SPRINGFIELD, Ill. • Some Illinoisans hope the 14-year prison sentence imposed on former Gov. Rod Blagojevich will stun the state's political culture out of its seemingly intrinsic tendency toward corruption. Others aren't so hopeful.
"The sentence is very stiff indeed, but necessary," Gov. Pat Quinn told reporters in Chicago on Wednesday, shortly after a federal judge announced Blagojevich, a Democrat, would get twice the sentence of ex-Gov. George Ryan — his immediate predecessor in both the governor's office and prison.
Quinn called the sentencing "the final chapter of this ordeal" and predicted it would 'send a message" to other political leaders.
But as former gubernatorial aide Mike Lawrence points out, we've been here before.
"Remember: George Ryan was in his first year in the General Assembly when (former Gov.) Otto Kerner was sentenced to prison," noted Lawrence. "Rod Blagojevich became governor because of George Ryan's legal problems, but he quickly became a corrupt governor himself.
"You would think that seeing what happens to once-proud and popular officials would prove to be a deterrent to corruption," Lawrence said. "But we haven't seen that."
Blagojevich, who turns 55 on Saturday, was sentenced on 18 counts of corruption stemming from his tumultuous tenure in office between 2003 and 2009. His crimes include an attempt to auction off the U.S. Senate seat previously held by President Barack Obama, and the attempted extortion of the CEO of a children's hospital in exchange for a political contribution.
Under federal guidelines that require completion of 85 percent of prison sentences before parole, Blagojevich will serve at least 11½ years behind bars. He will also be fined $20,000.
It's by far the stiffest sentence of the four Illinois ex-governors who have landed in prison since the early 1970s: Kerner, a Democrat, in 1973 for accepting bribes while he was governor; Ryan, a Republican, in 2006, for accepting cash for steering state contracts to friends; and Dan Walker, a Democrat, in 1987, for crimes related to a savings-and-loan business after he left office.
Blagojevich has until Feb. 16, 2012, to report for the start of his sentence, which is typical in federal white-collar cases.
Prior to the sentencing at the Dirksen Federal Building in downtown Chicago, Blagojevich delivered an apology to the state that was in stark contrast to his three-year national media blitz in which he staunchly vowed to clear his name. But the carefully worded statement stopped short of a specific admission of guilt — a further indication of Blagojevich's expected appeal of his conviction.
"I am here convicted of crimes. I am accepting of it. I acknowledge it. And I am of course unbelievably sorry for it," Blagojevich told U.S. District Judge James Zagel during a 20-minute address to the court.
"I want to apologize to the people of Illinois, to the court, for the mistakes I have made," he said. "I never set out to break the law. I never set out to cross lines."
But Zagel gave him little leeway.
"Whatever good things you did for people as governor, and you did some, I am more concerned with the occasions when you wanted to use your powers ... to do things that were only good for yourself," Zagel said.
"When it is the governor who goes bad, the fabric of Illinois is torn, disfigured and not easily repaired," Zagel added.
As the judge announced the sentence, Blagojevich hunched forward and his face appeared frozen. Minutes later, his wife, Patti Blagojevich, stood up and fell into her husband's arms. He pulled back to brush tears off her cheek. On his way out of the courthouse, Blagojevich said he and his wife were heading home to speak to their daughters.
U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said corruption such as Blagojevich's "must stop," and that he hopes the sentence sends a message.
"If there is a public official out there who is thinking about committing a crime, they ought to be thinking twice," he said in Chicago. "If a 14-year sentence doesn't stop someone, I wouldn't want to be sitting in front of a judge after that."
Blagojevich served as governor from 2003 through the start of January 2009, when he was impeached following his arrest on multiple corruption charges. He was convicted in two trials of attempting to auction off Obama's former U.S. Senate seat for political donations or a federal appointment, along with other schemes captured on FBI wiretaps of conversations between Blagojevich and others.
Prosecutors had asked for a 15- to 20-year prison sentence. While Zagel delivered a sentence just under that level, it was still significantly stiffer than the 6½-year term currently being served by Ryan. Kerner and Walker served less than three years each.
Blagojevich's tenure as governor was marked by pushes for health care and other progressive goals, but his brawling political style and penchant for grandstanding and vilifying opponents poisoned both parties against him. By the time he was arrested at his Chicago home in December 2008, he had few friends in either party and there had already been talk of impeachment.
During Blagojevich's three years as a defendant, he has continued putting forward that forceful, cocky demeanor, using the national media, a Donald Trump reality show, a biographical book and other venues to declare his innocence.
Reaction in Illinois' political world to the sentence was a bipartisan chorus of agreement, and of soul-searching.
"With the last two governors of Illinois going to prison … neither party has a monopoly on virtue," said state Sen. Bill Haine, D-Alton. "(Blagojevich) was elected by the people twice. (Republican) George Ryan was elected statewide three times. Both parties have the burden to show the citizens that the culture has changed."
Most of the prisons where Blagojevich could end up are outside Illinois. One is in Terre Haute, Ind., where Ryan is serving his own sentence. In prison, Blagojevich will largely be cut off from the outside world. Visits by family are strictly limited, Blagojevich will have to share a cell with other inmates and he must work an eight-hour-a-day menial job — possibly scrubbing toilets or mopping floors — at just 12 cents an hour.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
