As a legislator, Mell had fought for full civil marriage rights for gays and lesbians in her home state, but the body ultimately only granted civil union benefits.

According to reporter Carol Marin of the Chicago Sun-Times, Mell has become the first high-profile elected official in Illinois to publicly enter into a same-sex marriage. She is the the sister-in-law of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

… “Our relationship deserves marriage,” said a beaming Mell, her newly wedding-banded hand resting on Baker’s shoulder Tuesday. “That’s how I feel about it. I mean there was a time in our relationship where it just wasn’t right to call Christin my ‘partner’ or my ‘friend’ . . . or even my ‘civil-unionized partner.’ You know she’s my wife. . . . We deserve those titles, those rights.” …

The couple plans to hold a blessing ceremony as part of an Episcopal mass next week. Under Illinois law, the couple’s commitment can only be legally viewed as a civil union, which does not carry the same protections and benefits of full civil marriage.

Rod Blagojevich is not corrupt; he’s just not the “sharpest knife in the drawer.”

Now it’s Republicans who need to “support our men in uniform.”

Massachusetts approves a plan to bypass the electoral college.

Voters don’t like self-financed campaigns.

Most Beautiful Person Scott Brown will model for Playboy, but not for the Hill.

Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio says he’ll jail protesters of the new immigration law.

More than 6,000 graves in Arlington Cemetery could be unmarked or mislabeled.

During the holiday season, we are reminded to remember the less fortunate among us. In that spirit of empathy, TWI has compiled a list of the ten least successful politicians of 2009 — those most in need of our thoughts.

Click here to begin slideshow.

The law at issue, an amendment to the Wire and Mail Fraud Act of 1988, makes it illegal for public or private employees to “deprive another of the intangible right of honest services.”

What exactly does that mean?

The Washington Post reports today that former newspaper tycoon Conrad Black is arguing that the government should have had to prove that he caused economic harm to his company, in addition to diverting company funds to himself.

Former Republican Alaska state representative Bruce Weyhrauch, meanwhile, argues no state law required disclosure of his private communications with an oil services firm, so he shouldn’t have been prosecuted for it, even though the firm was simultaneously lobbying him on a proposed tax bill.

And former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling claims the government failed to prove that he was trying to enrich himself, rather than just save the company, by his fraudulent accounting scheme that ultimately brought Enron down.

Justice Antonin Scalia has said that the law in dispute “invites abuse by headline-grabbing prosecutors in pursuit of local officials, state legislators and corporate C.E.O.’s who engage in any manner of unappealing or ethically questionable conduct.”

If the law is struck down, it could call into question other high-profile fraud convictions. The law was key to the prosecutions of former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, former Illinois governor George Ryan (R) and former Enron executives.

The same law is also central to the government’s plans to prosecute another former Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich (D), who is accused of trying to auction off President Obama’s former U.S. Senate seat.

Black v. United States and Weyhrauch v. United States will be heard on Tuesday.  Skilling v. United States is scheduled for argument in 2010.

The governor was arrested six days before the Dec. 15 deadline, so we’ll never know for sure if Burris — who at the time was seeking President Obama’s vacated senate seat — intended to follow through on that statement to Robert Blagojevich, who was allegedly seeking to help his brother trade the seat for cash. But there are several other layers in that conversation that haven’t gotten as much attention as they might deserve.

First, Burris contemplates ways to disguise a contribution to the governor’s campaign so that it wouldn’t appear related to the Senate appointment process, at one point saying he “might be able to do this in the name of Tim Wright,” his law partner.

As The Chicago Tribune points out today, Illinois law prohibits campaign donations made in the name of someone else — something Burris, once the attorney general of Illinois, might have known.

And second, Burris indicates that he won’t be able to check in with Wright for several more days because Wright was “in New York trying to drum up business.” What sort of business? “He’s trying to get a part of that, ah, federal bailout stuff,” Burris says. “Cause you know we’re, you know he’s, we’ve got a financial law firm here so they’re trying to get involved in that.”

So in summary, we’ve got a former state attorney general whose law partner is busy chasing federal bailout dollars around the country while he’s scratching his head over how to make clandestine contributions through that partner to an allegedly corrupt governor while at the same time not jeopardizing the chance that the governor might appoint him to the U.S. Senate.

This whole episode might not be illegal — it might not even breach the Senate’s lax ethics rules — but it sure does make a case for stemming the influence of money in politics.

The Democratic senator from Illinois — appointed to the upper chamber in January amid a wave of controversy over then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-Ill.), who tapped Burris for the post — has distanced himself from his disgraced appointer skillfully enough to have kept his seat this long despite early opposition from Democratic leaders. Blagojevich, of course, was arrested in December on charges of attempting to sell the Senate seat being vacated by President Obama — a situation that left Democrats fearing the thought of a tainted Blagojevich appointment roaming the halls of the upper chamber.

No matter. During the announcement of his appointment in December, Burris told reporters that he had “no relationship with that situation.” A few days later, he said in an affidavit that he had no conversations with Blagojevich’s camp about the Senate seat prior to his appointment. Yesterday, as Kathleen mentioned, Burris told the Chicago Sun-Times that he’s adjusting well and feels “right on course.”

Case closed? Not quite.

The Senate Ethics Committee is still investigating the circumstances surrounding his appointment, and yesterday (long after the Sun-Times piece ran) a federal judge in Chicago released secretly recorded FBI tapes revealing that Burris, well, lied about his contacts with Blagoevich’s folks. Indeed, the tapes indicate that Burris had offered the Illinois governor a check.

The Washington Post explains:

During the Nov. 13 conversation, Burris told the governor’s brother, Rob Blagojevich, that he was willing to join a fundraising event and would send a personal check.

“I will personally do something. And it’ll be done before the 15th of December,” Burris said. He added, “And tell Rod to keep me in mind for that seat, would ya?”

Just how many lives does Burris have? We might soon find out.

Two powerhouses in Chicago’s Indian-American community told the team of then-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) that Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) would raise $5 million for the governor in return for the Senate seat being vacated by Barack Obama, the Chicago Sun-Times reported today.

The first [approach] came from Rajinder Bedi, a state employee who acted as a conduit to the Indian community for Blagojevich, sources say. Bedi met with the governor’s brother, Robert, to tell him that a longtime fund-raiser and wealthy health care businessman, Raghuveer Nayak, would help organize fund-raising within the Indian community and that Jackson would raise money as well.

Then, at an Oct. 31 planning luncheon at the India House restaurant in Schaumburg, Nayak delivered a similar message to Robert Blagojevich, the Sun-Times has learned. Nayak allegedly identified himself to the Blagojevich camp as a representative of Jackson, sources say.

At some point, signals were crossed in communicating the dollar amounts, though, leaving Rod Blagojevich to believe, according to the criminal complaint against him, that he would be paid $1.5 million should he appoint Jackson to fill Obama’s seat.

But the offer was really supposed to be $5 million raised by Jackson, as well as up to $1 million from the Indian community, sources said.

Jackson has denied any wrongdoing and vows to cooperate with any investigations (including that launched by a congressional panel earlier this month). Still, you can be sure he’s wishing that this news hadn’t broken in what is likely to be a fairly slow news week, with Congress on recess and the Somali pirate saga now ended.

Blagojevich has claimed that Jackson’s emissaries had offered cash to the Illinois governor in return for an appointment to the Senate seat vacated by President Obama — a charge Jackson has denied.

From The Sun-Times:

The panel has asked parties in the Blagojevich case — including his former gubernatorial staff and campaign staff — to turn over any documents, emails, or other correspondence involving Jackson Jr. and his campaign staff, Jackson’s brother, Jonathan, and political fund-raisers Raghuveer Nayak and Rajinder Bedi, lawyers close to the probe told the Sun-Times. The request for information is from June of last year through Dec. 31, 2008.

Nayak, Bedi and Jonathan Jackson attended a Dec. 6 fund-raiser hosted by the Indian community for Friends of Blagojevich. People attending the event have told the Sun-Times that discussions about future fund-raising for congressman Jackson’s Senate candidacy took place at the function.

Jackson has not been charged with any wrongdoing, The Sun-Times clarified.

Will he resign? Will he quote a British poet? Will he channel his inner Clint Eastwood? Will he deliver a Mr. Smith-esque filibuster? Is that even allowed? Only time will tell…

It’s the TV event of the century, on … right … now!

None of the funds provided by this Act may be made available to the State of Illinois, or any agency of the State, unless (1) the use of such funds by the State is approved in legislation enacted by the State after the date of the enactment of this Act, or (2) Rod R. Blagojevich no longer holds the office of Governor of the State of Illinois.

I’m unaware of any previous case of the Congress dangling a bag of money over state legislators’ heads like this before. I’d also be surprised if it fails, no matter how commanding Blagojevich looks on “The View.” Illinois is not really in the position to turn down cash right now.