Senators hear G-rated Blago tapes at impeachment hearing
SPRINGFIELD - Gov. Rod Blagojevich's voice was heard in the Senate impeachment trial Tuesday plotting to meet a racetrack owner over legislation to benefit the horse racing industry in an attempt to pressure him for a campaign contribution.
It came in muffled snippets, caught on wiretaps and trimmed by federal prosecutors for airing in the case to kick the governor out of office.
In one recorded conversation - sure to play in the minds of senators weighing Blagojevich's fate - an aide and lobbyist tells the governor to call Balmoral Park owner John Johnston to put some "pressure" on him to donate long-promised cash to his campaign.
Blagojevich responds that he will and says he plans to tell Johnston, "We wanna do it and hope, hope to do this so we can get together and start picking some dates to do a bill signing? Right?"
The four separate recordings show how over the course of three weeks, the governor goes from worrying whether Johnston will donate to hearing how his aides are trying to get the cash by the end of the year.
In a Nov. 13 conversation, Blagojevich's brother Rob, who heads the campaign fund, assures Blagojevich the money is coming, to which Blagojevich says, "Right - before the end of the year, right?" The new ethics laws took effect at the turn of the year.
When the cash still doesn't come by early December, former Blagojevich chief of staff Lon Monk, a lobbyist, is recorded setting up a visit with Johnston.
Monk then calls Blagojevich to say he told Johnston, "Look, there's a concern that there's gonna be some skittishness if your bill gets signed because of the timeliness of the commitment."
Blagojevich responds, "Good."
Monk also assures the governor in a phone conversation the next day that "he's gonna be good for it. I got in his face."
Blagojevich responds, "OK, good."
The legislation at stake could have meant hundreds of thousands of dollars to Johnston's racetrack in profits diverted from casinos, prosecutors say.
The release of the nearly five-minute portion of recordings - played twice during Tuesday's proceedings - is the first time the public has heard any of the scores of wiretapped conversations that led to the governor's arrest in early December on sweeping federal corruption charges.
Prosecutors say they have the governor on tape scheming to trade a U.S. Senate appointment for campaign cash or a post-government job, shake down a children's hospital for campaign cash and strong-arm other state contractors for donations.
But Blagojevich wrapped up the second day of a national media blitz Tuesday in which he claimed prosecutors have distorted his words. He says a criminal trial will prove him innocent and that if lawmakers could hear the entire conversations, they wouldn't throw him out.
"When the whole story is told, you'll see that I was doing what was right for the people and trying to make the right decision with a lot of different considerations and ideas," he told the CBS "Early Show."
The two-term governor, who ran as a reformer, also claimed that he may have thought about or talked about such illegal acts, but never carried through on them.
He told The Associated Press: "In the end, a lot of it was talk and exploring ideas. I never, ever intended to violate any criminal law."
The tapes senators heard Tuesday were cleared for release by a federal judge at the request of lawmakers pursuing the impeachment as the governor refused to step down.
Lawmakers expect the impeachment trial, the first for a governor in Illinois' storied history, could wrap up by the end of the week.
Transcripts of the wiretaps, especially those related to the U.S. Senate seat, have caused a national stir not only for the allegations but also for the governor's vulgar language.
But the portion played Tuesday for the Senate contained none of that, focusing solely on the horse racing legislation and containing no "bleeps."
In fact, given their buildup, the tapes seem to fail to reveal the smoking gun many had expected.
In addition, the somewhat low-quality recordings were difficult to hear when played over the sound system in the cavernous Senate chamber. After the first airing, senators were given a transcript so they could follow along when played a second time.
While the senators, who serve as judge and jury in the impeachment trial, aren't supposed to comment on the proceedings, House members can.
"I think the tapes were very powerful," Marengo Democratic state Rep. Jack Franks said. "To hear the governor unveil in his own words the scheme to get campaign funds ... exposed the ugly underbelly of corruption in Illinois."
State Rep. JoAnn Osmond, an Antioch Republican, said, "These tapes show how these requests for payment happened over a period of time, not just one call, and this nature of doing business in Illinois needs to be stopped."
In addition to the tapes, FBI Special Agent Daniel Cain, who put together the case against Blagojevich, was there Tuesday, but he was unable to answer essentially any of the questions senators posed, saying federal prosecutors limited what he could and could not discuss.
Before the tapes, senators listened as the impeachment prosecutor read Blagojevich's most damning comments caught on federal wiretaps. Cain confirmed it really was the governor's words and it was all accurately recorded.
By now, the comments the impeachment prosecutor recited are well-known in news and comedic circles, the frustrated foul-mouthed rantings of a governor allegedly angered that the new president won't give him anything more than appreciation.
" 'F' him. For nothing? 'F' him," prosecutor David Ellis said, reading a transcript of Blagojevich's secretly captured reaction to President Obama refusing to trade a lucrative job for Blagojevich's ability to pick Obama's successor in the U.S. Senate.
The "Fs" are Ellis' own sanitizing. The tapes themselves allegedly contain numerous profanities spewed forth by both the governor and his wife.
Meanwhile, Blagojevich is expected to return to Chicago by today after appearing on more than a dozen national media shows, including "Larry King Live" and "The View."
On Tuesday, the governor continued to tell the national media the trial is unfair as he refuses to put on a defense in protest.
Two seats at the front of the Illinois Senate remain empty, reserved for the governor and his attorney if they ever choose to participate.
Blagojevich said he contemplated suing to stop the impeachment but decided against it. He also told The Associated Press he hasn't ruled out filing a lawsuit later despite the fact that he told the "Early Show" he likely has no basis to do that.
"We explored all of that," he said. "The courts are loath to get involved in something like this. ... If we had a judicial remedy, I would have been there a long time ago."
Blagojevich also says he wanted all the tapes released even though he filed a court statement earlier this month opposing the release of any recordings or transcripts.
• Daily Herald staff writer Nicole Milstead contributed to this report.
Tapes: FBI agent unable to answer many questions
<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Audio</h2> <ul class="audio"> <li><a href="/multimedia/?category=4&type=audio&item=35">Blagojevich Tape 1 </a></li> <li><a href="/multimedia/?category=4&type=audio&item=36">Blagojevich Tape 2 </a></li> <li><a href="/multimedia/?category=4&type=audio&item=37">Blagojevich Tape 3 </a></li> <li><a href="/multimedia/?category=4&type=audio&item=38">Blagojevich Tape 4 </a></li> </ul> <h2>Related documents</h2> <ul class="morePdf"> <li><a href="/pdf/tape 1.pdf">Transcript of tape 1 </a></li> <li><a href="/pdf/tape 2.pdf">Transcript of tape 2 </a></li> <li><a href="/pdf/tape 3.pdf">Transcript of tape 3 </a></li> <li><a href="/pdf/tape 4.pdf">Transcript of tape 4 </a></li> </ul> <h2>Related links</h2> <ul class="moreWeb"> <li><a href="http://www.ilga.gov/senate/audvid.asp">LIVE: Video of the impeachment trial</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/packages/2008/blagojevich/">Daily Herald's complete coverage of the impeachment</a></li> </ul> <h2>Photo Galleries</h2> <ul class="gallery"> <li><a href="/story/?id=267242">Images of Blago on 'View', 'GMA' </a></li> </ul> <h2>Video</h2> <ul class="video"> <li><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=6737909">The governor on "Nightline" </a></li> <li><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=6730404">"What happened to presumed innocence? Blago on "GMA" </a></li> <li><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=6732966">Blago on "The View": Not proud of potty mouth</a></li> <li><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=6732966">Blago denies Mandela, Gandhi comparisons on "The View"</a></li> <li><a href="javascript:void(window.open('http://video.ap.org/?t=By%20Section/U.S.&g=0127dv_ap_blagojevich&f=ilarl','_blank','width=788,height=598,status=1,scrollbars=1,resizable=1'));">New Associated Press interview (1/27/2008)</a></li> <li><a href="javascript:void(window.open('http://video.ap.org/?t=By%20Section/U.S.&g=0126dv_blagojevich_impeach&f=ILARL','_blank','width=788,height=598,status=1,scrollbars=1,resizable=1'));">Raw Video: Blagojevich Impeachment Trial Opens</a></li> <li><a href="javascript:void(window.open('http://video.ap.org/?t=By%20Section/U.S.&g=0126dv_blago_blitz&f=ILARL','_blank','width=788,height=598,status=1,scrollbars=1,resizable=1'));">Blagojevich Considered Oprah for Senate Seat</a></li> </ul> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=267297">Cost of governor's trip? At least he didn't take state plane <span class="date">[01/27/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=267287">Send in the clowns: Blagojevich plays to cheap seats in 'media circus' <span class="date">[01/27/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=267285">Senator Oprah? Blagojevich takes on the talk shows <span class="date">[01/27/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <iframe height="247" width="300" src="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/28853525#28853525" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><style type="text/css">.msnbcLinks {font-size:11px; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #999; margin-top: 5px; background: transparent; text-align: center; width: 300px;} .msnbcLinks a {text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px;} .msnbcLinks a:link, .msnbcLinks a:visited {color: #5799db !important;} .msnbcLinks a:hover, .msnbcLinks a:active {color:#CC0000 !important;} </style><p class="msnbcLinks">Visit msnbc.com for <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/">Breaking News</a>, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032507">World News</a>, and <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032072">News about the Economy</a></p>