Golden (55 page)

But the Senate seat was really still the top priority on Blagojevich's mind as the month was drawing to a close. Everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Obama friend Eric Whitaker—who had once been a Blagojevich appointee as director of public health—was still being tossed around by Illinois's indecisive leader.

One string of Blagojevich's efforts did involve the supposed deal for Lisa Madigan. He had ordered Greenlee to sketch out ideas for what he could get in a Madigan deal, going over making a list of what concessions to seek from her father. “I would call it arguably the second biggest deal in American history next to the Louisiana Purchase,” he told Greenlee, and told Patti he might very well wind up going that way.

But he remained clearly disgusted with the idea of handing “that princess” a Senate seat. He planned to require a special session of the General Assembly to get the things he wanted passed if Michael Madigan accepted the offer and to go public with his overture if Madigan wound up rejecting it. He told seemingly everyone he spoke to about it that it made him sick to his stomach even thinking about it, but nonetheless, “the flavor of the month is Lisa Madigan,” he told Yang. One moment he seemed resigned to the idea and the next he was back in the weeds. “Nobody is in. Nobody is out,” he told his adviser on the same call.

On Monday, December 1, Blagojevich headed for Philadelphia and a national governors' conference. Presidentelect Barack Obama was there to set out his economic recovery plan and greet chief executives from states across the country. Among those traveling with Blagojevich that day was Quinlan, who was on the phone with the governor that morning telling him about a recent trip to the Reagan library.

“Shit, Obama is gonna get a library, and I'm just gonna fucking fade away,” Blagojevich said. “Hopefully that's the worst of what happens to me, and I don't go to prison.”

The good news, Quinlan said, was that Rezko was back in the news, this time asking for a sentencing date, which would be a good indicator that he wasn't cooperating with the government or at least that they weren't getting along. Rezko was making a public show that he had told the government everything he could and he wanted to end the limbo of being held in solitary confinement in the Metropolitan Correctional Center.

On the phone with Harris a short time later, Blagojevich told him to quietly line up names of people to fill remaining open appointed slots in state government and to have grant action ready, just in case he wound up appointing himself to the Senate in short order. His first option was to deal with the Madigans, he told Harris, though he didn't trust them. If he appointed Lisa, he could make Quinlan the new Illinois attorney general. But if it didn't work out, the leading fallback that morning was himself. And among his questions was what investigative powers a senator had. Could he subpoena people himself or force federal agencies to answer to him?

Just after 3:00 P
M
that day, Harris was on the phone with Rahm Emanuel, who was also headed to Philadelphia, but wanted to know where Blagojevich
was on the Senate seat pick. Well first of all, Harris said, there was some disappointment in Jarrett withdrawing her name.

“I think that was doable, and I could have worked on my guy in terms of vantaging his expectations, but before we could do that, before you gave me a chance to work on him, it was gone,” Harris told Emanuel.

“No, I know,” Emanuel said. “The thing was on that one you should have moved.”

“No, no, I understood, and I got your message loud and clear about ‘thankful and grateful' and …” Harris answered, as Emanuel said, “Right.”

Emanuel said he understood there was a Lisa Madigan movement in the air, but he seemed to be mostly withdrawing from specifically influencing the governor.

For most of two days, it was quiet in Blagojevich's political circles in Chicago with Blagojevich in Philadelphia. But it was anything but quiet in the offices of US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald at the Dirksen US Courthouse. With the taping essentially on pause with Blagojevich out of town, Fitzgerald held a meeting with Grant of the FBI and top people from both the bureau and the US attorney's office. What were they going to do? The original shock and anger at some of what they had heard on the recordings had given way to figuring out how to end things.

Fitzgerald had grown concerned that they had a sitting governor who had yet to make an appointment after working for weeks to see what he could get for himself in a deal for the Senate seat. They could let things go a little further, but it was starting to get risky that Blagojevich would actually make a choice. Schar said it would be derelict of those in the room to allow Blagojevich to make a decision. Everyone in the meeting believed the process had been corrupted, no matter how Blagojevich finally acted. To do something before he made a pick and out the investigation would at least make that corruption known, and the political world could react to any pick by the governor.

In the end, there was agreement. Very soon, they would act, and likely on the morning of December 9, a Tuesday, the day before Blagojevich's birthday and after a possible meeting the governor had been talking about with Jesse Jackson Jr. The governor could do whatever he wanted after prosecutors charged him, but at least it would no longer be on them. One worst-case scenario would be to have the governor make an unexpected choice and
then be charged, leaving the US attorney's office to explain to the public why nothing had been done to stop him. No one wanted to have to tell the people why they had let that happen.

So with that decided, there was only one major decision left. Would the office just issue a criminal complaint and allow the governor to appear in court as so often happened in major public corruption cases? Again, there was agreement, and the answer was no. Blagojevich would be arrested, treated no differently than anyone else who might face charges this heavy. Besides, an arrest would stamp the situation with the appropriate seriousness, the group decided. The meeting adjourned, and planning began to take the governor of Illinois into custody.

Blagojevich was back in Chicago on December 3 and gave Harris a phone update on how things had gone. He had met with Yang and Knapp, who was very against the idea of Blagojevich ultimately choosing to send himself to the Senate. But first, the governor wanted to know how his idea of getting Cubs general manager Jim Hendry a street sign was going. Fine, Harris answered, they were being fabricated and should be up by Christmas. Blagojevich was pleased, and the men started talking about another idea Blagojevich cared a lot about. It was trying to get even more state money to the Cubs. Not in the Wrigley redevelopment plan the governor was already thinking about, but a grant for millions from the state in funds that were supposed to be set aside for science and technology spending. Maybe they could come up with something like solar panels for the ballpark.

On the Senate seat, if there was consensus, it seemed to be for the Madigan play, Blagojevich told Harris. As painful as it was, he could appoint Lisa Madigan and expect a list of things in return. The problem would come if the overture to her father were rejected out of hand. The governor seemed barely able to handle the thought of having to go back around in circles trying to decide what to do. That was the main reason Blagojevich was keeping the thought of sending himself to Washington alive. It would be the best way to head off the most extreme situation, he told Harris.

That was “the double-I,” Blagojevich said. Indictment and impeachment. Unlikely, the men thought, but still something to consider.

Just after 1:00 P
M,
investigators picked up a call on Monk's cell phone. It was Chris Kelly, still looking for information on whether the horse racing
bill was going to be signed. Kelly thought he had basically asked Blagojevich to do it, but there was still no action. The governor's pal, who had been all but ostracized due to his own federal cases, was getting angrier.

“Un-fucking-real. Jesus,” Kelly cursed. “Selfish motherfucker. Huh. Everything is a goddamn game.”

About an hour later, Monk was sitting at the Friends of Blagojevich, and the bill was on the agenda. The microphones in the room captured the conversation. There had been no contribution, and there had been no bill signing. Monk was going to see about visiting Johnston at one of his racetracks that afternoon, and the two could be heard going over what Monk might say.

He was going to ask for the campaign cash, with the signing hanging in the balance.

Monk told Blagojevich he was prepared to have a more pointed conversation on the matter. The message was going to be that Blagojevich was going to sign all of the pending bills on his desk at once, right after the first of the year. So for perception reasons, it was good to have the money right now, to have some separation.

“Look, I wanna go to him without crossing the line and say, ‘Give us the fuckin' money,'” Monk said.

“Right,” answered the governor.

“‘Give us the money, and one has nothing to do with the other, but give us the fuckin' money,'” Monk went on. Stop screwing around, he would say, and besides, Blagojevich was concerned Johnston would get skittish on a donation if the governor signed right then. “I'm going to use the word
skittish,”
Monk said.

And with that, Monk headed for a meeting with John Johnston, later calling from his cell phone to say the message was delivered. Meanwhile Blagojevich handled important phone calls on a tapped phone at the campaign office. One was with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and a second with Senator Robert Menendez.

Reid told the governor there was one truth in the Senate situation. Only one person was going to be happy, the person Blagojevich picked. All in all, Reid said, he had no dog in the fight and only wanted to see someone chosen who could get reelected. The last thing Reid said he wanted was a placeholder, because he would have to figure out a way to help the next candidate raise money while that person wasn't in the Senate.

“But listen, whoever … you choose I will do my utmost to make him feel comfortable and do the best we can with him,” Reid said.

Blagojevich described his ability to name a senator as a mixed blessing, and really not much of a blessing at all. And then he dropped a name into the conversation. He had a “very active” Jesse Jackson Jr. wanting the seat, Blagojevich told Reid.

“Yeah, I don't have to say more on that, do I?” Reid said, indicating both men considered the idea a nonstarter.

Right, said Blagojevich. But things were delicate. African Americans were an important base for him. At least there were other ideas in the air, Blagojevich said, without mentioning Madigan. But he had been in touch with Senator Durbin, and maybe when the time came, Reid could help get behind Blagojevich's plans. Reid said he would do that, and in moments the conversation was over.

Three minutes later, Blagojevich was on the phone with Menendez, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chairman. It was the same message. Menendez said he realized all the pressure Blagojevich was under, but what was most important was maintaining the party's majority in the Senate. The most thought should be given to who could hold the seat. Again, Blagojevich said, there were a lot of dynamics at work in Illinois, but he would do what he could. And again, Blagojevich asked if Menendez might at some point step in to help him push an idea across the finish line.