Sunny Ft. Wayne, Indiana greetings to all,

For my friends outside of the U.S., I have to apologize for this promo since you probably won’t know who this guy is!

Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was convinced on one felony count out of 24 counts against him last week. A hung jury on the other 23 counts and it sounds like they are going to retry him on the other counts. Run Rod Run, they are gunning for you!!!!!!!

If this all stands, it makes Blago the fourth of the last seven Illinois governors sent to prison! The only state that even comes close to Illinois in giving us a run for our money with having the most corrupt politicians is Louisiana and I think they they are a distant second!

Here’s the story behind the promo, back in 2005, I got a call from the Governor’s re-election campaign that he’ll be running in Peoria’s annual Steamboat Race. They told me that they wanted some shots of the Governor running in the race and then afterwards meeting the constituents. They also told me that I can’t tell a soul about him in the race because of security. I’m good with that because they are paying me!

The morning of the race, I meet with the Governor’s press people and they get me all set up with his security detail and tell me that they (his security) are going to take me around the race course so I can get some different photos of the Governor. The Governor shows up about two minutes before the race with pretty heavy security. He starts the race and I’m off in a blacked out Chevy Suburban with his security people. We blow through every security check point and I can tell you that’s a very cool feeling. I have a security guy with me and he’s on the radio and knows exactly where the Governor is on the course and let’s me know when he’s coming. We end up hitting about five different spots on the course and then they bring me back for the photo of the Governor crossing the finish line! After that, the Governor cools down and meets with all of the runners and people there at the event. I grab lots of photos and then we are all wisked away from the event back to the hotel!

Here’s a couple of quick thoughts from that day five years ago:

1) Governor Blagojevich is an incredibly charismatic person and I can see why people are attracted to him and want to be around him. He can “take over” a room, just by his presence! He seemed very genuine the whole time I was with him and indeed seemed like a good guy.

2) Hanging with heavy duty security is very cool and it’s something that until you’ve experienced it, you’ll never understand! Imagine the level of security for the President! Wow!!!!!!

Time to get to work, but I hope that you have a very wonderful week!!!!!!!

Kev

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