Secret Tapes Helped Build Blagojevich Graft Cases; Hospital CEO Reported Shakedown, Wore Wire

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: Washington Post, Page One

The wide-ranging public corruption probe that led to the arrest of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich got its first big break when a grandmother of six walked into a breakfast meeting with shakedown artists wearing an FBI wire.

Pamela Meyer Davis had been trying to win approval from a state health planning board for an expansion of Edward Hospital, the facility she runs in a Chicago suburb, but she realized that the only way to prevail was to retain a politically connected construction company and a specific investment house. Instead of succumbing to those demands, she went to the FBI and U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald in late 2003 and agreed to secretly record conversations about the project.

Her tapes led investigators down a twisted path of corruption that over five years has ensnared a collection of behind-the-scenes figures in Illinois government, including Joseph Cari Jr., a former Democratic National Committee member, and disgraced businessman Antoin "Tony" Rezko.

On Dec. 9, that path wound up at the governor's doorstep. Another set of wiretaps suggested that Blagojevich was seeking to capitalize on the chance to fill the Senate seat just vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

Many of the developments in Operation Board Games never attracted national headlines. They involved expert tactics in which prosecutors used threats of prosecution or prison time to flip bit players in a tangle of elaborate schemes that Fitzgerald has called pay-to-play "on steroids."...

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/21/AR2008122102334_pf.html

[Dennis Donovan]

1. I dunno - Blago claims he's innocent...

...he seemed pretty adamant about it too.:rofl:

On edit: Of course, my post is :sarcasm: I thought it was obvious. Maybe not?:shrug:

[opihimoimoi]

2. Yes he did....but, IMHO, his body language reeked of Guilt....he is hoping for a deal to make him go

away w/o jail time...

[napi21]

5. They ALL claim innocense UNTIL they're scams are proven

and made public!

[bagrman]

6. There's a lot of innocent people in jail, just ask them.

[Merlot]

3. Late 2003? and it's just now coming to light?

what were they waiting for? sounds like they could have arrested him and lotsa other people then.

[Dennis Donovan]

4. They also could've arrested him on 11/3/08...

I think they wanted an ironclad case, but freaked (and acted) when they realized he was about to appoint a US Senator sold to the highest bidder.

[Garbo 2004]

9. Investigation not just coming to light. Investigation worked its way up the food chain with previous

indictments, convictions and people flipping, providing evidence. Just as with the previous investigation which took years and wound up with around 60 convictions, including former Gov Ryan.

[appleannie1]

13. It is not just coming to light With each indictment they are

putting pressure on others to turn state's evidence. There have been a number of high profile arrests over the years that have led to more people involved. That is how it is done. Rome was not built in a day sort of thing.

[roody]

7. What does grandmother of 6 have to do with it?

Is this sexism, stupidity, or a hidden agenda, or all of the above?

[Igel]

10. Think "speaking truth to power". Sort of.

Humble grandmother, with images of little old ladies baking cookies for their grandkids, instead being instrumental in taking down bigwigs and fighting corruption.

A private citizen, probably senior citizen and therefore, in some sense, marginalized, instead having the courage to take on a corrupt political machine, at the risk of personal lost, in order to do what is right. A grannie become moral crusader, while at the same time pointing out that "little old women" can also be business owners and move and shake movers and shakers.

Factual, to be sure, but many facts could have been included yet weren't. And yet probably not sexism or agism, nor stupidity, but a way of making the case not one of one powerful interest fighting another, but a little (wo)man fighting the powers that be. Licet populism. Much stronger image, much stronger hook to get the reader to read a bit further.

[murielm99]

12. I know this woman.

She is anything but a humble grandmother. She is a powerful person, the CEO of a hospital. She is also a big republican who lives and works in a republican area.

I have known Pam since junior high. She is beautiful, talented and anything but grandmotherly. She is still under sixty. She has six grandchildren because she has children and grandchildren from her first marriage and children and grandchildren from her second marriage.

Her first husband is a lawyer and a friend of mine. I went to school with him, too. Her second husband is a doctor. Her parents were both psychiatrists.

She is no less qualified because of her husbands or connections. And Blago is no less of a crook because of it either. He deserves to go down.

But to hear Pam described that way makes me ROFL.

[pattmarty]

8. See, this case is NOT about the "selling" of a US Senate..........

.........seat. This investigation has been going on for several years. NOBODY in Illinois likes this guy. The press all of a sudden got interested when the vacated Senate seat of a President-elect was mentioned. The press ain't looking at New york, or Colorado or fucking Arizona are they? This guy is a shitbag that will probably get convicted of or plea bargain to a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT corruption charge than regards the US Senate seat.

[WoodyD]

11. What does grandmother of 6 have to do with it?

It's the typical media standards as they apply to girly woman of the female gender. If the same standards applied to men, we'd see something like this:

"The case is being prosecuted by Patrick Fitzgerald, a slender, attractive man whose boyish appearance belies his forty-some years. At this morning's press conference he wore a gray pin-stripe suit cut to flatter his athletic build, with a navy tie that set off his sky-blue eyes to perfection."

But that would be silly.

The rule seems to be that if the woman is thirty-ish or under, include a description of her appearance, hair color and what she's wearing. If she's forty-ish or more, find some other way to define her on a personal rather than professional level, like "the slim, still-attractive mother of three" or "doting grandmother and Sunday school teacher."

In this case I think they were going for a "little old lady taking on the big bad boys" vibe. But that's a bit undercut by the fact that she was a professional doing her job. Where's the fun in focusing on that?