Tip of the iceberg, I'm sure

Do keep in mind our President-elect rose rapidly through the ranks of the political machinery of this area:

Gov. Blagojevich and his chief of staff John Harris were arrested at their homes this morning in a probe involving the governor’s quest to fill Sen. Barack Obama’s Senate seat.

The charges also include alleged attempts by the governor to influence the Tribune editorial board.

The complaint contends Blagojevich threatened to withhold substantial state assistance to the Tribune Company in connection with the sale of Wrigley to induce the firing of Chicago Tribune editorial board members sharply critical of Blagojevich.

The governor is also accused of obtaining campaign contributions in exchange for official actions — both in the past and recently in a push before a new state ethics law takes effect Jan. 1...

“The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering,” U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said. “They allege that Blagojevich put a ‘for sale’ sign on the naming of a United States Senator; involved himself personally in pay-to-play schemes with the urgency of a salesman meeting his annual sales target; and corruptly used his office in an effort to trample editorial voices of criticism..."

And I'm sure there are plenty of elected officials out there who think the only thing he did wrong was get caught. Hey, here's an idea: since the ruling class is in so tight with each other, why don't we arrest them all for consorting with known felons -- that'd create enough vacancies we'd have to have a special election, instead of allowing Twiddledee to pick the next Tweedledum. And all for the cost of 1,000 jail cells or so.

Sounds like a bargain to me...