU discussions was Candidate #1, says the Fitzgerald Complaint (not yet an indictment). That would be thisclose Obama advisor and confidante Valerie Jarrett, per WSJ, “Graft Case Touches Jackson Jr.: Democrat Denies Seeking Senate Seat From Blagojevich; Service Union Is Scrutinized”.
The Obama team used SEIU to keep Blago “at arm’s length,” Republican National Committee alleges. Which puts SEIU in a surrogate role here, seeing what it could see about getting Valerie the senate seat. Who has a half million for this, or a million, more readily available than O. and his team?
Tom Balanoff is brother of the far lesser known James Balanoff, his brother, a (losing) 2007 Oak Park village board candidate.
Meanwhile, Chi Trib’s Sam Zell told a CNBC interviewer he is not “personally familiar” with Blago pressuring the Trib about staffers whom Blago wanted fired. (“Personally”? In what way was he familiar?) Z. couldn’t say if staffers were pressured. He was not asked about his role in the sordid episode.
Both Triple-J, as WLS-AM’s Roe Conn calls Jesse Jr, and SEIU are very close to Obama, by the way. SEIU outgave all other non-party givers to his campaign this year, coughing up $29.2 million in checked-off dues money. Balanoff and Obama go back 15 years, says Balanoff.
Blithe Spirit 
It stinks to high heaven and only one person “dropped a dime” on Blago, the rest were jockeying for the seat for themselves or others. If they didn’t call the feds, they were just doing business as usual, and are as guilty as Blago. Proving it is something else I imagine.
The Messiah has manure up to his ankles or higher.
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