Blagojevich. Blecchh.

If "Blagojevic" sounds like something your 2-year-old might say after a mouthful of Brussels sprouts, well, the little one might be on to something. 

That's because what Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois today stands accused of doing is truly disgusting. The US Attorney from the Northern District of Illinois this morning released a 76-page complaint charging the governor with, among other things, attempting to sell president-elect Barack Obama's now-vacant seat in the US Senate for half a million dollars. 

Under Illinois law, the governor has the sole power to appoint someone to serve the balance of Obama's term. And Blagojevich (pronounced bluh-GOY-uh-vich) allegedly sought to milk that power for all it was worth, and then some. According to the New York Times, federal prosecutors taped the governor telling associates that he intended to use the power of the appointment to "make money" — specifically, about "250,000 to 300,000 a year." In addition to soliciting an outright bribe of $500,000 from someone referred to in the federal complaint only as "Candidate 5." Blagojevich is accused of trying to get candidates for the seat to appoint him and his wife to various paid positions on corporate and non-profit boards. You can read the full complaint here. 

Predictably, this is not Blagojevich's first run-in with the law. He and members of his administration are the subject of a long-running federal inquiry into influence peddling and corruption, according to news reports. And, like so many others who abuse the public trust, he originally won election to office as a reformer of corruption. 

Too often our politics, and media coverage of it, is awash in manufactured scandal. This is the genuine article. I'm thankful Blagojevich got caught. And I hope and expect that the president-elect will roundly condemn his fellow Illinois Democrat.