Rod Blagojevich | The Whistleblowers | 5

American Scandal

Wondery

True Crime, Exhibit C, Society & Culture, History, Documentary, History Daily, American History Tellers, Lindsay Graham

4.6 • 18.7K Ratings

🗓️ 26 March 2024

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Pam Davis and Bill Kottmann worked as hospital executives in the Chicago area during Governor Rod Blagojevich’s time in office. The pair unwittingly ran into the corruption surrounding “Blago” when they tried to get a permit to build a new hospital. Instead of capitulating to extortion, Pam and Bill went to the FBI. Today, these whistleblowers join Lindsay to share what it was like to wear wires and gather evidence that helped lead to the arrests of Blagojevich and his co-conspirators.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Wunderry Plus subscribers can binge new seasons of American scandal early and ad free right now.
0:05.7	Join Wundery Plus in the Wundery app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:09.2	A listener note, this episode contains some strong language, it may not be suitable for everyone. From Wundery, I'm Lindsay Graham, and this is American scandal. On December 9th, 2008, news outlets reported the sensational arrests of Illinois Governor
0:55.6	Rod Blagojevich and his Chief of Staff John Harris.
0:59.1	At a press conference, the U.S. attorney announced the indictments and called it a very sad day for Illinois government
1:04.8	that would make Lincoln roll over in his grave.
1:07.8	The indictments contain detailed allegations of attempted extortion and pay-for-play
1:12.3	politics, including trying to sell the Senate seat vacated
1:16.0	by then President-elect Barack Obama.
1:19.2	But these news reports came as no surprise to Pamela Davis. The FBI had called her the day before the arrests
1:26.0	and told her she might want to watch the news the following day. At the time, Davis worked as
1:31.2	CEO of a hospital system in the Chicago area.
1:34.7	And in 2003, she wanted to expand that hospital.
1:38.1	But as she embarked on the process, she received a strange phone call telling her she had to use a certain contractor or the permit
1:45.2	would be denied.
1:47.6	Believing they were being extorted, Davis and her colleague Bill Cotman went to the FBI, and to get proof they agreed to wear wires
1:54.9	and have their conversations taped for eight months. Their efforts sparked a
1:59.6	federal investigation into corruption in Illinois State government that ultimately brought down the governor
2:04.7	himself.
2:05.7	Today I'm speaking with both whistleblowers, Pam Davis and Bill Kottman.
2:10.2	Our conversation is next. already know that you can save serious money on your household bills with
2:23.4	Money Supermarket but did you know that you can now earn rewards with their new
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -367 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Wondery, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Wondery and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.