Accused governor retains power to appoint

The 52-year-old Democratic governor denies conspiracy to commit fraud and soliciting bribes. He was granted $4,500 (€3,463) bail by a federal judge at the district court in the northern district of Illinois yesterday.

Blagojevich has sole control over who will replace Mr Obama, who resigned from the Senate after winning the presidency.

Today, senator Dick Durbin said: “No appointment by this governor, under these circumstances, could produce a credible replacement.”

But until state politicians call a special election, Blagojevich still has the power to appoint someone to the post.

Speaker Michael Madigan said he was prepared to call the Illinois House into session as early as Monday to set a special election to fill the seat.

Illinois Senate president Emil Jones said he had something similar in mind.

In Washington, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made it clear he did not want to seat anyone under such a cloud, saying the charges were “appalling and represent as serious a breach of the public trust as I have ever heard”.

There were no accusations that Mr Obama knew what was going on.

Speaking in Chicago yesterday, he told reporters: “Like the rest of the people of Illinois, I am saddened and insulted by the news.

“It’s a sad day for Illinois.”

Earlier, at a high-profile press conference, US attorney Patrick J Fitzgerald, the chief prosecutor in the case, said the allegations against Blagojevich marked a “truly new low” and a “sad day for government” in a state with a reputation for corruption.

He said the governor, who was brought in to clean up after his corrupt predecessor was jailed, had been caught “in the middle of a political corruption crime spree”.

Mr Fitzgerald said the governor’s attempt to sell the Senate seat was the “most appalling conduct” contained in the allegations and Blagojevich “talked about selling this like a sports agent”.

“The conduct would make Lincoln roll over in his grave,” he said.

“The governor’s own words describing this Senate seat, ’It’s a bleeping valuable thing. You just don’t give it away for nothing’.

“Another quote, ’I’ve got this thing, and it’s bleeping golden. I’m just not giving it up for bleeping nothing. I’m not going to do it.

“’I can always use it. I can parachute me there’.

“Those are his words, not our characterisation, other than with regard to the bleep.”

Blagojevich discussed getting campaign funds for himself or possibly a post in the president’s cabinet or an ambassadorship once he left the governor’s office, Mr Fitzgerald said.

He also discussed getting a substantial salary for himself at a non-profit foundation or an organisation affiliated with labour unions.

Mr Fitzgerald said the breadth of corruption laid out in the charges was “staggering”.

“They allege that Blagojevich put a for-sale sign on the naming of a United States senator,” he said.

“The conduct that we have before us is appalling.”

Robert Grant, the FBI special agent in charge of the investigation, told reporters that Illinois was “certainly one hell of a competitor” for the most corrupt state in the US.

He said the FBI agents involved were “thoroughly disgusted and revolted” by what they revealed and “even the most cynical agents in our office were shocked”.

“I want to make money,” Blagojevich allegedly said, during one conversation monitored by FBI agents.

The governor was arrested on charges of conspiring to get financial benefits through his authority to appoint a US senator to fill Mr Obama’s seat.

Among those being considered for the Senate post include US Representatives Danny Davis and Jesse Jackson Jr.

FBI agents bugged Blagojevich’s campaign offices and placed a tap on his home phone during the investigation.

Mr Fitzgerald said Blagojevich criticised Mr Obama on the tapes and said: “Obama’s people, they’re not willing to give me anything except appreciation. Bleep them.”

Blagojevich also “involved himself personally in pay-to-play schemes with the urgency of a salesman meeting his annual sales target”, Mr Fitzgerald said.

Blagojevich’s chief of staff, John Harris, was also arrested and faces the same charges.

According to the federal criminal complaint, Blagojevich was also charged with illegally threatening to withhold state assistance to Tribune Co, the owner of the Chicago Tribune which filed for chapter 11 protection yesterday, unless members of the paper’s editorial board who had been critical of him were fired.

Agents learned Blagojevich was seeking $2.5m (€1.92m) in campaign contributions by the end of the year, with a large part allegedly to come from companies and individuals who have got state contracts or appointments.

Corruption in the Blagojevich administration has been the focus of a federal investigation involving an alleged $7m (€5.38m) scheme aimed at squeezing kickbacks out of companies seeking business from the state.

Mr Blagojevich took the chief executive’s office in 2003 as a reformer promising to clean up former Governor George Ryan’s mess.

Ryan, a Republican, is serving a six-year prison sentence after being convicted on racketeering and fraud charges.

A decade-long investigation began with the sale of driver’s licenses for bribes and led to the conviction of dozens of people who worked for Ryan when he was secretary of state and governor.