CHICAGO — In the wake of the most brazen Illinois corruption case in years, President-elect Barack Obama and the entire Senate Democratic caucus called on Gov. Rod Blagojevich to resign Wednesday, while Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., says he did nothing wrong in seeking a Senate appointment from the governor.
Jackson said he may be “Senate Candidate 5” in the 76-page affidavit filed Tuesday in support of corruption charges against Blagojevich, also a Democrat, but that he had “no involvement whatsoever in any wrongdoing.”
The criminal complaint quotes the Democratic governor as saying that an emissary from Candidate 5 had offered to raise $500,000 for Blagojevich’s campaign treasury. Jackson said at a news conference, “I never sent a message or an emissary.”
Barely 24 hours after FBI agents led him away in handcuffs, Blagojevich returned to work in his downtown Chicago office without speaking to reporters and without giving any indication of his plans.
His refusal to step aside in the wake of the allegations that he sought to sell the Senate seat vacated by Obama led to blunt calls for his ouster from Chicago and Springfield, Ill., to Washington.
All 50 members of the Senate Democratic caucus signed a letter urging Blagojevich to quit immediately and allow his successor to appoint Obama’s replacement. If the seat goes unfilled, they fear, it could prove difficult to produce 60 votes to prevent a filibuster on Obama’s economic rescue package. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., also warned that the Senate leadership may not seat anyone Blagojevich picks because the new senator “would be under a cloud of suspicion.”
Robert Gibbs, the incoming White House press secretary, said Obama thinks Blagojevich should step down, because “under the current circumstances, it is difficult for the governor to effectively do his job and serve the people of Illinois.”
Obama thinks the Illinois General Assembly should take control of the issue “and put in place a process to select a new senator that will have the trust and confidence of the people of Illinois,” Gibbs said.
Not waiting for Blagojevich to act, Illinois legislators began drafting a bill to strip the governor of the authority to name the new senator. They are expected to meet in Springfield on Monday to approve a special election to fill the final two years of Obama’s six-year term.
Yet in a sign of the complexity of a situation in which Blagojevich stands accused but not convicted, the bill to strip the governor’s authority could not become law without his signature. If he remains in office, he could approve the bill, veto it, send it back to the legislature or do nothing for 60 days.
“I urge you to search your heart and summon the strength to put your state and your nation above any personal considerations,” Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., wrote in a letter to Blagojevich.
According to the federal affidavit, Blagojevich on Dec. 4 told an adviser: “We were approached ‘pay-to-play,’ that, you know, he’d raise me 500 grand. An emissary came. Then the other guy would raise $1 million if I made (Candidate 5) a senator.”
The same day, Blagojevich allegedly told his top fundraiser that he was “elevating” Candidate 5 on the list of possible Senate picks.
He said he was due to meet the candidate in a few days and may be able to get something “tangible up front.”
Blagojevich instructed the fundraiser to pass the word that if Candidate 5 wanted the job, “some of this stuff’s gotta start happening now … right now … and we gotta see it. You understand?”
In a word of caution at a moment when he knew federal prosecutors were investigating his administration, Blagojevich also told the fundraiser: “I would do it in person. I would not do it on the phone.”
At a Capitol Hill news conference Wednesday, Jackson told reporters, “I reject and denounce pay-to-play politics and have no involvement whatsoever in any wrongdoing. I did not initiate or authorize anyone at any time to promise anything to Gov. Blagojevich on my behalf.”
Recently elected to his eighth term from Chicago’s South Side, Jackson said he met with Blagojevich for 90 minutes Monday — the day before the governor’s arrest — to discuss his qualifications for the Senate appointment. He promised to cooperate “fully and completely” with federal investigators.
