Uh, Kass works for the Tribune, one of the largest papers in the U.S., not some weekly alternative you've never heard of. He *is* the mainstream media. He also wasn't alone -- Blagojevich and his circle have been under investigation for years, with Rezko and others already convicted. It was only a matter of time before Rod got his.
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To date I haven't seen anything other than Obama's garden (purchased on his behalf by Rezko) to connect him to all of this. Keep in mind that corrupt systems breed corrupt politicians, but they also breed reformers. Quinn, Madigan, and -- I believe -- Obama are all reformers. And we've already had a whole campaign tarring him with guilt by association, so maybe actually coming up with something concrete that he's done is a standard we all can live with.

John kass of the Chicago Tribune is the one coming out of this smelling like roses. He has been writing about the political machine of Chicago for YEARS now, and has hammered the Blogojevich regime over and over the last 5 years. He also repeatedly mocked the main stream press on the Obama mania, and how they did not have a clue how Chicago politics work, and just how ultra corrupt things were there, and the characters who come out of it. I know everyone will say there are no ties to Obama, blah blah blah. Those are the same people who voted for Blogojevich on his platform of hope, change, ethics, clean government and all that crap. Then they act so shocked when they get nailed on corruption.

Gina this is just the tip of the iceberg here. If Obama was involved or his transition team knew anything about this we will never know. If the President elect was a republican we surely would have a huge investigation and heads would be rolling. This is very common in Chicago politics and we just elected one to the most powerful office in the world. Should be interesting.

Gazettefan -

Why do want Daley as well? Do you live in Chicago?

so, basically, you are of the opinion that EVERY politician is corrupt? I wonder, again, then why do we want to make Iraq be like us? We are sending our kids out to die in combat so we can have corrupt businessmen-turned-politicians laugh in our faces and put "for sale" signs up instead of democratic elections and by the people for the people...the way the U S Constitution mandates, even if the Governor can appoint a position, isn't there an obligation to uphold the principles of US Government? Oh, that's right-they are politicians; they can do whatever they want. I am ready to move out of this country, to be quite honest. Who sends 18 year old kids to die and then disrespects their devotion and love of their country like this??? POLITICIANS!

Someone (Hannity) already tried to link President-elect Obama to Blagojevich and it didn't work. Nice try...

so, mercy fudged on its promise????

I specifically recall the Blagojevich election; as I had a good friend down in IL, who's father in law was involved in IL politics. Blagojevich ran on a CLEAN government platform. His attitude was holier than though. He preached of ethics, high moral standards, hope and change. The same nonsense that every hack from the Chicago machine runs on.
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People are DUPED time and time again by these slick talking phonies, thinking they will really solve their mundane problems which none of these clowns could care less about. It's all about personal power, prestige and ego. It just amazes me how people don't seem to get this concept. There is no "cleaning it up;" government IS the problem. Where you have big government you have MASSIVE corruption. It's really that simple. Yet we want the government to now take over, bailout, and nationalize every major industry. Yeah, we're really heading in the right direction here!

criminals are in every walk of life. I, for one, am interested in cleaning up politics by getting the corrupt ones out. I'm also for getting pedophiles out of the churches. I am pretty much ok with getting guns and knives (and questionable leather gloves) out of the hands of violent criminals and famous ex-wife-killers such as O.J. Simpson and not allowing the aforementioned to have it easy on the "inside" because of who they know, how much money they have pilfered (from people who "kind of" trusted them) or because their name is recognizable. I think they should have to do their time by living on the OUTSIDE on minimum wage, with a broken down vehicle and a curfew they MUST abide by. Or send the entire lot of them into the desert without a thing other than the shirt on their backs and let them fight it out. I'm completely fed up with the corruption that it makes me wonder what freedoms our soldiers are really fighting for in Iraq. The freedom to take advantage of everyone we know?? or the freedom to not follow any laws? It IS, after all, our RIGHT to do what we want, now, right??

Anybody from Illinois knows that the corruption there is bipartisan -- the Chicago Tribune's anti-graft columnist John Kass calls it the "Illinois Combine", as nobody cares which party is in power as long as the slush continues to flow, especially to highway construction. People think of the Chicago Machine, but even Kass thinks Daley is too smart to ever get caught, certainly not as blatantly as Blago has. There's sleaze Downstate as well; Ryan was a pharmacist from Kankakee before he became bagmaster at the Secretary of State (DMV) and then Governor.
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Mercy's involvement here is really incidental as the corruption was pretty clearly at the level of the players on the Health Planning Board, with the goal being lucrative construction contracts. Since Mercy itself never contributed the money it's not even clear whether they were properly, shall we say, nudged. Money did change hands between other insiders, presumably without the knowledge of Mercy. Oddly enough, they were almost incidental to the entire process.
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The relevance to Wisconsin is mainly in this question of hospital capacity that has consumed many pixels on Gazettextra. If St. Mary's should not build a new facility in Janesville, or if Edgerton should remain independent, or if Mercy should maintain programs, all would be under the thumb of a planning board subject to similar corruption. Overcapacity is a social expense but it may be preferable to graft, which has more serious consequences.

It’s good to see this shady character is being brought to justice. To my understanding, Mercy donates funds to charitable causes in several communities. I personally would like to read about some of those stories. At least this crook didn’t get anything from them.

Crapola? Is that the best you can come up with that will get by the censors? Pitiful.
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Maybe Jesse Jackson Jr. didn't send an emissary to negotiate a purchase, but could his father be the one that did? He certainly has deep enough pockets.
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If they throw a scandal and don't invite any Republicans, will anyone notice?

billnewbie, your own crapola is backing-up on you. You're the one flinging the digs. You can't deal with clear reasoning and that causes you to spin-out.

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They should throw that psychopath Blago into the same cell with George Ryan then they should toss that moron Richie Daley in there too!!!

Out of curiosity, I decided to click the link provided by Sannio and I noticed that if you do a search for contributions under the name "Mercy" it will produce a list of contributions made from organizations with that name, including those in Chicago, Homewood and Chesterfield, MO. At any rate, this article is mostly about "old news" and the focus is on what has transpired in the news with Gov. Blago.

So have you got anything to add on this subject or are you just trying to show me up? Not that I mind, you can write anything you want about me. It is sort of flattering to be the object of your derision. I must have really gotten under your skin.
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So, you have no tolerance for Catholics but what do you think of that political machine those crazy flatlanders tolerate?

billnewbie, you're spinning-out. Your clash with me on the institutionalized child rape in the Catholic Church has triggered a bizarre oral ideation on your part.

Hi sannio - thanks for the link. I think one thing you failed to mention is that in Illinois, there are several organizations that operate under the name of Mercy and contribute to political figures so we should not jump to conclusions. From my understanding, nothing went to the Bloggo campaign with relation to the Mercy we know.

As long as dragonbreath thinks my post is ridiculous, then I know I've made an effective point.

Yeah, billnewbie, your partisanism looks ridiculous in that Blogo's predecessor, Republican George Ryan, is currently in the slammer for the same kind of corruption.

Just think our newly elected President is from this same political climate and has had dealings with many felons. It's gotta make you feel good about his character. I feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Sometimes I read articles, and they leave me with a question. This one left me with who Mercy did contribute to between 2002-2004.
http://www.elections.il.gov/CampaignDisc...
Ahhh.... I feel better now.

It doesn't matter if they are Democrat or Republican. Former IL Gov. Ryan was a Republican and he is serving time right now for the same thing.

Billnwbie, I hope I am correctly sensing the sarcasim in your comment. I was just reading a story on how the major media is very obviously leaving out the fact that Blagojevich is a DEMOCRATIC governor when they cover this story. Wonder how our president-elect is involved? I'm sure we'll never know.

Those filthy Republicans are at it again. What a scandalous group of greedy jerks! Selling Senate seats and holding up Hospitals for power and money only proves their contempt and disdain for the little people. Thankfully the Democrats will soon be cleaning this all up when they fire all the U.S. Attorneys and replace them with their own choices.

They should put Blago in the same cell with that flatulent George Ryan. Then toss that idiotic Richie Daley in there too.

Illinois would be well-rid of Blagojevich, from the sounds of it. Illinois has had quite an issue with corruption.

I'm not understanding why Mercy is involved, since they were already found not to have contributed.