Blagojevich Busted

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Comparing his state Senate impeachment trial to an "old cowboy movie," Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Friday afternoon that instead of getting a fair trial, lawmakers were "hanging" him and the people of Illinois.

At a news conference at the Thompson Center, Blagojevich referred to a cowboy who was charged with stealing a horse the Old West. A fellow cowboy wanted to hang the thief, but another cowboy warned him he needed a fair trial, Blagojevich said.

"Under these rules, I'm not even getting a fair trial. They're just hanging me… and they're hanging the 12 million people of Illinois who twice elected a governor," Blagojevich said.

Blagojevich added that his choice not to attend his impeachment trial in the Illinois State Senate was "not an act of defiance," but a protest against what he again characterized as a violation of constitutional civil liberties.

He also called on the editorial boards of major Illinois newspapers to encourage the State Senate leadership to change the rules of impeachment, and repeated that a major tax increase would be certain to come.

Blagojevich and his attorneys have said repeatedly that they are boycotting the impeachment trial and will not be there to participate.

The governor said rules adopted by the Senate after he called the opening session to order last week make it impossible for him to get a fair trial. And he called on Senate President John Cullerton to do something about it.

"Just change those two rules," Blagojevich said. "Allow me to challenge the charges, allow me to call witnesses like Rahm Emanuel." 

Blagojevich focused on two specific rules. One, rule 15F, bars testimony from anyone federal prosecutors say would jeopardize the criminal corruption trial against the governor -- meaning Blagojevich can't call just anyone he'd like. Another, rule 8B, restricts challenges to charging document prepared by the state House of Representatives during the impeachment proceedings.

Blagojevich said he would like to be in Springfield for the State Senate trial on Monday, but he would not be present because he was being denied his constitutional rights.

"To participate in a process that denies fundamental due process, and to be part of a process that doesn't allow for calling of witnesses, and worse than that, doesn't allow for me or any citizen to challenge charges that are brought against me, is a fundamental violation of the constitution," Blagojevich said. "It is a trampling of the constitution."

He said he might call White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett, and U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. to testify on his behalf if he were permitted to call witnesses, and claimed they would all testify he had done nothing wrong in picking a U.S. Senator to replace President Barack Obama.

The governor asked Illinois newspapers to "get involved, write editorials, and urge the state Senate leadership to change these rules."

He focused in particular on the Chicago Tribune, referring to a quote etched in the lobby of the Tribune Tower about the U.S. Supreme Court case Near v. Minnesota. The 1931 ruling came out against censorship of the press, after gangsters and political forces in Minnesota tried to gag a local newspaper. Tribune owner Col. Robert McCormick played a major role in the defense of the newspaper.

Blagojevich compared his own situation to the Minnesota politicians' attempt to "gag" the free press.

Ironically, one of the charges against Blagojevich is that he threatened to withhold state assistance in the sale of Wrigley Field unless the Tribune fired editorial writers that had opined against him.

Blagojevich also claimed that both Democrats and Republicans in the state General Assembly, including Senate President Cullerton, want to raise taxes and were certain to do so the minute the governor left office.

He claimed that if he were removed from office without a chance to defend himself, the checks and balances would be executive and legislative branches would be lost.

"This is much bigger than me," he said. "If you can remove me from office like this, then you tell me what governor is going to challenge the legislature."

The governor's departure, accompanied by more shouted questions, was followed by the arrival of one of the men who drew up the Senate rules, Sen. Matt Murphy (D-Palatine).

"I couldn't speak on behalf of 59 senators but I don't see why these rules need to be revised," Murphy said. "Their perfectly fair rules are consistent with any prior impeachment trial conducted in this country."

Friday after his formal news conference he went to WVON to address the station's huge African-American audience and host Cliff Kelley, who calls himself the "governor of talk radio."

"If anyone wants to impeach the governor of talk radio, I'm against it," Blagojevich said.

During an hour on-air, Blagojevich fielded some 10 listener calls, all of them supporting him.

"Anything I can do," a viewer named Julia said, "I'm behind you 100 percent."

"Thank you, Julia," the governor responded. "It's gratifying to hear you say those things and whatever happens to me, in many ways, is less important than the bigger principle and that is this, Julia.

"Future governors, if they throw me out of office without giving me a chance to challenge the evidence, to call witnesses to show that I'm innocent and have done things right for the people, if they can get away with throwing out a governor you elected, millions of others in Illinois elected twice, then what's going to happen to the next governor?"

Blagojevich initially shied away from the media after his Dec. 9 arrest on federal corruption charges, including allegations he tried to schemed to benefit from his power to name President Obama's replacement in the U.S. Senate. But he's now focusing on public relations, and has addressed the media several times this week.

Former political strategist and current Northwestern University professor Clarke Caywood says he would advise the governor to keep talking --deflecting attention to the state senate's unprecedented impeachment process and off of himself.

"The best advice is don't let other people set the agenda for you or talk about you - you must talk about yourself in a crisis situation," Caywood said. "So he's doing that .. gaining some sympathy."

Earlier Friday, Blagojevich held a 40-minute interview on WLS-AM, followed by his news conference and a later appearance on WVON-AM.

On WLS radio, Blagojevich insisted he hasn't done anything wrong.

"What I did and what I was doing and all the rest was in the best interest of the people," Blagojevich said. "And it was, of course, part of a political process that is not that inconsistent with the way the process works.

"At the end of the day, it was all about trying to do the right thing for the people of Illinois."

He also issued the claim in that interview that the General Assembly is bullying him out of the way so that they can pass "huge" increases on income and gas taxes.

"The fix is in – they've even put a date where the trial is going to end. How can you do that if you're going to be fair?" Blagojevich said. "They decided, again, make it quick, make it fast, pretend like, to the best of your ability, there's some fairness to it. And then Pat Quinn's the governor, and they start raising taxes on you guys. That's what's going to happen."

But he has been making the rounds elsewhere in recent days, including a one-on-one interview with CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine, and an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday.

When Levine asked Blagojevich if he has considered stepping aside temporarily or resigning outright, Blagojevich said: "Put me aside … It's whether or not a legislature can have an illegal, farce impeachment process to throw government out."

In the AP interview, Blagojevich compared his arrest to the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

"Dec. 9 to my family, to us, to me, is what Pearl Harbor Day was to the United States," Gov. Rod Blagojevich said in an interview with The Associated Press. "It was a complete surprise, completely unexpected. And just like the United States prevailed in that, we'll prevail in this."

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Blagojevich wants to appear on the ABC show "The View" in order to defend his wife.

Blagojevich also says he's a character in a Frank Capra movie, trying to fight for middle class people while the politicians conspire to remove him.

CBS 2's Dana Kozlov, Joanie Lum, Mike Parker, Chief Correspondent Jay Levine and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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