THE JURY IS OUT

My reading this week has been typically wide-ranging and inspiring. I have been absorbed in Melvin Urofsky's well-researched biography of Louis Brandeis (an inspiring lawyer, humanitarian and U.S. Supreme Court Judge), Kevin Theis' book on his acting debut in south Florida, dips into a biography of Edward Bennett Williams (one of America's finest trial lawyers), the beginning of another blockbuster David Mamet play, "Romance," news from The New York Times and an occasional New Yorker piece.

This morning I read some Greek mythology about why Odysseus and his crew got into trouble with the gods after the sacking of Troy. I cover a lot of ground in a week.

As Saturday dawned and time for writing came upon me, the topic that most enraged me was the retrial of Illinois' former Governor, Rod Blagojevich, his antics outside the courtroom, and the ridiculous early trial commentary of Chicago journalist Elizabeth Brackett.

Two years before Blago got indicted, it was widely known on the street in both Democratic and Republican circles in Chicago, that the Blago administration was a "pay to play" regime.

Last year Blago and his theatrical defense lawyers managed to fool ONE juror of 12 on twenty counts of his federal indictment, making this year's retrial necessary.

In the course of last year's trial plenty of evidence emerged that Blago was a thoroughly corrupt con artist and thief. He stole six years of his Governor's salary from the Illinois citizenry, doing almost no work during his six years as Illinois' Governor. The properly authorized tapes the FBI made of Blago phone conversations with his staff showed him to be a foul-mouthed con artist through and through. When the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama's election to the Presidency opened up, Blago looked on his ability to fill that vacancy purely as an opportunity to enrich himself by trading the appointment of the seat for his economic advantage. One tape quotes Blago telling his chief of staff to make it appear that Blago was acting in the public interest during the negotiations to find him a high-paying job in exchange for the Senate appointment.

He never earned his salary as the Governor and plunged deeply into a narcisstic and grandiose lifestyle that his modest salary could not support. Spending $400,000 over a six year period on clothes for Blago and his wife, while earning a modest salary as Illinois Governor, Blago was in financial trouble when the Senate appointment hit his desk.

Despite this damning evidence that has emerged in a courtroom, Blago is still a free man, who loves to press the flesh before and after his courtroom days giving autographs and words of nonsensical hope to the foolish Chicagoans outside the federal courthouse on Dearborn. My God, Ben Franklin, I fear for the future of the American republic with voters like these going to the polls.

Don't get me wrong, Blago is entitled to a fair retrial and he will get one before Judge Zagel and a second jury.

We are now into the seventh day of jury deliberations. A verdict next week will probably be a win for the prosecutors and justice. Deliberations that run into a third week might signal an acquittal on many counts and a frightening acceptance of public corruption in our fair state.

Voltaire