Blago would have attracted scant attention if he had stayed on the path of ‘honest graft’

“Reform: A thing that mostly satisfies reformers opposed to reformation” — Ambrose Bierce in The Devil’s Dictionary WASHINGTON, D.C. — The FBI agents in Chicago were "shocked, shocked, do you hear?" to learn that the governor of Illinois was trying to sell Barack Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder.

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But then the investigators hadn't served three terms in Congress, where Rod R. Blagojevich learned these techniques from Democratic President Bill Clinton and House Republican leaders — although apparently without acquiring their finesse. Pay-to-play is still the order of the day here, despite imprisonment and indictment of House members who got careless. Incumbents in western New York are among those who play it, in a minor league way, even mining colleges, hospitals and medical research institutes for campaign cash that the members really don't need. We're referring to retiring Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds, a Republican, and newly reelected Reps. Brian Higgins of Buffalo and Louise M. Slaughter of Fairport, N.Y. — both Democrats. Far from being reprehensible, it has become a mark of political sophistication to quietly extract money from people and institutions that need help back home. Democrat Blagojevich served in the House from 1997 through 2001. In that time he saw then- House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) toppled in a scandal over use of tax exempt gifts. Blagojevich also followed Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) — aka “The Hammer” — who rose to leadership by refining pay-to-play to an art form. Blagojevich saw Bill Clinton sell Lincoln bedroom White House sleepovers for campaign money and deflect questions about deliveries of bags of cash to the White House side door. He saw Clinton in his last hours in office pardon international fugitive Marc Rich, whose former wife had donated heavily to Clinton interests. In recent weeks, Blagojevich couldn't help noticing that Obama tapped for the highest law enforcement office in the land, attorney general, Clinton's then-deputy attorney general who facilitated the Rich pardon, Eric Holder. Gov. Blagojevich still clings to office, as does New York Democrat Rep. Charles B. Rangel, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, as the House prepares a whitewash of charges Rangel abused his office. Rangel is accused of straying beyond the legalized system of extorting dollars from constituents and Washington special interests. As far as the Buffalo region's incumbents are concerned, an examination of their campaign reports discloses routine gifts from defense contractors, like National Air Cargo, who needed a huge favor and a donor who wanted to be an ambassador. The whole pay-to-play system raises ethical questions of decency or compassion: Like how does a member of Congress in these dire financial times look in the mirror after accepting money from Canisius College, Rochester Institute of Technology, Erie County College, and the State University at Buffalo? What's in the heart of a politician who takes donations from the Erie County Medical Center, the Catholic Healthcare System, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, the Hauptmann Woodward Research Institute, and the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus? All these institutions need and get federal money — on the merits and for the good of the community. These are cash-poor places where kids arm themselves for an uncertain future, and where struggles for life go on every day. They shouldn't to have grease a palm to get the taxpayer funds they deserve. But that's the drill here. None of this is said to suggest that our members are less ethical than their colleagues in the House. They're simply not a cut above the crowd they're in. Which brings us back to Gov. Blagojevich, who when he was a member of the House, sat on the Government Reform Committee. Doug Turner is the Washington Bureau Chief since 1989, he joined The News in 1982 following the closing of the Buffalo Courier Express. A graduate of Brown University and an Olympic rower for the U.S. at Melbourne in 1956, he attended Stanford University’s Professional Journalism Fellowship program in 1968. Doug is widely acclaimed as one of the top journalists in Washington over the last 20 years. He has reported from national presidential nominating conventions, presidential news conferences, State of the Union addresses and inaugurations. Turner is a member of the National Press Club and the Gridiron Society.

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