December 9, 2008

The feds showed up at the governor’s Ravenswood Manor home in the early-morning hours, and by the time the arrestee had gotten dressed — Nike jogging suit, running shoes — and had been whisked away, word was out. Chicagoans were no strangers to hinky politicians, but never in living memory had they seen their state’s chief executive hauled from his own home. It seemed to signal a new level of accountability — a circumstance borne out three years later, when a U.S. district judge sentenced Blagojevich to 14 years in federal prison.