Almost immediately after Rod Blagojevich, ex-governor of Illinois, was found guilty of only one count out of 24 charges, prosecutors began discussing a second trial. Illinois is not in a secure enough economic state to retry the ex-governor, no matter how guilty he may be.
While there are many who would be happy with another chance to land Blagojevich a longer jail sentence for attempting to sell President Obama’s old Senate seat, a retrial would cost $25 to $30 million, according to Blagojevich’s lawyers.
Also, since this Blagojevich’s second trial with the same charges against him, Blagojevich will most likely have lawyers who are paid through taxpayer money. This should be a concern to the taxpayers of Illinois who dislike Blagojevich so much, even if Judge Zagel will only allow two state paid lawyers, according to http://chicag.breakingnews.com.
Since Blagojevich is $200,000 in debt, there is no way for him to pay for his legal fees for the retrial and the money will come from the taxpayer’s pockets, according to http://foxnews.com.
“I do not have a solid opinion,” Christopher Logioia, Government teacher, said about retrying the former governor. “We are in a recession, and Illinois does have one of the largest deficits. On the other hand, I do believe in justice. We don’t want governors to keep up this reputation. This is our second governor to be impeached.”
There are others with the firm belief that Blagojevich should have no second trial.
“I personally believe he is guilty,” Lauren Whetstone, junior, said, “but the trial would cost a lot of money that would come out of taxpayer’s pockets.”
With both of these opinions in mind, it is important to point out Illinois is already in debt. The state has to pay $9 million more in interest than any other state because of the state legislature’s rapid borrowing spree, according to http://chicagotribune.com.
Since Illinois is already in debt and has such a high deficit, there is no point in wasting more tax payer money. Taxpayer money should be spent on more important issues such as education or protecting the streets of Chicago from violence.
Apart from the large amount of money that would be spent on the retrial, the people of Illinois have to wonder why prosecutors are wasting their time to retry a man they could not put behind bars in the first place.
“I am a little disappointed that there is a retrial,” Logioia said. “Why didn’t we use the stuff we knew before hand? Of course we cannot always see what will come. But it seems like if we had the knowledge to put him in jail, why didn’t we just use it the first time around?”
In addition to taxpayer money being spent on the trial, taxpayer money would also be spent on Blagojevich while he is in jail. However, with him out of prison, he has to support himself.
While Patrick Fitzgerald, U.S.  District Attorney, has been pushing for the retrial the heaviest, according to Logioia, politicians have all had an opinion about the first verdict. The approaching election has put the spotlight on Illinois politicians, and they feel embarrassed with the situation, and that is the reason they are pursuing the case so vigorously.
With this in mind, it is essential the people of Illinois to pressure politicians to not spend any more time or money on Blagojevich.