Here in Chicago, where we are accustomed to news that challenges the thresholds of belief, we awoke Tuesday to find that our governor, Rod Blagojevich, had become the second Illinois chief executive in a row to be subjected to criminal charges.<\/p>\n
The 76-page criminal complaint implies that Mr. Blagojevich was such an inveterate schemer that despite being the obvious target of a three-year federal grand jury investigation into trading state jobs and contracts for campaign contributions, he had to be taken out of his house in handcuffs to prevent him from selling off the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.<\/p>\n
Even by Chicago\u2019s picaresque standards, Tuesday\u2019s developments are mind-boggling, even more so to a former federal prosecutor like me with an understanding of some of the nuances of the federal criminal justice system. The most worrisome element is that Mr. Blagojevich\u2019s shameless behavior seems to have put Chicago\u2019s United States attorney, the estimable Patrick Fitzgerald, into the unenviable position of having to bring a case before he was ready.<\/p>\n