More stains for Chicago

Corruption throbs in the veins of Chicago in the steady rhythm of a heartbeat. When that rhythm accelerates to the point of “staggering,” as U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald says it did in the case of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, America in the ideological nucleus of her being has been savaged. In the city of Capone and Daley, Blagojevich towers. If the charges against the governor, arrested Tuesday by FBI agents at his home on Chicago’s North Side, are true, impeachment will not cleanse the stains, nor perhaps will even a prison term. He has besmirched not a sullied city alone but a country.

Here is what the FBI says happened: Blagojevich sought to sell or trade for his or his wife’s financial gain the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by President-elect Barack Obama, the man whose historic victory last month brought a rare political shine to Chicago. The governor also demanded the firing of his foes on the Chicago Tribune editorial board in exchange for state aid in the sale of Wrigley Field, the legendary Chicago Cubs baseball park owned by the newspaper.

Obama, who magically weaved through Chicago’s political underworld to the highest office in the free world, can take solace. A 76-page FBI affidavit charges that Blagojevich sought to allow Obama to name his replacement in the Senate in exchange for an appointment as Health and Human Services secretary or as an ambassador. Obama’s people resisted, put off by the shrouds of scandal cloaking the governor. This prompted Blagojevich, his voice recorded on FBI wiretaps, to curse the president-elect with the eloquence of a street thug. By measure of volatility, Bill Ayers and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright are piffle next to Blagojevich.

So hooray for Obama, who amid the governor’s undoing has found an enemy worth making.

But what of integrity and free speech?

Concern for such things in Chicago is like saving money for Cubs World Series tickets. Why bother?

This explains how Blagojevich could hatch what prosecutors call his “pay for play” scheme even while under investigators’ scrutiny almost at the instant he took over for Republican Gov. George Ryan, who whiles away his days in federal prison on racketeering and fraud convictions, even while Antoin “Tony” Rezko – who raised money for both Blagojevich and Obama — awaits sentencing for fraud. Blagojevich is the fifth Illinois governor to be charged with or convicted of corruption in the last century. The La Brea Tar Pits are cleaner than Chicago politics.

Still, when goons like Blagojevich tumble, there are heroes, and Fitzgerald, the federal prosecutor, qualifies. Calling it a “sad day for Illinois government,” Patrick said of Blagojevich and Chief of Staff John Harris, also charged in the case, “The conduct would make Lincoln roll over in his grave.”

Illinois should act swiftly in impeaching Blagojevich, preventing the unlikely scenario that he might appoint a senator from behind bars (a move the Senate would almost surely reject) and readying itself for the more difficult task of reform. Chicago has lost the sheen afforded it by Obama’s ascension. Now, the work must begin on ensuring that a legacy of corruption is finally and definitively dismantled.

Defining terms

In Tuesday’s editorial, we made a reference to Afrikaners, who by definition speak Afrikaans and generally are South Africans of northwest European descent. We should have said Africans, referring more broadly to people across the continent deprived of jobs by the Chinese. Thanks to Greg Bruno, one of The News Virginian’s River City 2020 board members, who spotted the error and pointed it out in an online comment.