His career in shreds, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich clung defiantly to power Wednesday, ignoring a call to step down from President-elect Barack Obama and a warning that Senate Democrats will not let him appoint a new senator from the state.I imagine Rod Blagojevich thinks he can leverage his defiant refusal to resign into an easy sentence.
But public outrage doesn't quite work that way.
As several criminal celebrities, wandering CEOs, and corrupt politicians could tell Blagojevich, public outrage can add a lot of years onto a prison sentence. Because of the general disgust, O. J. Simpson will be serving at least 9 years for "potentially" hurting people in his Vegas memorabilia grab. Jeff Skilling of Enron got 24 years for hiding his losses at Enron while Bernie Ebbers got 20 for fudging the books at WorldCom.
Blagojevich probably has a few days--maybe a week--to give up his office before public disgust adds 5-10 more years to his sentence.
Personally, I think Rod will get 15-20 out of his bargaining.
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15-20 years on $4,500 bail and his own recognizance? Personally, I'd have already fled the country.
Who would accept his appointment to the senate now if they had a half-decent shot at it in 2010?
I think that the only logical choice, for democrats anyway, is Duckworth. The GOP would have a tough time in criticizing her and she would flood the media and make people forget about this SOB of a governor. She moves up on the political ladder and, if all goes according to plan, would step aside for a more progressive candidate in 2010.
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