The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the Change to Win (CtW) union coalition have each released statements denying involvement in the corruption scandal that led to the arrest of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich this morning.
However, it may be some time before more is known. SEIU, in its statement, says, “In keeping with the U.S. Attorney’s request, we are not sharing information with the media at this time.”
Meanwhile, the Politico’s Ben Smith credits an unnamed “Democratic source” with confirming the identity of “SEIU official” mentioned in the case.
A Democratic source confirms that SEIU President Andy Stern is the “SEIU official” referred to in the federal complaint against Rod Blagojevich.
There’s no allegation that the SEIU official did anything wrong, and what appears to be a wiretap transcript has the official reacting non-commitally to Blagojevich’s offer of a quid pro quo. Another Democratic source tells me that Stern was been in Chicago November 3 meeting with Blagojevich, a discussion thought to have included talk about the Senate seat — though that meeting isn’t mentioned in the complaint.
An SEIU spokesman didn’t respond to a call or email seeking comment.
It’s too early to tell what, or where anything improper, took place. Still, the SEIU and CtW connections are worth watching as the case unfolds. (By the way, Change to Win and SEIU are inextricably tied. SEIU President Andy Stern created CtW when he led his union out of the AFL-CIO in 2005, and SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger is also CtW Chair.)
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People nowadays compromise anything just to do what they think is right. Greed is a revolting act that could get you into a lot of trouble down the line – I’m sure Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich would agree. Blagojevich was arrested early Tuesday, December 9th, on federal corruption charges related in part to the selection of President-elect Barack Obama's successor to the Senate. Shockingly, this is the second time in a row that an Illinois governor has been arrested on federal charges. Illinois' 39th governor, George Ryan, was also charged for political corruption and has served little more than a year of his 6 1/2-year sentence. Much like Ryan, Blagojevich saw an opportunity to use his power to leverage benefits for himself by attempting to sell the senate seat. This only means that he didn’t learn from the mistake of George Ryan. According to the news, Blagojevich was hoping to get a significantly higher salary, a position on the board for his wife, a cabinet post and more in his senate replacement bargain. His greed caught up with him. He wanted a better financial status, but the result is a big trouble to him and to his family. The FBI has filed a seventy-six-page indictment against both Blagojevich and Harris. Apparently his devious deed was caught on tape through a court ordered wiretap last month. The governor is declaring his innocence, professing that everything he said, both in public and in private, has always been lawful. Click to learn more about Blagojevich, courtesy of Personal Money Store's Payday Loan News.