In The Days

• Source: CBS2
• News Date: 6/15/10
• Author: Dana Kozlov

The anatomy of a shakedown. That’s what federal prosecutors are laying out, witness by witness, conversation by conversation in former Governor Rod Blagojevich’s corruption trial. Hundreds of wiretapped conversations are part of the evidence. On Tuesday, some of those tapes were released.

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Days of Noah

“But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
—Matt 24:37

“These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just•Strongs 6662: tsaddiyq, tsad-deek´; from 6663; just:—just, lawful, righteous (man). man and perfect•Strongs 8549: tamiym, taw-meem´; from 8552; entire (literally, figuratively or morally); also (as noun) integrity, truth:—without blemish, complete, full, perfect, sincerely (-ity), sound, without spot, undefiled, upright(-ly), whole. in his generations, and Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth also was corrupt•Strongs 7843: shachath, shaw-khath´; a primitive root; to decay, i.e. (causatively) ruin (literally or figuratively):—batter, cast off, corrupt(-er, thing), destroy(-er, -uction), lose, mar, perish, spill, spoiler, x utterly, waste(-r). before God, and the earth was filled with violence•Strongs 2555: chamacç, khaw-mawce´; from 2554; violence; by implication, wrong; by meton. unjust gain:—cruel(-ty), damage, false, injustice, x oppressor, unrighteous, violence (against, done), violent (dealing), wrong
•Strongs 2554: chamacç, khaw-mas´; a primitive root; to be violent; by implication, to maltreat:—make bare, shake off, violate, do violence, take away violently, wrong, imagine wrongfully..”
— Genesis 6:9-11

Editors note about the word perfect• In James 1:27, when the Holy Spirit wrote the Book of James, through, James, the half brother of Jesus, He used the word unspotted.
• In the Strongs this word is defined •Strongs 2554 (aspilos, as´-pee-los; from 1 (as a negative particle) and 4695; unblemished (physically or morally): — without spot, unspotted.).
• Both in Noah’s generation and this, the Spirit of God is calling us to live purely in our walk with Him. In doing so we become the people like Noah.
• Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Let us continue in God’s Grace and live godly in this evil and perverse generation.
• As Noah and as Lot, we will see the deliverance of God.

CBS 2′s Dana Kozlov reports those tapes have already been used in court but there are more to come.

Prosecutors believe the taped conversations help prove the former governor, his brother and others, like former close friend Lon Monk, set out to shakedown people for campaign contributions in exchange for state actions.

Many of those conversations released so far surround one alleged deal; signing a horseracing bill for a $100,000 donation.

Rod and Robert Blagojevich talked about cash, and getting it from Maywood Track owner John Johnston.

Rod: ” I got a call into Lon. What, what about the Johnston’s, they come in with their money today?”

Rob: “He thought maybe he might. I did, Lon did call me back after I spoke with you and ah, he was gonna see, ah, Johnny today and he thought he was gonna get some money.”

The former governor and Lon Monk talked about when to sign that 2008 horseracing bill after getting that contribution.

Rod: “I think you just say that. He’s gonna sign all his bills, he’s signing all, he’s doing all his bills right…”

Monk: “No. Look, I wanna go to him without crossing the line and say, give us the f*** money.”

Rod: “Right.”

Monk: “…but give us the f*** money…because they’re losin’, they’re losing $9,000 a day.”

Rod: “Okay.”

Monk: “For every day it’s not signed.”

These tapes were played as part of Lon Monk’s testimony. He told the jury the promise of money and the bill were linked. Attempted extortion, prosecutors say, and that’s against the law.

Rob: “Uh, I talked to Lon and, uh, he says Johnny Johnston’s good for it.”

Rod: “Okay.”

Rob: “He’s gonna give you, you know, he didn’t get it, but he says, you know, “I’m good for it. I got to just decide what, what a-, accounts to get it out of.” And, and Lon’s gonna talk to you about some sensitivities, legislatively, tonight when he see ya, with regard to timing of all of this.”

Rod: “Right, before the end of the year, though, right?”

Rob: “Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.”

But Sam Adam Jr., the ex-governors attorney, painted Monk as a man who’d say anything to keep his two year prison plea deal. Adam believes he succeeded.

“The Governor’s here charged with, what you say, attempted extortion. Who did he attempt to extort? He couldn’t name one person. He couldn’t name one thing. He couldn’t name one dollar.”

Blagojevich never got that contribution. He was arrested days after one of those conversations and the bill became law.

So was it an attempted shakedown or politics as usual? That will likely be the overriding question of this entire trial.