Water is wet: Chicago politician arrested for corruption

Illinois Governor Blagojevich arrested for attempting to "sell off" Obama's senate seat. The complaint alleges:

Rod Blagojevich has been intercepted conspiring to trade the senate seat for particular positions that the President-elect has the power to appoint (e.g. the Secretary of Health and Human Services). Rod Blagojevich has also been intercepted conspiring to sell the Senate seat in exchange for his wife’s placement on paid corporate boards or Rod Blagojevich’s placement at a private foundation in a significant position with a substantial salary. Rod Blagojevich has also been intercepted conspiring to sell the Senate seat in exchange for millions of dollars in funding for a non-profit organization that he would start and that would employ him at a substantial salary after he left the governorship.

Other charges include suppression of First Amendment rights and panoply of corrupt activities.

Update: How many Illinois governors end up behind bars? There is this guy, and his predecessor Ryan, and I remember years ago talking on the phone to somebody down in southern California who claimed to have been the former governor of Illinois, who had been convicted and disbarred and now was working for the law firm I was dealing with as a paralegal. It seemed like a weird story, but it may have been this convicted former governor. Here is another article on Dan Walker. This story seems to capture the matter of fact approach the guy had to being a paralegal who had once been governor of Illinois. Another one:

In 1990, Walker returned to San Diego -- beat, wet and penniless. For a couple of years he worked at St. Vincent De Paul and then as a paralegal. He met his third wife at a copy machine in the law library. He and Lily have been married five years now. ("I just celebrated my 60th anniversary. But it took me three wives to get there.") They've been living primarily in a Rosarito Beach condominium, which recently burned down. For the time being they're staying with relatives in Escondido.

So, I guess he was telling the truth.

Apparently, he was the guy who described the actions of the Chicago Police Department at the 1968 Chicago convention as a "police riot."