Rod Blagojevich Gets Stiff Sentence

Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich was sentenced on Wednesday, December 7th to 14 years in federal prison. According to the Chicago Tribune, the sentence is “the second-longest ever delivered in federal court in Chicago for a public corruption case.”

But U.S. District Judge James Zagel was on a mission to make an example of Blagojevich:

“When it is the governor who goes bad, the fabric of Illinois is torn and disfigured and not easily repaired,” the judge lectured Blagojevich. “You did that damage.”

Blagojevich was convicted of 18 criminal counts that ranged from charges connected with trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated when Barack Obama was elected President, illegal shakedowns for campaign cash and lying to federal agents.

Blagojevich, who will be 55 on December 10th, will begin serving his sentence in February 2012, and will be eligible to be released in 2024, when he’ll be in his late 60s. He was arrested three years ago on the day before his 52nd birthday.

“This is the most disgraceful thing to happen to an Illinois governor since their last governor,” Tonight Show host Jay Leno, quipped referring to former Governor George Ryan. “He’s in jail, too.”

“How lucky are the people in that state,” he continued, “think about this. Look at all the money they’re saving by not having to pay their former governors a pension?”

Leno said he thought Blagojevich would get maybe 5 years, but “the good news? Now we can really offer his seat to the highest bidder.”

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