later parroted the line to her father, recognizing it as much for its braggadocio as for its cheesiness.
Two weeks later, Rod picked up the phone and called her, and they made plans to meet the following Sundayâthree weeks after they had first met. Rod continued to bungle things and showed up thirty minutes late.
But despite the false start, Rod and Patti quickly grew close. Throughout that spring and summer, Rod broke it off with the few other women he had been seeing and began an exclusive relationship with Patti. Rod was constantly struck by how smart and well read Patti was. Maybe she couldnât memorize lines from poems or books like he could, but she knew what she was talking about. In Italy, she had spent a great deal of time at the library, she told him. After that, she and Rod would head over to a local library from time to time for dates. Rod was so excited, heâd call up Lon Monk to tell him about their outings together.
Just as he met Patti, Blagojevich decided to leave the stateâs attorneyâs office, feeling he could no longer get much out of the job. He joined a law firm run by attorneys James Kaplan and Sheldon Sorosky that focused on workerâs compensation cases. Sorosky, himself a former assistant stateâs attorney, had met Blagojevich in his clerking days and knew him as an intelligent and capable young man who seemed to be very well read, especially when it came to history.
While Rodâs life changed around him, his father lay in a nursing home, still unable to communicate or walk. Rod would see his father several times a week, almost always running into his mother there. And Radeâs condition wasnât improving. One night as Rod sat at his fatherâs bedside, he realized it was time to grow up. He had fallen in love with Patti, and he thought he wanted to one day marry her. And as he was losing his father, he was gaining a father figure in Mell, who was overjoyed his daughter had found a new man.
By that summer, Mell approached Rod with a job offer. Mell knew Rod was interested in politics and government, so why not join his team as a staff member? It was a part-time job, but it was a good opportunity, and he could open a private practice to make ends meet.
Rod didnât think twice. Workersâ comp cases were boring him, and while he liked the firm, he told them he was going to leave just five months in. He hoped Kaplan and Sorosky understood.
As 1988 drew to a close, Rade grew frailer. Doctors at his nursing home couldnât do much more for him. On a cold Thursday night, December 29, Rod got news his father was having trouble breathing. He and Patti and Millie rushed to Columbus Hospital on the North Side. All three stayed there for hours, into the following morning. Doctors urged Rod and Patti to take Millie home. There was nothing they could do. At 7:30 in the morning, the doctors at Columbus called with the news that Rade had died.
In early 1989, Rod Blagojevich walked down Fullerton Avenue on the cityâs Northwest Side. Trucks, cars, and buses rumbled down the busy street just west of California Avenue in the cityâs Logan Square neighborhood as Blagojevich approached an unremarkable, single-story building with a wooden facade and glass front door.
â2810â read the address, and on the glass door were bold letters informing passers-by of the occupant:
33RD WARD
REGULAR
DEMOCRATIC ORGANIZATION
RICHARD F. MELL
ALDERMAN-COMMITTEEMAN
Three years earlier, Blagojevich had been here helping the white majority aldermen fight Harold Washington. That day, he was working as Mellâs top staffer.
The office was typically a hive of activity. City workers hung out there for hours at a time. The phone was constantly ringing with politicians, neighborhood activists, and government bureaucrats all wanting somethingâor answering Mellâs demands.
The office was nothing to look at. It was dusty, littered with paperwork and
Two weeks later, Rod picked up the phone and called her, and they made plans to meet the following Sundayâthree weeks after they had first met. Rod continued to bungle things and showed up thirty minutes late.
But despite the false start, Rod and Patti quickly grew close. Throughout that spring and summer, Rod broke it off with the few other women he had been seeing and began an exclusive relationship with Patti. Rod was constantly struck by how smart and well read Patti was. Maybe she couldnât memorize lines from poems or books like he could, but she knew what she was talking about. In Italy, she had spent a great deal of time at the library, she told him. After that, she and Rod would head over to a local library from time to time for dates. Rod was so excited, heâd call up Lon Monk to tell him about their outings together.
Just as he met Patti, Blagojevich decided to leave the stateâs attorneyâs office, feeling he could no longer get much out of the job. He joined a law firm run by attorneys James Kaplan and Sheldon Sorosky that focused on workerâs compensation cases. Sorosky, himself a former assistant stateâs attorney, had met Blagojevich in his clerking days and knew him as an intelligent and capable young man who seemed to be very well read, especially when it came to history.
While Rodâs life changed around him, his father lay in a nursing home, still unable to communicate or walk. Rod would see his father several times a week, almost always running into his mother there. And Radeâs condition wasnât improving. One night as Rod sat at his fatherâs bedside, he realized it was time to grow up. He had fallen in love with Patti, and he thought he wanted to one day marry her. And as he was losing his father, he was gaining a father figure in Mell, who was overjoyed his daughter had found a new man.
By that summer, Mell approached Rod with a job offer. Mell knew Rod was interested in politics and government, so why not join his team as a staff member? It was a part-time job, but it was a good opportunity, and he could open a private practice to make ends meet.
Rod didnât think twice. Workersâ comp cases were boring him, and while he liked the firm, he told them he was going to leave just five months in. He hoped Kaplan and Sorosky understood.
As 1988 drew to a close, Rade grew frailer. Doctors at his nursing home couldnât do much more for him. On a cold Thursday night, December 29, Rod got news his father was having trouble breathing. He and Patti and Millie rushed to Columbus Hospital on the North Side. All three stayed there for hours, into the following morning. Doctors urged Rod and Patti to take Millie home. There was nothing they could do. At 7:30 in the morning, the doctors at Columbus called with the news that Rade had died.
In early 1989, Rod Blagojevich walked down Fullerton Avenue on the cityâs Northwest Side. Trucks, cars, and buses rumbled down the busy street just west of California Avenue in the cityâs Logan Square neighborhood as Blagojevich approached an unremarkable, single-story building with a wooden facade and glass front door.
â2810â read the address, and on the glass door were bold letters informing passers-by of the occupant:
33RD WARD
REGULAR
DEMOCRATIC ORGANIZATION
RICHARD F. MELL
ALDERMAN-COMMITTEEMAN
Three years earlier, Blagojevich had been here helping the white majority aldermen fight Harold Washington. That day, he was working as Mellâs top staffer.
The office was typically a hive of activity. City workers hung out there for hours at a time. The phone was constantly ringing with politicians, neighborhood activists, and government bureaucrats all wanting somethingâor answering Mellâs demands.
The office was nothing to look at. It was dusty, littered with paperwork and
Similar Books
