December 9th, 2008 // comments (0)

Mystery Men In Blagojevich Indictment

* Senate Candidate 1, whom Obama’s team wanted appointed and whom Blagojevich was disinclined to appoint without a gift, is Obama confidante and advisor Valerie Jarrett. Jarret withdrew from considering for the seat, maybe partly because she didn’t want to be involved in the coming Blagojevich indictment and scandal (if Rod had appointed her before this all broke, lord knows how bad that’d look for Barry and company).
* Senate Candidate 2, the one whom Chicago Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed shilled for on Blago’s behalf (in order to piss off Obama), is Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. Hey, her dad is the Speaker of the Illinois House. The Illinois House would be the ones who would have to impeach Blago or pass legislation necessitating a special election if they don’t want Rod to still appoint his own candidate.
* Senate Candidate 5, rumored to be Jesse Jackson, Jr., is actually probably Illinois state legislator Emil Jones. This is the one Obama didn’t want appointed, and Blago repeatedly threatened to pick him instead of Jarrett.
* Senate Candidate 6, a rich person Blago wanted to appoint to the Senate in exchange for millions of dollars in donations, is probably J.B. Pritzker. Pritzker is a Hillary donor, a wealthy Chicago businessman, and the brother of Obama finance advisor Penny Pritzker.

Candidate 5 is the person to focus on and I disagree with Gawker’s speculation. All signs to point Jesse Jackson Jr as the mysterious Candidate 5 who was prepared to bribe the Governor. The Smoking Gun has the entire criminal complaint with more details.

So why do I think Jackson is Candidate 5?

The documents refer to Candidate 5 as him, indicating a male candidate. We also know that Jackson met with the Governor as recently as yesterday. He is the only candidate to have met with Blagojevich in the period in question. I could be wrong but there are more points in the direction of Jesse Jackson Jr. as 5 than Emil Jones and rumor has it Obama was pushing against Jackson behind the scenes. It all makes sense… What do you think? Who is Candidate 5?

Ben Smith makes a solid point:

‘Blagojevich told an advisor to leak to the Sun-Times’s Michael Sneed that Blagojevich “is seriously considering Senate Candidate 5 for the open Senate seat” and that the advisor agreed to call the Sun-Times to leak the story’.

That column was printed not with Jackson Jr’s name but with Emil Jones.

Also, some prankster tossed Obama’s Senate seat on eBay to make a point.

Here We Go: What did Obama know and when did he know it… Oh, boy.

Related:

• December 9, 2008 -- Corruption: Illinois Governor Arrested
• July 9, 2008 -- Jesse Jackson: Obama Lost His ‘Nuts’
• December 31, 2009 -- AGING BARACK OBAMA
• April 18, 2009 -- The Gift: Hugo Chavez Gave Obama This Book
• April 1, 2009 -- Barack Obama Sucks At Gift-Giving
• February 24, 2009 -- Update: Durbin Tells Burris To Resign
• February 17, 2009 -- Burris: “I Have Nothing To Hide”
• January 29, 2009 -- Illinois Senate Ousts Blago 59-0
• January 29, 2009 -- Blagojevich Makes Closing Statement
• January 27, 2009 -- Audio: The Blagojevich Tapes