CHICAGO — Rod Blagojevich is broke, and U.S. taxpayers could be on the hook.
The former Illinois governor, facing a retrial on corruption charges, has exhausted the $2.7 million from his campaign treasury that funded his defense. That might force him to rely on taxpayers to pay his attorneys — unless he can land more reality-television or media gigs, his advisers say.
“There is widespread resentment at any tax dollars going to his defense,” said Andy Shaw, executive director of the Better Government Association. “This state is $12 to $13 billion in the red.”
It would actually be the people of all 50 states: Funds to pay lawyers for indigent federal defendants are appropriated by Congress and maintained by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts in Washington.
