Dennis Zeedyk-Golden-How Rod Blagojevich Talked Himself Out of the Governor’s Office & Into Prison

Author of Book: Jeff Coen & John Chase
Date Read: January 23, 2025

Book Report

Title: Golden – How Rod Blagojevich Talked Himself Out of the Governor’s Office & Into Prison
Author: Jeff Coen & John Chase
Pages: 468
Date: 1/23/25

I chose this book because I was fascinated how a state governor could be so brazen as to try to sell a Senate seat – the seat that Barack Obama vacated when he became president in 2008. The impeached governor was sentenced to federal prison for 17 counts of wire fraud, attempted extortion, bribery & conspiracy. It is phenomenal that he was the fourth Illinois governor to be convicted of crimes since 1973. On a personal note, I found it interesting that I was sentenced to four years for two crimes while he was sentenced to 14 years for 17 crimes. Although it isn’t in the book, I know that he was pardoned sometime in the past five years.

What I learned from this book was not good. He was born in 1956, just four years younger than my dad. While he rose from humble beginnings, he was able to obtain a law degree from Pepperdine University in California. He started climbing the political ladder by working for a Chicago alderman as an errand boy in 1983 and helped another alderman win an election. He then started working in the district attorney’s office. At the age of 31, he married another alderman’s daughther, Patti Mell & helped him win an election in 1989. He began working for his father-in-law until he ran for the Illinois House Representative for the 33rd district and won. In 1995, he won the Fifth Congressional District of Illinois, taking him to Washington DC for for two terms. After that, he ran for the governor’s office in 2002 & won re-election in 2006. He was impeached in 2008 when he was charged for his crimes. He was sentenced in 2011 to 14 years in prison.

Reading this book was like watching a bad car wreck in slow motion. I found Rod to be glad-handing, pure politician. He was vain (he was constantly worried about his hair) and not thrift at all. He spent over $400,000 on clothes in six years. He was a frequent liar and focused most of his time & energy on fundraising, which is why he was able to win so many elections. He was so bad at governing that he hired deputy governors to do the work while he focused on fund-raising and “horse-trading” for favors from his well-to-do constituents.

I learned the following words:
bereft – deprived of something; lacking something needed or expected.
obdurate – not changing in response to argument or other influence; harded in wrongdoing or wickedness, stubbornly impertinent

I learned the following lessons that will increase my prospects for success after prison:
1) Don’t lie, cheat or steal. There was so much lying & truth stretching in this book by Rod Blagojevich that I had a hard time reading it; it almost repulsed me. I don’t consider myself a liar, cheater or thief, but continuing on a path of not doing any of these things is always the best policy.
2) When you have to talk with your lawyer about whether something is legal or not because it is in a “gray area,” then you are approaching it the wrong way. If it looks like you are in this gray area, then you are probably already on the wrong side & into the illegal side of things.
3) I think that putting too much faith in politicians is not good. A large majority of them are vain individuals who care only about themselves and spending the public’s money for their own benefit. That is why we do not have a balanced budget and have a large budget deficity and a tax code that is so difficult to understand.