Blago Considered Giving Senate Seat To Lisa Madigan

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Jun 1, 2009 9:00PM

Today the Associated Press is reporting that a few weeks before his arrest, then-governor Rod Blagojevich considered giving the then-vacant U.S. Senate seat to Attorney General Lisa Madigan "in return for concessions on his pet projects." The information came from two aides to U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The 10-minute conversation took place Nov. 24 as Durbin was in his car using his cell phone, according to the aides. One aide said Durbin considered the idea an "innocuous compromise" and offered to help, but was told by the governor to "do nothing," and never heard more on the matter.

"He said he was struggling with it morally," one of the aides said of the governor, adding that he did not understand why...

Blagojevich also said he wanted a deal in which the elder Madigan would allow a long-stalled capital construction program through the House and take action on a Blagojevich-backed health care plan in return for his daughter's appointment to the Senate seat, the aides said.

AG Madigan's name has been floated for both a run at the U.S. Senate and Governor come the 2010 elections. [AP via CBS 2]