Despite the fact that he had just won the race for Illinois Governor, in November 2008 it seems Rod Blagojevich was already looking at options for what he could do once his term was up.  At his corruption trial in federal court today, several secretly recorded phone calls were played between Blago and his former chief of staff John Harris, taking place during that time period.   The two could be heard discussing ways in which they could leverage Obama’s former senate seat for the promise of a high paying job.

But as talk of impeachment started to concern Blagojevich, the former governor told Harris that every decision they make needs to be based on three things: his own legal, personal and political concerns.  Harris suggested the answer to this might be to appoint to the senate seat someone close to him, someone loyal to him, “who would try to influence or put pressure on the justice department to back off on the federal investigation”.   Blago talked about the possiblity of appointing himself, saying he knew Obama wanted to keep his distance but if he were a U.S. senator, he would not be so far away, that it might change “the level of pursuit by federal authorities”.

With the impending automobile vote coming up, Harris said the UAW was urging Blago for a reliable Democrat to take Obama’s place in the vacant senate seat, but Harris says the vote was not a factor in Blago’s timing.

At the end of the court’s day, the defense brought up its second request for a continuance, to have more time to go over the Supreme Court’s decision on honest services–a federal law that makes it a crime to “deprive another of the intangible right to honest services” (Blago’s charges include honest services).  The court said it may be used only in cases involving bribery or kickbacks.  The judge, again, turned down the defense’s request for a continuance.

The heavy mood in the courtroom lightened up at one point, when judge James Zagel’s laptop table collapsed, startling everyone (or just waking some people up).  The judge joked, “I believe this table was provided to me by the lowest bidder.”