Blagojevich, << blah GOY yuh vihch, >> Rod (1956-…), served as governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009. Blagojevich, a Democrat, gained national attention in 2008 after he was arrested on corruption charges. Federal prosecutors accused him of trying to “sell” a United States Senate seat. In January 2009, the Illinois legislature voted to impeach Blagojevich, on the grounds that he abused his power in office. It was the first time in the state’s history that a governor was impeached. See Impeachment.
Milorad Blagojevich was born in Chicago on Dec. 10, 1956, to Serbian immigrant parents. He soon became known simply as “Rod.” Blagojevich attended the University of Tampa from 1975 to 1977. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University in 1979. He earned a law degree from Pepperdine University in 1983. He then worked as a lawyer in private practice.
Blagojevich served as assistant state’s attorney for Illinois’s Cook County from 1986 to 1988. He won election to the Illinois General Assembly in 1992. He served as a U.S. representative from 1997 to 2003. In 2002, he was elected governor. He was reelected in 2006.
Senator Barack Obama of Illinois was elected president in 2008. Obama then resigned his Senate seat, and Governor Blagojevich was to appoint Obama’s successor. However, federal authorities arrested the governor on corruption charges before he could do so. Prosecutors accused him of planning to “sell or trade” the Senate seat “for financial and personal benefits for himself and his wife.” Blagojevich denied any wrongdoing. He later named Roland Burris, a former state attorney general, to fill the seat.
In January 2009, the Illinois House of Representatives voted to impeach Blagojevich. The impeachment then moved to the Illinois Senate, which voted unanimously to remove Blagojevich from office. Lieutenant Governor Patrick J. Quinn was sworn in to replace him as governor.
In April 2009, federal prosecutors indicted Blagojevich and some of his aides on charges of conspiracy, fraud, and attempted extortion. A trial began in June 2010. In August, a jury found the former governor guilty of lying to federal investigators but could not reach agreement on 23 other counts. A retrial began in April 2011. In June, the jury found Blagojevich guilty of 17 out of 20 federal corruption charges, including all charges tied to attempts to trade Obama’s Senate seat. In December, a federal judge sentenced the former governor to 14 years in prison. In 2015, a federal appeals court overturned the convictions on 5 of the corruption counts. Nevertheless, the same federal judge who imposed the original sentence on Blagojevich declined to reduce it. President Donald J. Trump commuted (reduced) Blagojevich’s sentence on Feb. 18, 2020, and the former governor was released from prison the same day.
