Certainly more than one person, including someone close to the Mayor, believed that Rahm wanted the seat back, and were trying to make that happen by putting a seat-warmer in for 2 years. Sneed and two Hinz columns mention it, and Hinz has multiple sources. Who knows, it’s conceivable that Rahm didn’t know about those discussions, but it seems unlikely. I think Marcy said or implied this would be illegal, but I can’t for the life of me figure out why. Among other things, Lincoln made such a bargain, though (and I don’t remember the details any more) either he or the other guy reneged or tried to. The Whigs believed in rotation in office, in no one holding the same office for very long, because it tended to concentrate power. Though this principal wasn’t held by everyone.

For all the talk in Illinois of how democracy is too damn expensive, Rahm’s seat definitely requires an election, and if he’d go ahead and resign, that election could be merged into the school board elections at much lower cost than if it’s held as a special. He’s apparently holding on till he can nail down exactly who the replacement will be.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com…..siness.com

That said, I should have phrased it as “Blago is alleged to be A source of Sneed’s.” I did not mean to suggest that Emanuel never talks to her, or could never be the source of this story. That said, I don’t see the point of leaking a story and issuing a denial to your own leak at the same time. Aren’t leaks usually floated to gauge the response before they are denied?

Of course I don’t see the point of collaborating with an unpopular Governor to change the rules and deny people their vote in order to appoint a placeholder, thereby infuriating the same people you expect to vote for you in two years, either.

Add the facts that you have Blago on tape hatching the plan, and Obama on record denying his staff has done anything “inappropriate,” and I think it’s even more unlikely that the originator of the plan, or the leak, was Emanuel.

But maybe I’m missing something… feel free to clue me in.

To outsiders who may misunderstand, Sneed gets fed stuff by all the major players in town, including Rahm. What is laughable is that she was fed a dozen Senate possibilities by Blag’s folks and never questioned the change, or pointed out how unreliable her source was since he kept switching his story

But the Rahm-keeping-his-seat story wasn’t a Sneed original. Crain’s political blog broke it, and that is no doubt where Sneed picked it up. Greg Hinz was still covering it a week later. He had multiple sources, including people in the Mayor’s office.

There’s a weird tendency here, that we would have laughed at during the Plame case, to simply assume that any Democrat anyone has ever heard of couldn’t have done wrong. So we’ve had wild ideas that Rahm tipped off the Feds; that Jesse’s people couldn’t possibly have been involved in anything murky.

It’s the old “if it’s news, it must be good news for Republicans” theory updated for our side, with a local twist. “If it’s news, it must be good news for Democrats we’ve heard of, though anyone we haven’t heard of is capable of anything.”

http://emptywheel.firedoglake……the-house/

“The flip side: The rumor is being denied by Rahm’s office.”

And within that piece by EW is a link to a Gawker story claiming Blago as the source for Sneed:

http://gawker.com/5105531/chic…..rite-patsy

And then we have Cheney just spitting in everyone’s face during that ABC interview. Waterboarding is fine with Dick

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comm…..rview-iraq

That ABC interview with Cheney was the all time creepiest
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/stor…..038;page=1

I’m inclined to believe the “fifth cd thing” was a product of Blago’s desperate little brain. I highly doubt the voters in the fifth district would appreciate a long rumored to be corrupt Governor maneuvering to change the rules and deny them their vote in order to appoint a placeholder. If Blago did propose it, I can’t see anyone in their right mind entertaining the idea. Who would want to run for re-election under those circumstances? And what would the President think about his Chief of Staff’s commitment to the job?

But the timeline and increase in calls is interesting… Possible Emanuel was working with the Feds by this time? I never believed that rumor (Fox News *cough*)… But IF he did entertain Blago’s ideas how could the President-elect be so certain that his staff did “nothing inappropriate”? I assume he is in communication with the D.A. because he said their investigation was the reason he did not release their internal report yesterday. Maybe there is something in the internal report that covers the period of those increased phone calls. The D.A. must have left that out of their report for a reason.

And now this rumor from Sneed… If Blago (or more likely his lawyer) is still brazen enough to leak to her, maybe he is trying to put the pressure on Emanuel to defend himself (i.e. more leaks) in the hope of finding out what is in that internal report that the D.A. doesn’t want released just yet.

In relation to the Marty DIdier post, I’ll say!

He also writes that the Rezko’s said they couldn’t be prosecuted because they were CIA assets! Umm, dude, the guy’s already been convicted!