I'm Sure This Doesn't Have Anything To Do With Anything: Report of Favor-Trading Between Rahm Emmanuel and Rod Blagojevich

The Chicago Way.

He pulls a gun, you pull a hold on school-district funding.

As the article says, this doesn't appear criminal. In fact, it doesn't even appear unethical, or at least not so much anyone will go berserker over it.

But it is interesting that the two shared this sort of one-for-me-one-for-you relationship, and I wonder about the content of their communications about the senate seat.

President Barack Obama's chief of staff, then a congressman in Illinois, apparently attempted to trade favors with embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich while he was in office, according to newly disclosed e-mails obtained by The Associated Press.

Emanuel agreed to sign a letter to the Chicago Tribune supporting Blagojevich in the face of a scathing editorial by the newspaper that ridiculed the governor for self-promotion. Within hours, Emanuel's own staff asked for a favor of its own: The release of a delayed $2 million grant to a school in his district.

The 2006 discussion occured with Blagojevich's top aide, Deputy Gov. Bradley Tusk, and doesn't appear to cross legal lines; Emanuel couldn't speed up the distribution of the funds. But it offers a peek at ties between two high-profile Illinois politicians — one now the president's right-hand man, the other facing years in prison if convicted of political corruption.

posted by Ace at 03:09 PM

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