Poor Zell Miller. A turnaround artist finds himself deep in doo-doo first over the LA Times not releasing the Khalidi tape, and now this. Message to moguls: Stay away from media companies. They’re poisonous.

JiangxiDad on December 10, 2008 at 10:01 AM

Surely you are referring to Sam Zell and not the former governor from Georgia and former Senator, Zell Miller?

Thanks for playing, but Ed’s actually making the opposite claim.

Tom_Shipley on December 10, 2008 at 10:49 AM

Sure, Tom. There’s a complicated and irrational explanation for everything. Ed was totally out of line for questioning the integrity of a tax-cheating newspaper owner.

First, the Tribune’s standing up to a 4% approval rating Governor shows no more bravery. It does not change their liberal bias any more than my opposition to former Illinois Republican Governor George Ryan changes my conservative bias.

Second, it’s been well documented (in my blog) that the Chicago Tribune has not just been in the tank for Obama, but they were the very ones who built the tank. Considering the Tribune had advanced knowledge of the investigation, I would be shocked if I found out they did not tip off the Obama campaign and warned him to distance him from Blagojevich.

Why do Baseball owners need taxpayer money for modifications to their stadiums anyway? Take some from the players salaries or shut it down. That really ticks me off.

Sloan Morganstern on December 10, 2008 at 10:29 AM

They’re too “big to fail”!

Blago’s wife is a fiesty one, huh? Loser.

Poor Zell Miller. A turnaround artist finds himself deep in doo-doo first over the LA Times not releasing the Khalidi tape, and now this. Message to moguls: Stay away from media companies. They’re poisonous.

JiangxiDad

What does any of this have to do with Zell Miller?

They got Candidate 1 out of harms way and now she is going to be working in the White House. Candidate 5 (J.J.Jr. – hey hey hey) is now f’ed and if Obama wants to punish Jesse Sr for his disloyalty during the campaign, he will give the green light to go after the kid. Not Jesse Sr’s bastard kid who is too young to go to a federal prison but the one who is actually Candidate 5.

I think you need to read this…

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NzhiYmFlMDZiNzkxYmZlMThmMTZjNDJlYzYwM2ZhNjY=

bill o’reilly

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/10/keith-olbermann-hits-cons_n_149855.html

At least the got the link right Ed.

If he’s who you say, I doubt his political career is over. Getting on the wrong side of the law to beat the Man is a resume enhancer.

JiangxiDad on December 10, 2008 at 10:43 AM

He’ll probably get to keep his House seat, but I think that any aspirations for higher office (i.e. the IL Senate seat) are probably off the table. Jackson, like his daddy, also enjoys hearing himself talk. He’s all over the radio, and even John and Sisco, the local conservative guys, have him penciled in weekly because he’s a good interview. Those sorts of interviews would likely go away.

Thanks for playing, but Ed’s actually making the opposite claim.

Instead just applauding that, he has to bake up this theory that there (sic) motivation wasn’t “pure”, but motivated by money. It’s a nice little back-handed compliment.

Tom_Shipley on December 10, 2008 at 10:26 AM

It doesn’t seem like anything was “baked up.”

In another call, the governor’s wife, Patricia, allegedly can be heard yelling in the background and urging her husband to “hold up that [expletive] Cubs [expletive].”

Zell struck a deal with Blago that would let him save millions by cheating his taxes. He found out Blago was being wiretapped, and he published the news.

I just look at the situation as it likely was. Fitzgerald said the Tribune called his office asking about the wire taps. At this point, he asked them to withhold certain aspects of the story. Which, he says, they did.

So, it seems as if the Tribune was ready to go ahead with the story until Fitzgerald’s office asked them not to.

Going by what we know — what’s been reported on the Tribune withholding the story — it seems as simple as that.

As far as withholding the story goes, there’s no evidence that money played a role. I mean, if anything, they’re probably thinking they’ll losing money by not “breaking”
the story. With the industry in such a mess, a story like this would be sell them a lot of papers.

But, going on Ed’s theory that they withheld it so Blogojevich would be more likely be prosecuted, clearing the way for money for Wrigley renovations… i mean, knowing what they did two months ago, I’m pretty sure the Trib staff knew Blogojevich’s days were numbered, whenever this came out.

The bottom line is that there’s just very little merit to Ed’s claim (or insinuation) that money — not civic duty — was the motivation for withholding the story. And — to other’s points on here — if that were the case, why didn’t they wait until the Feds arrested the governor to run the story they ran last Friday?

Senate Candidate #5 also might find himself in legal trouble, and at the very least, his political career is probably over.

Illinidiva on December 10, 2008 at 10:38 AM

If he’s who you say, I doubt his political career is over. Getting on the wrong side of the law to beat the Man is a resume enhancer.

Why do Baseball owners need taxpayer money for modifications to their stadiums anyway? Take some from the players salaries or shut it down. That really ticks me off.

Sloan Morganstern on December 10, 2008 at 10:29 AM

The issue with Wrigley Field is that it is a historical landmark. There is no way that someone would build a baseball stadium basically in the middle of the stadium nowadays. If a new owner had his way, the stadium would probably be torn down and the Cubs would be playing in Schaumburg. Thankfully, this is impossible due to preservation laws.

I don’t know, ask Fitzgerald.

Odds are even without the story the Trib ran on Friday that Fitzgerald would have been coming out with the indictments fairly quickly, as to not drop this pile of crap right in the middle of January’s Obamapalooza in Washington, or after the fact, when a fixed Senate appointment may have already been announced and the aftermath would have been even more chaotic.

jon1979 on December 10, 2008 at 10:27 AM

I’m going to give Fitzpatrick credit on this one. Although I have been considered by some of his zeal over certain cases, he’s known here in Chicago for being a nonpartisan and prosecutes both Democrats and Republicans with equal vigor. It seems that the reason why he moved was because of the deal with Senate Candidate #5 (Jesse Jackson Jr. is the current speculation in Chicago) was going forward and Blago. was going to make the appointment in the next few days. It would have looked awful if Fitzgerald had known the information, but have gone ahead and let Blago. basically sell the Senate seat. There is a case to be made that they could get both Blago. and Senate candidate #5, but this scheme was just so blatantly corrupt that Fitzgerald couldn’t allow it to go forward.

In all likelihood, there will be other indictments handed down. It seems that Blago’s wife, Patti, knew about the schemes and was involved in them and it wouldn’t surprise me if she gets in some legal trouble. Fitzgerald could use his wife to squeeze Blago. for information on other members of the Combine. Fitzgerald would really like to get the kingpin of Chicago corruption, Mayor Daley, and Blago. might finally lead him to it. Senate Candidate #5 also might find himself in legal trouble, and at the very least, his political career is probably over.

The name Suzan McDougal comes to mind. Dems still say she was held by the religious right.

BTW I don’t buy into complex conspiracies that require the accused to prove a negative with numerous explanations and a tremendous body of evidence. I don’t think most of the birthers here are nuts. I learn here.

Back to work!

By insinuating that money was the motive on squelching the story, Ed is charging that either A) the editorial staff gave greater weight to the Tribune companies public interest than reporting the news or B) that Miller put some sort of pressure on the staff to sit on the story.

I doubt the editorial staff was thinking about getting money for Wrigley Field from the state when making this decision. That just doesn’t seem logical to me.

You might be right. I don’t know. But I suspect that several motives were at play, and the story could have played out in several ways.

As for your guess that money was not likely a motivator in the decision making process, I’ll let that stand on it’s own.