Perhaps one domestic problem United States President-elect Barack Obama may face upon taking office on January 20, 2009, would be the scandal taking place in the state of Illinois. Not long ago, Illinois Governor Rod Blagovich became the center of a major controversy. Blagojevich is charged with trying to sell favors along with Obama’s vacated US Senate seat for money. Upon winning the US Presidency, Obama would vacate his seat days later to prepare to transition from the George W. Bush administration to the Barack Obama administration.
So far, lawyers for Obama released an internal report. It does state that Obama’s staff did have talks with Blagojevich’s staff. However, the talks did not reveal that Obama’s staff had anything to do with the controversy. It is stated that Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s WH Chief of Staff had a few conversations with John Harris, who is Blagojevich’s Chief of Staff.
However, all that was provided was a list of six names in which Obama favored to fill the vacant seat. But, the report said that there is no information to suggest that Obama or his staff had anything to do with the scandal.
Obama had already called Blagojevich to step down from office. So far, Blagojevich has refused to heed any calls to resign. However, Blagojevich has to deal with the piling legal fees. Blagojevich has made it clear that he will fight tooth and nail to the end. To make things worse for Blagojevich, Harris had resigned from office. It was the same Harris that was in communications with Emanuel.
So far, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan refused the request to have the state pay for Blagojevich’s defense. On the ironic note, Madigan is a name that was mentioned by Emanuel as someone who could fill in Obama’s vacated seat. Madigan did request the state supreme court to strip Blagojevich of his powers. But, that request was denied. There is also the possibility that Blagojevich’s campaign funds could get frozen.
While the report reveals Obama had nothing to do with the scandal, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell had some criticisms. He said that Obama made the blunder of turning a one-day story into a three-day story.