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*AsofFebruary14,Foundationwere I think not as harmful
as what Gov. Blagojevich
did who are never going to
receive one bit of consider-
ation from this president,”
said Durkin, a former prose-
cutor who played a lead role
in Blagojevich’s impeach-
ment.
Republicans knew they
had their work cut out for
them after what the party’s
state chairman, Tim
Schneider, acknowledged
was a “rough year” in 2018.
The GOP lost the governor-
ship and all other statewide
offices, saw Democrats ex-
pand their stranglehold in
the General Assembly and
pick up two traditionally
GOP U.S. House seats.
With Illinois a solidly
blue state in presidential
elections due to Democratic
turnout in Chicago and
demographic changes that
have eroded the longtime
GOP leanings of the subur-
ban collar counties, there
was little for Trump to gain
politically in freeing Blago-
jevich — something the
state’s underdog Republi-
cans realized.
“Blagojevich is the face of
public corruption in Illinois,
and not once has he shown
any remorse for his clear
and documented record of
egregious crimes that
undermined the trust
placed in him by voters,”
said a statement released by
the five Republicans in the
state’s congressional dele-
gation who had previously
urged Trump not to pardon
Blagojevich or commute his
sentence.
“As our state continues to
grapple with political cor-
ruption, we shouldn’t let
those who breached the
public trust off the hook.
History will not judge Rod
Blagojevich well,” said the
statement signed by U.S.
Reps. Darin LaHood of Pe-
oria, John Shimkus of
Collinsville, Rodney Davis
of Taylorville, Mike Bost of
Murphysboro and Adam
Kinzinger of Channahon.
After the dismal 2018
election, Republicans had
hoped to capitalize on the
federal corruption investi-
gations that have ensnared
some of the state’s most
powerful Democrats.
Ald. Edward Burke, Chi-
cago’s longest serving alder-
man, last year pleaded not
guilty to sweeping corrup-
tion charges alleging he
abused his office to extort
work for his law firm and
other favors from compa-
nies and individuals doing
business with the city.
The charges against
Burke came after Ald. Dan-
iel Solis became the center
of a spiraling FBI probe at
City Hall. Solis resigned
after secretly wearing a
wire and cooperating with
federal investigators amid a
probe into his alleged
wrongdoing over a two-
year period.
In Springfield, state Sen.
Martin Sandoval of Chi-
cago, head of the chamber’s
powerful Transportation
Committee, resigned and
pleaded guilty to a bribery
charge, and agreed to coop-
erate with federal investiga-
tors in a burgeoning, wide-
spread probe of public cor-
ruption involving construc-
tion, transportation and
power company officials,
lobbyists, gambling inter-
ests, a red-light camera
company and at least three
suburban mayors.
State Sen. Tom Cullerton,
D-Villa Park, has pleaded
not guilty to federal chargesover an allegedly no-show
union job.
Former state Rep. Luis
Arroyo, D-Chicago, has
pleaded not guilty to a
federal charge over alleg-
edly attempting to bribe a
state senator to support
gambling-related legisla-
tion. Arroyo resigned his
House seat after his indict-
ment. State Sen. Terry Link,
D-Vernon Hills, has been
identified by a Tribune
source as a cooperating wit-
ness against Arroyo, but he
denies that.
Federal investigators also
have sought documents in-
volving the Republicans’
chief political target, House
Speaker Michael Madigan,
as part of an investigation
into the lobbying practices
of ComEd and its parent
company, Exelon. Federal
authorities have raided the
Downstate home of power-
ful former lobbyist Mike
McClain, a top Springfield
insider and one of Madi-
gan’s closest friends.
It all has made for a
potent tableau for Republi-
cans to paint their anti-
corruption strategy to at-
tract voters — until Trump’s
decision to let Blagojevich
out of prison.
“I think it doesn’t help
the argument,” said Illinois
Senate Republican leader
Bill Brady of Bloomington.“We here in Illinois had
to live through the tragedy
of what Rod Blagojevich
did, and (we) better under-
stand the hurt and the
damage he did to our repu-
tation,” he said. “That is
why uniformly you saw us
say that if the judicial sys-
tem thought that 14 years
was the right amount (of
prison time), then that’s the
right amount.”
Brady said he believed
most voters would consider
Trump’s commutation of
Blagojevich’s prison time as
a matter of compassion
rather than a reflection of
the president’s views of the
crimes the former governor
committed.
But Trump has defended
Blagojevich’s actions, saying
last August that Blagojevich
was behind bars “over a
phone call where nothing
happens.” He added Blago-
jevich “shouldn’t have said
what he said, but it was
braggadocio.”
And on Wednesday,
Trump issued a tweet that
included a major falsehood:
“Rod Blagojevich did not
sell the Senate seat. He
served 8 years in prison,
with many remaining. He
paid a big price.”
There is a lot riding on
the GOP message in Illinois.
In addition to looking to
elect more Republicans inNovember, the party is look-
ing to use the corruption
angle to fight Democratic
Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s signa-
ture agenda item — voter
approval of a change in the
state’s constitution to im-
pose a graduated-rate in-
come tax to replace the
currently mandated flat-
rate income tax.
Their argument is that in
the midst of federal investi-
gations, Democrats cannot
be trusted with a move that
would give the state an
additional $3.6 billion in
annual revenue.
Pritzker is cognizant to
the threat the corruption
argument by Republicans
brings to voter consider-
ation of the proposed
amendment and has been
using an anti-corruption
theme of his own.
On Thursday, he noted
that more than a decade
after Blagojevich’s im-
peachment, “We still have
politicians in this state who
are on the take. We’ve got to
get rid of them. We’ve got to
make sure we find them out.
We’ve got to make sure they
get prosecuted.”
Democrats, for the most
part, want nothing to do
with a Blagojevich return to
Illinois. Many, including
Pritzker and Mayor Lori
Lightfoot, supported Blago-
jevich’s continued incar-
ceration scheduled through
March 2024.
But Pritzker has a Trump
connection that won’t go
away — secret government
wiretaps that were part of
the federal investigation of
Blagojevich that were ob-
tained by the Tribune in the
months leading up to
Pritzker’s November 2018
victory.
In a Nov. 14, 2008, con-
versation between the two
discussing an Obama Sen-
ate replacement, Pritzker
called Secretary of State
Jesse White the “least of-
fensive” among candidates
for the job. Speaking about
other options, Pritzker re-
ferred to then-state Senate
President Emil Jones as
“crass” and then-U.S. Rep.
Jesse Jackson Jr. as a
“nightmare.”
Following the release of
the conversation by the
Tribune in February 2018,
Pritzker, then a candidate
for governor, issued anapology to the African
American community and
said, “On that call, I was not
my best self. I can be better.
I have been better and I can
do better and I have.”
On Thursday, Pritzker
was again compelled to ad-
dress the issue.
“There were hundreds of
people who were recorded,
to be clear. And let’s also
make sure we all under-
stand that what happened
more than 10 years ago has
nothing to do with where
we are today in this state,”
he said.
Upon his release, Blago-
jevich dubbed himself a
“Trumpocrat” — but Brady,
the Senate Republican
leader, says his party wants
nothing to do with him
either.
He maintained ongoing
news stemming from the
federal investigations may
overtake any need to ad-
dress Trump’s commuta-
tion of Blagojevich’s sen-
tence.
“I think that the prevail-
ing issues involving illegal
activities will persist as
these Democrats continue
to go through the court
system,” Brady said.
Durkin said he thinks
voters will continue to ask
questions about Trump and
Blagojevich, especially as
the ever-loquacious Blago-
jevich seeks public forums
to voice his criticism of
federal prosecutors while
still proclaiming his inno-
cence.
“When the Republican
president of the United
States says, ‘You know
what? You don’t have to pay
your debt to society on a
case that deals with public
corruption,’ people in Illi-
nois are obviously going to
be confused,” Durkin said.
“I also think they’re go-
ing to take the position that,
‘Why didn’t you take this
more seriously, Mr. Presi-
dent?’” he said. “Public cor-
ruption is something that
has cast a long shadow upon
state government, and to
me, considering the envi-
ronment that we’re in, it
minimizes what should be a
strong statement coming
out of the administration
about where it stands on
issues of corrupt officials.”[email protected]GOP
Continued fromPage 1
President Donald Trump talks Tuesday at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, where he
announced he commuted the sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.EVAN VUCCI/AP