Blagojevich Hiring Scandal Deepens

The administration of Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich could be in big trouble. The Chicago Tribune reports that Illinois-based U.S Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald -- of Valerie Plame fame -- is seeking to expand the probe into allegations of improper hiring practices in state government. The article contains the following quote from a letter written by Fitzgerald to Madigan regarding the probe:

"Those investigations have now been merged and involve the alleged rigging of state employment practices to enable political hiring in violation of Rutan and include, among other things, the preparation of fraudulent hiring documentation," Fitzgerald wrote. "Our investigation has now implicated multiple state agencies and departments and we have developed a number of credible witnesses."

The decision by Democratic Attorney General Lisa Madigan to turn the investigaton over to the feds is a clear sign of restlessness within a party concerned about the potential political fallout from the investigation. If the Governor goes down, the Illinois Democratic Party will need to expend every effort to limit the damage. Never one to seek out allies when such allies could instead be used as useful political foils, Governor Blagojevich could find himself increasingly isolated and thrown under the bus by his own party.

What is so significant is not just that the Attorney General is handing off the investigation to the feds, but that the Attorney General's father is the chair of the Illinois Democratic Party and a co-chair of the Governor's re-election campaign. If true, the hiring scandal has placed some very powerful people in a very awkward situation to say the least. If the investigation continues to pick up steam, look for key people to begin bailing on the Governor.

The prospect for a GOP pick-up of the Illinois Governor's office just increased substantially.

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Chicago Sun-Times
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