Collins Report

By Kevin “Coach” Collins

Rod Blagojevich 52, is a classic Chicago gangster. He’s charged by the feds with several serious crimes including mail and wire fraud and bribe solicitation. Conviction of these crimes can get him in federal prison for 360 months and a $500,000 fine. Blagojevich and Tony Rezko 53, another sleazy Chicago crook, are tied together in their crimes, legal troubles and options for avoiding long federal prison sentences.

In June Rezko 53, was convicted of 16 charges of mail and wire fraud, attempted extortion and money laundering. Many of these convictions carry 240 month sentences each. Rezko will also be back on trail early next year in a 10 million federal fraud case and is facing gambling theft charges in Las Vegas.

Rezko was scheduled for sentencing in September. That was postponed. He was scheduled for sentencing in late October. That was postponed. His sentencing was just reset for January. Why? He is offering FitzGerald “substantial assistance.” He’s talking.

By offering “substantial assistance” to the government, Rezko can win downward departures of his sentence. “Substantial assistance” can cut Rezko’s sentence substantially. Rezko doesn’t want to go away. Blagojevich will “substantially assist” FitzGerald too. He doesn’t want to go away either.

In political corruption cases the Feds always charge conspiracies which carry 240 month sentences. This makes everybody named equally guilty. We know Rahm Emanuel is on tape with Blagojevich. That points to his guilt under this theory.

Blagojevich and Rezko are way too old to even think about prison. Both will talk to cut their sentences. This is why Democrats want to smother Blagojevich, but it won’t work.

Rezko will fall into Blagojevich who will fall into Emanuel who will fall on his sword, but Obama will be forever tainted.

Remember the phrase “substantial assistance.” It has a nice ring.

Under the Federal Sentencing guidelines a judge can cut a convicted felon’s sentence if it is apparent what the defendant provides “substantial assistance” that is truthful, useful, complete and reliable. As important as these elements are, the information provided by the defendant must be timely.

More than this, in the federal system a defendant is not deemed to be convicted until he/she is actually sentenced. The federal system moves faster than most state systems do, but it is still very slow. Convicting Blagojevich and getting him to a sentencing hearing could take more than a year with the legal maneuverings available to him. He could do enormous damage in a year’s worth of conversations into a federal microphone. It could very well turn out to be that Blagojevich bargains for his freedom with what he does not say rather than what he does say.

That would be illegal, but Patrick FitzGerald is not a man to be trusted, given his shameful conduct in the Plame leak case.

This is why the Illinois Democrats want to destroy Blagojevich and his credibility as soon as possible. They have a tall order in this aim. If they knock down Blagojevich they still have Rezko who is potentially much more dangerous to their God: The One.

We on the Right were knocked down and thoroughly beaten last month. There isn’t much we can do to regain the initiative in our fight to reclaim America, but this doesn’t mean we can’t realize important gains from the Left’s mistakes and corruption. We need to be watchful and ready to act at the proper moment with the proper tactics and plans.