Frank James writes in the Swamp about what he, and many others, consider the most shocking revelation in the Rod Blagojevich arrest, that $8 million in state funding withheld from Children's Memorial Hospital by the Governor because the CEO of the hospital wouldn't make a $50,000 campaign contribution in a timely manner.

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/12/blagos_most_damning_alleged_ac.html

What manner of man would do this? Blagojevich is a father himself of young daughters. One might think that would provide one with a level of compassion for that particular hospital's patients and sympathy for the institution's mission, not that one needs to be a parent to have such feelings.

James quotes Scott Simon from a Wall Street Journal piece describing the mindset of many Chicago politicians.

A Chicago alderman once complained to me about modern reform hiring laws -- the line was so good, I borrowed it, unembellished, for a novel -- "What's this world coming to when a guy can get a job for a stranger more easily than he can for his brother in law?"

It may be useful for some out of town readers to understand that much of the traction for the investigation was due to the Governor's closure of a landfill in 2005. The landfill was owned by a cousin of Blagojevich's father-in-law, Dick Mell. Mell, a Chicago alderman, had protected the landfill, which was reportedly accepting illegal waste.

According to Mell, at the time, “he uses everybody and then discards ‘em.” The family spat caught the attention of another legacy politician, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. I was unable to locate a citation for this, but it seems to me that the landfill owner was also the victim of a shakedown prior to being closed.

Which brings us to a final lesson, never shakedown family.