Antoin "Tony" Rezko (born July 1955) is a Assyrian (Syriac)-American businessman, political fundraiser, restaurateur, and real estate developer in Chicago, Illinois, convicted on several counts of fraud and bribery in 2008. Rezko has been involved in fundraising for local Illinois Democratic and Republican politicians since the 1980s. After becoming a major contributor to Rod Blagojevich's successful gubernatorial election, Rezko assisted Blagojevich in setting up the state's first Democratic administration in twenty years. Rezko was able to have business associates appointed onto several state boards. Rezko and several others were indicted on federal charges in October 2006, for using their connections to the state boards to demand kickbacks from businesses that wanted to do business with the state. While the others pleaded guilty to the charges, Rezko pleaded not guilty and was found guilty of 16 of the 24 charges filed against him.

Early life and education

Rezko was born in 1955 in Aleppo, Syria, to a prominent Syriac Catholic family. After graduating from college there, Rezko moved to Chicago and earned an undergraduate and a master's degree in civil engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology in the late 1970s. He joined an engineering company, designing nuclear power plants, then left to design roads for the state Transportation Department, making $21,590 in his first year there.

Business Career

Soon after beginning his career as a civil engineer, Rezko started in real estate buying vacant lots and developing single family residences and investing in fast-food restaurants—including the first Subway in Chicago. Many of these properties were in lower-income African American neighborhoods. Then, meeting Jabir Herbert Muhammad, former manager of heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali and son of the late Nation of Islam leader, Elijah Muhammad, he was asked in 1983 to support the successful mayoral candidacy of Harold Washington. J. H. Muhammad's company, Crucial Concessions, which Rezko went to work for in 1984, won a food contract at the Lake Michigan beaches and in many South Side parks after Washington became the first black mayor of Chicago. Rezko put together endorsement deals for Ali, became the executive director of the Muhammad Ali Foundation, and traveled the world with Ali for five years. In 1997, Crucial opened two Panda Express Restaurants at O'Hare, under the city's minority set-aside program. It lost those franchises in 2005, on the grounds that J. H. Muhammad was merely a front for Rezko, who had been appointed trustee of J.H. Muhammad's affairs in the early 1990s because of the latter's failing health. In March 2008 Muhammad sued Rezko, alleging that he had been swindled out of his home and business interests.

In January 1989, Rezko and Daniel Mahru, CEO of a firm which leased ice makers to bars, hotels and restaurants and a former attorney, founded a real-estate development and restaurant holding corporation called Rezmar Corporation. Between 1989 and 1998, Rezmar made deals to rehab 30 buildings, a total of 1,025 apartments, expending more than $100 million from the city, state and federal governments and in bank loans. Rezko and Mahru weren't responsible for any government or bank loans or the $50 million in federal tax credits they got to rehab the buildings. Rezmar put just $100 into each project and got a 1% stake as the general partner in charge of hiring the architect, contractor, and the company that would manage the buildings. They selected Chicago Property Management, also owned by Rezko and Mahru, to manage the buildings including selecting the tenants and making repairs. Rezmar also got upfront development fees of at least $6.9 million in all. Under its deals with the Chicago Equity Fund, Rezmar promised to cover all operating losses in any building for seven years, but had no obligation after that, although the Federal Government could recover the tax credits that Rezmar sold from the holders if the projects did not survive for fifteen years or more. By 1998 the company had a net worth of US$34 million, and it then turned to purchasing old factories and parcels of land in gentrifying areas of Chicago and turning them into upscale condominium complexes.

Rezko was named "Entrepreneur of the Decade" by the Arab-American Business and Professional Association.

Rezko's investment in restaurant food chains had started with a chain of Panda Express Chinese restaurants. In 1998, Rezko opened his first chain of Papa John's Pizza restaurants in Chicago and by 2002, he had twenty-six stores in Chicago, at least fifteen in Wisconsin, and seven in Detroit, part of the financing for these stores was through GE Capital. By 2001, Rezko began to fall behind on his franchise payments and loans and he transferred the franchises to several business associates. In 2006, during a lawsuit with Papa John's over his franchise fees, Rezko renamed his Papa John's restaurants to Papa Tony's. Rezko also had a lien filed against his home after losing a civil lawsuit to GE Capital.

As his business ventures began failing, Rezko entered into several partnership with Iraqi-born business executive Nadhmi Auchi, including a massive 2005 real estate development project on Chicago's South Loop whose value was pegged by an observer familiar with the deal at $130.5 million. In 2008. Rezko was imprisoned for his failure to disclose a $3.5m loan from Auchi.

Legal troubles

Public corruption charges

In October 2006, Rezko was indicted along with businessman Stuart Levine on charges of wire fraud, bribery, money laundering, and attempted extortion as a result of a federal investigation known as "Operation Board Games." Levine was once a top Republican fundraiser who had switched loyalty in recent years. Rezko and Levine were charged with attempting to extort millions of dollars from businesses seeking to do business with the Illinois Teachers System Board and the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board from 2002 to 2004. Levine pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Rezko and others. While the charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison, Levine expects to receive about a 5-1/2 year sentence in return for his testimony. The case was prosecuted by Patrick Fitzgerald.

Rezko pleaded not guilty, and the trial related to his charges from Operation Board Games began on March 6, 2008. He was jailed shortly before the trial began when he received a $3.5 million wire transfer from Lebanon. Rezko had told the court that he had no access to money from overseas. Ten weeks into the trial, on April 18, Judge Amy St. Eve released Rezko, after friends and relatives put up 30 properties valued at about $8.5 million to secure his bond. Prosecutors opposed the motion for release, saying that Rezko was a flight risk. On May 6, both the prosecution and the defense rested their cases. Government prosecutors spent 8 weeks presenting their case. Rezko’s lawyer, Joseph J. Duffy, chose not to present any witnesses, saying that he did not believe that the prosecution had proven the charges. Prosecutors contended that they had shown Rezko's "corrupt use of his power and influence" to gain benefits for himself and his friends. Duffy argued that the prosecution had exaggerated Rezko's influence in state government, and attacked Levine's credibility as a witness.

The case went to the jury on May 13 and after three weeks of deliberation, the jury found Rezko guilty of six counts of wire fraud, six counts of mail fraud, two counts of corrupt solicitation, and two counts of money laundering, but found him not guilty on three counts of wire and mail fraud, one count of attempted extortion, and four counts of corrupt solicitation. According to CBS News the "high-profile federal trial provided an unusually detailed glimpse of the pay-to-play politics that has made Illinois infamous."

While the jury was deliberating on the Board Games trial, an arrest warrant was issued in Las Vegas for passing bad checks in two casinos and failing to pay $450,000 in gambling debts that were accrued between March and July 2006. Another casino had also filed a civil complaint for a total of $331,000 in 2006 and was given a judgment of default in 2007.

Charges related to private business dealings

Rezko is also under indictment, along with a business associate, for wire fraud related to the alleged sale of his pizza business to a straw buyer at an inflated price in order to obtain millions of dollars in loans from GE Capital. Rezko has pled not guilty to these charges and the trial is scheduled to begin in 2009.

Ties to politicians

Ties to Rod Blagojevich

Rezko's relationship with Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and his family were at the root of the federal corruption case which led to Rezko's conviction. Rezko donated $117,652 to Blagojevich's campaigns, and is credited by the prosecutor in his trial with having delivered bundled contributions totalling almost $1.44 million. Since 1997, Blagojevich's wife, Patricia, has made at least $38,000 acting as Rezko's real-estate agent on several of his company's property acquisitions. When Blagojevich won the Illinois gubernatorial election in 2002, Rezko assisted Blagojevich in setting up the state's first Democratic administration in twenty years. Rezko recommended many of his business associates and their relatives for positions within state government, three of whom were appointed to the state board that oversees hospital projects. the state's development board was run by another former Rezko business associate. Rezko and Republican fundraiser Stuart Levine were charged in a 24-count federal indictment for allegedly using Rezko's influence with public officials to demand millions of dollars in kickbacks from companies that wanted to do business with the state. Levine pled guilty and served as the chief witness against Rezko at trial. Levine and several other witnesses implicated Blagojevich in the schemes.

The last indictment in Operation Board Games before Blagojevich himself was indicted was that of William F. Cellini who was indicted for conspiring with Rezko to shake down Chicago-based Capri Capital to get a substantial contribution to Blagojevich in exchange for allowing Capri to manage $220 million in the Teachers Retirement System. After Thomas Rosenberg of Capri threatened to tell authorities, the plan was abandoned. Capri has substantial investments in the Watergate complex and King Abdullah Economic City.

Ties to Barack Obama

In 1990, after Barack Obama was elected president of the ''Harvard Law Review'', Rezmar Corp. offered him a job, which Obama turned down. Obama instead took a job with the firm of Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, which primarily worked on civil rights cases. The firm also represented Rezmar and helped the company get more than $43 million in government funding. The firm's former senior partner, Allison S. Davis, later went into business with Rezko and, in 2003, was appointed to the Illinois State Board of Investment by Governor Blagojevich at Rezko's request. On July 31, 1995, the first ever political contributions to Obama were $300 from a lawyer, a $5,000 loan from a car dealer, and $2,000 from two food companies owned by Rezko. Starting in 2003, Rezko was one of the people on Obama's U.S. Senate campaign finance committee, which raised more than $14 million. Rezko threw an early fundraiser for Obama that Chicago Tribune reporter David Mendelland claims was instrumental in providing Obama with seed money for his U.S. Senate race. Obama in 2007-08 identified over $250,000 in campaign contributions to various Obama campaigns as coming from Rezko or close associates, and said that he donated almost two-thirds of that amount to nonprofit groups.

Also, in 2005 Obama purchased a new home in the Kenwood District of Chicago for $1.65 million (which was $300,000 below the asking price but represented the highest offer on the property) on the same day that Rezko's wife, Rita Rezko, purchased the adjoining empty lot from the same sellers for the full asking price. Obama acknowledged bringing his interest in the property to Rezko's attention, but denied any coordination of offers. According to Obama, while the properties had originally been a single property, the previous owners decided to sell the land as two separate lots, but made it a condition of the sales that they be closed on the same date. Obama also stated that the properties had been on the market for months, that his offer was the best of two bids, and that Ms. Rezko's bid was matched by another offer, also of $625,000, so that she could not have purchased the property for less.

After it had been reported in 2006 that Rezko was under federal investigation for influence-peddling, Obama purchased a wide strip of Ms. Rezko's property for $104,500, $60,000 above the assessed value. According to ''Chicago Sun-Times'' columnist, Mark Brown, "Rezko definitely did Obama a favor by selling him the 10-foot strip of land, making his own parcel less attractive for development." Obama acknowledges that the exchange may have created the appearance of impropriety, and stated "I consider this a mistake on my part and I regret it."

On December 28, 2006, Ms. Rezko sold the property to a company owned by her husband's former business attorney. That sale of $575,000, combined with the earlier $104,500 sale to the Obamas, amounted to a net profit of $54,500 over her original purchase, less $14,000 for a fence along the property line and other expenses. In October 2007, the new owners put the still vacant land up for sale again, this time for $1.5 million.

In June 2007, the ''Sun-Times'' published a story about letters Obama had written in 1997 to city and state officials in support of a low-income senior citizen development project headed by Rezko and Davis. The project received more than $14 million in taxpayer funds, including $885,000 in development fees for Rezko and Davis. Of Obama's letters in support of the Cottage View Terrace apartments development, Obama spokesman Bill Burton said, "This wasn't done as a favor for anyone, it was done in the interests of the people in the community who have benefited from the project. I don't know that anyone specifically asked him to write this letter nine years ago. There was a consensus in the community about the positive impact the project would make and Obama supported it because it was going to help people in his district." Rezko's attorney responded that "Mr. Rezko never spoke with, nor sought a letter from, Senator Obama in connection with that project.

In the South Carolina Democratic Party presidential debate on January 21, 2008, Senator Hillary Clinton said that Obama had represented Rezko, who she referred to as a slum landlord. Obama responded that he had never represented Rezko and had done only about five hours work, indirectly, for Rezko's firm. Within days of the debate, a photo of Rezko posing with Bill and Hillary Clinton surfaced. When asked about the photo, Hillary Clinton commented "I probably have taken hundreds of thousands of pictures. I wouldn’t know him if he walked in the door."

Ties to other politicians

Tony Rezko's first significant political act was hosting a fundraiser for Harold Washington during Washington's successful campaign to become Chicago's mayor. He has since raised funds for many other politicians. In addition to Blagojevich and Obama, prominent Democrats that Rezko or his company, Rezmar, have contributed money to, or fund-raised for, are Congressman Luis Gutierrez, a friend for over two decades, Comptroller Dan Hynes, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn, former Chicago Mayors Daley and Washington, and former Cook County Board President John Stroger. Rezko has also raised money for Republicans, including former Illinois Governors Jim Edgar and George Ryan. The late Rosemont, Illinois, Mayor Donald Stephens and Rezko co-chaired a multimillion-dollar fund-raiser for President George W. Bush in 2003.

Rezko headed the 2002 campaign finance committee for Stroger. Stroger appointed Rezko's wife, Rita, to the Cook County Employee Appeals Board, which hears cases brought by fired or disciplined workers. The part-time post pays $37,000 a year. A Rezko company had a contract to maintain pay telephones at the Cook County Jail under Stroger. The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' puts Rezko's contributions to Stroger at $148,300.

References

External links

The Tony Rezko Case complete coverage from the Chicago Tribune

Tony Rezko complete coverage from the Chicago Sun-Times

Eric Zorn, RezkoWebliography ''The Chicago Tribune'', February 7, 2008

Antoin Rezko Indictment, United States Department of Justice, Oct 11 2006

Category:1955 births Category:Living people Category:American real estate businesspeople Category:Assyrian people Category:American people of Assyrian descent Category:American fraudsters Category:American lobbyists Category:American white-collar criminals Category:People convicted of bribery Category:Barack Obama Category:Businesspeople in real estate Category:Illinois Institute of Technology alumni Category:People from Aleppo Category:People from Chicago, Illinois Category:Political fundraisers Category:American people of Syrian descent Category:American Eastern Catholics Category:Syrian Eastern Catholics Category:Syrian emigrants to the United States Category:American people convicted of fraud

Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
Name	Rod R. Blagojevich
Order	40th
Office	Governor of Illinois
Term start	January 13, 2003
Term end	January 29, 2009
Lieutenant	Pat Quinn
Predecessor	George Ryan
Successor	Pat Quinn
State2	Illinois
District2	5th
Term start2	January 3, 1997
Term end2	January 3, 2003
Successor2	Rahm Emanuel
Predecessor2	Michael Patrick Flanagan
Birth date	December 10, 1956
Birth place	Chicago, Illinois
Residence	Chicago, Illinois
Alma mater	Northwestern University (B.A.)Pepperdine University (J.D.)
Spouse	Patricia Mell Blagojevich
Children	Amy BlagojevichAnne Blagojevich
Profession	LawyerProsecutor
Party	Democratic
Religion	Orthodox Christian
Signature	Rod Blagojevich Signature.svg }}

Rod R. Blagojevich (; Serbian Cyrillic: Род Благојевић; born December 10, 1956) is an American politician who served as the 40th Governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009. A Democrat, Blagojevich was a State Representative before being elected to the United States House of Representatives representing parts of Chicago. He was elected governor in 2002.

Blagojevich was arrested on federal corruption charges including conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and solicitation of bribery December 9, 2008. As a result, on January 9, 2009, the Illinois House of Representatives voted to impeach Blagojevich by a 114–1 vote for corruption and misconduct in office, the first time such an action has been taken against a governor of Illinois, making him the second state official in Illinois history to be impeached. The Illinois State Senate unanimously found him guilty of the charges of impeachment, and he was removed from office on January 29, 2009. In a separate, also unanimous vote, Blagojevich was banned for life from holding public office in the State of Illinois. On August 17, 2010 Blagojevich was found guilty of lying to the FBI; on June 27, 2011, Blagojevich was found guilty on 17 of 20 counts presented during his retrial.

Blagojevich, often referred to by the nickname "Blago" in print and other media, was the first Democrat to be elected Governor of Illinois since Daniel Walker in 1972. He struggled to pass legislation and budgets and had historically low approval ratings within Illinois; at one time the Rasmussen Reports ranked him "America's Least Popular Governor" even before the news of his corruption investigation broke.

Early life

Rod Blagojevich was born in Chicago, Illinois, the second of two children. His father, Radislav, was an immigrant steel plant laborer from a village near Kragujevac, Serbia. His mother, Mila Govedarica, is a Serb originally from Gacko, Bosnia and Herzegovina (then also a part of Yugoslavia). His parents moved to Chicago in 1947. Blagojevich has a brother, Rob, who worked as a fund-raiser for Rod in Rod's later political career. Blagojevich spent much of his childhood working odd jobs to help the family pay its bills. He was a shoeshiner and pizza delivery boy before working at a meat packing plant. In order to afford university costs, Blagojevich worked for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System as a dishwasher.

Blagojevich does not have a middle name, but uses the initial "R" in honor of his deceased father. His nickname in the family was "Milorad," which some have mistakenly assumed was his given name.

Blagojevich graduated from Chicago's Foreman High School after transferring from Lane Technical High School. He played basketball in high school and participated in two fights after training as a Golden Gloves boxer. After graduation, he enrolled at the University of Tampa. After two years, he transferred to Northwestern University in suburban Evanston where he graduated with a B.A. in history in 1979. He earned his J.D. from the Pepperdine University School of Law in 1983. He later said of the experience: "I went to law school at a place called Pepperdine in Malibu, California, overlooking the Pacific Ocean — a lot of surfing and movie stars and all the rest. I barely knew where that law library was." Blagojevich is married to Patricia Mell, the daughter of Chicago alderman Richard Mell.

Early career

Prosecutor

Through his father-in-law's connections, Blagojevich clerked for Chicago Alderman Edward Vrdolyak. Blagojevich then took a job as Cook County Assistant State's Attorney (assistant prosecutor) under State's Attorney Richard M. Daley, specializing in domestic abuse crimes and felony weapons cases.

State and federal legislator

In 1992, with the backing of his influential father-in-law, Blagojevich toppled 14-year incumbent Myron Kulas in the Democratic primary for the 33rd state house district, which includes part of Chicago's North Side. As is the case in most elections in the Chicago area, this virtually assured him of election in November. He drew on his experiences as a prosecutor to draft bills that he argued would strengthen the state's judicial system and reduce crime.

In 1996, Blagojevich surrendered his seat in the state house to campaign in , based on the North Side. The district had long been represented by Dan Rostenkowski, who served as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Rostenkowski was defeated for re-election in 1994 after pleading guilty to mail fraud and had been succeeded by Republican Michael Patrick Flanagan. However, Flanagan was a conservative Republican representing a heavily Democratic district, and was regarded as a heavy underdog. Blagojevich soundly defeated Flanagan by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, with support from his father-in-law. He was elected two more times, taking 74% against a nominal Republican challenger in 1998 and having only a Libertarian opponent in 2000.

Blagojevich was not known as a particularly active congressman. In the late 1990s he traveled with Jesse Jackson to Belgrade in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to negotiate with President Slobodan Milošević for the release of American prisoners of war.

On October 10, 2002, Rod Blagojevich was among the 81 House Democrats who voted in favor of authorizing the invasion of Iraq. He was the only Democrat from Illinois to vote in favor of the Iraq War.

Gubernatorial campaigns

2002 election

During 2002, Blagojevich campaigned for his party's nomination to become governor. Blagojevich won a close primary campaign against former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris and Chicago Public Schools Superintendent Paul Vallas, who ran well in the suburban collar counties of Chicago. Blagojevich finished strongly in Southern Illinois, winning 55% of the primary vote downstate, enough to win a primary victory by a thin margin.

During the primary, state Senator Barack Obama backed Burris but supported Blagojevich after he won the primary at Burris's suggestion, serving as a "top adviser" for the general election. Future Obama senior adviser David Axelrod had previously worked with Blagojevich on congressional campaigns, but did not consider Blagojevich ready to be governor and declined to work for him on this campaign. According to Rahm Emanuel, he, Obama, Blagojevich's campaign co-chair David Wilhelm, and another Blagojevich staffer "were the top strategists of Blagojevich's 2002 gubernatorial victory", meeting weekly to outline campaign strategies. However, Wilhelm has said that Emanuel overstated Obama's role in the sessions, and Emanuel said in December 2008 that Wilhelm was correct and he had been wrong in his earlier 2008 recollection to ''The New Yorker''.

In the general election, Blagojevich defeated Republican Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan. Blagojevich's campaign was helped by his well-connected father-in-law, Chicago alderman Richard Mell. Ethics scandals had plagued the previous administration of Republican George Ryan (no relation to Jim Ryan), and Blagojevich's campaign focused on the theme of "ending business as usual" in state government. Polls prior to the election found that many Illinois voters were confused about the names of George Ryan and Jim Ryan, a fact which Blagojevich used to his advantage. He asked, "How can you replace one Ryan with another Ryan and call that change? You want change? Elect a guy named Blagojevich." Blagojevich won with 52% of the vote over Jim Ryan. On election night, he said: “Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, Illinois has voted for change.”

2006 re-election

thumb|Blagojevich (left) with Emil Jones (center) and Jeffrey Schoenberg (right) at the Illinois Executive Mansion for a luncheon after Barack Obama launched his [[Barack Obama presidential campaign, 2008|2008 campaign in 2007.]] From 2005 to 2006, Blagojevich served as federal liaison for the Democratic Governors Association. Numerous scandals brought the governor's approval rating as low as 36 percent, with 56 percent disapproving near the end of 2005. In 2005 Rod Blagojevich also served as a Chair of Midwestern Governors Association.

By early 2006, five Republicans campaigned in the primary for the right to challenge him in the general election, with state treasurer Judy Baar Topinka eventually winning the nomination. Blagojevich formally began his 2006 re-election campaign for Governor of Illinois on February 19, 2006. He won the Democratic primary on March 21 with 72% of the vote against challenger Edwin Eisendrath, whom Blagojevich would not debate. He convinced Democratic state senator James Meeks not to launch a third party campaign by promising to attempt to lease out the state lottery to provide education funding. Blagojevich was endorsed by many Democratic leaders (with the notable exception of Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who claimed it was a conflict of interest since her office was investigating him), including then-Illinois Senator Barack Obama, who endorsed the governor in early 2005 and spoke on his behalf at the August 2006 Illinois State Fair. Blagojevich was also endorsed by the state's Sierra Club, the only Illinois governor ever endorsed by the organization. The union American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees declined to endorse Blagojevich for re-election, citing the 500 jobs he eliminated from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, which left some state parks unsupervised.

In the general election, Blagojevich defeated Topinka and the Green Party's Rich Whitney, outspending Topinka $27 million to $6 million. He attempted to tie Topinka to former Republican governor George Ryan's corruption. Topinka ran advertisements detailing Blagojevich's federal investigations and non-endorsements by major state Democrats such as Lisa Madigan. A three-term state treasurer, Topinka said that she had attempted to stop Blagojevich from using money from special funds for general expenditures without approval of the legislature; she said Blagojevich used the funds for projects meant to distract voters from his associates' corruption trials: “This constant giving away of money … a million here, a million there, it raids our already hamstrung government and deadbeat state.” Topinka's spokesman claimed that Blagojevich was the most investigated governor in Illinois history. Topinka lost to Blagojevich by 11%.

Gubernatorial administration

After the 2002 elections, Democrats had control of the Illinois House, Senate, and all but one statewide office. While in office, Blagojevich signed much progressive legislation such as ethics reform, death penalty reform, a state Earned Income Tax Credit, a statewide comprehensive smoking ban and expansions of health programs like KidCare and FamilyCare (FamilyCare was ruled unconstitutional); critics claimed that Blagojevich was benefiting from the publicity more than the programs were helping the public. Blagojevich signed a bill in 2005 that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, housing, public accommodations, and credit. Blagojevich originally campaigned against pork barrel spending, but eventually used it himself to gain more votes for bills.

During a suspected shortage of the flu vaccine in 2004, Blagojevich ordered 260,000 doses from overseas distributors, which the Food and Drug Administration had warned would be barred from entering the United States. Although the vaccine doses had cost the state $2.6 million, the FDA refused to allow them into the country, and a buyer could not be found; they were donated to earthquake survivors in Pakistan a year later. However, the lots had expired, and Pakistan destroyed the vaccines. After Blagojevich pushed for a law banning sales of certain video games to minors, a federal judge declared the law violated the First Amendment, with the state ordered to pay $520,000 in legal fees.

Soon after taking office in 2003, Blagojevich continued support of a moratorium on executions of death row inmates, even though no such executions are likely to occur for years (his predecessor, George Ryan, commuted all of the death sentences in the state shortly before leaving office in 2003). This support continued through his administration.

In 2004, Blagojevich ordered the Illinois Tollway to erect 32 signs at a cost of $480,000, announcing “Open Road Tolling. Rod R. Blagojevich, Governor.” In 2006, the signs were criticized for serving as campaign signs and costing significantly more than the common $200 signs. Shortly after his impeachment, the signs were removed from the tollway and in June 2011, Illinois banned signs with the names of public officials or candidates for public office.

Another notable action of his term was a strict new ethics law. When campaigning for re-election in 2006, Blagojevich said that if his ethics law had existed when former governor George Ryan had been in office, Ryan's corruption might not have occurred. Blagojevich also signed a comprehensive death penalty reform bill that was written by then-Senator Barack Obama and the late U.S. Senator Paul M. Simon. Organized labor and African Americans were Blagojevich's staunchest political supporters. In 2008, he told a group of African-Americans that he sometimes considered himself the first African American governor of Illinois.

Education

Blagojevich oversaw record increases in funding for education every year without raising general sales or income taxes. He was criticized by Republicans and many moderate Democrats for using funds from the state pension system in order to fund other spending. Another early 2006 proposal included "PreSchool for All" for all three- and four-year-old children in Illinois. Legislation authorizing the program was adopted as part of the fiscal year 2007 budget.

Proposed capital programs

On January 10, 2006, Blagojevich announced a proposal for a new $3 billion (US) spending plan for Illinois roads, mass transit, and schools, to be paid for by increased tax revenue and new gambling proposals (such as Keno and lottery games). The proposal met with immediate opposition by members of the Republican Party of Illinois and many Democrats, who viewed it as "an election year ploy." The suggestion to legalize Keno within Illinois was later withdrawn. As of 2008, Blagojevich had been unable for five years to agree to a capital plan that would improve Illinois infrastructure.

In March 2008, Blagojevich announced a bipartisan coalition, chaired by former U.S. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and Former U.S. Congressman Glenn Poshard, to develop a capital construction plan that could pass the Illinois General Assembly. The Illinois Works Coalition toured the state and developed a compromise $34 billion package that relied on a lease of the Illinois Lottery, road funds, and expanded gambling for funding. The plan passed the Senate but stalled in the Illinois House, with opposition from Democrats.

Special sessions

Blagojevich called the Illinois General Assembly into special session 36 times while in office, which is half of the total number of special sessions called since 1970. The sessions were blamed for disrupting lawmakers' time off, while Blagojevich himself did not attend the sessions.

Relationships with fellow lawmakers

Blagojevich disagreed with many state Democrats while in office, with House and Senate Republican leaders Frank Watson and Tom Cross often refereeing among the Democrats. During 2008, Blagojevich even expressed fear that House Democrats would gain more seats and he would face more opposition.

Blagojevich's lieutenant governor was Pat Quinn, with whom he had a sour relationship since taking office. Quinn and Blagojevich have publicly argued about, among many other subjects, Blagojevich's proposed Gross Receipts Tax to increase revenue for schools and other projects within Illinois. Quinn said in December 2008 that he had last spoken to Blagojevich in the summer of 2007. Blagojevich also feuded with Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Comptroller Dan Hynes, Secretary of State Jesse White, and state treasurer Alexi Giannoulias-- all of whom are Democrats.

Blagojevich was often at odds with members of both parties in the state legislature who began to see him as "disengaged" and "dictatorial." Democratic legislator Jack Franks said that the reason Blagojevich had problems passing laws with the cooperation of the General Assembly is that he did not spend enough time with the legislature. "That’s a real reason he has such poor relations with the Legislature and can’t get any of his agenda passed, because he doesn’t talk to anybody." When lawmakers working on a budget during a special session met at 10 a.m. rather than 2 p.m., and Blagojevich's attorney threatened that the Governor was considering legal action against the involved representatives, Democratic Rep. Joe Lyons told reporters, "We have a madman. The man is insane."

Blagojevich had an ongoing feud "worthy of the Hatfields and McCoys" with Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, a fiscal conservative who resisted Blagojevich's proposed increases in state spending. Madigan became Blagojevich's chief nemesis, blocking numerous Blagojevich proposals. Illinois senior Senator Dick Durbin said in 2008 that he received many constituent complaints about the dispute between Blagojevich and Madigan, with letter writers wanting him to step in to negotiate. Durbin said the subject is also often talked about in the United States Congress in Washington, D.C. among the Illinois congressional delegation. However, Durbin joked that he'd rather go to Baghdad to mediate than Springfield. At one point in 2007, Blagojevich filed a lawsuit against Madigan after Madigan instructed lawmakers to not attend one of Blagojevich's scheduled special sessions on the budget. Although Barack Obama served as an adviser to Blagojevich's 2002 gubernatorial campaign, by all accounts, Blagojevich and Obama have been estranged for years. Blagojevich did not endorse Obama in the 2004 United States Senate race, and Obama did not invite Blagojevich to speak at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, as he did Lisa Madigan, Hynes, and Giannoulias. Blagojevich has had a "friendly rapport" with the man who took over his congressional seat, Rahm Emanuel.

Blagojevich has also disagreed publicly with Democratic Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley; after their dispute over Chicago Transit Authority funding, Daley called Blagojevich "cuckoo" and said he did not want to argue with the Governor since "He's arguing with everybody in America." Blagojevich replied, "I don't think I'm cuckoo."

Soon after a meeting of 2007 with Democratic State Senator Mike Jacobs, meant to convince Jacobs to vote for Blagojevich's health insurance proposals, Jacobs emerged telling reporters that the Governor "blew up at him like a 10-year-old child", acted as if he might hit Jacobs, screamed obscenities at him and threatened to ruin his political career if Jacobs did not vote for the bill. Jacobs went on to say that if Blagojevich had talked to him like that at a tavern in East Moline, "I would have kicked his tail end." Blagojevich would not comment on the alleged incident. Jacobs said during 2008: "This is a governor who I don't think has a single ally, except for Senate president Emil Jones— and that's tenuous at best." Jones and Blagojevich sometimes collaborated, while at other times they disagreed on funding for education.

During a 2008 Congressional race pitting Democratic state senator Debbie Halvorson against Republican Marty Ozinga, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ran television advertisements attempting to help Halvorson by linking Republican Ozinga to Blagojevich, asserting that Ozinga had given campaign donations to the Democratic governor.

''The Daily Show'' appearances

During early February 2006, Blagojevich appeared on ''The Daily Show'' to discuss his executive order that pharmacists must dispense any drugs for which a customer had a valid prescription, including birth control pills and Plan B. This measure was being challenged on the show by state legislator Ron Stephens from Greenville, Illinois. Blagojevich was interviewed by Jason Jones, who repeatedly pretended to be unable to pronounce Blagojevich's name and simply called him "Governor Smith". At one point in the interview, Jones, who was pretending to be against the governor's order, told him "I'll be in charge of what my listeners hear." This prompted Blagojevich to turn to the camera and ask, "Is he teasing me or is that legit?" Two weeks after the interview, Blagojevich said that he was unaware of the nature of the show. Stephens said he knew beforehand that the show was a comedy show: "I thought the governor was hip enough that he would have known that, too."

Stephens later said, "With all due respect to the governor, he knew it was a comedy show. It's general knowledge for people under 90 years of age. It was when he came off looking so silly that he said he thought it was a regular news program. Even assuming he didn't know about it beforehand, we had to sign a release before the interview."

Blagojevich made another appearance on ''The Daily Show'' on August 23, 2010. During his time on the show, he vehemently defended himself against Jon Stewart's critique of things that he had previously said on the show. Jon Stewart focused on how formerly Blagojevich had expressed a great desire to tell his side in court, but then did not. Stewart attempted to get a promise that next time, Blagojevich would testify. Stewart also focused on Blagojevich's previous statement to him, that if one heard the famous "effing golden" statement in context, it would be seen as innocent. Stewart played the additional recording, and asked him how that sounded any different. The former governor had no concrete answers.

Approval ratings

As of October 13, 2008, an unprecedented zero percent of Illinois voters rated Blagojevich as excellent in a Rasmussen Reports poll, with four percent rating him good, 29 percent fair, and 64 percent poor. Blagojevich ranked as "Least Popular Governor" in the nation according to ''Rasmussen Reports By the Numbers''.

On October 23, 2008, the ''Chicago Tribune'' reported that Blagojevich suffered the lowest ratings ever recorded for an elected politician in nearly three decades of the newspaper's polls. The survey of 500 registered likely voters showed that 10 percent wanted Blagojevich re-elected in 2010, while 75 percent said they did not want him for a third term. The survey also showed only 13 percent approved of Blagojevich's performance, while 71 percent disapproved. Only eight percent of the state's voters believed Blagojevich had lived up to his promise to end corruption in government. 60 percent of Democrats did not want him to serve another term in office, and 54 percent disapproved of the job he had done. Among independent voters, 83 percent disapproved of his performance and 85 percent of them rejected a Blagojevich third term. Blagojevich said during October 2008 that if he were running for re-election this year, he would win, and the economy, not his federal investigations, had caused his unpopularity.

During February 2008, Blagojevich's approval ratings had been, by various accounts, between 16 percent and the low 20s, lower than those of then-President George W. Bush in Illinois. After his federal arrest, his approval ratings decreased to seven percent.

Bank of America

Blagojevich threatened to stop the state’s dealings with Bank of America Corp. over a shut-down factory in Chicago. On December 8, 2008 (the day before his arrest), all state agencies were ordered to stop conducting business with Bank of America to pressure the company to make the loans. Blagojevich said the biggest U.S. retail bank would not get any more state business unless it restored credit to Republic Windows and Doors, whose workers were staging a sit-in. John Douglas, a former general counsel for the FDIC and attorney for Bank of America, called Blagojevich's gambit dangerous.

Impeachment trial and removal from office

Under the direction of US District Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald Governor Blagojevich was arrested at his home by federal agents and charged with corruption. The Justice Department complaint alleged that the governor conspired to commit several "pay to play" schemes, including attempting "to obtain personal gain ... through the corrupt use" of his authority to fill Barack Obama's vacated United States Senate seat, claiming that in wiretapped recordings Blagojevich discussed his desire to get something in exchange for an appointment to the seat. After various outreach efforts he appointed former state attorney general Roland Burris on New Year's Eve 2008. Burris was seated after some initial opposition in mid-January 2009. A trial was set for June 3, 2010 and U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald spoke out on the charges, characterizing Blagojevich's actions as trying to auction the open seat off to "the highest bidder".

On January 27, 2009, Blagojevich began a media campaign planned by publicist Glenn Selig, founder of the crisis management public relations firm The Publicity Agency. During the two day campaign, he visited ''Today'', ''Good Morning America'', ''The Early Show'', ''The View'', multiple programs on Fox News Channel, CNN and MSNBC where he proclaimed his innocence and insisted he would be vindicated.

The Illinois House and Senate moved quickly thereafter to impeach the governor for abuse of power and corruption. He was removed from office and prohibited from ever holding public office in the state of Illinois again, by two separate and unanimous votes of 59-0 by the Illinois State Senate on January 29, 2009. Blagojevich's lieutenant governor Patrick Quinn subsequently became governor of Illinois. The Senate was acting as the trier of fact on Articles of Impeachment brought by the Illinois House of Representatives. The charges brought by the House emphasized Blagojevich's alleged abuses of power and his alleged attempts to sell gubernatorial appointments and legislative authorizations and/or vetos. One of the accusations was an alleged attempt to sell the appointment to the United States Senate seat vacated by the resignation of now U.S. President Barack Obama. Blagojevich was frequently reported as having been taped by the FBI saying "I've got this thing, and it's [expletive] golden. I'm just not giving it up for [expletive] nothing." Blagojevich's impeachment trial and removal from office does not have any effect or bearing on his federal indictment in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, as impeachment is a political, not a criminal, action.

Federal trial

Blagojevich was indicted by a federal grand jury in April 2009. On August 17, 2010, he was convicted on one of the 24 federal charges, a charge of lying to the FBI, and the jury was hung on 23 other counts. The defense did not call a single witness, claiming that prosecutors did not prove their case. Because the jury could not agree on the remaining charges, a mistrial was ordered for those counts. Within fifteen minutes after the mistrial was declared, the prosecution team announced that they would definitely pursue a retrial on the twenty-three mistrial counts. A post-verdict court date was set for August 23, 2010.

Federal prosecutors reduced the number of counts for Blagojevich's retrial, and on June 27, 2011 he was found guilty of 17 of the 20 charges, not guilty on one, and no verdict rendered by the jury on two counts. He was found guilty on all charges pertaining to the senate seat, as well as extortion relating to state funds being directed towards a children's hospital and race track. However, he was acquitted on a charge pertaining to the tollway extortion and avoided a guilty verdict (by split decision) on attempting to extort Rahm Emanuel. Most of the charges related to attempts to sell the Senate seat vacated by then-President-elect Barack Obama.

Judge James Zagel set October 6, 2011 as the tentative date for sentencing and Blagojevich could face up to 300 years in prison. However, as that is the sum total of all the years he would serve if each conviction's maximum sentence is used to calculate his overall sentence, it is expected that Judge James Zagel will sentence the former governor to 10 years in prison. It is not clear if Blagojevich would need to be present (he has put up his house as collateral for a $450,000 bond allowing him to remain free until he has to report to prison). Knowing the date he is to be sentenced will allow Blagojevich to better prepare.

Political positions

State spending

Blagojevich was criticized for using what his opponents called "gimmicks" to balance the state budget. Republicans claimed that he was simply passing the state's fiscal problems on to future generations by borrowing his way to balanced budgets. Indeed, the 2005 state budget called for paying the bills by underfunding a state employees' pension fund by $1.2 billion. During 2008, Blagojevich proposed removing $16 billion in new bonds for the state to meet pension fund requirements. Blagojevich once told a gathering of black ministers on Chicago's South Side that he was "on the side of our Lord" with his budget proposals.

Blagojevich proposed a budget for 2008 with a 5% increase from the year before. Budget reductions of some programs caused Blagojevich to attempt to close 11 state parks and 13 state historic sites, with his spokesman saying Blagojevich had never visited any of them. To plug state budget holes, Blagojevich at one point proposed selling the James R. Thompson Center or mortgaging it. Blagojevich was also criticized for his handling of the 2007 state budget. In particular, critics cited his unprecedented use of line-item and reduction vetoes to remove his political opponents' "member initiatives" from the budget bill.

During 2003, more than 1,000 Illinois judges began a class action lawsuit against Blagojevich, because Blagojevich had stopped constitutionally-required cost of living pay increases for the judges due to budget reductions. The case was settled in the judges' favor in 2005, with Blagojevich's veto ruled as violating the state's constitution.

Health care

During October 2005, Blagojevich announced All Kids, his plan to provide access to state-subsidized healthcare for every child in Illinois. Signed into law by Blagojevich in November 2005, All Kids made Illinois the first state in the U.S. to attempt to legally require itself to provide universal affordable and comprehensive healthcare for children, regardless of income and immigration status.

During March 2007, Blagojevich announced and campaigned for his universal healthcare plan, Illinois Covered. The plan was debated in the Illinois State Senate, but came one vote short of passing. He proposed to pay for the plan with the largest tax increase in Illinois history. He proposed a gross receipts tax on businesses, a $7.6 billion dollar tax increase, with proceeds earmarked to provide universal healthcare in Illinois, increase education spending by $1.5 billion, fund a $25 billion capital construction plan, and reduce the State's $40 billion pension debt. Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan called for a vote on a non-binding resolution on whether the state should impose a gross receipts tax. When it became apparent that the resolution would be defeated, Blagojevich announced at the last minute that supporters should vote against it, although the vote was intended to be a test vote to gauge whether the measure had any support. The request was seen by many lawmakers from both parties as an attempt to spin the loss positively. It was defeated by a vote of 107-0, which the Associated Press termed "jaw-dropping." When asked about the vote of the day, Blagojevich said, "Today, I think, was basically an up. ... I feel good about it."

Blagojevich also attempted unsuccessfully to impose a new tax on businesses that do not provide health insurance to their employees.

Lawmakers did not approve another initiative of Blagojevich's, FamilyCare (which would provide healthcare for families of four making up to $82,000), but Blagojevich attempted to implement the plan by executive order unilaterally. In rejecting Blagojevich's executive order, a legislative committee questioned how the state would pay for the program. Blagojevich's decision has been called unconstitutional by two courts, which nullified the plan. However, during October 2008, pharmacies which had followed Blagojevich's directive to dispense drugs under the plan were informed by his administration that they would not be reimbursed and would have payments given under the system deducted from future Medicaid payments. One state lawmaker, Republican Ron Stephens, suggested that Blagojevich should pay the difference out of his own personal account. ''The Pantagraph'' agreed with Stephens in an editorial.

Associated Press Freedom of Information Act attempts to discover how the state planned to pay for the Blagojevich-ordered program, how many people were enrolled, or how much the care had cost the state were refused the information by state departments.

Blagojevich issued an executive order during 2004 requiring pharmacists in the state to dispense "morning after" birth control medication, even if they object on moral or religious grounds. This order was legally challenged. Later in 2007, opponents of the governor's executive order reached a settlement with the state, causing partial removal of the order. The settlement, which followed the Illinois Supreme Court's decision in September 2007 to hear an appeal of a lawsuit challenging the executive order, allowed pharmacists to decline to dispense birth control, so long as they provided information to customers about pharmacists who did.

Gun control

During his February 2006 "State of the State" address, Blagojevich said the state should ban semi-automatic firearms, prompting threats from several gunmakers in the state that they will take their business elsewhere. Among these were ArmaLite Inc., Rock River Arms, Les Baer Custom and the Springfield Armory.

As a state legislator, Blagojevich tried to raise the price of an Illinois Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card from $5 to $500, saying that such a large increase was necessary so people would think twice about wanting to own a gun. Blagojevich vetoed three gun bills in 2005, which would have: # Deleted records in gun database after 90 days—gun proponents argued that this was a privacy concern for law-abiding citizens # Eliminated the waiting period for someone wanting to buy a rifle or shotgun, when trading in a previously owned weapon # Overridden local laws regulating transport of firearms.

Blagojevich's position in regard to guns was criticized by the Illinois State Rifle Association: "Rod should spend more time catching criminals and less time controlling guns." His support for making gun laws of Illinois more restrictive earned him the ire of gun owners' groups.

Traffic laws

Blagojevich vetoed three bills that would permit trucks to drive 65 mph outside the Chicago area instead of the current 55 mph, stating that one bill "compromises safety".

Oprah Winfrey

In early 2009 Blagojevich reported being so impressed by Oprah Winfrey's influence on the election of Barack Obama that he considered offering Winfrey Obama's vacant senate seat. Blagojevich summarized his reasons for considering Winfrey on various talk shows: … On the other hand, how likely is it she'd give up what she's doing for that? I mean, being a senator's a big deal, but it ain't Oprah.}} Winfrey noted that although she was uninterested, she did feel she could be a senator.

Political analyst Chris Matthews praised Blagojevich's idea of making Winfrey a senator suggesting that in one move it would diversify the senate and raise its collective IQ. Elaborating further he said: Lynn Sweet of the ''Chicago Sun Times'' agreed with Matthews, claiming Winfrey would be “terrific” and an “enormously popular pick.”

Controversies

During the course of his political career, Blagojevich was involved in a number of controversies including at least a dozen separate federal investigations; the Tony Rezko indictment and trial; feuds with his father-in-law; contested state appointments; his residency, commute, and work hours; and allegedly withholding state funds from the Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago. In 2008, Blagojevich was investigated for and charged with crimes resulting from his role in the sale of the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field, as well as allegations he attempted to sell the Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama.

According to the federal complaint, Blagojevich was trying to use the Illinois Finance Authority (IFA), a state agency that can provide financing for real estate deals, and grants of other state funds to persuade Tribune Company, the owner of the Cubs, to end its editorial campaign for the governor's impeachment. In a series of telephone conversations tapped by the FBI, Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, repeatedly discussed their efforts to obtain the dismissal of John McCormick, the deputy director of the Tribune editorial page, and other editorial writers.

In a complaint issued shortly after FBI agents arrested Blagojevich in a pre-dawn raid on his home on Chicago's North Side, federal prosecutors asserted in a nationally televised press conference that Blagojevich tried to use the Cubs sale as leverage in obtaining favorable treatment in the editorial pages of the ''Chicago Tribune''. Blagojevich is accused of saying, on a recorded wiretap, that if the Cubs wanted IFA financing for the sale of Wrigley Field or grants for remodeling of the ballpark, the ''Tribune'' had to ''"fire all those [expletive] people, get 'em the [expletive] out of there, and get us some editorial support."'' Prosecutors also said that they had information suggesting Blagojevich was about to appoint someone to fill Obama's Senate seat after he put it up for sale, and cited this as the main reason for why they arrested him. Amid widespread bipartisan calls for his resignation, the General Assembly began proceedings to impeach Blagojevich and remove him from office. On December 9, the state house voted 114-1 (with one member voting present) to impeach Blagojevich. On January 29, 2009, all 59 state senators voted to find Blagojevich guilty and remove him from office. In a separate vote, the Illinois Senate voted unanimously to bar Blagojevich from ever holding office again in Illinois. One day after his removal from office, professional wrestling company TNA Wrestling offered Blagojevich a job as the on camera lead of the Main Event Mafia.

Patti Blagojevich

Blagojevich is married to the former Patricia Mell, daughter of Chicago Alderman Richard Mell. The couple has two daughters, Amy and Anne. Anne was born just months after her father was sworn in as governor. Patricia, who goes by Patti, was a contestant on the NBC reality show ''I'm a Celebrity…Get Me out of Here'' in June 2009, where she formed a close friendship with other contestants, most notably former NBA star John Salley. She placed 4th in the competition.

Patricia Mell earned her bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As First Lady of Illinois, Patti Blagojevich supported the illiteracy eradication initiatives and the Illinois Pediatric Vision Initiative. In 2009 Patti was fired from a $100,000 a year fund raising job after controversy regarding alleged taped statements. Her sister is Deb Mell, an LGBT rights activist who was elected unopposed to the Illinois House of Representatives in 2008.

Post-removal activities

After being convicted and removed from office by the Illinois Senate, Blagojevich went on ''Late Show with David Letterman'', where he re-affirmed his innocence and stated that the Illinois legislature's decision to remove him from office was politically motivated due to his unwillingness to raise taxes. He has accused his successor, Pat Quinn, of using state funds excessively for personal leisure. A report later released by the Governor's office showed that most of Quinn's transportation fees were paid for by himself and that Quinn never accepted the $32 meal allowance from the State.

Blagojevich attempted to make a deal to star in NBC's 2009 summer reality show ''I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here!''. He made a request with the judge to ease his travel restrictions so that he could travel to Costa Rica to star in the show, saying that his family needed to make money. However, his request was formally rejected by U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel, who was sympathetic to Blagojevich's financial situation, but nevertheless stated, "I don't think this defendant fully understands and I don't think he could understand...the position he finds himself in." Judge Zagel went on further to note that Blagojevich must prepare for his defense. Despite the ruling, NBC expressed an interest in negotiating with the judge to have him as a part of the show. His wife took his place on the show, which began airing June 1, 2009. He told an interviewer he found it difficult to watch his wife eat a dead tarantula on the broadcast but remarked that her willingness to participate in the show was "an act of love" because she was earning funds to alleviate their adverse financial position.

On June 13, 2009, Rod starred in improv group The Second City's musical ''Rod Blagojevich Superstar''. He performed in order to support the charity Gilda's Club Chicago, which offers support for people living with cancer.

On June 30, 2009, Blagojevich's autobiography ''The Governor: The Truth Behind the Political Scandal That Continues to Rock the Nation'' was announced for print release on September 8, 2009. The book was also released by Amazon.com for sale as an eBook on the Kindle on the same day as the announcement.

Blagojevich appeared on Season 9 of ''The Celebrity Apprentice'' in Spring 2010, asserting that he has the "skill and know-how to get things accomplished" on the series. Series star and producer Donald Trump praised Blagojevich's "tremendous courage and guts", and predicted that he would become one of the show's breakout stars. Trump subsequently fired Blagojevich in the fourth episode of the season, which aired April 4, 2010.

In an interview with ''Esquire'' in January 2010, Blagojevich said about President Obama, "Everything he's saying's on the teleprompter. I'm blacker than Barack Obama. I shined shoes. I grew up in a five-room apartment. My father had a little laundromat in a black community not far from where he lived. I saw it all growing up." He soon backpedaled from the term "blacker than", saying that he chose his words poorly, but he stood by his message that "the frustration is real, and the frustration is still, today, average, ordinary people aren't getting a fair shake."

Blagojevich made an appearance at the 'Wizard World Chicago' comic convention in August 2010, conversing with and taking pictures with attendants. He charged $50 for an autograph and $80 for a photo. He also had a humorous televised meeting with Adam West; Blagojevich remarked that he considered The Joker to be the best Batman foil. Comic fandom website bleedingcool.com reported that Blagojevich met with a mostly positive reception, while ''Time Out Chicago'' described it as mixed. 12/2010 - has Rod appearing in a television commercial for pistachio nuts, appears to have first aired during the World Series, November 1, 2010.

Personal style

Blagojevich was famed for his flamboyant dress style, such as his taste for Charvet ties. Ever since the Justice Department complaint was made public, Blagojevich's hairstyle has become the subject of discussion and jokes for national and local media personalities. Blagojevich insisted his aides carry a hairbrush for him at all times, which he referred to as "the football", a reference to the term ''nuclear football'', which represents the bomb launch codes never to be out of reach of the president.

Electoral history

House of Representatives

1996

Rod Blagojevich, Democrat: 64%

Michael Flanagan (inc.), Republican: 36%

1998

Rod Blagojevich (inc.), Democrat: 74%

Alan Spitz, Republican: 24%

2000

Rod Blagojevich (inc.), Democrat: 87%

Matt Beauchamp, Libertarian: 13%

Gubernatorial elections

2002 gubernatorial election, Illinois

Rod Blagojevich, Democrat: 1,818,823, 52.0%

Jim Ryan, Republican: 1,582,604, 45.2%

Cal Skinner, Libertarian: 73,404, 2.1%

Marisellis Brown, Independent: 22,803, 0.7%

2006 gubernatorial election, Illinois

Rod Blagojevich (inc.), Democrat: 1,736,219, 49.8%

Judy Baar Topinka: Republican: 1,368,682, 39.3%

Rich Whitney, Green: 361,163, 10.4%

Randy Stufflebeam (Write-in), Constitution: 19,020, 0.5%

Other Write-ins: 1,587, 0.0%

References

External links

Indictment U.S. v. Blagojevich, et al. FindLaw

Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich and his Chief of Staff John Harris Arrested on Federal Corruption Charges ''Department of Justice'', December 9, 2008, press release

United States District Court: United States of America v. Rod R. Blagojevich and John Harris, December 9, 2008, copy of 76-page complaint (text version)

People of the State of Illinois v. Rod Blagojevich, Governor of Illinois brief, Motion for TRO, Supporting Record TRO

Gov. Blagojevich Chicago Sun-Times, ongoing coverage

Complete Blagojevich Coverage ''Chicago Tribune'', ongoing coverage

United States of America v. Rod Blagojevich, Alonzo Monk, John Harris and Robert Blagojevich Second Superseding Indictment, United States of America v. Rod Blagojevich, Alonzo Monk, John Harris and Robert Blagojevich

Category:1956 births Category:Living people Category:American politicians convicted of crimes Category:Eastern Orthodox Christians from the United States Category:Governors of Illinois Category:Illinois Democrats Category:Impeached officials removed from office Category:Impeached United States officials Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois Category:Northwestern University alumni Category:Participants in American reality television series Category:Pepperdine University School of Law alumni Category:Politicians from Chicago, Illinois Category:American people of Serbian descent Category:American people of Bosnia and Herzegovina descent Category:Serbian Orthodox Christians Category:The Apprentice (U.S. TV series) contestants Category:Video game censorship

cs:Rod Blagojevich de:Rod Blagojevich es:Rod Blagojevich eo:Rod Blagojevich fr:Rod Blagojevich it:Rod Blagojevich he:רוד בלאגוייביץ' mr:रॉड ब्लेगोयेविच nl:Rod Blagojevich ja:ロッド・ブラゴジェビッチ no:Rod Blagojevich pl:Rod Blagojevich pt:Rod Blagojevich ksh:Rod Blagojevich ru:Благоевич, Род simple:Rod Blagojevich sr:Род Благојевић sh:Rod Blagojevich fi:Rod Blagojevich sv:Rod Blagojevich zh-yue:布拉戈傑維奇 zh:罗德·布拉戈耶维奇

Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
Name	Jon Corzine
Order	54th | not 52nd, because Codey and DiFrancesco have been retroactively named full governors
Office	Governor of New Jersey
Term start	January 17, 2006
Term end	January 19, 2010
Residence	Hoboken, New Jersey
Alma mater	University of Illinois (B.A.) University of Chicago Booth School of Business (M.B.A.)
Predecessor	Richard Codey
Successor	Chris Christie
Jr/sr2	United States Senator
State2	New Jersey
Term start2	January 3, 2001
Term end2	January 17, 2006
Predecessor2	Frank Lautenberg
Successor2	Robert Menendez
Office3	CEO of Goldman Sachs
Term start3	1994
Term end3	1999
Successor3	Henry Paulson
Birthname	Jon Stevens Corzine
Birth date	January 01, 1947
Birth place	Taylorville, Illinois
Spouse	Joanne Dougherty Corzine (1969–2003; divorced)Sharon Elghanayan (2010–current)
Children	Jennifer CorzineJosh CorzineJeffrey Corzine
Profession	Financial executive
Net worth	$800 million
Party	Democratic
Religion	United Church of Christ
Signature	Jon Corzine Signature.svg
Branch	United States Marine Corps
Serviceyears	1969–1975
Rank	Sergeant
Unit	Reserves }}

Jon Stevens Corzine (born January 1, 1947) is the former CEO of Goldman Sachs and a one time American politician, who served as the 54th Governor of New Jersey from 2006 to 2010. A Democrat, Corzine served five years of a six-year U.S. Senate term representing New Jersey before being elected Governor in 2005. He was defeated for re-election in 2009 by Republican Chris Christie. In March 2010, Corzine was named chairman and CEO of MF Global Inc., a financial services firm specializing in futures brokerage.

Corzine began his career in banking and finance. In the early and mid 1970s, he worked for Midwestern banks (Continental-Illinois National Bank in Chicago, Illinois and BancOhio National Bank in Columbus, Ohio) during and after his master of business administration (MBA) studies at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. In 1975 he moved to New Jersey to work for Goldman Sachs. He became Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs and the leading advocate in the firm's decision to go public. In 1999, having lost a power struggle with Henry M. Paulson, Corzine left the firm. After his departure from Goldman Sachs, he earned what has been estimated to be $500 million during the 1999 initial public offering of the company.

Early years and education

Corzine was born in central Illinois to Nancy June (née Hedrick) and Roy Allen Corzine. He grew up on a small family farm in Willey Station, Illinois and near Taylorville. After completing high school at Taylorville High School, where he had been the football quarterback and basketball captain, he attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, and graduated in 1969, earning Phi Beta Kappa honors. While in college, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserve and served from 1969 until 1975, attaining the rank of sergeant. In 1970 he enrolled in the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, from which he received a Master of Business Administration degree in 1973.

Career

Business

His first experience in business was in University of Chicago Booth School of Business at night. He then moved to BancOhio National Bank, a regional bank in Columbus, Ohio that was acquired in 1984 by National City Bank. Corzine worked at BancOhio until 1975 when he moved his family to New Jersey and was hired as a bond trader for Goldman Sachs. Over the years, he worked his way up to Chairman and CEO of the company in 1994 and successfully converted the investment firm from a private partnership to a publicly traded corporation. Corzine's predecessor had led Goldman to its first money-losing year in its 129-year history and to its near collapse as a firm. Corzine also chaired a presidential commission for Bill Clinton and served on the U.S. Treasury Department's borrowing committee. As a Goldman Sachs senior partner, he was summoned to help develop a rescue package for the hedge fund Long Term Capital Management when the leveraged fund's collapse in the fall of 1998 threatened contagion across the US financial system. According to ''U.S. News & World Report'', Corzine did not get along with co-CEO Henry Paulson, who came from the other major area of the bank, investment banking. When Corzine decided to help the bailout Paulson seized control of the firm. As co-chairman of the firm, he oversaw its expansion into Asia. When Goldman Sachs went public after Corzine's departure, Corzine made $500 million.

Corzine has participated in meetings of the Bilderberg Group, a network of leaders in the fields of politics, business, and banking, from 1995–1997, 1999, 2003 and 2004.

Entry into politics

After being forced from Goldman Sachs in January 1999, Corzine campaigned for a New Jersey Senate seat after Frank Lautenberg announced his retirement. Corzine was trailing by 30 percentage points. Corzine was elected to the Senate by a four percent margin over his Republican opponent four-term United States Congressman Bob Franks in the November 2000 election and was sworn into the Senate in January 2001. He spent over $62 million of his own money on his campaign, the most expensive Senate campaign in U.S. history over $33 million of this was spent on the primary election alone, where he defeated former Governor James Florio 58%–42%. Franks had been a last minute choice because New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman had been expected to run for the Senate. The record $62 million amount surpassed Michael Huffington, who spent nearly $28 million in an unsuccessful 1994 Senate race.

During the campaign, Corzine refused to release his income tax return records. He claimed an interest in doing so, but he cited a confidentiality agreement with Goldman Sachs. Skeptics argued that he should have followed the example of his predecessor Robert Rubin, who converted his equity stake into debt upon leaving Goldman.

Corzine campaigned for state government programs including universal health care, universal gun registration, mandatory public preschool, and more taxpayer funding for college education. He pushed affirmative action and same-sex marriage. David Brooks considered Corzine so liberal that although his predecessor was also a Democrat, his election helped shift of the Senate to the left.

During Corzine's campaign for the United States Senate, he made some controversial off-color statements. When introduced to a man with an Italian name who said he was in the construction business, Corzine quipped: “Oh, you make cement shoes!" according to Emanuel Alfano, chairman of the Italian-American One Voice Committee. Alfano also reported that when introduced to a lawyer named David Stein, Corzine said: "He's not Italian, is he? Oh, I guess he's your Jewish lawyer who is here to get the rest of you out of jail." Corzine denied mentioning religion, but did not deny the quip about Italians, claiming that some of his own ancestors were probably Italian, or maybe French.

Also in 2000, Corzine denied having paid off African-American ministers, when in fact the foundation controlled by him and his wife had paid one influential black church $25,000. Rev. Reginald T. Jackson, director of the Black Ministers Council, had campaigned against a form of racial profiling whereby police officers stop minority drivers and had gotten New Jersey state police superintendent, Carl A. Williams, fired. Corzine had donated to Jackson prior to getting what appears to be a reciprocal endorsement.

Senate career

Corzine entered Congress in a class of ten new senators, eight of whom were Democrats. According to ''U.S. News & World Report'', Corzine, Hillary Clinton and Jean Carnahan were the more notable new Senators in 2000. During his five year senatorial career, he was present at 1503 of 1673 votes, co-sponsored 1014 bills, sponsored 145 bills (11 of which made it out of committee), and had one sponsored bill enacted.

In the Senate, Corzine was a member of the Committees on Banking, Intelligence, the Budget, and Energy and Natural Resources. He co-authored the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. In the aftermath of Enron, he co-sponsored (with Barbara Boxer) legislation, which was later propounded by Ted Kennedy, that reforms the 401(k) plan to minimize the risk of investment portfolios. The plan was opposed by United States President George W. Bush and faced strong opposition in Congress. Restrictions on retirement account allocations were in direct opposition to the contemporaneous movement towards self-directed individual retirement accounts for social security.

He was a sponsor of the Start Healthy, Stay Healthy Act. Corzine supported providing a two-year tax break to victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks and help grant citizenship to victims who were legal resident aliens. He supported gun control laws, outlawing racial profiling, and subsidies for Amtrak. He was the chief sponsor, along with U.S. Senator Sam Brownback, of the Darfur Accountability Act. He voted against the Iraq War Resolution. Corzine was the prime sponsor, along with U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg, of a federal version of John's Law, in memory of Navy Ensign John R. Elliott of New Jersey, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy who was killed by a drunk driver. The legislation provides federal highway safety grant incentives to encourage states to impound the cars of DUI suspects. He was an early contributing blogger at The Huffington Post. In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Corzine and Peter Fitzgerald attempted to mold a more disciplined bailout of the airline industry, but even the redesigned plan was not entirely satisfactory to Corzine. Corzine opposed the reduction in low-income student eligibility for Pell Grant funding caused by changes in the "expected family contribution".

Corzine tried and failed to introduce legislation for chemical plant regulation six weeks after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Subsequent efforts by then-Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman in 2002 were also squelched. Along with Hillary Clinton, he was one of the few senators who attempted to pressure the Bush administration to clamp down on regulation of the chemical and nuclear-power industries. His efforts helped make New Jersey one of the stricter states in the nation in terms of chemical plant regulation.

In 2001, he coauthored (with Bob Graham) a tax cut proposal aimed at lowering the marginal tax bracket from 15% to 10% on the first $19,000 of taxable income. In 2002, he proposed a tax cut that exempted the first $10,000 of income from the $765 of Social Security taxes for both employers and employees. Despite his liberal tax cut suggestions, he is also a proponent of eliminating double taxation by making dividend payments tax deductible to companies as a form of economic stimulus.

While in the Senate, he chaired the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from 2003–2005. In this role he was influential in convincing certain potential candidates to not run in order to avoid costly primaries in three key states during the 2004 United States Senate elections. He also played a role in the selection of Senator John Edwards as a running mate for Senator John Kerry. Oddly, his resolution to congratulate Bruce Springsteen on the 30th Anniversary of ''Born to Run'' for his contribution to American culture was derailed in all likelihood due to Springsteen's support of Kerry.

In 2002, Corzine called for the resignation of United States Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Harvey Pitt.

Campaigns for governor

Corzine and his opponent, Republican Doug Forrester, spent $73 million on their gubernatorial campaigns by the week before Election day. This included $38 million by Corzine and $19 million by Forrester for the general election. The primaries accounted for the difference. Since Corzine had spent over $62 million on his 2000 United States Senate elections, the combined expenditures for Corzine's run for the Senate and Governorship exceeded $100 million. The main campaign issues were property taxes and the Bush administration. New Jersey had averaged $5,500 in 2004 property taxes, and Corzine tried to link his opponent to Bush.

The campaign for the post of Governor of New Jersey was successful with 54% of the vote. Forrester, a businessman and a former Mayor of West Windsor Township, in Mercer County, won 43%. Corzine received 1,224,493 votes to Forrester's 985,235. A total of 80,277 votes, or 3%, were scattered among other candidates. Corzine won 13 of New Jersey's 21 counties: Atlantic, Bergen, Burlington, Camden, Cumberland, Essex, Gloucester, Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex, Passaic, Salem, and Union. Corzine won the three most populous counties (Bergen, Essex, and Middlesex), five of the top six, and seven of the top nine.

Corzine ran for re-election in the 2009 New Jersey gubernatorial election. Early on, Rasmussen Reports indicated that Republican challenger Chris Christie led Corzine 47% to 38%. Later polls showed Corzine closing the gap, and in some cases, ahead. In the end, Corzine lost the race to Christie by a margin of 48.5% to 44.9%, with 5.8% of the vote going to independent candidate Chris Daggett.

Governor

Corzine declined his $175,000 salary in 2006.

After taking office in January 2006, Corzine's approval numbers were low. Many polls seemed to indicate that much of this negative polling was a result of the 2006 New Jersey State Government shutdown. An April 26, 2006, polls from Quinnipiac University Polling Institute showed Corzine at a 35% approval with a 42% disapproval. A February 28, 2007, poll from Quinnipiac University showed Corzine at 50% approval with 34% disapproval. When Corzine released a controversial plan to monetize the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway, his approval rating fell to 40% in January 2008. In conjunction with this fall in approval rating, an initiative to recall the Governor was started for the first and only time in New Jersey history. The recall effort failed after gathering less than 100,000 of the required 1.2 million signatures.

One of Corzine's first political tests as governor was the threat to New Jersey ports, of shipping operation control by a company from the United Arab Emirates. Although President George W. Bush supported the sale of the business of operating the United States' ports, Corzine viewed this transaction as a national security threat.

Corzine had long insisted that state employees must bear part of the cost of their health benefits after retirement. As of July 1, 2007, in agreements with the Communications Workers of America, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, and the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, active State employees in those unions (as well as certain other non-union employees) are now required to contribute 1.5% of their salary to offset health care costs. State and local employees’ contributions to the two largest pension systems by 10%, from 5% to 5.5% of their annual salaries and increased the retirement benefit age for new public employees, from 55 to 60 years. In 2008, Corzine approved a law that increased the retirement age from 60 to 62, required that government workers and teachers earn $7,500 per year to qualify for a pension, eliminated Lincoln's Birthday as a state worker holiday, allowed the state to offer incentives not to take health insurance and required municipal employees work 20 hours per week to get health benefits.

As part of his attempt to balance the budget, Corzine has decreased funding to most programs and localities including state universities and colleges. The first of these decreases came with the 2007 budget. Rutgers University and other New Jersey state universities have raised tuition, cut hundreds of sections of classes, and several sports teams. With the latest decrease in funding for 2009, most state institutions have funding that is less than the amount they had a decade ago.

Corzine has been the only New Jersey Governor in recent memory to make any headway in addressing the crisis of municipal funding. While not directly touching the third rail of New Jersey governance – property taxes – Corzine's reform of the school funding formula (passed and signed in January 2008) resulted in significant relief to many New Jersey towns with outsize school costs but limited tax base. The plan survived a legal challenge and was declared constitutional by the New Jersey Supreme Court on May 28, 2009.

Corzine has championed expanding government health and education programs. He planned to require every resident to enroll in a health plan and have taxpayers help pick up the tab for low and middle income residents. In June 2008 state legislators voted for the first phase of that program mandating heath care coverage for children and Corzine signed it into law in July.

Corzine spent some $200,000 of his own money on advertisements to promote a referendum on the 2007 New Jersey ballot to borrow $450 million to fund stem cell research. The referendum faced strong opposition and was rejected despite the fact that $270 million had previously been approved to build stem cell research centers.

Corzine, a death penalty opponent, as Governor supported and presided over abolition of the capital punishment in New Jersey and replacing it with life imprisonment. After the legislature passed and he signed it into law, New Jersey became the first state to legislatively eliminate capital punishment since 1965. Although the bill was not passed until late in 2007, New Jersey had not executed any criminals since 1963. Because the penalty was never used and often reversed upon appeal it was viewed as a form of extended suffering for victims' families by some supporters of its abolition. Before the enactment of the new law, he commuted the death sentences of all death row inmates to life in prison. Corzine also has supported early New Jersey efforts at gun control.

Corzine (along with governors Martin O'Malley (MD), Mike Beebe (AR), and Eliot Spitzer (NY)) was one of several United States Governors who was an early supporter of Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. He raised $1 million for her campaign. He, Bill Clinton, Eliot Spitzer, Chuck Schumer, and Charlie Rangel co-hosted Clinton's October 25, 2007 60th-birthday party. He remained a committed Clinton superdelegate late into the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primary season. In the event the Democratic National Committee would have decided to recontest the Michigan and Florida primaries, Corzine and Ed Rendell were prepared to spearhead Clinton's fundraising in for those races. Towards the end of the primary season in April 2008, Corzine made it clear that although he was a Clinton supporter, his superdelegate vote would be determined by the popular vote. After her win in the April 22, 2008 Pennsylvania Democratic primary and a calculation of popular votes that excluded caucuses and included the controversial Michigan and Florida Democratic primaries, Corzine reaffirmed his support for her. Once Barack Obama became the presumptive nominee, Corzine became a prominent spokesperson for Obama's agenda.

Corzine was among a group of big (in terms of population) state governors, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, who moved his state Republican and Democratic primaries to February 5, 2008, the date of Super Tuesday, 2008. He was also among a group of prominent politicians (that included Ted Kennedy and Barack Obama) who received political contributions from Norman Hsu that he ended up donating to charity.

In November 2008, in response to the ongoing economic downturn, Corzine proposed an economic recovery package consisting of additional spending, accelerated capital improvement spending and reforms and cuts to the corporate income tax. As of December 2008 many elements of the plan had been approved. On January 2, 2009, Corzine joined the governors of four other states in urging the federal government to provide $1 trillion in aid to the country's 50 state governments to help pay for education, welfare and infrastructure as states struggle with steep budget deficits amid a deepening recession.

New Jersey government shutdown

Corzine, in attempting to pass the 2007 fiscal year budget, clashed with fellow state Democrats in the New Jersey General Assembly, particularly over the proposed increase of the state's sales tax from 6% to 7%. Corzine said that he would not accept a budget that did not include the sales tax increase. After the legislature failed to pass Corzine's budget by the midnight deadline of July 1, 2006, he signed an executive order that immediately closed down all non-essential state government services, such as road construction projects. Legislators failed to resolve the situation by July 4 and casinos, among other governmentally-regulated industries, closed their doors at 8:00 am on July 5. Corzine called the shutdown "deplorable," though he refused to negotiate with legislators and accept alternate plans that did not increase the sales tax. It is estimated that the state lost several millions of dollars of revenue every day the casinos remained closed.

After six days of state government shut down, Corzine and Assembly Democrats agreed to raise the state sales tax from 6% to 7% with half of the 1% increase going to the state budget and the other half going to property tax relief. On July 8, 2006, the $30 billion state budget, with the sales tax agreement, passed both houses and Governor Corzine signed the budget into law ending the budget impasse.

Toll hike plan and protest

Initially, Corzine opposed privatization of the New Jersey Turnpike. On January 8, 2008, to address ongoing structural budget issues, Governor Corzine proposed a four-part proposal including an overall reduction in spending, a constitutional amendment to require more voter approval for state borrowing, an executive order prohibiting the use of one-time revenues to balance the budget and a controversial plan to raise some $38 billion by leasing the Garden State Parkway, the New Jersey Turnpike, and other toll roads for at least 75 years to a new public benefit corporation that could sell bonds secured by future tolls, which it would be allowed to raise by 50% plus inflation every four years beginning in 2010. Corzine vowed to get that plan through the state legislature by March, but held off for nearly a month before releasing the details. Upon learning how the plan would work, New Jersey residents railed against it, comparing it to using one credit card to pay off another, pointing out that it would create hardship for commuters and noting that it would actually increase the state's $32 billion debt.

Carla Katz

In the spring of 1999, when Jon Corzine was running for the United State Senate, he met Carla Katz, the then president of Local 1034 of the Communications Workers of America, which represents the largest number of state workers in New Jersey. As Katz later recalled, Corzine offered her a job on his Senate campaign, but she declined the offer. Corzine and Katz were soon dating, and they began appearing in public as a couple in early 2002, shortly after Corzine's separation from his wife Joanne. (The Corzines divorced the following year.) For more than two years Corzine was romantically involved with Katz. She lived with him at his apartment in Hoboken from April 2002 until August 2004.

After Corzine's breakup with Katz, their lawyers negotiated a financial payout in November 2004. According to press accounts, the settlement for Katz exceeded $6 million, including cash (in part used to buy her $1.1 million condominium in Hoboken), a college trust fund to educate her children, a 2005 Volvo sport utility vehicle, and Corzine forgave a $470,000 loan that he had made to Katz in 2002 so that she could buy out her ex-husband's share of their home in Alexandria Township. Katz enrolled in Seton Hall University School of Law on a full scholarship in 2004. Corzine later admitted that he had also given $15,000 to Carla Katz's brother-in-law, Rocco Riccio, a former state employee who had resigned, after being accused of examining income tax returns for political purposes. At the time, Katz was president of the Communications Workers of America Local 1034, which bargains on behalf of many state employees.

In the summer of 2005, when Corzine was running in the New Jersey gubernatorial election, news first emerged of his relationship with Katz and the money she had received. Corzine was elected governor despite the scandal. In the fall of 2006, during an impasse in contract negotiations between the Corzine administration and the state's seven major state employee unions (including the CWA), Katz contacted the governor by phone and e-mail to lobby for a renewal of the negotiations. Their relationship and the financial settlement Katz received after their breakup led to criticism of potential conflicts of interest in labor negotiations while Corzine was governor. A state ethics panel, acting on a complaint from Bogota mayor Steve Lonegan, ruled in May 2007 that Katz's contact with Corzine during negotiations did not violate the governor's code of conduct. Separately, New Jersey Republican State Committee Chairman Tom Wilson filed a lawsuit to release all e-mail correspondence between Corzine and Katz during the contract negotiations. On May 30, 2008, New Jersey Superior Court Judge Paul Innes ruled that at least 745 pages of e-mail records should be made public, but Corzine's lawyers immediately appealed the decision.

Corzine won his case on appeal, and on March 18, 2009, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that it would not hear arguments in the case, effectively ending the legal battle to make his e-mails with Katz public. Corzine spent approximately $127,000 of taxpayer funds to keep the e-mails secret. Despite these efforts, on August 1, 2010, ''The Star-Ledger'' published 123 of the Corzine-Katz e-mails, revealing the extent of their personal contact during negotiations over a new state workers contract in early 2007.

Appointments

Corzine continued to serve in the U.S. Senate while running for Governor, which ensured that he could resign from the Senate and appoint a successor if he won and allowed him to retain his Senate seat if he lost. Speculation was that he would appoint a Democrat from one of the congressional districts in New Jersey, perhaps Congressmen Rob Andrews, Rush Holt, or Frank Pallone. Governor Richard Codey although on November 23, 2005, he announced that he was not interested in pursuing the seat. On December 9, 2005, Corzine named U.S. Rep. Bob Menendez, a Democrat, to succeed him.

One of Corzine's first nominations was that of Zulima Farber as New Jersey Attorney General. Farber had been nominated to serve on the New Jersey Supreme Court by former Governor James E. McGreevey who resigned in August 2004 amidst a plethora of scandals, but McGreevey withdrew the nomination after learning that Farber had bench warrants issued for her arrest for numerous motor vehicle infractions. Despite criticism, Corzine nominated her as Attorney General. She served for approximately seven months until an ethics investigation concluded that she had improperly influenced local police in Fairview, New Jersey who had stopped her boyfriend Hamlet Gore for driving with a suspended license and an expired vehicle registration. Corzine insisted he did not ask for Farber's resignation.

On February 9, 2006, after many scandals regarding financial mishandling at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Corzine nominated Robert Del Tufo, the former Attorney General of New Jersey and U.S. Attorney, as chairman of the board of trustees. Corzine also nominated Oliver Quinn, Prudential Financial's vice president and chief ethics officer, as vice chairman of the board.

Corzine's commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection and Chief of Staff, Lisa P. Jackson was nominated as the administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency. She was confirmed by the Senate on January 22, 2009.

Motorcade accident

On April 12, 2007, Governor Corzine and 25 year-old aide Samantha Gordon were injured in an automobile accident on the Garden State Parkway near Galloway Township while traveling from the New Jersey Conference of Mayors in Atlantic City to Drumthwacket, his residence in Princeton, to meet with radio personality Don Imus and the Rutgers University women's basketball team.

The New Jersey State Police determined that Corzine's SUV, driven by a state trooper, was traveling in excess of 90 MPH (147 km/h) in a 65 MPH (105 km/h) zone with its emergency lights flashing when the collision occurred. A pickup truck drifted onto the shoulder and swerved back onto the lane, and another pickup truck swerved to avoid the truck and hit the Governor's SUV, causing the SUV to hit the guardrail. The State Police reviewed roadside camera recordings and E-ZPass records to track down the driver of the truck; he was not charged with any violation.

Corzine and the trooper were flown by helicopter to Cooper University Hospital in Camden, a Level I trauma center. The aide was taken by ambulance to Atlantic City Medical Center. Neither the trooper nor the aide was seriously injured, but Corzine suffered broken bones, including an open fracture of the left femur, 11 broken ribs, a broken sternum, a broken collarbone, a fractured lower vertebra, and a facial cut that required plastic surgery. The Governor was not wearing a seat belt. Friends had long said that they had rarely seen him wear one. When asked why the state trooper who was driving would not have asked Corzine to put on his seat belt, a staffer said the governor was "not always amenable to suggestion". The Superintendent of State Police has also noted that the trooper could be charged if the crash was preventable.

By April 23, 2007, Corzine's doctors had upgraded him from critical to stable condition. He was sedated and unable to speak because of a breathing tube in his throat, and as such, was unable to perform his duties as Governor. In accordance with the New Jersey State Constitution, New Jersey Senate President Richard Codey assumed the position of acting governor from April 12 until May 7, 2007. In 2005, voters had approved an amendment to the state constitution to provide for a Lieutenant Governor who would succeed the governor in the event of a vacancy, but that position would not be filled until 2010.

Corzine left the hospital on April 30, 2007. He sped to Drumthwacket “in a van clocked at fifteen miles [per hour] over the speed limit.” ''New York Post'' columnist Leonard Greene reported that the Governor's motorcade, while traveling on Interstate 295 en route to his mansion, was clocked by unnamed motorists at a speed of 70 MPH while in a 55 MPH zone. Corzine recuperated at Drumthwacket, which had been outfitted with a videoconferencing center (at his expense) so he could communicate with legislators. He issued an apology, paid a $46 ticket (issued at the behest of his staff) for not wearing a seatbelt, and he appeared in a public service announcement advocating seat belts which opened with the words "I’m New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, and I should be dead."

It was reported that Corzine would pay his own medical bills rather than bill taxpayers.

Public Opinion Summary

During the first months of his administration, Governor Corzine experienced favorable approval ratings. According to a March 2006 Fairleigh Dickinson PublicMind Poll 47% of New Jersey voters approved of the job Corzine was doing, while only 16% disapproved. Dr. Peter Woolley, director of the PublicMind, noted, “the numbers are pretty good for a New Jersey governor heading full tilt into an unprecedented budget crisis. Quickly diminished was much of the good will that was indicated by the March poll and in April of 2006, a PublicMind poll showed that Corzine’s approval rating had eroded to 39% while his disapproval rating shot up to 36%. But by July of 2006 the Governor’s ratings recovered to some extent from the April decline and in September of the same year it was clear that Corzine’s approvals had not suffered from the summer conflict over the budget and the sales tax hike: 51% of New Jersey voters approved of the governor’s handling of his job while 31% disapproved. His ratings remained relatively stable and healthy through the rest of 2006 and 2007 with his average approvals at 54% and his average disapprovals at 29%. His car crash and injuries had no effect.

In January of 2008, prior to the State of the State address Corzine was at 48% approving 32% disapproving. But another FDU PublicMind poll taken in late January, after the State of the State address, showed that governor’s ratings were slipping: 41% of voters approved of the job Corzine was doing while 39% reported that they disapproved. The decline was largely in response to the governor’s plan to raise tolls on the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway. February of 2008 was not any kinder, as a PublicMind poll indicated that his numbers continued to slip with disapprovals catching up to approvals with 42% of voters approving and 43% of voters disapproving. Dr. Woolley of the PublicMind remarked on the decline saying, “Considering the beating he has taken on his toll plan, it’s remarkable that his numbers are not a good deal worse.” The governor’s approval ratings showed no recovery through September 2008 with his approvals and disapprovals averaging 42% and 43% respectively. Coincident with the presidential campaign, Corzine’s approval ratings saw some improvement.

In January 2009 he stood at 46% approving and 40% disapproving. Dr. Woolley asserted that the governor was faring relatively well in public opinion considering “the enormous and growing pressure on the state budget and on the governor to protect various constituencies.” Come March 2009, the PublicMind Poll found that, “Gov. Jon Corzine’s standing with the New Jersey public is suffering along with the economy,” and as a result his approvals began to slip with 40% of voters approving and 43% disapproving. His approvals continued to decline in April as he contended with the budget and the financial crisis with 40% approving and 49% disapproving. At the end of his term, in January 2010, Corzine’s approvals landed at their lowest point during the administration with 33% approving and 58% disapproving.

Post-gubernatorial career

Corzine was appointed CEO and Chairman of MF Global, a multinational futures broker and bond dealer, in March 2010. Corzine also serves in 2010 as a partner at J.C. Flowers & Co., the private equity firm founded by his friend J. Christopher Flowers. Flowers owns a 10 percent stake in MF Global, and Mr. Flowers is also a former Goldman Sachs' partner.

Corzine also plans to teach a class on public policy at Princeton University fall 2010.

Electoral history

Personal life

Corzine married his high school sweetheart, Joanne Dougherty, in 1969 at the age of 22, and their 33-year marriage produced three children: Jennifer, Josh, and Jeffrey. The couple separated in 2002 and were divorced in November 2003. In November 2005, Dougherty told ''The New York Times'' that Corzine "let his family down, and he'll probably let New Jersey down, too." This quote was used by gubernatorial opponent Doug Forrester in a campaign advertisement.

Corzine had lived with his wife in Summit. After their separation, Corzine moved to a condominium apartment building in Hoboken, in the same building as quarterbacks Eli Manning and Jesse Palmer.

In April 2010, ''The Huffington Post'' announced the engagement of Corzine and psychotherapist Sharon Elghanayan, whom he had been dating since 2004. On November 23, 2010, Corzine married Elghanayan in a ceremony presided over by Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court Stuart Rabner, according to an announcement in ''The New York Times''.

See also

New Jersey

List of Governors of New Jersey

United States Senate

List of United States Senators

Notes

References

Ingle, Bob (2008). ''The Soprano State''. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 10: 0-312-36894-1.

"Democrats score big". (November 10, 2005). ''New Straits Times'', p. 29.

Newmarker, Chris (November 5, 2005). "N.J. Governor's Race Hits New Lows". ''Associated Press''.

"Corzine for a Bruising" May 10, 2006 ''The Brian Lehrer Show''

External links

Corzine for Governor ''official campaign website''

Profile at SourceWatch

The Deal He Made, Craig Horowitz, ''New York Magazine'', July 10, 2005

{{U.S. Senator box |state=New Jersey |class=1 |before=Frank Lautenberg |years=January 3, 2001 – January 17, 2006 |after=Robert Menendez |alongside=Robert Torricelli, Frank Lautenberg }}

Category:1947 births Category:Living people Category:American chief executives Category:Chairmen of Goldman Sachs Category:Chief Executive Officers of Goldman Sachs Category:Democratic Party state governors of the United States Category:Democratic Party United States Senators Category:Governors of New Jersey Category:New Jersey Democrats Category:People from Christian County, Illinois Category:People from Hoboken, New Jersey Category:People from Summit, New Jersey Category:United Church of Christ members Category:United States Marine Corps reservists Category:United States Marines Category:United States Senators from New Jersey Category:University of Chicago Booth School of Business alumni Category:University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign alumni

ar:جون كورزاين da:Jon Corzine de:Jon Corzine es:Jon Corzine fr:Jon Corzine nl:Jon Corzine ja:ジョン・コーザイン no:Jon Corzine pl:Jon Corzine pt:Jon Corzine simple:Jon Corzine fi:Jon Corzine sv:Jon Corzine yi:דזשאן קארזיין

Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
Name	William C. Ayers
Birth date	December 26, 1944
Birth place	Glen Ellyn, Illinois
Residence	Chicago, Illinois
Citizenship	United States
Nationality	American
Field	Education
Work institutions	University of Illinois at Chicago
Alma mater	University of Michigan (B.A.), Bank Street College of Education (M.Ed.), Teachers College, Columbia University (Ed.M., Ed.D.)
Known for	Founder and former member of the Weather UndergroundUrban educational reform
Footnotes	}}

William Charles "Bill" Ayers (born December 26, 1944) is an American elementary education theorist and a former leader in the movement that opposed U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. He is known for his 1960s activism as well as his current work in education reform, curriculum, and instruction. In 1969 he co-founded the Weather Underground, a self-described communist revolutionary group that conducted a campaign of bombing public buildings during the 1960s and 1970s, in response to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. He is a retired professor in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, formerly holding the titles of Distinguished Professor of Education and Senior University Scholar. During the 2008 US presidential campaign, a controversy arose over his contacts with candidate Barack Obama. He is married to Bernardine Dohrn, who was also a leader in the Weather organization.

Early life

Ayers grew up in Glen Ellyn, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. He attended public schools there until his second year in high school, when he transferred to Lake Forest Academy, a small [[University-preparatory school| prep school]]. Ayers earned a B.A. from the University of Michigan in American Studies in 1968 (his father, mother and older brother had preceded him there). His parents are Mary (née Andrew) and Thomas G. Ayers, who was later Chairman and CEO of Commonwealth Edison (1973 to 1980), and for whom the Thomas G. Ayers College of Commerce and Industry was named. Ayers was affected when Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) President Paul Potter, at a 1965 Ann Arbor Teach-In against the Vietnam war, asked his audience, "How will you live your life so that it doesn't make a mockery of your values?" Ayers later wrote in his memoir, ''Fugitive Days'', that his reaction was: "You could not be a moral person with the means to act, and stand still. [...] To stand still was to choose indifference. Indifference was the opposite of moral".

In 1965, Ayers joined a picket line protesting an Ann Arbor, Michigan pizzeria for refusing to seat African Americans. His first arrest came for a sit-in at a local draft board, resulting in 10 days in jail. His first teaching job came shortly afterward at the Children's Community School, a preschool with a very small enrollment operating in a church basement, founded by a group of students in emulation of the Summerhill method of education. The school was a part of the nationwide "free school movement". Schools in the movement had no grades or report cards; they aimed to encourage cooperation rather than competition, and the teachers had pupils address them by their first names. Within a few months, at age 21, Ayers became director of the school. There also he met Diana Oughton, who would become his girlfriend until her death in 1970 after a bomb exploded while preparing the bombs for Weather Underground activities.

Early radicalism

Ayers became involved in the New Left and the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). He rose to national prominence as an SDS leader in 1968 and 1969. As head of an SDS regional group, the "Jesse James Gang," Ayers made decisive contributions to the Weatherman orientation toward militancy.

The group Ayers headed in Detroit, Michigan became one of the earliest gatherings of what became the Weatherman. Before the June 1969 SDS convention, Ayers became a prominent leader of the group, which arose as a result of a schism in SDS. "During that time his infatuation with street fighting grew and he developed a language of confrontational militancy that became more and more pronounced over the year [1969]", disaffected former Weatherman member Cathy Wilkerson wrote in 2001. Ayers had previously been a roommate of Terry Robbins, a fellow militant who was killed in 1970 along with Ayers' girlfriend Oughton and one other member in the Greenwich Village townhouse explosion, while constructing anti-personnel bombs intended for a non-commissioned officer dance at Fort Dix, New Jersey. Ayers was living in Michigan at that time.

In June 1969, the Weatherman took control of the SDS at its national convention, where Ayers was elected Education Secretary. Later in 1969, Ayers participated in planting a bomb at a statue dedicated to police casualties in the 1886 Haymarket affair confrontation between labor supporters and the Chicago police. The blast broke almost 100 windows and blew pieces of the statue onto the nearby Kennedy Expressway. (The statue was rebuilt and unveiled on May 4, 1970, and blown up again by other Weathermen on October 6, 1970. Rebuilding it yet again, the city posted a 24-hour police guard to prevent another blast, and in January 1972 it was moved to Chicago police headquarters.)

Ayers participated in the Days of Rage riot in Chicago in October 1969, and in December was at the "War Council" meeting in Flint, Michigan. Two major decisions came out of the "War Council." The first was to immediately begin a violent, armed struggle (e.g., bombings and armed robberies) against the state without attempting to organize or mobilize a broad swath of the public. The second was to create underground collectives in major cities throughout the country. Larry Grathwohl, a Federal Bureau of Investigation informant in the Weatherman group from the fall of 1969 to the spring of 1970, stated that "Ayers, along with Bernardine Dohrn, probably had the most authority within the Weatherman".

Years underground

After the Greenwich Village townhouse explosion in 1970, in which Weatherman member Ted Gold, Ayers' close friend Terry Robbins, and Ayers' girlfriend, Diana Oughton were killed when a nail bomb being assembled in the house exploded, Ayers and several associates evaded pursuit by US law enforcement officials. Kathy Boudin and Cathy Wilkerson survived the blast. Ayers was not facing criminal charges at the time, but the federal government later filed charges against him. Ayers participated in the bombings of New York City Police Department headquarters in 1970, the United States Capitol building in 1971, and the Pentagon in 1972, as he noted in his 2001 book, ''Fugitive Days''. Ayers writes:

Although the bomb that rocked the Pentagon was itsy-bitsy - weighing close to two pounds - it caused 'tens of thousands of dollars' of damage. The operation cost under $500, and no one was killed or even hurt.

Some media reports and political critics have suggested that Ayers, Dohrn or the Weathermen were connected to the fatal 1970 San Francisco Police Department Park Station bombing but neither Ayers nor anyone else has been charged or convicted of this crime.

While underground, Ayers and fellow member Bernardine Dohrn married, and the two remained fugitives together, changing identities, jobs and locations.

In 1973, new information came to light about FBI operations targeted against Weather Underground and the New Left, all part of a series of covert and often illegal FBI projects called COINTEL. Due to the illegal tactics of FBI agents involved with the program, government attorneys requested all weapons- and bomb-related charges be dropped against the Weather Underground, including charges against Ayers.

However, state charges against Dohrn remained. Dohrn was still reluctant to turn herself in to authorities. "He was sweet and patient, as he always is, to let me come to my senses on my own", she later said of Ayers. She turned herself in to authorities in 1980. She was fined $1,500 and given three years probation.

In 1973 Ayers co-authored the book ''Prairie Fire'' with other members of the Weather Underground which they dedicated to close to 200 people including Harriet Tubman, John Brown, 'All Who Continue to Fight', and 'All Political Prisoners in the U.S.'. The list includes Sirhan Sirhan, convicted assassin of Robert F. Kennedy. Ayers himself has denied personally dedicating the book to Sirhan.

Later reflections on underground period

''Fugitive Days: A Memoir''

In 2001, Ayers published ''Fugitive Days: A Memoir'', which he explained in part as an attempt to answer the questions of Kathy Boudin's son, and his speculation that Diana Oughton died trying to stop the Greenwich Village bomb makers. Some have questioned the truth, accuracy, and tone of the book. Brent Staples wrote for ''The New York Times Book Review'' that "Ayers reminds us often that he can't tell everything without endangering people involved in the story. Historian Jesse Lemisch (himself a former member of SDS) contrasted Ayers' recollections with those of other former members of Weatherman and has alleged serious factual errors. Ayers, in the foreword to his book, states that it was written as his personal memories and impressions over time, not a scholarly research project.

Statements made in 2001

''Chicago Magazine'' reported that "just before the September 11th attacks," Richard Elrod, a city lawyer injured in the Weathermen's Chicago "Days of Rage," received an apology from Ayers and Dohrn for their part in the violence. "[T]hey were remorseful," Elrod says. "They said, 'We're sorry that things turned out this way.'" In the months before Ayers' memoir was published on September 10, 2001, the author gave numerous interviews with newspaper and magazine writers in which he defended his overall history of radical words and actions. Some of the resulting articles were written before the September 11 attacks and appeared immediately after, including one often-noted article in ''The New York Times'', and another in the ''Chicago Tribune''. Numerous observations were made in the media comparing the statements Ayers was making about his own past just as a dramatic terrorist incident shocked the public.

Much of the controversy about Ayers during the decade since 2000 stems from an interview he gave to ''The New York Times'' on the occasion of the memoir's publication. The reporter quoted him as saying "I don't regret setting bombs" and "I feel we didn't do enough", and, when asked if he would "do it all again," as saying "I don't want to discount the possibility." Ayers protested the interviewer's characterizations in a Letter to the Editor published September 15, 2001: "This is not a question of being misunderstood or 'taken out of context', but of deliberate distortion." In the ensuing years, Ayers has repeatedly avowed that when he said he had "no regrets" and that "we didn't do enough" he was speaking only in reference to his efforts to stop the United States from waging the Vietnam War, efforts which he has described as ". . . inadequate [as] the war dragged on for a decade." Ayers has maintained that the two statements were not intended to imply a wish they had set more bombs.

In a November 2008 interview with ''The New Yorker'', Ayers said that he had not meant to imply that he wished he and the Weathermen had committed further acts of violence. Instead, he said, “I wish I had done more, but it doesn’t mean I wish we’d bombed more shit.” Ayers said that he had never been responsible for violence against other people and was acting to end a war in Vietnam in which “thousands of people were being killed every week.” He also stated, "While we did claim several extreme acts, they were acts of extreme radicalism against property,” and “We killed no one and hurt no one. Three of our people killed themselves.”

The interviewer also quoted some of Ayers' own criticism of Weatherman in the foreword to the memoir, whereby Ayers reacts to having watched Emile de Antonio's 1976 documentary film about Weatherman, ''Underground'': "[Ayers] was 'embarrassed by the arrogance, the solipsism, the absolute certainty that we and we alone knew the way. The rigidity and the narcissism.' " "We weren't terrorists," Ayers told an interviewer for the ''Chicago Tribune'' in 2001. "The reason we weren't terrorists is because we did not commit random acts of terror against people. Terrorism was what was being practiced in the countryside of Vietnam by the United States."

In a letter to the editor in the ''Chicago Tribune'', Ayers wrote, "I condemn all forms of terrorism — individual, group and official". He also condemned the September 11 terrorist attacks in that letter. "Today we are witnessing crimes against humanity on our own shores on an unthinkable scale, and I fear that we may soon see more innocent people in other parts of the world dying in response."

Views on his past expressed since 2001

Ayers was asked in a January 2004 interview, "How do you feel about what you did? Would you do it again under similar circumstances?" He replied: "I've thought about this a lot. Being almost 60, it's impossible to not have lots and lots of regrets about lots and lots of things, but the question of did we do something that was horrendous, awful? ... I don't think so. I think what we did was to respond to a situation that was unconscionable." On September 9, 2008, journalist Jake Tapper reported on the comic strip in Ayers' blog explaining the soundbite: "The one thing I don't regret is opposing the war in Vietnam with every ounce of my being.... When I say, 'We didn't do enough,' a lot of people rush to think, 'That must mean, "We didn't bomb enough shit."' But that's not the point at all. It's not a tactical statement, it's an obvious political and ethical statement. In this context, 'we' means 'everyone.'"

In an op-ed piece in 2008, Ayers gave this assessment of his actions:

The Weather Underground crossed lines of legality, of propriety and perhaps even of common sense. Our effectiveness can be — and still is being — debated.

He also reiterated his rebuttal to the charge of terrorism:

The Weather Underground went on to take responsibility for placing several small bombs in empty offices.... We did carry out symbolic acts of extreme vandalism directed at monuments to war and racism, and the attacks on property, never on people, were meant to respect human life and convey outrage and determination to end the Vietnam war.

Academic career

Ayers is a retired professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Education. His interests include teaching for social justice, urban educational reform, narrative and interpretive research, children in trouble with the law, and related issues.

He began his career in primary education while an undergraduate, teaching at the Children’s Community School (CCS), a project founded by a group of students and based on the Summerhill method of education. After leaving the underground, he earned an M.Ed from Bank Street College in Early Childhood Education (1984), an M.Ed from Teachers College, Columbia University in Early Childhood Education (1987) and an Ed. D from Teachers College, Columbia University in Curriculum and Instruction (1987).

He has edited and written many books and articles on education theory, policy and practice, and has appeared on many panels and symposia. On August 5th, 2010, Ayers officially announced his intent to retire from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

On September 23, 2010 William Ayers was unanimously denied emeritus status by the University of Illinois, after a speech by the university's board chair Christopher G. Kennedy (son of assassinated U.S. Senator Robert Kennedy), containing the quote "I intend to vote against conferring the honorific title of our university to a man whose body of work includes a book dedicated in part to the man who murdered my father, Robert F. Kennedy." Kennedy referred to a 1974 book ''Prairie Fire: The Politics of Revolutionary Anti-Imperialism,'' written by Ayers and other Weather Underground members, which includes a dedication to a list of over 200 revolutionary figures, musicians and others, including Sirhan Sirhan, who is currently serving a life sentence for Robert Kennedy's assassination in 1968. Ayers said he has never dedicated any book, including Prairie Fire, the book in question, to assassins.

Civic and political life

Ayers worked with Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley in shaping the city's school reform program, and was one of three co-authors of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge grant proposal that in 1995 won $49.2 million over five years for public school reform. In 1997 Chicago awarded him its Citizen of the Year award for his work on the project. Since 1999 he has served on the board of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago, an anti-poverty, philanthropic foundation established as the Woods Charitable Fund in 1941. According to Ayers, his radical past occasionally affects him, as when, by his account, he was asked not to attend a progressive educators' conference in the fall of 2006 on the basis that the organizers did not want to risk an association with his past. On January 18, 2009, on his way to speak about education reform at the Centre for Urban Schooling at the University of Toronto, he was refused admission to Canada when he arrived at the Toronto City Centre Airport although he has travelled to Canada more than a dozen times in the past. According to Ayers, "It seems very arbitrary. The border agent said I had a conviction for a felony from 1969. I have several arrests for misdemeanours, but not for felonies."

Political views

In an interview published in 1995, Ayers characterized his political beliefs at that time and in the 1960s and 1970s: "I am a radical, Leftist, small 'c' communist ... [Laughs] Maybe I'm the last communist who is willing to admit it. [Laughs] We have always been small 'c' communists in the sense that we were never in the Communist party and never Stalinists. The ethics of communism still appeal to me. I don't like Lenin as much as the early Marx. I also like Henry David Thoreau, Mother Jones and Jane Addams [...]" In 1970 Ayers was called "a national leader" of the Weatherman organization and "one of the chief theoreticians of the Weathermen" by ''The New York Times''. The Weathermen were initially part of the Revolutionary Youth Movement (RYM) within the SDS, splitting from the RYM's Maoists by claiming there was no time to build a vanguard party and that revolutionary war against the United States government and the capitalist system should begin immediately. Their founding document called for the establishment of a "white fighting force" to be allied with the "Black Liberation Movement" and other "anti-colonial" movements to achieve "the destruction of US imperialism and the achievement of a classless world: world communism." In June 1974, the Weather Underground released a 151-page volume titled ''Prairie Fire'', which stated: "We are a guerrilla organization [...] We are communist women and men underground in the United States [...]" The Weatherman leadership, including Ayers, pushed for a radical reformulation of sexual relations under the slogan "Smash Monogamy".

Grathwohl claims

Larry Grathwohl, an undercover FBI agent who infiltrated The Weather Underground, claimed that Ayers wanted to overthrow the United States government. In an interview in January 2009, Grathwohl stated that:

"The thing the most bone chilling thing Bill Ayers said to me was that after the revolution succeeded and the government was overthrown, they believed they would have to eliminate 25 million Americans who would not conform to the new order."

In response to Grathwohl's claims, Ayers stated that:

"Never said it. Never thought it. And again, Larry Grathwohl, I don't know him today, but certainly the FBI was an organization built on lies."

In an interview with ABC7 reporter Alan Wang, Ayers stated that "Now that's being blown into dishonest narratives about hurting people, killing people, planning to kill people. That's just not true. We destroyed government property," said Ayers. However, when asked if he ever made bombs, Ayers replied: "I'm just not going to talk about it."

Obama-Ayers controversy

During the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, a controversy arose regarding Ayers' contacts with then-candidate Barack Obama, a matter that had been public knowledge in Chicago for years. After being raised by the British press the connection was picked up by conservative blogs and newspapers in the United States. The matter was raised in a campaign debate by moderator George Stephanopoulos, and later became an issue for the John McCain presidential campaign. Investigations by ''The New York Times'', CNN, and other news organizations concluded that Obama does not have a close relationship with Ayers. In an op-ed piece after the election, Ayers denied any close association with Obama, and castigated the Republican campaign for its use of guilt by association tactics. In a new edition of his memoirs, ''Fugitive Days: Memoirs of an Anti-War-Activist'', he added a new afterword describing the blogospheric characterization of their relationship as "neighbors and family friends" ("In 2008 there was a lot of chatter on the blogosphere about my relationship with Barack Obama: we had served together on the board of a foundation, knew one another as neighbors and family friends, held an initial fundraiser at my house, where I'd made a small donation to his earliest political campaign."). This was misleadingly characterized as his own claim by some.

Praise and criticism of Ayers

Praise for Ayers and his work

In 1997 Chicago awarded him its Citizen of the Year award for his work on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge project.

William C. Ibershof, formerly the lead federal prosecutor in the Weather Underground case, wrote in 2008: "Although I dearly wanted to obtain convictions against all the Weathermen, including Bill Ayers, I am very pleased to learn that he has become a responsible citizen."

Ayers was elected Vice President for Curriculum Studies by the American Educational Research Association in 2008. William H. Schubert, a fellow professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, wrote that his election was "a testimony of [Ayers'] stature and [the] high esteem he holds in the field of education locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally."

Wall Street Journal columnist Thomas Frank praised Ayers as a "model citizen" and a scholar whose "work is esteemed by colleagues of different political viewpoints."

In an October 2010 Chicago Sun Times editorial ''Attacks on Ayers distort our history'', former students of Ayers and UIC Alumni, Daniel Schneider and Adam Kuranishi, responded in opposition to the University of Illinois Board of Trustees' decision to deny Ayers Emeritus status. They write, "We juxtaposed the image of him painted by the media with the teacher we saw in class; and the two could not be more distinct. The Ayers in the media was frozen in time; he never left the 1960s, never aged out of his 20s, and never grew in perspective. As his students, we see through this representation... Ayers is still committed to movements for peace and justice. His worldview and tactics are evolved and elaborate, thoughtful and wise, making him unrecognizable to the media's caricature. Should we not expect someone to evolve after 40 years? One may disagree with his activism, but it is impossible to ignore his hard work and contributions to urban education, juvenile justice reform, the University of Illinois and Chicago."

Criticism of Ayers and his work

Radical bomber Jane Alpert criticized Ayers in 1974 "for his callous treatment and abandonment of Diana Oughton before her death, and for his generally fickle and high-handed treatment of women."

In 2001, Ayers published a memoir, ''Fugitive Days'', to mixed reviews. Timothy Noah's 2001 Slate Magazine review says he can't recall reading "a memoir quite so self-indulgent and morally clueless as ''Fugitive Days''." By contrast, Studs Terkel called the book "a deeply moving elegy to all those young dreamers who tried to live decently in an indecent world."

Sol Stern is a longtime critic of Ayers; he has "studied Mr. Ayers's work for years and read most of his books." Stern has written critiques of Ayers's career as an education reformer for City Journal and elsewhere. His criticism in summary: "Calling Bill Ayers a school reformer is a bit like calling Joseph Stalin an agricultural reformer.". "The media mainstreaming of a figure like Mr. Ayers could have terrible consequences for the country's politics and public schools."

Feminist critic Katha Pollitt sharply criticized Ayers' December 2008 ''New York Times'' opinion piece as a "sentimentalized, self-justifying whitewash of his role in the weirdo violent fringe of the 1960s-70s antiwar left." She castigates Ayers and his Weathermen cohorts for making "the antiwar movement look like the enemy of ordinary people" during the Vietnam War era.

Personal life

Ayers is married to Bernardine Dohrn, a fellow former leader of the Weather Underground. They have two adult children (including Zayd, who was featured in the book A Hope in the Unseen as the college friend of the main character Cedric Jennings) and shared legal guardianship of Chesa Boudin, son of Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert. Boudin and Gilbert were former Weather Underground members who later joined the May 19 Communist Organization and were jailed for their roles in that group's Brinks robbery. Chesa Boudin went on to win a Rhodes scholarship. Ayers and Dohrn currently live in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago.

Works

''Education: An American Problem''. Bill Ayers, Radical Education Project, 1968, ASIN B0007H31HU

''Hot town: Summer in the City: I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more'', Bill Ayers, Students for a Democratic Society, 1969, ASIN B0007I3CMI

''Prairie Fire: The Politics of Revolutionary Anti-Imperialism'', Bernardine Dohrn, Jeff Jones, Billy Ayers, Celia Sojourn, Communications Co., 1974, ASIN B000GF2KVQ

''The Good Preschool Teacher: Six Teachers Reflect on Their Lives'', William Ayers, Teachers College Press, 1989, ISBN 978-0-8077-2946-5

''To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher'', William Ayers, Teachers College Press, 1993, ISBN 978-0-8077-3262-5*''

''To Become a Teacher: Making a Difference in Children's Lives'', William Ayers, Teachers College Press, 1995, ISBN 978-0-8077-3455-1

''City Kids, City Teachers: Reports from the Front Row'', William Ayers (Editor) and Patricia Ford (Editor), New Press, 1996, ISBN 978-1-56584-328-8

''A Kind and Just Parent'', William Ayers, Beacon Press, 1997, ISBN 978-0-8070-4402-5

''A Light in Dark Times: Maxine Greene and the Unfinished Conversation'', Maxine Greene (Editor), William Ayers (Editor), Janet L. Miller (Editor), Teachers College Press, 1998, ISBN 978-0-8077-3721-7

''Teaching for Social Justice: A Democracy and Education Reader'', William Ayers (Editor), Jean Ann Hunt (Editor), Therese Quinn (Editor), 1998, ISBN 978-1-56584-420-9

''Teacher Lore: Learning from Our Own Experience'', William H. Schubert (Editor) and William C. Ayers (Editor), Educator's International Press, 1999, ISBN 978-1-891928-03-1

''Teaching from the Inside Out: The Eight-Fold Path to Creative Teaching and Living'', Sue Sommers (Author), William Ayers (Foreword), Authority Press, 2000, ISBN 978-1-929059-02-7

''A Simple Justice: The Challenge of Small Schools'', William Ayers, Teachers College Press, 2000, ISBN 978-0-8077-3963-1

''Zero Tolerance: Resisting the Drive for Punishment'', William Ayers (Editor), Rick Ayers (Editor), Bernardine Dohrn (Editor), Jesse L. Jackson (Author), New Press, 2001, ISBN 978-1-56584-666-1

''A School of Our Own: Parents, Power, and Community at the East Harlem Block Schools'', Tom Roderick (Author), William Ayers (Author), Teachers College Press, 2001, ISBN 978-0-8077-4157-3

''Refusing Racism: White Allies and the Struggle for Civil Rights'', Cynthia Stokes Brown (Author), William Ayers (Editor), Therese Quinn (Editor), Teachers College Press, 2002, ISBN 978-0-8077-4204-4

''On the Side of the Child: Summerhill Revisited'', William Ayers, Teachers College Press, 2003, ISBN 978-0-8077-4400-0

''Fugitive Days: A Memoir'', Bill Ayers, Beacon Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8070-7124-2 (Penguin, 2003, ISBN 978-0-14-200255-1)

''Teaching the Personal and the Political: Essays on Hope and Justice'', William Ayers, Teachers College Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0-8077-4461-1

''Teaching Toward Freedom: Moral Commitment and Ethical Action in the Classroom'', William Ayers, Beacon Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0-8070-3269-5

''Sing a Battle Song: The Revolutionary Poetry, Statements, and Communiques of the Weather Underground 1970-1974'', Bernardine Dohrn, Bill Ayers, and Jeff Jones, Seven Stories Press, 2006, ISBN 978-1-58322-726-8.

''Handbook of Social Justice in Education'', William C. Ayers, Routledge, June 2008, ISBN 978-0-8058-5927-0

''City Kids, City Schools: More Reports from the Front Row'', Ruby Dee (Foreword), Jeff Chang (Afterword), William Ayers (Editor), Billings, Gloria Ladson (Editor), Gregory Michie (Editor), Pedro Noguera (Editor), New Press, August 2008, ISBN 978-1-59558-338-3

''To Teach: the journey, in comics'', William Ayers and Ryan Alexander-Tanner, Jonathan Kozol(Foreword), Teachers College Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8077-5062-9

References

External links

*blog, CV

;Interviews

Interview with Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers, ''PBS NewsHour'' (''PBS''), 1996, transcript

Which Way The Wind Blows: Bill Ayers On Obama, Terry Gross, ''Fresh Air'' (''NPR''), November 18, 2008

Bill Ayers: Radical Education Theory Gets Graphic, John Seven, ''Publishers Weekly'', April 5, 2010

Interview with Bill Ayers, Eddie Arruza, ''Chicago Tonight'' (''WTTW''), June 22, 2010 (video, 13:54)

Category:1944 births Category:Living people Category:American activists Category:American anti–Iraq War activists Category:American anti–Vietnam War activists Category:American anti-war activists Category:American autobiographers Category:American communists Category:American cultural critics Category:American dissidents Category:American education writers Category:American educationists Category:American educators Category:American feminists Category:American political writers Category:Anti-poverty advocates Category:Anti-racism activists Category:Bank Street College of Education alumni Category:COINTELPRO targets Category:Columbia University alumni Category:Lake Forest Academy alumni Category:Members of Students for a Democratic Society (1960 organization) Category:People from Chicago, Illinois Category:People from Glen Ellyn, Illinois Category:University of Illinois at Chicago faculty Category:University of Michigan alumni Category:Weather Underground Category:Youth empowerment individuals

de:Bill Ayers es:Bill Ayers fr:Bill Ayers hi:बिल एयर्स it:Bill Ayers no:Bill Ayers pl:Bill Ayers simple:Bill Ayers fi:Bill Ayers sv:Bill Ayers

Jill Morgenthaler (born March 31, 1954) was the 2008 Democratic nominee for Illinois' 6th congressional district defeating Stan Jagla in the primary. Morgenthaler was defeated by Peter Roskam, a Wheaton, Illinois Republican, in the Nov 2008 general election, by a 16% margin (58% to 42%),

Morgenthaler was retired Colonel in the United States Army, serving for nearly 30 years. She has served in Korea, Berlin, Bosnia, and Iraq; and she handled disaster recovery during the San Francisco earthquake of 1989. In 2004, she handled press duties for the Army, including addressing the Abu Ghraib scandal. and the deputy chief of staff appointed by Rod Blagojevich for public safety in Illinois. She was appointed by the Illinois Democratic Governor, Rod Blagojevich, to serve as a homeland security adviser in Illinois.

Morgenthaler ran, as a non-resident of the 6th congressional district after the district line was redrawn by the Republican Party when U.S. Congressman Henry Hyde was in office. Morgenthaler is now four blocks outside of the 6th Congressional District and has lived in Des Plaines, Illinois for 16 years with her husband and two teenage children. The U.S. Constitution requires only that a member, when elected, be "an inhabitant of the state in which he shall be chosen." Illinois does not have a district residency requirement.

See also

United States House of Representatives elections in Illinois, 2008#District 6

References

External links

Jill Morgenthaler for Congress '08 official campaign website

Category:1954 births Category:Living people Category:United States Army officers Category:American military personnel of the Iraq War Category:Women in the United States Army Category:Women in the Iraq War Category:State cabinet secretaries of Illinois Category:Illinois Democrats Category:Women in Illinois politics