These two ought to get along like peas in a pod.
Ousted Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich welcomed to his legal team a new member who has experience with schmucks.
Noted mob attorney Allan Ackerman joins a team of lawyers tasked with defending Blagojevich against allegations of, well, being a crooked governor who used his office for all sorts of inappropriate things, according to the Sun-Times.
Ackerman made a name for himself defending reputed mob hit man Harry Aleman, among other mob-types.
The newest member of “Team Blago” showed up to a press conference wearing a metallic cowboy hat and reflective sunglasses and claimed that he was a legal “maven” who could move the dial on the Blago case. Ackerman will organize more 3 million documents in preparation of the June trial.
Ackerman and the rest of the gang are limited to a rate of $110 an hour because that’s where U.S. District Judge James Zagel set the cap. They’re all paid out of Blago’s campaign fund.
Meanwhile, the specter of Blagojevich continues to haunt Illinois Democrats, according to the Chicago Tribune.
At the Democrat’s annual rally at the Illinois State Fair yesterday, politicians were almost forced to talk about their former top dog in order to further their contract with voters.
“Here in the state of Illinois we do face a number of significant crises and No. 1 among them is the integrity crisis that we have had to struggle through,” Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan told Democratic county chairmen at their pre-fair breakfast. “In the aftermath of the impeachment of former Gov. Blagojevich, there is a lot of work that we will have to do door-to-door or on the phone to rebuild the trust of the people of the state of Illinois.”
Comptroller Dan Hynes, who was snubbed by Blagojevich’s replacement Pat Quinn during his acknowledgement speech, told the crowd that Quinn has not moved quickly enough to undo damage from the Blago era.
“[We] need a clean break from the past,” Hynes, a potential contender for the governor race said.
