The question of whether political horse trading is the same as a bribe is important enough for the U.S. Supreme Court to decide, according to the attorney for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Typically, the Supreme Court addresses cases where there is a national interest or a lack of consensus among federal courts . Blagojevich attorney Len Goodman believes since this case deals with the definition of public corruption, it meets the Court’s standards.
Goodman argues that ambiguity allows prosecutors to focus on “people rather than the crimes,” and suggests Blagojevich may have been a target because of his politics.
This would be the last chance for Blagojevich to get more of his convictions dismissed. Five of the counts against him were overturned by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in July, though the ruling indicated his original 14-year sentence was still justifiable based on the remaining convictions.
In other State news, one of the stories in recent days has been that almost half the counties in Illinois have turned to a debt collector. Credit Collection Partners of Taylorville has contracted with more than forty counties.
This is not inherently bad, says the Better Business Bureau.
Steve Bernas, president of the BBB of Chicago and Northern Illinois said it’s a viable way of collecting debt and there are some legitimate debt collectors out there and at the same time, some that are breaking the law.
And, Bernas says, the bank really doesn’t want your house. Your creditors really do want to work with you.
