Just another step in the federal effort to break Blagojevich in any way possible

Perhaps Friday was the day that reality finally registered with Rod Blagojevich.

A reality check ... 



If it didn’t, then I don’t know what it will take for him to realize the predicament that his life has devolved to.

BLAGOJEVICH HAD TO appear in court on Friday, where U.S. District Judge James Zagel set bond for him at $450,000 – unless he’d rather spend his time incarcerated at the Metropolitan Correctional Center until the time comes that he is sentenced to a prison term for his convictions on 18 assorted charges.

Since I doubt Blagojevich wants to live in the triangle-shaped building that allows residents only a thin slit window view of the South Loop, he’ll come up with the money to post bond, whose point is to ensure that Rod and Patti don’t decide to take a European vacation, then suddenly decide NEVER to return to the United States.

It is to ensure he doesn’t flee.

Now it is true that Blagojevich is busted financially. The only reason he’s going to be able to keep himself out of a jail cell while awaiting sentencing is that the book value of his home in the Ravenswood Manor neighborhood and a condominium in the District of Columbia (from his six years as a member of Congress; he doesn’t live there anymore) is sufficient enough that he can put them up as bond.

IN FACT, THE reason for Friday’s court hearing was that Blagojevich had not followed the letter of the law when it comes to filing paperwork with the federal government indicating the value of his assets – which these days are little more than the house and the condo.

Now I know there are those individuals who want to think that Blagojevich somehow “won” on Friday, because Zagel refused to go along with the bond request that prosecutors wanted.

... for both Blagojeviches



One Million Dollars!!!!!!

That is the kind of bond that is set for the most vicious criminals who go on serious crime sprees. It would have added to Blagojevich’s notoriety, and may have been so high that Blagojevich wouldn’t have been able to achieve it.

HAVING A BOND so high might well have turned Blagojevich into a guy who makes his court appearances in prison garb, rather than in a nice suit with his loving wife at his side.

Which I’m sure the most intense political ideologues would have been completely happy with.

But this was a blow for Blagojevich. Since the fact that has come out in all this talk about Blagojevich’s housing is that he and Patti are trying to sell both of them.

Speculation is that the couple would like to buy a condominium in Chicago, which is where Patti would live with the couple’s two daughters while Milorod serves whatever time he ultimately receives in prison.

EXCEPT THAT IF the house and the D.C. condo are committed to his bond, there’s no way the couple can even think of selling them.

And when one considers that the federal government likely will try (and succeed) to confiscate both pieces of property once Blagojevich is sentenced, there isn’t going to be anything left to allow them to find something respectable in the way of housing for the Blagojevich family once the former governor’s address changes to a federal correctional center.

The people who have their twisted thoughts of Patti Blagojevich (who herself may be so tainted these days by her husband that she’s probably unemployable) being forced to beg her alderman father for permission to live with her daughters in his basement may well find that reality comes very close to what ultimately happens to Illinois’ former first family.

Considering that Blagojevich is the man who seriously claimed to be “stunned” at the thought that a jury could find him guilty of so many charges, I wonder if the reality of how intensely he is going to be busted financially is the jolt of reality that gets through to the man whom so many of his political colleagues considered to be “delusional” during his time in office.



NOT THAT THIS phenomenon is unique to the Blagojevich case.



Where some wish ex-Gov. currently resided



I have always believed that people watching legal proceedings should pay more attention to the fines imposed against defendants than to any prison time. Because the fine is something that the federal government can collect upon even after the sentence is served.

If set high enough (and one can be assured that it will be in the millions of dollars for Blagojevich), it can ensure that anything of any financial value is lost, and that they remain in debt even after getting their freedom.

That alone could be a significant factor in the likelihood that Blagojevich and family will leave the Chicago area after his anticipated prison sentence is complete. He may not be able to afford to live in the city any longer.

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