Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich threatened to get members of the Chicago Tribune's editorial board fired after they criticized the governor who today was arrested on corruption charges stemming from an an allegation that he tried to sell an Illinois U.S. Senate seat.
The Tribune, though, took no action when pressed by Blagojevich and didn't fire any writers even though Blagojevich threatened to withhold the state's help in a business deal to sell the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field, a move the recently-bankrupted Tribune Company badly needs and has been trying to finalize for the past year.
The threats Blagojevich made were uncovered in wiretapped converstations in which he called for the Tribune to fire its editorial board after it called for his impeachment. In the tapes, Blagojevich warned members of the Tribune that the Wrigely Field deal "could get derailed by your own editorial page."
Said Blagojevich: "Our recommendation is fire all those [expletive] people, get 'em the [expletive] out of there and get us some editorial support."
But there was no instance when the paper's editorial department was contacted, said Tribune editor Gerould Kern. Said Tribune Editorial Page Editor Bruce Dold: "This whole thing comes as a complete surprise to me today. (Tribune Co. owner) Sam Zell said when he took over the company (last June) that he didn't want to interfere with editorial decisions. He has been absolutely good to that."
Read stories about the Illinois Gov. threatening the Tribune here, here, and here.
EXTRA: The Chicago Tribune reportedly delayed publication of stories about Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich stating that he was being taped by the FBI. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald was the one who made the request and said "the Tribune was very gracious." Fitzgerald had been investigating Blagojevich for six weeks and said the story could have compromised the investigation.
Read more about the Tribune withholding a story on Blagojevich here.
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