Chicago-Based Heartland Institute Reacts to
Blagojevich Guilty Verdicts
Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich was found guilty today on 17 of 20 counts in his corruption trial in federal court.
The following statement by Maureen Martin, senior fellow for legal affairs at the Chicago-based Heartland Institute, may be used for attribution. For additional comments, refer to the contact information below.
“Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich may be the only convicted politician who never took an illegal dime on the charges involved.
“Blagojevich talked a lot about trading official acts for campaign contributions, memorialized on wiretap recordings, but never closed the deal on the involved charges. Prosecutors emphasized they didn’t have to show money changed hands, saying talk about crime is enough for guilty verdicts. The jury evidently agreed.
“Federal criminal laws criminalizing mere talk about committing crime, but without requiring actual overt conduct, ought to be repealed. They enable federal prosecutors to usurp the role properly belonging to state prosecutors – such as enforcing state bribery laws – which do require actual criminal conduct.
“Blagojevich was stupid for talking about linking gubernatorial acts and campaign contributions, but being stupid shouldn’t be criminal.”
Maureen Martin
Senior Fellow for Legal Affairs
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
920/ 295-6032
The Heartland Institute is a 27-year-old national nonprofit organization with offices in Chicago, Illinois; Washington, DC; Austin, Texas; Tallahassee; Florida; and Columbus, Ohio. Its mission is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems. For more information, visit our Web site or call 312/377-4000.
Jim Lakely is the Vice President and Director of Communications of The Heartland Institute.
