Blagojevich: Anti-Gunner Gets Just Desserts

by Robert W. Hunnicutt • December 7, 2011 • 10 comments

Disgraced former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was sentenced today to 14 years in prison for, among other things, trying to sell President Barack Obama’s former U.S. Senate seat.

Before he was a governor or a reality TV star, Blagojevich was a congressman from the Chicago area whose main issue, as far as anyone could see, was gun control. He appeared with former Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley to call for a state ban on .50 cal. rifles. The two asserted that someone could shoot through the walls of Wrigley Field and “kill Sammy Sosa on the diamond.” How a sniper could see Sosa through the ivy-covered walls of the friendly confines went unexplained.

Blagojevich also advocating raising the fee for a Firearms Owners Identification Card, required in the state to be in possession of a gun or even ammunition, to $500 a year.

Curiously, on becoming governor, Blagojevich signed the legislation creating the World Shooting and Recreational complex near Sparta that now hosts the Grand American Trapshoot as well as other large shooting events. He managed at that time to finesse his former anti-gun position, and made no particular effort to push for gun control in his six years in office.

Blagojevich will join his predecessor, George Ryan, as a ward of the Bureau of Prisons in February. We’ve had a few crooks on the pro-gun side over the years, but none who tried to sell a Senate seat. When the truth’s not in a man on guns, how can you trust him on any other subject?

In Culture & Politics, Featured • Tagged

10 Responses

  1. Hersfelder

    Illinois + Politician = Corruption…………nothing is changed…..always was…always will be…….

    On December 9, 2011 at 4:57 pm • Reply
  2. Christopher Riddle

    A"Gun"NEVER killed anybody!It took someone to hire that gun!!

    On December 9, 2011 at 4:58 pm • Reply
  3. wayland

    Hope he enjoys his next 14 years!

    On December 9, 2011 at 5:24 pm • Reply
  4. jp from AZ

    Look, Blago needs to go and I'm not defending him, but labeling him anti-gun is a stretch.

    He's a politician and like all of them he is going to say what the bulk of his constituents want to hear. There's a term for an overtly pro-gun candidate in Illinois and it's the same term used for an overtly pro-choice Bible Belt politician: unemployed.

    At worst, he's gun-neutral. You said it yourself: "Blagojevich signed the legislation creating the World Shooting and Recreational complex … and made no particular effort to push for gun control in his six years in office."

    That doesn't sound anti-gun to me. And if you're beating the guy up for saying one thing and doing another, a) you'll *NEVER* run out of fodder for your blog and b) who cares as long as he's doing things that support your position (or not doing things that weaken your position).

    There's plenty of legitimate things to beat Blago up for. Stick to those.

    On December 9, 2011 at 6:01 pm • Reply
  5. Mike D.

    I don't miss living on the south side of Chicago at all, and those 3 pictured are one of the reasons I moved.

    On December 9, 2011 at 6:56 pm • Reply
  6. Veniceneon

    Honestly Illinois ought to change their state motto to "The corrupt politician state". Blago is no different than any other fellow corrupt Illinois politician. If it scores points and gets them attention, they'll support it, and when it comes to firearms, they'll back up whatever the old Daley now Emanuel team wants them to say. I always figured Daley I and II were such sleaze buckets, they were afraid of getting shot for their actions. Hence they tried to disarm everyone but themselves. the same is probably true about Blago.

    On December 9, 2011 at 7:13 pm • Reply
  7. Hashime

    One down, one to go. Get rid of the President "thing" we now have.

    On December 10, 2011 at 3:24 pm • Reply
  8. Tango DeLta

    Louisiana politicians are embarassed by these guys.

    On December 10, 2011 at 4:41 pm • Reply
  9. "Billy" Steinbach

    If it wasn't for politicians like Rod, us right wing NAZI's wouldn't have a chance to start our "New World Order" and enslave the masses!

    On December 10, 2011 at 6:30 pm • Reply
  10. Paul_J_Nolan

    Mr. Hunnicutt's Schadenfreude overlooks the central issue: Blago, like Martha Stewart, caught a bum rap. His conviction–it took two trials for the state's view to prevail–is based almost entirely on statements made in private conversations focused on speculation about the leverage he could exert through the appointment of a successor to Senator (now President) Obama. Where's the crime in that? I've got news for you: no politician anywhere does anything "for free." As with Vito Corleone, a favor granted always incurs a debt. Regardless of what any of us think about his policies, his haircut, or the man himself, Blago was just acting as any politician does. To expect anything else is tantamount to wishing for a talking dog.

    In Chicago there is a test used in making judgements in situations like this. Did he take dough? If he took dough, he goes to jail. If he didn't, he goes home. Simple as that. Now Blago, who never took a cent, will be in a cell and Pat Quinn, no friend of Blago's, sits in the Governor's chair. Politics in Illinois makes the NFL look like pattycake.

    Paul_J_Nolan

    On January 1, 2012 at 12:01 am • Reply