Biography and timeline of Rod Blagojevich

Excerpted from The Illinois Governors:  Mostly Good and Competent, by Robert Howard. Revised and Updated
by Taylor Pensoneau and Peggy Boyer Long. Third edition published December 2007 by Center Publications/Illinois Issues. Center for State Policy and Leadership, University of Illinois at Springfield

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Rod Blagojevich

Terms in office:
January 13, 2003 to January 8, 2007; January 8, 2007 to present

The election of Rod Blagojevich as governor ended a 26-year hold on the office by Republicans.  The Chicago Democrat, a son of a Serbian immigrant, pledged to bring fresh air to Illinois government.  Yet some of his administrations actions showed the politics-as-usual he decried as a campaigner weren’t over.

Blagojevich did put a stamp on the governorship that was all his own.  He was fond of large-scale initiatives, including new programs designed to promote health care.  But some of his proposals achieved mixed success, especially those aimed at combating the budgetary shortfall he inherited.  In striving to get what he wanted, Blagojevich could be earthy, even glib.  His style resonated with voters, but aroused resentment among legislators and other officials.  Unconventionality was his trademark, a fact underscored by his refusal to move his family from Chicago to Springfield.

Blagojevich, a political unknown outside his hometown prior to his campaign for governor, entered office as a self-styled populist, much in the vein of the previous Democratic governor, Dan Walker.  Professing, as did fellow attorney Walker, to be attuned to the needs of “the people,” Blagojevich at times mirrored his Democratic predecessor by challenging longtime legislative prerogatives, undercutting the state bureaucracy, and ducking the Statehouse press corps. …

… Yet, a prolific fundraiser, he and his administration were a throwback, awarding contracts and state jobs to contributors and other supporters.  His administration’s practices in hiring ignited investigations, including a federal inquiry that became public in the latter part of Blagojevich’s first term.

A Character Out of the American Dream

Blagojevich’s early life might constitute a chapter in the story of the American Dream.  He was born December 10, 1956, on Chicago’s Northwest Side, the younger of two sons of Rade and Millie Blagojevich …

Blagojevich married Patricia (Patti) Mell, a daughter of Richard Mell, a veteran Chicago alderman and powerful North Side ward boss. …

A Dark Cloud

Throughout his first term, Blagojevich received negative attention stemming from a public feud with his father-in-law and his decisions to award jobs and contracts to friends and donors.  Blagojevich and his chief of staff Lon Monk were interviewed by federal authorities about allegations raised by Alderman Mell, the governor’s father-in-law, that a Blagojevich fundraiser had traded campaign contributions in exchange for state appointments.  The governor denied the allegation and lashed out at Mell, who later recanted under the threat of a lawsuit.

More ominous developments, however, put Blagojevich and his administration in a precarious political position.  In 2006, Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois openly declared in a letter to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan that his office was probing “very serious allegations of endemic hiring fraud” in Illinois government.  The letter was made public as Madigan said that she was turning over to federal prosecutors her office’s own investigation of state hiring practices.

For his part, Blagojevich said his office and Fitzgerald’s were cooperating to uncover violators of the rules.

Along with word that Fitzgerald had credible evidence of hiring irregularities in the administration, another Blagojevich fundraiser, Antoin “Tony” Rezko, was indicted on federal corruption charges at the height of the re-election campaign.  A pension board appointee and campaign contributor, Stuart Levine, also pleaded guilty to separate allegations of wrongdoing.  And the wife of one of the governor’s longtime friends told the Chicago Tribune she talked to the FBI about getting a state job around the time her husband wrote a $1,500 check to one of the governor’s young daughters. Blagojevich denied anything untoward, first saying it was for one daughter’s birthday and later saying it may have been for the other daughter’s christening. …

Timeline

1956 – Born December 10 in Chicago

1979 – Graduates from Northwestern University in Evanston with a bachelor’s degree in history

1983 – Receives a law degree from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California

1992 – Elected to the Illinois House of Representatives, where he would serve two terms

1996 – Elected to the first of three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives

2002 – Elected Illinois’ 40th governor, ending 26 years of Republican control of the governor’s office.

2005 – Wins General Assembly approval of his All Kids program to guarantee every child access to health care

2006 – Gains second term as governor, with Democrats sweeping control of all Executive Branch office. Federal prosecutors continue investigations into allegations of “endemic hiring fraud” in his administration

2008 - Arrested December 9 by federal authorities.

Illinois Issues, December 2008