Now it's very interesting to focus on Governor Blago's new way to fill U.S. Senate vacancies--the private auction--but let's remember there was an even bigger shakedown going on.
The owner of the Chicago Tribune is trying to sell the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field. And like any good team owner, he would like the taxpayers to give him stuff or help him lessen his tax burden on the deal. So far, no different than George W. Bush, George Steinbrenner, Jerry Jones or the rest of the sports industry looking for goodies.
But when a team owner owns a newspaper and seeks favors from politicians, a lot of ethical lines get crossed very quickly. See, Blago evidently told Sam Zell the price of public cooperation was the firing of the Tribune's editorial board.
The authority on sports subsidies---Field of Schemes-- had this take on the Blago/Zell "squeeze play"
Illinois gov sought to trade stadium aid for editorial spin
In case you somehow haven't heard, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been arrested and charged with a bunch of mean, nasty, ugly things, including trying to sell Barack Obama's former U.S. Senate seat in exchange for high-paid jobs for himself and his wife. It's another item of Blagojevich's rap sheet that makes this newsworthy here, though: The governor is reported to have threatened to withhold his support for the Tribune Corp.'s proposal to sell Wrigley Field to the state unless the Chicago Tribune fired members of its editorial board that had been critical of the governor; according to one report, Blagojevich's actual words to his chief of staff were: "our recommendation is fire all those [expletive] people, get 'em the [expletive] out of there and get us some editorial support."
The Wrigley sale, you'll recall, would have cost local governments as much as $50 million in lost property taxes, plus perhaps $80 million in subsidies for tax-exempt bonds, most of which would have come out of the federal treasury. A November phone call intercepted by investigators now reveals that chief of staff John Harris told the governor the Cubs would be looking to save $100 million in capital gains tax as well, bringing the total public cost to in excess of $200 million.
Though you have to hand it to Blagojevich in one way: At least, unlike most governors, he asked for something in exchange for a stadium deal.
http://www.fieldofschemes.com/news/archives/2008/12/illinois_gov_so.html
Can't say I like this bailout any more than the bank or auto bailouts. Last time I checked, stadiums and MLB franchises were still pretty valuable, and as we saw in the '94 baseball strike, the nation survived without the game until folks got their heads on straight.
Colin McEnroe, a lefty columnist for the Hartford Courant ,may not be pulling a check much longer from the Trib Corp. after this broadside, which I--much to my shock considering the author-- find myself in total agreement with.
Among the most disturing allegations are the charges that Blago offered to trade government support for the Tribune's sale of the Cubs and Wrigley Field -- a complex maneuver to save the Trib a lot of capital gains taxes -- in return for which Blago demanded that his detractors on the Chicago Tribune editorial page be fired. And now we come to the sad part. According to the federal indictment, the person representing the Trib side of the deal did not tell Blago's people to go bleep themselves. Far from it:
Harris told Blagojevich that according to Tribune Financial Advisor, there would be "certain corporate reorganizations and budget cuts coming and, reading between the lines, he's going after that section."
Blagojevich allegedly responded: "Oh. That's fantastic."
After further discussion, Blagojevich said, "Wow. Okay, keep our fingers crossed. You're the man. Good job, John."
In a further conversation on Nov. 21, Harris told Blagojevich that he had singled out to Tribune Financial Advisor the Tribune's deputy editorial page editor, John McCormick, "as somebody who was the most biased and unfair," according to the complaint.
After hearing that Tribune Financial Advisor had assured Harris that the Tribune would be making changes affecting the editorial board, Blagojevich allegedly had a series of conversations with Chicago Cubs representatives regarding efforts to provide state financing for Wrigley Field.
Now we know what "the perfect storm" is. The perfect storm is filing for bankruptcy on Monday and, on Tuesday, having the most famous federal prosecutor in America claim that someone high up in your organization was willing to discuss swapping out journalistic integrity for $100 million in tax breaks.
http://blogs.courant.com/colin_mcenroe_to_wit/2008/12/blago-would-like-to-draw-your.html
I noted that the Tribune Company filed bankruptcy on Monday http://www.thenextright.com/ironman/major-newspapers-have-gone-to-zell just hours before Blago got pinched in front of his house. I don;t think this was at all coincidental, as it is quite possible Blago's political demise is going to cost Sam Zell a lot of money.
But maybe it won;t. If the Trib's paid Blago any bribes in the past 90 days, the U.S. Trustee can set it aside as a preferential transfer (snark alert)! . In the meantime, it might be interesting to ascertain if Mr. Zell or his minions were willing to provide a bribe to Blago to get their stadium money?
You know, in the battle between a MSM mogul and a corrupt Democratic politician I've left with a quandary. What can I root for besides injuries?
