Rod Blagojevich, Get Off My TV

Whenever I watched the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, NBC aired commercials for the newest season of Celebrity Apprentice. I believe the premiere of the show is tonight, actually. Hosted by Donald Trump, this season’s celebrities include Bret Michaels, Sharon Osbourne, Michael Johnson, and Cyndi Lauper. I don’t usually give two hoots about The Apprentice, celebrity or not, but one contestant is my ex-governor: Rod Blagojevich.

Blagojevich was impeached from his position as Governor of Illinois after it was revealed that he was allegedly trying to sell Barack Obama’s former Senate seat to the highest bidder. Prior to this scandal, there had already been talks of corruption by Blagojevich, but this particular incident was the last straw and the impeachment process began. Let’s face it, Illinois governors are not known for resisting becoming corrupted. Essentially, the man made a mockery of the U.S. government system. After news of the impending impeachment broke, Blagojevich still insisted that he had the power to appoint Obama’s Senate replacement. Blagojevich ushered in the current Illinois junior senator, Roland Burris, in the last few days he still retained gubernatorial power. Both Burris and Blagojevich were heavily criticized for this, but that’s another story.

Blagojevich’s wife, Patti, was a contestant in last summer’s I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here. The show took place in Costa Rica, and Blagojevich was not allowed to accompany his wife to Costa Rica because he was in the process of being indicted. I have equal issue with Blagojevich’s wife on a reality TV show¹, but every time I see Blagojevich smirk in the commercials for Celebrity Apprentice and say, “You’re fired? Yeah, I’ve heard that one before,” I want to slap him.

He wasn’t fired! He was impeached from office and indicted on corruption charges!

Why is the man allowed to be a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice? Why on earth is he still in the public spotlight, garnering celebrity, and retaining his fortune, when the man should be suffering reparations for his corruption as governor? Why are there not measures in place to prevent people who should be ashamed for their actions from smugly parading themselves around on TV?!

1. Blagojevich’s wife stated she did the show for financial reasons. The Blagojevich’s financial problems are most likely tied to the legal fees for Blagojevich’s trial. Patti Blagojevich is famous because she is the wife of a disgraced former governor, which is why she got invited to be on a reality show, but that’s also where the financial troubles stem from. Isn’t there something wrong with this picture? [↩]

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.