Blagojevich Attempted to Elicit Campaign Contributions for Appointing Jackson to Senate

Blagojevich Attempted to Elicit Campaign Contributions for Appointing Jackson to Senate

Assistant US Attorney Chris Niewoehner told jurors that they shouldn’t be concerned whether Blagojevich actually managed to trade the appointment to President Obama’s onetime Senate seat for an ambassadorship or a Cabinet post or any money – only that he made the effort.
“You don’t have to be a successful criminal to be a criminal,” he said.
Nor, he said, should jurors be concerned that they did not hear Blagojevich outright tell those he is accused of shaking down for money what he was doing.
For example, of allegations that Blagojevich was trying to elicit campaign donations from businessman Raghuveer Nayak in exchange for appointing Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. to the Senate seat, he said it was not necessary for the governor to specifically say the appointment was tied to the contributions.
He said that message got through to Nayak, as it did to the Children’s Hospital executive that if he didn’t come up with a $25,000 campaign contribution, it would cost the hospital millions in state funding.

Read more: (Don Babwin, “Blagojevich Lawyer Bridles over Limits,” The Boston Globe, 07/27/2010)