It's really hard to muster up sympathy for any politician that uses his office for personal gain. Political corruption is one of the main reasons why the public's confidence in elected officials is at an all-time low. Sometimes corruption takes the form of illegally handing out contracts to donors and friends. Sometimes it's bribery. Corruption can even be of a sexual nature, like when a politician is caught cheating on a spouse of soliciting sex from a prostitute or a minor. Yes, there's plenty of corruption in politics, but it's usually hidden from public view, that is until someone is caught or the rare bird comes along who absolutely loves talking about the exchange of money for jobs, political appointments, influence and a U.S. Senate seat.
Former Illinois governor Rod Blagoevich (Blago) was one of those rare birds. The feds had been investigating Blago as early as 2004, after getting information from another investigation involving political fixer and sleaze bucket Stuart Levine. After years of secret wiretaps-- which yielded
