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December 9: Five-Year Anniversary of Blagojevich Arrest

People
CNN
Ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich talks with Reporters outside his home Wednesday

Monday marks five years to the day since FBI agents arrived at then Governor Rod Blagojevich's house to arrest him on charges of corruption. Blagojevich is serving a 14-year prison sentence, and for most Illinois politicians -- it's good riddance. 

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan says there's always more that can be done. But she says it's hard to guard against a situation like Illinois had with Blagojevich:

"Far too many people, I think, were taken in, is probably the best way to describe it. When in fact, if you spent any amount of time on the inside of government you could see that it was not being run appropriately, that his fundraisers were people making hiring decisions and directing contracting."

Exactly one year after Blagojevich was arrested, Illinois enacted its response: the state's first-ever limit on campaign contributions.

The current governor's race would have been the first for those caps to be in effect.  Instead, because Republican businessman Bruce Rauner has pumped more than a million dollars of his own cash into his campaign, those caps are lifted for the primary.

The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform's David Morrison says December 9 is “bittersweet” because of something else that happened on this day, ten years ago.  That was when the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform’s co-founder, Paul Simon, passed away.

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