CHICAGO — Launching an all-out media blitz as his impeachment trial draws near, Gov. Rod Blagojevich compared himself Friday to an honest, hardworking cowboy and said he was about to be lynched by a band of black-hatted political insiders eager to raise taxes.
After keeping mostly out of the public eye since his arrest on federal corruption charges, Blagojevich reversed course with interviews and public statements portraying himself as the victim of vengeful lawmakers eager to toss him out of office.
“The heart and soul of this has been a struggle of me against the system,” Blagojevich said at a news conference Friday.
Blagojevich denied any wrongdoing but wouldn’t discuss the federal corruption charges filed against him last month. Instead, he focused on his efforts to expand government health care programs without raising taxes.
He has chosen not to mount any defense in the Senate impeachment trial that begins Monday and could remove him from office within days. He might ask the Illinois Supreme Court to block the trial, arguing its rules are hopelessly biased against him.
Blagojevich, a fan of Western movies, drew an analogy Friday between his situation and that of a cowboy falsely accused of stealing a horse. His story ended with one cowboy suggesting the accused thief be hanged, with the other suggesting he first be tried, then hanged.
“Under these rules, I’m not even getting a fair trial; they’re just hanging me. And when they hang me under these rules that prevent due process, they’re hanging the 12 million people of Illinois who twice have elected a governor,” he said.
Blagojevich’s fight would have one fewer supporter as his chief defense attorney, Ed Genson, announced Friday that he would pull out of the federal criminal case. In announcing his withdrawal, Genson insinuated the governor didn’t listen to his advice.
“I never require a client to do what I say, but I do require them to at least listen,” Genson said.
A spokesman said Blagojevich had no immediate comment on Genson’s announcement.
Blagojevich’s main fight now is a public relations battle, and he called Friday for Illinois newspapers to publish editorials demanding the Senate change its trial rules. Federal prosecutors have alleged he put pressure on company executives to fire the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune for writing unflattering opinion pieces about him.
It’s not clear what, if anything, Blagojevich hopes to gain from his strategy of boycotting the impeachment trial and defending himself through the media. He has planned appearances Monday on “Good Morning, America” and “The View.” Several legal experts said refusing to participate in the trial or resign from office makes little sense.
“There’s no benefit at all, except to make himself look ridiculous. In addition, anything he says can be used against him later” in court, said Leonard Cavise, a law professor at DePaul University.
Amid his defiant remarks, Blagojevich displayed a brief moment of contrition, acknowledging for the first time since his arrest that he wasn’t always perfect.
“Notwithstanding mistakes and errors in judgment from time to time, most of the things I’ve done as governor have been the right things and have been things that helped people,” he said.
