Some Further Thoughts On Voter ID

After both the U.S. Supreme Court and the Indiana Supreme Court have upheld the constitutionality of Indiana's requirement that a voter present a photo identification when voting in-person, otherwise known as Voter ID, there are a couple of observations that need to be made that won't make either side of this issue happy.

For all of the talk of the proponents of Voter ID of the law's benefit in preventing impostor voting at the polling places, there remains one big glaring hole in the state's election law to prevent voter fraud. To register to vote, you must be at least 18 years of age, a citizen of the United States, a resident of your precinct for at least 30 days prior to the election and not be incarcerated for a crime you committed. Indiana law does not require a person applying for registration to provide proof of his or her U.S. citizenship; an applicant must merely affirm under oath that he or she is a U.S. citizen. Arizona is one of the only states in the country that requires an applicant to prove citizenship at the time of registration.  After Congress enacted the motor voter law, there have been numerous cases where government workers registered non-U.S. citizens to vote. In Indiana, that has primarily occurred at BMV branches, which has also been guilty of issuing driver's licenses to undocumented persons. Immigration lawyers frequently field questions from immigrants about the consequences of having illegally registered to vote when they are considering applying for naturalization. Most often, they were registered to vote at a BMV branch. It makes no sense to me to require someone to provide photo identification at their precinct in order to vote if we aren't even going to verify their citizenship status at the time they register to vote. Notably, the Daniels administration has taken steps in recent years to prevent undocumented persons from obtaining an Indiana driver's license, which should lessen the possibility of such persons becoming registered voters in this state.

Time and time again you will hear the opponents of Voter ID complain that it unfairly burdens and disenfranchises poor and minority voters who are less likely to carry a photo identification. I would urge those opponents to take a look at the documentation required of applicants for welfare and food stamp benefits. If applicants for those benefits can produce the documents required of them in order to receive those benefits, I can guarantee that they can also produce the documents they need to obtain a photo identification from the BMV if they don't already have a driver's license because they are essentially the same. All of the court decisions upholding Indiana's Voter ID law have noted the inability of a person to engage in any number of transactions commonly encountered on a day-to-day basis if the person lacks a simple photo identification. What that leaves are a very small number of persons who are so removed from today's society, either by choice or mental incompetence, that there remains no strong argument that the photo identification requirement is overly burdensome or discriminatory.

In the final analysis, opponents are probably correct in their assertion that the photo ID requirement reduces very little voter fraud. Past cases of voting fraud have primarily occurred in absentee voting, which is not subject to the Voter ID law. If the proponents of Voter ID feel strongly about the benefits of their new law, then they should back it up with a requirement that an applicant for voter registration be required to prove his or her U.S. citizenship status; otherwise, the photo ID requirement leaves a big hole for potential fraud. Let's make sure only U.S. citizens are exercising the right to vote in this state.

Stevens Claiming Mental Defect To Avoid Embezzlement Trial

Phyllis Stevens, the former Indianapolis resident and gay rights activist charged with stealing $6 million from Aviva, the Iowa-based insurance company which employed her, is claiming she suffers from multiple personality disorder and is incompetent to stand trial. A psychiatrist hired by the government to evaluate Stevens concluded that she understood the criminal charges against her and was competent to stand trial.  "She said that if she is convicted and is 'boxcarred,' her prison term would be for a few hundred years," said Dr. Loren Olson, a Des Moines psychiatrist. "She said she heard the term in jail." Stevens and her same-sex partner, Marla Stevens, are scheduled to go on trial for theft and tax evasion charges on August 16. Stevens' psychiartrist says the stress of a trial could cause her to revert to a child-like personality during the proceedings. Stevens claims she suffers from this disorder from physical and mental abuse as a child. "She may well have some fragmenting of her identity, but I am confident she knows who she is," Olson said, later adding that "I don't think she would lose contact with the mature Phyllis."

Stevens seemed rather lucid when she first learned from her employer that she was suspected of embezzling money from the company. She quickly hopped a plane to Indianapolis and attempted to withdraw large sums of money from her account at National City Bank for what she described to bank tellers as an extended trip to Germany before joining Marla at the Bellagio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Stevens used part of the money she embezzled from Aviva to make large contributions to Democratic candidates supportive of her political agenda, including U.S. Rep. Andre Carson. If Stevens is crazy, she's crazy like a fox. I understand her partner, Marla, is counting on her poor health to keep her out of jail if she is found guilty.

Carson Celebrates Independence Day Weekend With Islamic Organization

Oddly, or perhaps not, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) hosted its annual convention (July 2-5) in Rosemont, Illinois during America's Independence Day weekend holiday. Among the speakers scheduled to speak at the confererence were our own U.S. Rep. Andre Carson and Minnesota's U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, the only two Muslim members of Congress. " Nurturing Compassionate Communities: Connecting Faith and Service" is the theme of this year's conference. The YouTube clip above is Carson's speech to the group at last year's conference during a session on political advocacy. In that speech, Carson can be observed praising the passage of a resolution in New York City recognizing as a school holiday, a Muslim holiday, Id al-Fitr, which celebrates the end of Ramadan, the sacred month of fasting in Islam. He also praises Muslim protesters who took to the street to protest the events in Gaza, although he admonishes them for not similarly taking to the streets to protest the decapitation of a Muslim woman in New York.

Blago: Obama More Tony'd Up Than Me

It's a futile point to make to members of the mainstream media, but the fact remains that convicted political fixer Tony Rezko had much stronger ties to Barack Obama than former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. It was Obama who gave Rezko a front-row seat in the corrupt administration of Blagojevich. Yet it is Blagojevich who is on trial alone for those corrupt ties. Members of the news media have largely ignored damning statements Blagojevich made about Obama that were caught on tape by the FBI and are being replayed in Blagojevich's corruption trial. Blagojevich's frustration with this reality is evident in this taped conversation:

I thin-, you know, it’s really, I get that I’m a big boy and I can handle that, but it’s really f***ing galling, this guy is more Tony’d up than I am. And it’s almost like they f***ing conspi-, made a concerted effort and they got the Chicago media to f***ing make me wear Rezko more. To f***ing dilute it from him.

The same is true with Obama's role in Blagojevich's failed attempt to sell Obama's senate seat. It was Obama who first initiated a phone call to SEIU President Tom Balanoff to urge him to contact Blagojevich and tell him that he wanted Valerie Jarrett appointed to the senate seat on the eve of his historic election as president. At least that's what Balanoff testified to under oath at Blagojevich's trial. Obama's transition team produced a whitewashed report that gave the impression nothing transpired on his end other than a list of preferred candidates for the open seat being communicated through Rahm Emanuel. The government maintains in its corruption trial of Blagojevich that there was an ongoing conspiracy to sell the senate seat from Oct. 22, 2008 to December 9, 2008. According to Blagojevich's defense team in a subpoena request filed with the court, he had a phone conversation with Obama on December 1, 2008 while Obama was in Philadelphia, another claim that completely contradicts the report issued by Obama's transition team on the matter. Judge Zagel has so far blocked attempts by Blagojevich's lawyers to call Obama as a witness.

The media ignored another possible Rezko-Obama link. In a filing with the Court, Blagojevich's lawyers referenced a letter the government proferred concerning information Rezko funished to the proseuction:

In a recent in camera proceeding, the government tendered a three paragraph letter indicating that Rezko “has stated in interviews with the government that he engaged in election law violations by personally contributing a large sum of cash to the campaign of a public official who is not Rod Blagojevich. … Further, the public official denies being aware of cash contributions to his campaign by Rezko or others and denies having conversations with Rezko related to cash contributions. … Rezko has also stated in interviews with the government that he believed he transmitted a quid pro quo offer from a lobbyist to the public official, whereby the lobbyist would hold a fundraiser for the official in exchange for favorable official action, but that the public official rejected the offer. The public official denies any such conversation. In addition, Rezko has stated to the government that he and the public official had certain conversations about gaming legislation and administration, which the public official denies having had.

Blagojevich's lawyers believe the public official referenced in the letter is Obama. His attorneys also believe that a supporter of Obama's suggested a quid pro quo in exchange for appointing Jarrett to the Senate seat in a recorded phone conversation from November 3, 2008. When you look at the facts objectively, it does appear the government has been doing somersaults to protect Obama from his corrupt ties to this entire sordid mess in Illinois.

Rush Still On Top Of Local News/Talk Radio Market, Amos Sets Himself Apart Among Black Listeners

The IBJ's Anthony Schoettle has a story this week paying tribute to radio talk show host Amos Brown, who tops the Indianapolis news/talk radio market among African-American listeners. "His 25-percent share of black listeners age 35 and older is the highest audience share in any U.S. market for a black-oriented radio talk show, according to New York-based Arbitron Inc.," writes Schoettle. Brown’s ["Afternoons with Amos"]audience share tops black broadcasting icons such as Joe Madison in Washington, D.C., Mildred Gaddis in Detroit, Cliff Kelley in Chicago, and Rev. Al Sharpton in New York.

The story has no mention of that other guy who has the biggest ego of any on-air personality in town. Rush Limbaugh is still on top of the local news/talk market after all of these years. Brown's show, which launched in 2004, "outdraws all news-talk radio shows in Indianapolis except Rush Limbaugh’s nationally syndicated show, a local conservative show hosted by Greg Garrison, and an afternoon drive-time show now hosted by Ed Wenck but formerly overseen by Steve Simpson," Schoettle writes. "All are on WIBC-FM 93.1, which has a much broader audience than WTLC’s gospel format." I wrote a few weeks ago about how badly that other radio personality has fared in the Indianapolis market according to the Arbitron ratings, which you can read about here.

Bond Swaps Cost Indianapolis $93 Million So Far

Indianapolis taxpayers have paid dearly for those risky bond swap agreements well-compensated financial advisers convinced our local bond bank to enter into. The IBJ's Cory Schouten has an excellent story in this week's edition that goes further in explaining what these deals were all about and what it has meant for taxpayers than anything we've seen to date in the local news media. Schouten's story tells us the City has incurred penalties of $93 million to date to unwind soured swap agreements and still has negative exposure to the tune of $65 million. The Indianapolis water company alone lost about $53 million, including a $46 million penalty to unwind the bond swap agreements it took out on about a half billion dollars in debt and another $7 million in professional fees. In all, the City had 17% of its bond debt tied up in swap agreements at one time. Schouten writes:

Wall Street bankers for decades sold municipalities like Indianapolis on debt instruments called swaps as a safe way to reduce borrowing costs and hedge against rising interest rates.


In reality, the swap arrangements were complicated bets that relied on a few seemingly reasonable assumptions: Interest rates would either stagnate or rise, and financial partners on the deals would remain strong. Both proved wrong, and taxpayers paid a big price.

Municipal units of the city of Indianapolis in 2009 paid more than $93 million in penalties to unwind spoiled swap arrangements. And city agencies including the Indianapolis Local Public Improvement Bond Bank and the Indianapolis Airport Authority still are saddled with swaps that sport a negative value of more than $65 million, an IBJ review of dozens of bond records found.

According to Schouten, the City relied on CDR Financial Products for most of its bond swap agreements, a company that is now facing federal fraud and corruption charges. "CDR, which earned at least $378,000 advising the Indianapolis Bond Bank on swap deals in 2005 and 2006, is accused of rigging bids on so-called guaranteed investment contracts, or GICs." Government agencies deposit proceeds from bond sales into the interest-earning vehicles until they need to spend the money," Schouten says. He was unable to learn whether the charges involve any of the deals CDR helped arrange for the City. At their peak use in 2005, the City had nearly a $1 billion in debt tied up in swap agreements, which included debt issued through the local bond bank and by the Indianapolis Airport Authority. Schouten explains how the deals were pitched to local decision-makers:

A city issues variable-rate bonds. Then it enters into a side deal with an investment bank that allows the city to pay a below-market fixed rate to the bank and collect variable-rate payments from the bank based on a common index.


Theoretically, the variable rate payments from the bank offset the variable rate payments the city pays to the bondholders, which are based on another short-term index specifically for municipal bonds. And, voila, the city gets to borrow at a lower, “synthetic” interest rate to build streets, stadiums, libraries and airports.

The turmoil in the financial debt market that began in 2008 turned the attractiveness of these deals upside down as Schouten explains. The large insurers of these transaction like MBIA and Depfa Bank, which insured the City's bond swap agreements, were downgraded by ratings agencies. “No buyers wanted bonds with their backing, so we had no choice but to unwind the contracts at a loss,” Daron Kintner of the local bond bank told Schouten. Kintner took over the bond bank when Kevin Taylor left to join City Securities, which also employs John Dillon, a former head of the bond bank and deputy mayor to former Mayor Bart Peterson. City Securities offered advice to the City on some of these deals. Another former bond bank head and city controller, Robert Clifford, now works for Umbaugh & Associates, which also advised the City on some of these transactions. This raises the question of whether we can trust the people our bond bank employs. Are they just biding time until one of the high-paid advisers offers them a job?

Schouten looked at board minutes of the bond bank during the 2005-06 period when several of these large deals got brokered. He said the board minutes were mum on the risk of bond swap agreements. A local expert tells Schouten he doubts that members of the bond bank understood what they were doing when they signed off on the swap agreements.

Public institutions like the bond bank should use certain tools to keep borrowing rates as low as possible, but making exotic bets on the direction of interest rates is not one of them, said Ken Skarbeck, managing partner of Indianapolis-based money management firm Aldebaran Capital . . .

Bond bank board members (all appointed by the mayor) who signed off on the instruments may have thought they were buying insurance to protect against rising rates, Skarbeck said, “but that turned out not to be the case as the swaps generated substantial losses when interest rates instead declined.”


“What strikes me is the complexity in these deals,” Skarbeck said. “I don’t understand them, I’m certain the bond bank people didn’t understand them, and the world now knows that the investment bankers who concocted and sold these things did not understand them.”

Disappointingly, Kintner tells Schouten that it is unlikely the City will take any action against any of its advisers for failing to appropriately advise it of the risk in entering into bond swap agreements. "
[Diana] Hamilton said she’s concerned by revelations about CDR Financial and wonders whether the company fleeced the city, Schouten writes. "But in general, she defends advisers who supported the swap arrangements," he continues. "Advisers on the waterworks deal included the local firms H.J. Umbaugh & Associates, City Securities Corp., Ice Miller and Baker & Daniels, as well as New York’s Bear Stearns & Co." Hamilton was singing a much different tune a couple of years back when these deals first soured. "The Democratic gubernatorial administrations of Frank O’Bannon and Joe Kernan also did not tap that market, said Diana Hamilton, who ran the predecessor to the Indiana Finance Authority for both men," wrote the IBJ's Anthony Schoettle then. “Not because I’m so much smarter than everybody else. It was really just a pricing thing,” she said. “These things change in the market a lot, and typically with auction-rate debt, you need to purchase bond insurance. And also the ... fees paid to the investment banker were higher.”  Hamilton, incidentally, owns Sycamore Advisors, LLC, a local WBE contractor. She is currently working as a subcontractor on the utilities transfer deal between the City and Citizens Energy. Her husband is John Hammond, a partner with Ice Miller, which also served as counsel on many of these bond transactions.

Schouten's story discusses how the local bond bank's staff of seven relies heavily on its advisers and often lack the experience and knowledge necessary to make informed judgments. A 2008 audit by Katz Sapper & Miller slammed the bond bank's staff. “During our audit, we found an overall lack of review and reconciliation in many areas of the accounting and finance functions,” the firm wrote. “We noted numerous instances where input was incomplete and journal entries and transfers between accounts were incorrect.”

Schouten notes that the bond bank did not even have a formal policy on entering into bond swap agreements until 2009, after it was too late to avoid the penalties that cost the City dearly from exposing it to so much risk. He notes the bond bank is now using Pat Early's Somerset Partners to do its audit work instead of KSM. Pat Early is that accounting genius that helped lead the CIB into its financial mess. I'm not too comforted learning about that. Not surprisingly, his firm gave glowing reviews to the bond bank staff in its latest audit report.

Jim Shella Still Shilling For The Carsons

As sure as the sun is going to rise in the east each day you can count on WISH-TV political reporter Jim Shella to use his reporting to diminish, scuttle, smear or otherwise discredit any candidate who dares to challenge a Carson, no matter how little serious threat the candidate poses to the Carson family's hold on Indiana's 7th congressional district. Perennial candidate Marvin Scott has been in Shella's sight since he defeated the party-backed candidate, Carlos May, in this year's primary election for the right to challenge U.S. Rep. Andre Carson. Shella jumped all over comments supporters of Scott made about radical Islam a few weeks back, and now he's going after him again for statements Scott has posted on his campaign website in support of fighting Muslim extremism and his support for freedom of religion. Shella reports on the latest tempest in a teapot:

Supporters of Democratic 7th District Congressman André Carson today accused his Republican opponent, Marvin Scott, of using anti-Muslim bigotry in his campaign.


The charges are similar to charges made more than a month ago, but they are also different because Scott can no longer attribute the anti-Muslim messages to supporters outside his campaign organization.

The new charges deal with a new website from the Scott campaign, drmarvinscottforcongress.com . It went online Monday.

The website lists the principles on which Marvin Scott bases his campaign; number 8 is "Fight Muslim extremism and protect freedom of religion." Click on it and you will find an image from 9/11 and ten reasons why radical Islam is a threat. They include "Islam commands homosexuals must be executed." "Islam allows husbands to hit their wives." And "Islam commands that drinkers and gamblers should be whipped."

24-Hour News 8's Jim Shella asked Carson campaign manager Matt Hammond if the Congressman believes any of the things that are listed on that website. "Oh, absolutely not," said Hammond who went on to call the website sad and disappointing.

André Carson is one of just two Muslims in Congress. During the primary a Scott supporter used anti-Muslim rhetoric in an invitation to a fundraiser. Another made an offensive posting regarding Allah on Scott's Facebook page. When we asked about it, Scott said he can't control what his supporters say. "And they come with many ideological notions about this," he said on May 17th. "If I had seen this I would have advised against it."

But Scott is longer distancing himself the Muslim bashing. Now he puts his name on it.

"It definitely seems like it's a wedge issue," says Hammond, "and he's trying to sort of color all of this campaign with fear."

So is Shella and Carson saying that you are an anti-Muslim bigot if you support the fight against Muslim extremism? Shella might want to explain to his viewers why our government has spent hundreds of billions of dollars over the past nine years fighting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, sacrificed the lives of thousands of American soldiers and caused tens of thousands of soldiers to suffer permanent injuries from those wars, only to be told you're an anti-Muslim bigot if you support that costly effort. He also may want to more fully disclose what Scott's website actually said on the subject. Fighting Muslim extremism is one of fourteen principles Scott lists on his website, and it reads:

“Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” This is how the Bill of Rights begins. Every American has, and should have, the right to worship in the way they personally see fit. America stands for honoring and protecting that God given right. No such thought or law exists in any Muslim country on the face of the earth. If Muslim law were to be imposed in our country, freedom of religion would disappear here as it has in Muslim countries around the globe. Islam advocates the eventual elimination of all Christians and Jews. We are threatened by past and current deadly acts committed in the name of Islam. We are threatened by those who want Shariah or Muslim law to be honored and to eventually replace our law. Women are cruelly and regularly subjugated to second class status by many practicing Muslims. Honor killings of women are widespread in the Muslim world and happen in our country too. Omar M. Ahmad, founder of CAIR (the Council on American Islamic Relations) said: “Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant”. Many Muslims are respectful and model citizens, but many are not. Radical elements of Islam are funding and building mosques across America and they use our laws to protect themselves while advocating the overthrow of our laws and our way of life in their mosques and online. Attacks against America and Americans here and in other parts of the world can not and should not be ignored or explained away. We are forced to be, based on their acts and statements, at war with radical Islam and we could lose if we do not fully understand and fully confront the Muslim menace. I will not be intimidated and I will not be fooled. I will stand against the immediate and real threat of radical Islam to all Americans and to our country.

Scott's website goes on to list a number of positions held by the Muslim faith, including death sentences for homosexuals, allowing husbands to beat their wives and commanding the whipping of gamblers and drinkers. In actuality, those statements are all correct in nations where the Muslim faith is practiced to the exclusion of all other religions and where religious law trumps the civil laws. It is only in countries where people of the Islamic faith are constrained by constitutions and laws like our own country's constitutional protection separating church from state and ensuring religion freedom that those practices are not carried out.

Scott's statement touches on issues that are increasingly creeping into our own country as the number of people who practice Islam grows and gains in influence here, including an insistence of imposing their religious views on the rest of us. This fear is not unfounded. In Minneapolis, a charter school founded by two imams was named after a Muslim general who helped conquer Spain. The school is funded with taxpayer dollars and mixes the teaching of Islam with the school's required curriculum, including prayer time and fasting in accordance with the religion, prompting a lawsuit to be filed against the school by the ACLU. In New York, Muslims are demanding that public schools make Muslim holy days official school holidays. In Chicago, business owners in areas populated with Muslims are being pressured to stop selling lottery tickets, alcohol, pork and other food and non-food items proscribed by the religion. Right here in Indianapolis the Muslim community demanded and got restrooms with foot baths at our new airport terminal so a small number of taxi cab drivers who practice Islam can wash their feet before their daily prayers. Last year, a local police officer complained to me that a Muslim state trooper had unfairly targeted gay police officers. Allegedly, the trooper lay in wait outside a downtown gay bar and pulled the police officers over and cited them for drunk driving after they emerged and drove away. Three gay police officers were cited for DUIs over a short period of time by the same police officer patrolling an area not typically patrolled by state troopers. Coincidence? I doubt it.

It hasn't happened here yet, but in western European countries, the growing influence has been seen with the establishment of Sharia courts that assume jurisdiction over disputes between Muslims in those countries and that resolve those disputes in accordance with Muslim law. England is reported to have more than 80 such courts. Although these courts are supposed to have the consent of all parties to exercise jurisdiction, there are reports that coercion is often applied to gain a party's consent. These courts operate in secret with no public scrutiny. In family matters, the decisions are extremely biased against women. Child custody disputes are not decided on the basis of the best interest of the child and often give the father sole custody of the children. Marital estates are not divided evenly, favoring the husband over the wife. In probate matters, the sons are often awarded at least twice as much as the daughters. These courts insist on exercising jurisdiction in cases involving domestic violence, which typically involve allegations that the husband beat the wife or children. Again, these courts often find justification for the husband's actions in religious law. To say that this movement is a step backwards for womens' rights is an understatement.

I'm not a fan of Marvin Scott. I supported his opponent in the primary. But there is absolutely nothing on his website that can be deemed anti-Muslim bigotry. It is entirely consistent with the principles over which our founding fathers fought the American Revolution, a noble cause that gave us the greatest compact between a government and the governed--the U.S. Constitution. People on the Left attack people of the Christian and Jewish faiths on an almost daily basis with impunity. Rep. Carson himself while speaking to a group of national reporters called tea party demonstrators in the nation's capital racists who posed as great of an internal national security threat as extremist Muslims. Of course, Shella had nothing to say about that. Just like he had nothing to say when Carson arranged for the anti-Semitic, Nation of Islam leader Rev. Louis Farrakhan to speak at his grandmother's funeral. He was silent when CAIR, an unindicted co-conpirator in federal anti-terrorism prosecutions, hosted a fundraiser in our nation's capital for Carson. And he said nothing when Carson accepted contributions from persons linked to Muslim terrorists and then quietly returned them without comment after a Jewish member of his campaign staff insisted he do so. Like I said, Shella is just a shill for the Carsons.

I highly recommend you watch this interview with Dr. Wafa Sultan, a Syrian physician raised in a Muslim family who later rejected the teachings of Islam after getting her medical degree and immigrating to the U.S. She is scheduled to testify in the trial of Geert Wilders, a Dutch member of parliament who is being tried on hate crime charges for speaking out against Muslim extremism. She says she began to question the religion after her cousin was forced to marry a man over the age of 40 when she was only 11 years old. Her cousin was subjected to years of domestic violence at the hands of her abusive husband until she could no longer take it and committed suicide, leaving behind four children. Dr. Sultan says she receives death threats continually for being an outspoken opponent of Muslim extremism. Hat tip to Pamela Geller's Atlas Shrugs for drawing attention to Dr. Sultan's powerful message about the true nature of Islam of which all freedom-loving westerners should become aware.

Blagojevich Called Obama A Demigod

The corruption trial of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been one of the most entertaining trials I've ever followed. Hours of taped conversations of an unsuspecting corrupt pol on the take gives the spectator a ring side seat to watch what really goes on behind those government doors in some quarters. Taped conversations replayed in court yesterday give us a glimpse of just how much Blagojevich really despised Obama despite the public face they both put on of being big supporters of each other's political careers. On that historic night when Obama won the presidency, he took time out to call one of his best pals, the head of the SEIU union, to urge him to meet with Blagojevich and urge him to appoint his favorite girl to his soon-to-be-vacant senate senate, Valerie Jarrett. Naturally, Blagojevich like all Chicago politicians wanted something in return for the favor. When it became apparent he wasn't going to get appointed as Health & Human Services Secretary or ambassador to his country of choice or some other arranged high-paying job, Blagojevich suggested someone set up a foundation that he would head and that would pay a lot of money. A frustrated Blagojevich at one point let it all hang out about how he really felt about Obama, calling him a "demigod." This is how the conversations played out:

I mean you got this historic, f------ demi-god. He's a demi-god now. At least for now," Blagojevich tells a top aide in a secretly recorded phone conversation.


"Yeah and they fall the hardest," responds Doug Scofield.

"And, you know, the Clintons couldn't stop him," Blagojevich continues. "But there's nothin' I could have done, the timing, nothin' There's nothin', right?"

So the mission for Wyma is essentially to put it in Rahm's head that we need him to help to fund it," Blagojevich says on the recording.


Scofield testified that he felt the request was "absurd." But he still made the call.

"I said, 'John, every now and then we get asked to do something that is ridiculous even by our standards,' " Scofield testified.

In another call played Wednesday, Blagojevich can be heard getting frustrated that the Obama administration wasn't playing ball.

"I mean I'll do Valerie Jarrett . . . but if they feel like they can do this and not f-----' give me anything under, just some vague assurances or something'. Then I'll f-----' go Jesse Jr." Blagojevich is heard saying. "I mean the arrogance of these f-----'' people."

Earlier in the conversation, Blagojevich told Scofield he was not ruling out appointing Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.

In one of the conversations played in court, Blagojevich was told by advisers not to expect anything in return for a Jarrett appointment.

"They all leave town and I'm stuck with gridlock . . . impeachment . . . and a f------ president who's all talk and no give?" Blagojevich is heard saying.

At one point, Blagojevich considered appointing billionaire J.B. Pritzker to the Senate seat, if he would contribute the $10 million to $20 million for the foundation, according to a recording.

"If I can get J.B. to do somethin' like that, is it worth, ah, givin' him the Senate seat?" Blagojevich wonders. "Incidentally, he, he asked me for it. Don't repeat that."

Under cross-examination, Scofield was questioned about testimony that he left Blagojevich because the governor wasn't true to his pledge of being for reform.

Defense lawyer Aaron Goldstein tried bringing up some of Blagojevich's reforms in office, but the judge cut him off.

"Would you spare us the campaign speech until afterwards?" Judge James Zagel told Goldstein.

Under questioning, Scofield said though he agrees on recordings with Blagojevich's musings -- and even encourages him in various calls -- he's just placating the then-governor.

"Is it fair to say you took action to help out Rod Blagojevich?" Goldstein said.

"I think that's fair to say," Scofield said.

Blagojevich had good reason to be looking for a high-paying position. An IRS agent also testified in court that the former governor and his wife spent as much as $400,000 on clothing items during his tenure as governor, more than they spent on a home mortgage, child care expenses or private schooling for their children. The IRS agent also testified about a sigificant amount of money, $40,000, flowing into Patti Blagojevich's real estate business, Lost River Realty, from convicted political fixer Tony Rezko's business as sham brokerage fees to help pay for the cost of renovating their home. It makes you wonder how much money a forensic analysis of the Obamas finances in the years leading up to his election would show flowing from Rezko. After all, Rezko's help with the purchase of the lot next door and land swap helped make it possible for the Obamas to purchase their south side mansion. I guess the feds have decided we won't take a closer look at all of that. Maybe Blagojevich is right. Obama is a demigod.

Thirty-Four Attorneys Apply For Supreme Court Vacancy

A long list of well-qualified candidates have applied for the Supreme Court vacancy that will be created when Justice Ted Boehm steps down later this year. The list of thirty-four candidates, a record since Indiana's has used a merit selection system for choosing appellate court judges, includes a number of judges and prominent attorneys in private practice. A little over half of the candidates are women, which is unusual, but many observers believe a female candidate is likely to be chosen because the high court current has no female justices. One politician, State Sen. Brent Steele, has applied.

One strong supporter of Judge Cynthia Ayers tells me he has it on direct authority from the governor's office that Gov. Daniels wishes to pick her to bolster his image of supporting diversity as he prepares for a possible presidential bid in 2012. Ayers, a long-time serving Marion Superior Court judge is the only Republican African-American judge in the state of Indiana. According to the source, Ayers had originally planned to apply for one of the openings on the Court of Appeals earlier in Daniels administration, but she was urged by his staff to hold off until the first Supreme Court vacancy occurred. One of those successful Court of Appeals candidates earlier chosen by Gov. Daniels, Judge Elaine Brown, has applied for the vacancy. My source tells me that Daniels will not elevate either of his Court of Appeals appointees to the high court. I note that Judge Cale Bradford did not apply for the job. At least one of the candidates, Curtis Shirley, has a pending disciplinary complaint against him. The case is pending before former Marion Circuit Court Judge Ted Sosin as 49 S 00 0712 DI 00581.

There is actually a judicial nominating commission chaired by Chief Justice Randall Shepard that will recommend three candidates to the governor for consideration; however, that list typically includes the favored choice of the governor. The list will be pared down next week to a list of semi-finalists who will be scheduled for interviews throughout the month of July. The three finalists are expected to be named by the end of the month. Here is the list of candidates in alphabetical order:

1. Hon. Cynthia J. Ayers, Marion Superior Court, Civil Division 4
2. Hon. Mary Beth Bonaventura, Lake Superior Court, Juvenile Division
3. Ms. Ellen E. Boshkoff, Indianapolis
4. Hon. Elaine B. Brown, Indiana Court of Appeals
5. Mr. Sean M. Clapp, Fishers
6. Hon. Vicki L. Carmichael, Clark Superior Court 1
7. Hon. Jane Spencer Craney, Morgan Superior Court 3
8. Hon. Steven H. David, Boone Circuit Court
9. Ms. Kiply S. Drew, Bloomington
10. Hon. Cynthia S. Emkes, Johnson Superior Court 2
11. Mr. Thomas M. Fisher, Indianapolis
12. Ms. Monica Foster, Indianapolis
13. Hon. Frances C. Gull, Allen Superior Court
14. Mr. Lyle R. Hardman, Granger
15. Ms. Christine Talley Haseman, Bloomington
16. Hon. Susan Orr Henderson, Fountain Circuit Court
17. Hon. William J. Hughes, Hamilton Superior Court 3
18. Ms. Abigail Lawlis Kuzma, Indianapolis
19. Ms. Christine M. Marcuccilli, Fort Wayne
20. Hon. William C. Menges, Jr., Howard Superior Court 1
21. Hon. Robyn L. Moberly, Marion Superior Court, Civil Division 5
22. Mr. Karl L. Mulvaney, Indianapolis
23. Hon. Steven R. Nation, Hamilton Superior Court 1
24. Ms. Clare Kraegel Nuechterlein, South Bend
25. Mr. Bryce D. Owens, Pendleton
26. Mr. Curtis E. Shirley, Indianapolis
27. Mr. Geoffrey G. Slaughter, Indianapolis
28. Hon. Robert A. Spahr, Miami Circuit Court
29. Sen. Brent E. Steele, Bedford
30. Ms. Yasmin L. Stump, Zionsville
31. Mr. Donald J. Tribbett, Logansport
32. Hon. Allen N. Wheat, Steuben Circuit Court
33. Hon. Mary G. Willis, Henry Circuit Court
34. Ms. Judy L. Woods, Indianapolis