On Nov. 12, Blagojevich told Harris his decision about the open Senate seat would be based on three criteria in the following order of importance:
‘ “pay to play.” That, you know, he’d raise 500 grand. An emissary came. Then the other guy would raise a million, if I made him [Senate Candidate 5] a Senator.’
On Nov. 3, Blagojevich told Advisor A:
‘[O]ur legal situation, our personal situation, my political situation. This decision, like every other one, needs to be based upon on that. Legal. Personal. Political.’
‘I’m going to keep this Senate option for me a real possibility, you know, and therefore I can drive a hard bargain. You hear what I’m saying. And if I don’t get what I want and I’m not satisfied with it, then I’ll just take the Senate seat myself.’
Blagojevich described the Senate seat as:
On Nov. 5, Barack Ob Obama co tive spot w
‘a [expletive] valuable thing, you just don’t give it away for nothing.’
‘I’ve go en, and for [exp it. And parach
ON THE TRIBUNE AND THE CHICAGO CUBS . . . What Patricia Blagojevich said What Rod Blagojevich said
Blagojevich suggested that Harris or someone else should go to the Tribune’s owner and say:
HEATHER STONE/TRIBUNE
The complaint alleges that Blagojevich directed Harris to inform owners of the Chicago Tribune that the state would withhold financial assistance for the sale of Wrigley Field unless members of the Tribune editorial board were fired.
During a Nov. 3 telephone conversation, Blagojevich and Deputy Governor A discussed a Tribune editorial endorsing the creation of a legislative impeachment committee. The governor’s wife, Patricia, can be heard in the background telling Blagojevich to tell Deputy Governor A:
‘Look, we’ve got decisions to make now. . . moving this stuff forward [believed to be state assistance with the Cubs sale] . . . someone’s gotta go to [Tribune Owner], we want to see him ... it’s a political [expletive] operation in there.’
Blagojevich wanted the Tribune owner to block the editorials calling for impeachment. The Tribune owner should be told:
During a su Blagojevich articles in t
‘we don ‘maybe we can’t do this now. Fire those [ex- this [W pletives].’ to give
The complaint alleges that Rod Blagojevich directed Harris to inform owners of the Chicago Tribune that the state would withhold financial assistance for the sale of Wrigley Field unless members of the Tribune editorial board were fired:
Later in the
‘to hold up that [expletive] Cubs [expletive] ... [expletive] them.’
‘[S]omeone should say, “get rid of those people.” ’
’[O]ur r pletive] of there