DATE:

TIME:
ACTIVITY:
SESSION:

12/04/2008
2:09 P.M.
Rod Blagojevich home line outgoing call.
1349 and 1351

SPEAKERS:
BLAGOJEVICH:
GREENLEE:
YANG:

Rod Blagojevich
Robert Greenlee
Fred Yang
*

BLAGOJEVICH

Hey.

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GREENLEE

Hey, it's Greenlee. I, I think I have

Fred on... Fred you there?

YANG:

Yep.

BLAGOJEVICH

Hey, uh, do we have, uh, Lucio on there?

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GREENLEE

Lucio just disappeared.

go grab him again?

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BLAGOJEVICH

Yeah, I wanted Lucio to give that to

Fred. Fred, Rasmussen Poll came out.

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YANG

Yeah, I, I saw it governor.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Jesse, Jr., how about that?

think alike.

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YANG

Yeah, but it's, it's a bunch of, but,

okay, anyway what was your, um...

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BLAGOJEVICH

And she gets no support among African

Americans, Lisa Madigan, zero support.

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YANG

Yeah, yeah, well yeah, she's white.

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GREENLEE

(Laughs) She, she's whiter than white.

I mean, that's the only thing in the
poll that I would say is indisputably
accurate.

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YANG

Yeah, gentlemen wh-, whatever decision

we make.

Hey governor, hey Bob.

You want me to

Great minds

BLAGOJEVICH

Yeah.

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YANG

Do not make this based one iota on the

stupid Rasmussen Poll.

GREENLEE

(Laughs).

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BLAGOJEVICH

Well no I was telling you I was leaning

in that direction, bef-, you know, I had
no idea of any poll.

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YANG

Yeah, I know but, I know but, yeah,

look, I know, but I don't, I don't think
they're a good polling firm.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Uh huh.

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YANG

Um, so, you know, I mean but you know

what? Uh, but the thing about it is if
you, I don't know, I...

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BLAGOJEVICH

We've got time. I'm telling you man a

coalition with me and Jackson, and
Meeks.

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YANG

Yeah.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Okay, I'd run again I think.

those white people.

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YANG

Okay. So not only has Bill Knapp been

disloyal to you. You've been disloyal
to yourself. I'm just kidding.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Well I mean if my choice is Lisa Madigan

or Jesse, Jr., you follow me?

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YANG

(Laughs) I'm just jokin' around.

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GREENLEE

I'm not jokin'. If you do Jesse

Jackson, man I can't promise I'm
stayin'.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Yeah, well don't give up on... look

Greenlee, I'd love to keep you, but at
some point, man. I mean you're askin'
me to do Lisa Madigan?
2

Bring on

GREENLEE

I didn't say you do Lisa Madigan.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Well, okay my, well that's my, but

that's it, you see, you see, that's
exactly the point I'm makin'. I mean
who do you save if they're both
drowning?

GREENLEE

I...

YANG

They're, they're...

GREENLEE

...save her.

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YANG

...look, look, we all decided, we all

agreed on this, you know, or I know we,
I know if we didn't explicitly Bob,
implicitly. There is no perfect choice
out there.

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GREENLEE

Yeah, we, I think we all agreed on that.

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YANG

They're, they're all, they're, they're

all bad choices and, you know, in some
respects.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Hey Fred can, I, I'm on the other line

though. Let me get, let me get this
done. I just wanted you to just take a
look at this and just see what, what
you're thoughts are on it. 'Cause I
just learned of it but, um, and but I
want you to consider all the politics
about Jesse, Jr. as objectively as we
can.

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YANG

Mm-hmm.

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BLAGOJEVICH

And the deal that I might be able to cut

politically with him.

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YANG

Well see that's, that's the one thing I

need to know more about is what exactly
do you get from him.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Yeah.

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YANG

Like we know what we get, we're hopin'

to get from Lisa.

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BLAGOJEVICH

No, no, no. That's still the first

option, but I'll drive a harder bargain.

YANG

Okay, no, no, no, right, right, right.

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BLAGOJEVICH

And if I don't get what I want then I'm

going to him.

YANG

Yep.

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BLAGOJEVICH

I mean, you know, I, I want, and the

other thing is I, it does give me pause.
She has zero support among African
Americans and I'm gonna make her the
senator. That's pretty bad, man.

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YANG

Yeah, yeah, governor, governor,

governor.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Yeah.

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YANG

Please, please, please. Um, I'm looking

at the poll right now on line and yeah,
it says she gets zero support but, um,
you know the, the thing about it is I, I
don't think she has zero percent support
among African Americans if you say how,
you know, do you like Madigan or not
like Madigan. This is just in context
of her versus Jesse.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Yeah.

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YANG

This doesn't mean they don't, they don't

like or she couldn't get votes from
blacks.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Mm-hmm. No, I know that. Um, okay you

want to hold a few seconds? you guys,
why don't you guys chat, let me just do
this real quick. Hang on.

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YANG

Okay.

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(Call waiting)
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BLAGOJEVICH

...back.

YANG

(UI) okay, so we're...

GREENLEE

I'm expressing my concerns.

BLAGOJEVICH

About what?

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GREENLEE

I don't know, I don't know how you can,

justify, you know, talking about a deal
with someone you know will not keep
their deal.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Well yeah I know that. We, we don't

know, yeah, we have to assume that,
that's all we can...

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GREENLEE

But you know what I'm saying?

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BLAGOJEVICH

Yeah.

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GREENLEE

Hasn't he told you more than once that

he was gonna, he was gonna support you
and then not done it.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Yeah, I know.

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GREENLEE

(Laughs). I mean. So, well how could

you possibly say, I'm gonna give you the
biggest prize in the world and he'd say,
of course, oh I'll do this for you, when
you know twice before he said he was
gonna do it and he didn't.

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BLAGOJEVICH

No, but some of that tangible stuff can

happen before it all happens. There are
tangible things that can happen before.
You see.

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GREENLEE

Yeah, no, no, I know what you mean.

it's just...

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BLAGOJEVICH

I'll tell you right now, if I had to

make the decision, you know, you make
the Lisa Madigan play, you get
everything you want and then some. They
turn it down, they don't get it done,
fine, then it's Jesse Jr. I mean that's
5

Hello.

But

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it.
me.

I mean Jesse Jr. or you know, or

I mean...

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GREENLEE

Ah... I told you what I feel on that, I

would do you over Jesse Jr...

BLAGOJEVICH

Oh I know, but nobody else does.

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YANG

So, ah, no I would.

Hey governor.

BLAGOJEVICH

Yeah.

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YANG

Is this, is essentially the deal with

Jesse Jr. will be that the Jacksons will
support you for re-election?

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BLAGOJEVICH

No there's more to it.

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YANG

What else?

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BLAGOJEVICH

There's tangible, concrete tangible

stuff from supporters.

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YANG

Like what?

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BLAGOJEVICH

Well like, you know.

talking about.

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GREENLEE

(UI)...later.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Political, tangible political support

Fred.

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YANG

Okay, alright.

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BLAGOJEVICH

You know. Specific amounts and

everything. And while, you know, I
don't know that all of that is
achievable, there is, some of it upfront. But go ahead Fred.

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YANG

Well um, I don't know. I, I mean, it's,

it's, you know, we, we, just talked...
I mean I need ah, ah... I've got to rely
on your judgement and Bob's judgement
and, and other people's judgement um,
who you can talk to in private about

Fred Yang would.

Go a-...

You know what I'm

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this as to whether or not that's a good,

that, that, whether or not the um,
there's enough candy for you.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Well that's right. That's part of it.

But here, again, this is... You try to
make the mega deal for the people and
it, it falls apart, it doesn't happen.
Okay?

YANG

Right.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Or they don't want it.

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YANG

Right.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Okay, so then what's my fall back?

Whitaker?

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YANG

Possibly.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Yeah. Jr.'s better for me. Ah, Gery

Chico, Gery's a much better guy for me.
But politically he forcl-, you know, he
basically, takes away most any ch-,
opportunity to run whether I, if I...
see, that option is basically gone. You
agree with that?

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YANG

I, I agree with that.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Yeah.

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YANG

So, I think appointing yourself and

appointing Gery Chico effectively end
your, ends, effectively means you're not
running for anything in 2010.

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BLAGOJEVICH

In 2010, exactly.

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YANG

Yeah, I don't know if you agree with

that or not Bob but that's kind of my
sense.

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GREENLEE

I would, I would say that for 2010, yes.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Yeah. And the question is, do I, am I

really there? I mean I think I am, but
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Right?

Eric

Yes.

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I'm not really sure. I'm not really

sure. Kind of what I talked about
earlier with you Fred.

YANG

Right.

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BLAGOJEVICH

I'm not really sure that I wanna, you

know, be done.

GREENLEE

In 2010.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Right, and we haven't figured out how I

get back in if I get out in 2010. We
haven't figured that out. Hey, my
approval's up to 15 from 8, huh Fred?

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YANG

Ah, yeah.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Excellent, good is now what, 15?

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YANG

Yeah, we're kicking ass. They're not a

good poll. Don't ah, I mean...

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BLAGOJEVICH

I know that. But, I, I, I understand

what you're saying Fred, I'm not...
Look it, none of this had to do with
this poll, I'm calling on the poll
because it sort of...

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YANG

Yeah I know.

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BLAGOJEVICH

...confirms...

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YANG

Right.

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BLAGOJEVICH

...kind of what I was thinking on my

own, you know.

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YANG

Right.

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BLAGOJEVICH

You just hate Jesse Jr. so much, huh?

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YANG

Me? No, no, I, I just, I, um, ah, I,

ah, I don't think, well see, another
thing is, I don't think he could win the
seat.

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BLAGOJEVICH

So what, that's their problem.

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YANG

Well no, it's our, it could be our

problem because if you don't run for reelection, you need something to do in
2011.

BLAGOJEVICH

Mark Kirk will owe me.

GREENLEE

(Laughs).

YANG

You know governor, so...

BLAGOJEVICH

Yeah.

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YANG

You'd, you'd, it'd be, it'd be great to

have a U.S. senator in 2011, who was
friendly towards you.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Yeah well Lisa Madigan won't be.

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YANG

Ah, right because um, depending on

things um, if Senator Madigan, yeah
she'll not do anything for you but
you'll either be running for re-election
and winning or you'll just, you know,
you're, you're just, look, we, you'll be
better off having done, having had a
great two years.

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GREENLEE

More accomplishments means more friends.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Yeah, hold it. You guys are missing the

point. The first option is getting
things done for people. Look, you got
two equally repugnant picks. Okay?

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GREENLEE

Uh huh.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Two of 'em. Two equally repugnant

picks, on a personal level. However, I
must say. Having ex-, some experience
with both of them, if they were both
drowning and I could save one, I really
think I'd save Jesse. Just so you,, so
that means, from a personal standpoint,
he's less objectionable to me than she
is. How do you like that Fred?

Don't bet on that.

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YANG

Yeah, yeah. But I, like we said, this

is not personal, this is business.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Okay, fine. So I'm prepared, you know,

to honestly consider two people who I
have personal objections to.

YANG

Yes.

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BLAGOJEVICH

For the good of the people and other

considerations.

YANG

Uh huh.

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BLAGOJEVICH

She gives me the better opportunity for

the public and for people. Therefore,
it's the first play. But if they're not
interested or you know, it just, if they
can't, it's not gonna happen and I gotta
believe their fucking promises, forget
about it. No deal.

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YANG

Right.

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BLAGOJEVICH

So that I, what the question is, the

fallback, what do I do? And I gotta
compare him to puttin' me there? I
gotta compare him to Eric Whitaker, I
gotta compare him to Gery Chico? And
then I gotta take...

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YANG

Right.

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BLAGOJEVICH

...okay. Politically, since I can't get

anything done for people then what helps
me politically.

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YANG

Right.

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BLAGOJEVICH

I mean that, that, that's all I'm

saying. And, and I thought this through
as well. If you can believe this guy,
which is a big if. But maybe there's
some conditions that we state in, in the
announcement, that he's gonna be really
active as a U.S. senator to help me
break the log jam in Springfield. And
hold the Democratic Party chairman
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accountable to get these Democratic

principles done, he's got a bully pulpit
and he starts advocating that right in
the beginning, maybe there's some plus
there, what do you say to that?

GREENLEE

I think that's not plausible.

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YANG

Yeah, what, knowing what, ah, ah,

knowing Springfield a little bit
governor, I've got to agree with Bob.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Well I disagree with Bob. Bob isn't,

Bob didn't get elected to anything, you
know. And you know it's not, Bob's a
very smart guy on policy and I don't
dismiss or, ah, diminish...

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YANG

Whatever, whatever, Jesse... Look,

Barack Obama wanted ethics reform and
Emil Jones tried to do it for him, it
didn't work. And the guy's gonna be
president of the United States. Why are
they gonna listen to Jesse Jackson Jr.
from Washington?

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BLAGOJEVICH

Emil Jones did that. He did, he

listened to Barack Obama.

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YANG

Yeah but what about the House?

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BLAGOJEVICH

Yeah, they, they're, they already passed

it. The House already passed it. It
was an ethics bill that fucked me, Fred.

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GREENLEE

My point is, once he gets to D.C., he's

gonna stay out there and he's not gonna
come back and he's not gonna, he's not
gonna get himself involved. And if you
believe that about Obama, which I
generally do, you believe that 10 times
over about this guy who's completely
self-interested.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Yeah. Well you cut a deal, a tangible

deal right up-front and in the black
community, I will be applauded and I'll
have, they'll have my back, against a,
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against a bunch of white candidates and

then, then you see what happens. Keeps
my options open.
GREENLEE

So what worries me about that...

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BLAGOJEVICH

It doesn't matter Bob, don't you worry

about it. You know. Again, the first
option is ah, Lisa, right now in second
place it's either me or Jesse Jr. I
mean he's ahead of Gery Chico, Gery
Chico's the best pick Fred. But Gery
does nothing for me, politically or
governmentally. Does nothing for me.
And you know, there's some nebulous
thing that I have a senator who can get
re-elected, and he might help me down
the road, Fred. Okay. Maybe, but I
haven't figured out what I'm doing down
the road, that's the other problem.,
Right? Are you there, Fred? Hello?
Greenlee?

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GREENLEE

I'm here.

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BLAGOJEVICH

We must have lost Fred.

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YANG

No, I, I'm here guys.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Oh okay.

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YANG

I mean it's, it's hard to, it's hard to

compare it cause I don't know exactly
what... You're right, Gery Chico doesn't
bring anything tangible but I don't know
what Jesse's gonna offer you that's,
that, that, that's... What, I don't know
what tangible thing that Jackson would
offer you that would be so great.

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BLAGOJEVICH

His supporters, his supporters can be

helpful.

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YANG

Okay. Alright I hear you, alright,

well...

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BLAGOJEVICH

His supporters can be helpful.

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What do you say to that Fred?

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YANG

That's good, that's good. And then it

gets to Bob's question of can you trust
him.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Ah, I can't trust him any more or less

than Lisa Madigan.

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YANG

No, but that's not true, that's, yes it

is, that's true, but when we talked
yesterday, you said that you're not
gonna make the appointment till you've
seen tangible action by the legislature
to pass your programs.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Ex-, yeah listen. Fred, if, if we cut

the deal with them, she's the one.

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YANG

Right.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Listen, Jackson's not realistic unless,

they reject the deal.

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YANG

Right. No, no, I understand that. I'm

just saying that you, you, that you
can't, you can tell, I mean you can't
trust either of them but you're gonna
know, from when you appoint her that
they've come through. I mean what kind
of assurances do we have from Jackson
that he'll come through.

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BLAGOJEVICH

We don't. But Jackson, at least, covers

me with my African American base.

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YANG

That is true.

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BLAGOJEVICH

I've got, I lose that if I send her.

With him, I get that.

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YANG

Okay, I agree, I agree with that.

then, why not Eric Whitaker then?

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BLAGOJEVICH

Because he's, he's, an unknown AfricanAmerican whose not the uber AfricanAmerican. Jesse Jackson Jr. embodies
black American politics because of his
father. For better or for worse. He's
got a base and network of political
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But

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support that can, some can be helpful

up-front and ah, then you, then you, you
just see whether or not the guy, then
it's a crap shoot.
YANG

Uh huh.

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BLAGOJEVICH

But I mean you craft a deal where he's

publicly advocating for our stuff and
publicly going after, you know, the, ah,
gridlock and the, and the principal
architect of the gridlock. And part,
that's part of the deal we cut. You
gotta compare him only against the other
ones. Not her. Hers is the whole deal.
That's the first choice.

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YANG

No I understand.

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GREENLEE

Look, if your, if your question is him

versus Gery Chico, sure. No question.

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BLAGOJEVICH

What's that?

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GREENLEE

If you're saying him versus Gery Chico

politically, no question.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Right.

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GREENLEE

Eric Whitaker politically, I'd probably

agree with you. Especially you know,
based...

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BLAGOJEVICH

Alright.

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GREENLEE

...support on that.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Alright.

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GREENLEE

I guess what I'm saying is, I don't

think if you're saying, look he's gonna
help me get any of our programs done,
that I would say, I just don't...

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BLAGOJEVICH

No ah, you're right, he's not gonna.

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YANG

(UI).
14

I understand.

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BLAGOJEVICH

But he could be, he could be an advocate

for us.

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YANG

I gotta jump off in a couple minutes to

do a call but here's, here's the
question Bill Knapp asked me. Is, and
we talked about this earlier governor.
It's fine to speculate about Jesse and
what they're gonna do. But un-, we've
all agreed right, that, that the Jackson
option only happens if the Madigan
option doesn't happen. Right?

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BLAGOJEVICH

Correct.

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YANG

So what are we doing to make sure the

Madigan option is at least gonna come to
fruition. Are we gonna, they gonna make
it, I mean who's, Bill wanted to know,
for example governor and Bob, who our
emissary is gonna be?

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BLAGOJEVICH

Yeah I don't know yet. You know what?

Maybe that fucking horses ass, Harry
Reid ought to be the emissary. You
know, fuck you Harry Reid and Menendez.
You guys fucking do it.

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YANG

What...

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BLAGOJEVICH

Maybe they should be the ones.

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YANG

What happened.
Rahm?

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BLAGOJEVICH

I don't know. Let him call her. But

Rahm, Rahm did, they want Jesse. They
called, Rahm called Harris two weeks ago
and said Obama, here's the four Obama
would like. Jesse Jr., Hynes, Tammy
Duckworth, and Jan Schakowsky.

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YANG

Uh huh.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Those are the four. And I gotta take

'em at their word.
And if they think
that's what they want, fine, we'll give
you Jesse.
15

Why, why ah, why not

YANG

Alright.

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GREENLEE

What do you...take 'em at their word?

They gave you four, why not Tammy then?

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BLAGOJEVICH

Yeah, get the fuck outta here Greenlee,

I'll fucking fire you. She's got no
fucking chance. I'm gonna fucking take
hits in the black community for Durbin
and fucking Harry Reid and Rahm, fuck
them, and Axelrod.

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GREENLEE

Yeah, I was just fucking with you.

Um...

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BLAGOJEVICH

Of that, that list of four, Fred.

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YANG

Yeah.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Tammy's the best person. But

unfortunately, she's their candidate.
So she's out. And so of the other
three, Jr., because of my love for the
black community, in spite of him. You
see what I'm saying?

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YANG

Uh huh.

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BLAGOJEVICH

I mean, look at it that way. If it just

comes down, I just gotta pick one of the
three. They're all, you know, to
varying degrees, there's nothing left
there for me. And I'm gonna go, to the
African American community that I feel a
special connection to. What do you
think of that? So I'll hold my nose and
I'll give 'em their guy.

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YANG

Uh huh.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Of those four.

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YANG

Right.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Ah, you know ah, we, we got a lot of

work to do. But, and the first option
is the first option. I haven't figured
out what or how to do that. I almost
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feel like, you know, maybe it ought to

come to me. If they're interested, they
should come to me. Why the fuck should
I go to them? They should come to me.

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YANG

Yeah but they know, probably assume that

you don't, there's no way in hell. I've
read the comments she made to the, I've
read the comments she made to the radio
station. She said she was interested
but she thought there was a zero percent
chance of you offering it to her.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Yeah.

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YANG

So if they think there's a zero percent

chance of you offering it to her, why
would they come and see you?

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BLAGOJEVICH

Because the, the old man's a fucking

master of using third parties to probe
and ah, test things. And ah...

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YANG

I don't think we should play around. I

mean I'm not there and I don't know him.
I think, I don't think we should play
around. If she's our number one draft
pick, we go after her.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Well I, I hear what...

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YANG

You know, we're running out of time.

And if you're gonna do these other
options, let's just, let's just know
whether or not she's available.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Well ah, ah, I gotta know what my

second, and third, and fourth fall back
is. See that's the problem.

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YANG

Well I think, we, we, we've got a good

list of second, third, and fourth.

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BLAGOJEVICH

So J-, well okay, so let's just say, as

long as we're comfortable and I can
settle in that my second option is Jesse
Jr., versus me, you know what I'm
saying. Is it me? Is it Whitaker, is
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it Chico, is it Jesse Jr., is it

Gutierrez, is it ah, Whitaker, is it ah,
you know, Lou-, ah, Louanner?

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YANG

I mean to me the only, one of the

reasons, one of the reasons commending
Jackson over Whitaker is we know that
Jesse Jr. wants it, we don't know if
Eric Whitaker wants it.

GREENLEE

Fair point.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Jesse Jr. wants it badly and desperately

and he's the only one who's willing to
like offer stuff.

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YANG

Yeah, we get, we read about it every day

in the paper.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Ah, I don't read it.

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YANG

No, no, we read about his, his wanting

the Senate seat.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Yeah. I mean look it Fred, God bless

you and I love you man, and I know this
is painful. And I'm not trying to chide
you with what you told me. It's just
business. I'm not doing that. I'm
simply saying, if we're gonna look at it
like business, the tremendous irony is,
the two most personally objectionable
candidates...

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YANG

Right.

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BLAGOJEVICH

That are out there might be my top two

picks.

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YANG

Yes. No, I, I think and, well

definitely one of them is your, is your
top pick.

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BLAGOJEVICH

And she's ahead because she can offer

tangible things for people. The guy,
the, the other guy is the better public,
is, is a straight up political move.
You can cut a political deal there.
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But...

YANG

Right.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Better than I can probably with anybody

else. I can cut a better political deal
with him, trust and verify, which means
you need, and you need some down payment
and all the rest if you want to be
cynical about it. And with them you
need a lot of down payment. You follow
me?

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YANG

No I mean look guys, I mean look at the,

look to me then, um, okay. Here, here's
the way I would sort of frame it in my
mind, guys. If you, if you do Chico or
you do, um, you, you're not running in
2010 at all. Okay?

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BLAGOJEVICH

Okay.

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YANG

If you do Jesse Jr., that tells me in my

mind that what I always thought, you
know, in my gut governor, that there's a
15 percent, percent chance of you
running in 2010.

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BLAGOJEVICH

That's right.

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YANG

In my mind, that number goes up to like

30 or 40.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Okay.

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YANG

So...

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BLAGOJEVICH

Okay, so I'm in a position of strength

then to raise money between now and ah,
you know the next election.

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YANG

Well, in a, in a crowded Democratic

primary, it's just, if you got the, if
you got blacks with you, it's just, it's
gonna make you a player immediately.

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BLAGOJEVICH

It makes me the front runner.

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YANG

Right.
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BLAGOJEVICH

I mean if you got, if you got a black

base like Obama and Jesse Jr., you're in
a very strong position in a multicandidate race. Right?

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YANG

But yeah, yes, but again, um... Look,

who knows, if you, it's a ways away, you
don't have to make a decision now, and
I'm not even saying that's in your mind.
In my mind though, the Jesse Jr. pick
tells me that there's a, there's a, 30,
40 percent chance that I would expect
you to run for re-election in 2010.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Uh huh, you're thinking right. I don't

know if those numbers are right but I
mean it's a heck of a lot more of a
chance than if I don't. I think that's
right.

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YANG

Which, which, which um, other than the

Phil Duffy meeting where, cause Patti
wasn't there, you said, you were
actually thinking about it more. I've
never, I've, Bob, you know, you, you
haven't been on these conversations of
course, but you had your own with the
governor. But look, you know, running
for the third term has it's big
challenges. But I told the governor,
Bob, why would you want the job for
another four years or two years. You
know, it's just gonna suck.

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GREENLEE

That's got to be the gating question

is...

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YANG

Right.

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GREENLEE

What do you want to get done?

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YANG

A third term would suck.

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BLAGOJEVICH

I know. But I don't, ah, yeah, but we

talked about, you win on Tuesday, and
you fucking...

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GREENLEE

Right, right.
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BLAGOJEVICH

...we quit, we screw people on Wednesday

and we, we fucking quit on Thursday.
But this time we really do it.

YANG

Right.

BLAGOJEVICH

Yeah.

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YANG

But look I'm, I'm... You know, I, I

took me, you took me by surprise this
morning when you mentioned him. And you
know, clearly he's on your mind. I, I,
I, I think ah, repugnant as it is to me,
it's a very real possibility. I, I
can't tell you right now governor if
he's second, or third or fourth, but
he's definitely in the mix.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Good, Fred. And look, I'm gonna get up

tomorrow morning and I guarantee you,
I'll be sick to my stomach.

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YANG

Right.

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BLAGOJEVICH

That'll be one of the first, I'll think

about ah, you know, whatever, one of my
first thoughts will hit me, when I'm
coming out of my slumber will be that.

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YANG

Mm-hmm.

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BLAGOJEVICH

It'll be pain, it'll be sick to my

stomach. Okay?

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YANG

Right.

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BLAGOJEVICH

You know, and I know that that's the

case cause I've had that for the last 10
days thinking about Lisa Madigan.

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YANG

Right.

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BLAGOJEVICH

And you know, you know, I just feel like

ah, one of the tactical mistakes I've
made here...

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YANG

Yeah.
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BLAGOJEVICH

I've been too visceral in rejecting him.

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YANG

Yeah, no you're, yeah, yes. But, but

the point is, is you, you, he's not
rejected for real, so he's still a
definite possibility.

BLAGOJEVICH

Yeah, correct, I'm, he's a...

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YANG

So, so um, alright, I gotta jump off now

but um, we'll, I'll think about this
more um, and um, hey Bob, one thing
that, one thing I forgot to talk to you
about is ah, when we talked this
morning, um, another thing the governor
said he wanted in the deal.

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GREENLEE

Yeah.

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YANG

Is something to do with small business.

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GREENLEE

Uh huh.

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YANG

So I'm gonna make some calls and look

um, but you should also have some of our
staff folks um, Bob see what, what other
states have done that, that's pretty
innovative and...

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GREENLEE

Oh, this is a sure...

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YANG

Yeah, for small business.

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GREENLEE

Yeah, we'll look at it.

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YANG

Okay?

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BLAGOJEVICH

You're the best Fred.

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YANG

Alright, talk to you later governor.

Bye Bob.

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BLAGOJEVICH

Hey, okay, bye bye.

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