Pay to Play : How Rod Blagojevich Turned Political Corruption into a National Sideshow

By Elizabeth Brackett

Brackett, award-winning correspondent for "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," uncovers new details in the Rod Blagojevich scandal as she goes behind the story of the first governor to be impeached by the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1566638348
• ISBN13: 9781566638340
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: Dee Publisher, Ivan R.
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.11 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A Good Description on Blagojevich Controversy

The author writes that aides to Governor Rod Blagojevich sought to financially gain from people desiring Gubernatorial appointments. This became a norm that continued through an attempt to make a financial deal for a vacant U.S. Senate seat. These deals have led to the indictment of Rod Blagojevich. Blagojevich is seen as someone who enjoyed the political game yet did not like holding office. He took a populist approach to politics where he reached out to voters. Yet he failed to make connections with other office holders that might have helped him advance a governing agenda. Thus he had few political allies when his troubles developed. The State Senate impeached him by 59 to 0. There were allegations that Gubernatorial appointments improperly went to campaign contributors. The Governor's father in law was among those making the charges. The FBI wiretapped Blagojevich and overheard him declaring he wanted something in return for his U.S. Senate appointment. He was also recorded stating he wanted campaign contributions in return for state-awarded contracts and employment, which is known as "pay to play". U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzpatrick led an investigation into public corruption. Robert Grant of the FBI declared "if Illinois isn't the most corrupt state in the United States, it's certainly one hell of a competitor." Illinois politics has historic roots in corruption. The previous Governor George Ryan was convicted of corruption. It was surprising to the author that the new Governor similarly acted in a corrupt manner, especially as numerous local officials were also convicted for improperly making political hires, and it was thought that should send a warning to others. A single information claimed Blagojevich had been a bookie while also serving as a state's attorney. Blagojevich and the local bookie's street tax collector both denied this. That statute of limitations had passed and the matter was not pursued. Blagojevich worked in office of his father in law, Alderman Richard Mell. The U.S. Attorney's office investigated whether employees such as Blagojevich were ghost employees. No charges resulted. Ethics charges were brought against Blagojevich for allegedly representing personal legal clients before the city government for which he worked. The Rules Committee, chaired by Alderman Mell, dismissed the charges. Blagojevich was elected to the state legislature. He seemed disinterested in the work of a legislator as he often had to be requested to appear for critical votes and he seldom attended committee meetings. He was elected to Congress where he was little involved in the legislative process sponsoring just one bill that became law. Blagojevich ran for Governor. Former U.S. Commerce Secretary Bill Daley, brother of Chicago Mayor Dick Daley, was a leading possible candidate. Dick Mell circulated an allegation that Daley had a conflict of interest difficulty. Daley did not run. Blagojevich ran as a reformer an

Fascinating story -- but far from over

I work for the State of Illinois and can vouch for the fact that the antics of Governor "Blago" were well known long before the FBI came knocking on his door. After reading this book I actually had a little more sympathy and understanding for him and where he came from -- along with an even stronger conviction that he should never have been elected governor even once, let alone twice. The rest of the country should be grateful he never realized his presidential ambitions! Elizabeth Brackett took on quite an heroic task trying to put out a reasonably comprehensive "instant book" on Blagojevich in a short period of time. The book is a pretty quick read but you can tell it was rushed into print -- there are some errors here and there. For obvious reasons the story seems incomplete (since there is nothing in it about the indictments, the outcome of the perjury investigation against Roland Burris, etc.). I hope Brackett will come back with a sequel or expanded version of this book after Blago's trial next year.

Illinois Politics Revisited

I just completed Ms. Brackett's book about my native state. I am a news junky, and thought that it would be old news, on a subject that I have followed in the paper on a regular basis. I was very pleasantly surprised that the book brought out a lot of facts and information I was not aware of. It is a well documented story about our State, probably the most corrupt in the USA at the moment. It is well researched, and would both be enjoyable and very frustrating for taxpayer's seeing our government in action.

blago exposed

i wouldn't pay a dime to read his lies, but Elizabeth Brackett is a respected journalist, and I support her efforts any way i can

Great Book on Illinois Politics

Having read this book unlike the person who gave just 1 Star, I can say this a great book on Illinois Politics and the Pay to Play System. Reading this book you will learn Blagojevich's background and than get a seance of what he does and why he does it. He reminds me a lot of Nixon personality wise. They both kept lists of enemies, If you did something they didn't like, Blago and Nixon will get payback to you when they got power and wearily enough they were both avid runners and they both ran together in NYC after Nixon left office.