“I TRUST THESE MEN WITH MY LIFE, SENATOR. TO ASK THEM TO LEAVE NOW WOULD BE AN INSULT.”

12/13/08

One of my old buddies and a loyal reader of the Insightful Pontificator has been corresponding with me regarding the Blagojevich scandal. (While he went to school in the Chicago area and worked here several years, my friend no longer lives here but remains interested in our ever fascinating politics.) In one of the e-mails he sent, he expressed concern at my contention that IF anyone in the Obama camp will be tainted by this (and I said that, in my opinion, it is highly unlikely that any of Obama’s people were involved, but IF someone is involved…), it would probably be Rahm Emanuel. My friend believes, as do I, that there is a lot on the President’s plate and getting side-tracked by the Blagojevich scandal would be bad for the country, and so my friend is hoping that Emanuel, and the whole Obama team, will emerge unscathed by the scandal. I agree, but it looks, as I said in the first paragraph below, as if this is getting closer to Emanuel.

But the more interesting aspect of the below redacted version of my e-mail is the second paragraph. I thought it was worth sharing, though it might come as no revelation whatsoever to those who follow the politics of my home town closely:

This does seem to be getting closer to Emanuel. He has had at least one conversation with Blago's people, specifically John Harris, the governor’s chief of staff who was indicted along with the governor and resigned yesterday. The question is whether Emanuel and Harris discussed anything illegal. I would hope that Emanuel is smart enough not to anything like that, but note my comments of last night. I hope this isn't the case, because I agree that there are a lot of really important matters to address at the moment, and I also think Emanuel is perfect for the job Obama has given him.

Also...speaking of John Harris, keep an eye on him (not for the scandal as it relates to Emanuel but in its broader scope). He worked for Daley for years, most saliently in the Aviation Department, supposedly a nest of corruption. It has been reported (but remember that all reporting in this town is suspect) that he was angry when Ron Huberman got the chief of staff's job (for Daley) over him and went to work for Blago in a foul disposition toward Daley. The important people around here are too smart to share anything with Governor Fauntleroy, but they probably felt they could trust Harris. Also, by the nature of his job, Harris was in a position to know more than Blagojevich about the goings-on at City Hall. So when the feds squeeze Harris, and you know they are probably squeezing really hard as I write this, who knows what he could spill on lots of important people around here?