Illinois' former Gov. Blagojevich files suit to challenge law keeping him from running again

CHICAGO — The last time convicted ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich appeared in federal court in Chicago, he watched sullenly via a video link from prison as a judge resentenced him to 14 years in prison for an array of corruption schemes.

Five years later, a far more upbeat Blagojevich returned in the flesh to the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, ground zero for his historic political and personal downfall.

“I don’t like this place,” Blagojevich said after striding up to a battery of news microphones set up outside the building on South Dearborn Street. “I was hoping I would never have to set foot in this building again, but here I am.”

This time, the ex-governor, whose sentence was commuted by President Donald Trump in February 2020, wasn’t there to answer to allegations of brazenly selling a U.S. Senate seat or receive a tongue-lashing from a judge.

He was there filing a lawsuit of his own challenging the Illinois General Assembly’s disqualifying resolution that prohibited him from running for any state or local office in Illinois because of his 2009 impeachment.

Blagojevich, 64, is seeking a permanent injunction from a federal judge declaring the resolution unconstitutional. Blagojevich repeatedly insisted to reporters that he had no specific plans to run for office should the suit succeed — but he wouldn’t rule it out, either.

The long-shot suit, for which Blagojevich plans to act as his own attorney, offered the famously garrulous Chicago Democrat a chance to rehash his well-worn talking points for the cameras, from his familiar “play all the tapes” refrain to the railroading he said he received from House Speaker Michael Madigan and others after his arrest in December 2008.

He talked about how proud he still was to have appointed Roland Burris to the U.S. Senate and told an anecdote about a debate he had with a fellow prisoner over how many gold records Elvis produced. To settle the debate, Blagojevich said, he looked it up in an almanac in the prison library, where he happened to see a photo of himself with a description of his corruption case.

“I was in that almanac for this,” Blagojevich said, jerking his thumb toward the courthouse behind him. “It sucks.”

His appearance certainly brought a little bit of the Blago circus back to a federal courthouse that has been largely devoid of media presence during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As Blagojevich quoted — as usual — from Rudyard Kipling, a tour bus rode by with a crowded top deck of tourists gawking, and the driver beeped his horn as the ex-governor waved.

Moments later, Blagojevich had to pause because he was being drowned out by a motorcyclist blasting House of Pain’s rap anthem “Jump Around.”

The whole news conference was being filmed separately by a documentary film crew working for ABC-7, which first reported about Blagojevich’s plans to file a lawsuit on Sunday night.

Blagojevich, 64, was arrested in December 2008 on an array of corruption charges, including the proposed sale of President-elect Barack Obama’s Senate seat and trying to shake down executives from a children’s hospital and the horse racing industry for campaign contributions in exchange for official acts in office.

During his impeachment hearing in 2009, Blagojevich refused to bring witnesses and only agreed to testify if he were not under oath. He was removed from office on a 59-0 vote of the entire Illinois Senate and was penalized with the inability to seek any nonfederal public office in Illinois on a separate 59-0 vote.

Blagojevich was convicted of 17 counts at trial in June 2011 and served about eight years of his 14-year sentence before the commutation from Trump.

Blagojevich said that since his release from a federal prison camp in Littleton, Colorado, he’s been keeping busy jogging, doing consulting work and giving paid speeches. He’s found a “surprisingly lucrative” side gig making videos on Cameo, a website where users pay for personalized video messages from celebrities and has also hosted a weekly podcast called “The Lightning Rod” for WLS-AM radio.

Shortly after his release, Blagojevich was disbarred from practicing law by the Illinois Supreme Court. He said Monday he’s thinking about trying to get his law license back but didn’t elaborate.

“I feel like I’ve been given a new beginning,” Blagojevich said.

After more than half an hour of talking, Blagojevich donned a face mask and went through courthouse security up to the clerk’s office on the 20th Floor, where he filed the suit. It was not available on the court docket as of Monday afternoon.

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(The Tribune’s Rick Pearson contributed to this story.)

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