ILLINOIS GOVERNOR Rod Blagojevich has been arrested on corruption charges, including an allegation that he tried to sell US president-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder.
Mr Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, were arrested at their homes yesterday morning and led away in handcuffs to be charged with what US federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald described as "a political corruption crime spree".
The charges accuse the governor of trying to benefit financially from his ability to appoint Mr Obama's replacement in the US Senate. Wiretaps on Mr Blagojevich's home and office recorded the governor telling officials he wanted to negotiate job offers for himself and his wife or large campaign contributions from candidates for Mr Obama's seat.
Prosecutors also claim the Democratic governor tried to have members of the Chicago Tribune's editorial board fired in return for state help in a property deal being negotiated by the newspaper's parent company.
"The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering," Mr Fitzgerald said. "They allege that Blagojevich put a 'for sale' sign on the naming of a United States senator; involved himself personally in pay-to-play schemes with the urgency of a salesman meeting his annual sales target; and corruptly used his office in an effort to trample editorial voices of criticism."
Prosecutors said Mr Blagojevich called his sole authority to name Mr Obama's successor "golden", and he sought to use it to get either a job as an ambassador or secretary of health and human services, or a high-paying position at a non-profit group or an organisation connected to trade unions.
He also suggested that in exchange for the Senate appointment, his wife could be placed on corporate boards where she might earn as much as $150,000 (€116,000) a year, adding that if he could not secure a deal to his liking, he would appoint himself to succeed Mr Obama.
"If I don't get what I want and I'm not satisfied with it, then I'll just take the Senate seat myself," the governor said in recorded conversation.
Prosecutors detailed a call on November 10th, six days after the US presidential election, between Mr Blagojevich, his wife, his chief of staff and a group of advisers in which Mr Harris allegedly suggested working out an agreement with the Service Employees' International Union.
Under the plan, the governor would appoint a new senator who would be helpful to the president-elect and in turn he would get a job as head of Change to Win, a group formed by the union. The union would later get an unspecified favour from Mr Obama.
Mr Fitzgerald said there was no suggestion of any involvement or wrongdoing on the part of Mr Obama and the president-elect's office yesterday declined to comment on the charges.
A 76-page FBI affidavit says that, just last week, Mr Blagojevich allegedly told an adviser that he might "get some [money] up front, maybe", from one of the candidates for Mr Obama's seat.
In a recorded conversation on October 31st, the governor claimed he was approached by an associate of the candidate - identified as Senate Candidate Five - as follows: "We were approached 'pay to play'. That, you know, he'd raise 500 grand. An emissary came. Then the other guy would raise a million, if I made him a senator."
In other conversations, Mr Blagojevich allegedly suggested that becoming a senator might remake his image for a possible presidential run in 2016, would provide him with corporate contacts if he needed a job and would help his wife get work as a lobbyist. "I want to make money," the affidavit quotes him as saying in one conversation.
Among those being considered for the Senate post are: congressmen Jesse Jackson jnr; Danny Davis; Jan Schakowsky; Luis Gutierrez; Illinois Senate president Emil Jones; and Illinois department of veterans' affairs director Tammy Duckworth.
The affidavit also outlines the governor's conversations relating to the Chicago Tribune's owners, who have been hoping to sell Wrigley Field, the home of the Chicago Cubs.
Mr Blagojevich is quoted as telling his chief of staff that Tribune executives would have to fire the paper's editorial writers "and get us some editorial support" if the company wanted a tax break for the deal, worth more than $100 million.
The publishers appear to have been responsive to the governor's suggestion because the affidavit has Mr Harris quoting a Tribune financial adviser as saying cuts were coming at the newspaper and "reading between the lines he's going after that section".
The governor is quoted as saying: "Oh, that's fantastic."
Mr Blagojevich became governor in 2003 after his Republican predecessor was embroiled in a corruption scandal.
Mr Blagojevich and Mr Harris have been charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and solicitation of bribery, and could face up to 20 years in prison.