Politics and crime have always been tough business in Chicagoland. Today we find out that Christopher Kelly, the “go-to” guy and top fundraiser to former Governor Rod Blagojevich, as well as a key figure in the federal corruption probe against Blago, is dead of an apparent aspirin overdose.
Chris Kelly, former Blagojevich Advisor
Christopher Kelly, age 51, was a key figure in the federal corruption investigation of former Governor Rod Blagojevich, and apparently he may have committed suicide. Chris Kelly was found at about 11 p.m. Friday night in a lumber yard in a neighborhood of Chicago called Country Club Hills. Christopher Kelly was taken to the hospital and stabilized but later died at 10:46 a.m. Saturday morning according to reports from the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office. As you can imagine, Chicago police are investigating Christopher Kelly’s death because it’s considered a high profile case.
According to sources involved in the investigation, Christopher Kelly, who is married, called a woman identified as his “girlfriend” and told her that he took some pills and was going to kill himself. The woman picked up Chris Kelly. He began vomiting so she took him to the hospital and called police. He later died and an autopsy is scheduled.
Everything in the federal Blago corruption probe is complicated, with information and Chicago-style deal making that some have said, could possibly involve very high ranking government officials in the White House. But in a nutshell, Blago was accused by federal prosecutors of using his office to leverage campaign donations and benefits for himself and his family, stemming from the Senate seat vacated by then Illinois Senator Barack Obama. Prosecutors have been very interested in talking and gleaning information from Blagojevich aides especially Blago buddy, Christopher Kelly, who along with 4 others have been indicted as Blago’s co-conspirators, but he hasn’t been cooperative. He’s had other legal issues to worry about…
Just days ago, Christopher Kelly pleaded guilty in an illegal kickback scheme to fraudulently obtaining approximately $8.5 million in inflated contracts for projects involving Chicago O’Hare Airport and his own company, BCI Commercial Roofing, Inc. He received the kickbacks to pay for his gambling debts and other personal debts. Christopher Kelly was facing nearly eight years in prison as well as very public trial with Rod Blagojevich scheduled for next June.
Oh and by the way, the utterly disgraceful Rod Blagojevich, who is out of state hawking his new book, released a statement through his publicist offering condolences on the death of Christopher Kelly, his longtime advisor and friend:
“I am deeply saddened to hear that Chris has died. My heart goes out to his wife Carmen, his three daughters Grace, Jacqueline and Claire and his entire family. They are in our prayers.”
You can watch a video below of the indictment and arraingment of the Blago co-defendents which included Christopher Kelly.
September 12th, 2009 at 10:40 pm
Almost like knowing the Clintons.
September 12th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
So sad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. I think that our gov. inadvertantly OD’ed the wrong person. It is not a Dem or Rep issue, it is a liability issue. Poor Kelly!!! Took the fall for someone who looks like an ugly weiner. BLATANT
September 12th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
fm… heh. i thought of vf too.
September 13th, 2009 at 8:12 am
Hey…Thanks for the link!
September 13th, 2009 at 8:25 am
You know there are a lot of people going to barbers looking for the Blago hair do. I mean one guy in my class got the Blago hair cut for fun.
September 13th, 2009 at 8:33 am
Hair “cut” charles?
I would have thought one would have to gather the hair off the barbershop floor and glue it on to achieve that look.
September 13th, 2009 at 11:11 am
[...] Christopher Kelly, Key Blagojevich Advisor Found Dead - Right Pundits [...]
September 13th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Boy oh boy. If you could just somehow find a connection between this and Obama, you might finally have that big scandal you need to redefine everything. Everything.
September 13th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
“Boy oh boy. If you could just somehow find a connection between this and Obama, you might finally have that big scandal you need to redefine everything. Everything.”
Hows about starting with “Chicago” for a connection. And then these that whole thing with trying to sell the selection of Obamas replacement to the Senate that Obama supposedly knew nothing about.
This guys so hungry for power I see no reason he wouldnt have his wand in that one too
September 13th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
[...] Christopher Kelly, Key Blagojevich Advisor Found Dead - Right Pundits [...]
September 13th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Connections Klo? The only question is whether or not they were all wearing PJ’s while in bed together.
“Obama served as a senior advisor and one of the chief architects alongside both Rahm Emmanuel and David Axelrod to the successful 2002 Blagojevich campaign. Blagojevich endorsed Obama for Illinois state legislature, U.S. Senate in 2004 and for the 2008 presidential race, and Obama reciprocated during the 2002 and 2006 Illinois gubernatorial races. Obama’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emmanuel and senior advisor, David Axelrod, played key roles in the campaign electing both Obama and Blagojevich. Additionally, Emmanuel filled the congressional seat vacated by Blagojevich when he was elected as governor. Tony Rezko served as chief fundraiser for for both Blagojevich and Obama before being federally indicted for bribery.”
And read this 20 year timeline Klo-less. It doesn’t mention Blago, but the corruption that is Obama and the Chicago connection is implied.
http://romanticpoet.wordpress.com/2008/10/20/america-obama-wants-you-to-believe-ayers-was-just-someone-in-his-neighborhood-puleeze/
September 14th, 2009 at 6:04 am
Obviously we need to rid the world of the scourge of aspirin. This deadly drug is readily available to our nation’s children, who see its use glamorized in media and advertising. We must send the message that the use of poisons like this will not be tolerated in America.
/end sarcasm
Just FYI folks, there is not a single instance in recorded history of a death caused by marijuana toxicity — that includes something like 10,000 years of recorded therapeutic and recreational use. This isn’t true for substances like alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, aspirin, and even water. All available at your corner store, along with some righteous deadly chemicals for under your sink.
September 14th, 2009 at 6:53 am
Here, here!! Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.
September 14th, 2009 at 7:31 am
As a proponenet for legalizing pot I have to say that you most definitly can die of pot toxicity.
I’ve seem many people smoke so much they have seizures, heart palipitations, skyrocketing pulse.
It may not be on record but in the case with my granma ( thai stick, elephant weed) her heart raced so bad we almost took her to emergency
September 14th, 2009 at 7:43 am
I hate to nitpick here, because I know you are generally in agreement on the drug war thing.
But no, you cannot die from marijuana. Being “almost” brought to an emergency room is not proof that a substance can kill you. Neither are seizures or an increased heart rate. Again, marijuana has never once been recorded as a cause of death. In 10,000 years.
There are unpleasant experiences, including ER visits, that result from marijuana use — typically because users become convinced they’re in more danger than they actually are (we all know paranoia can result from unexpectedly strong experiences). But not one single death.
In fact, the LD-50 for marijuana has never been measured. The only way they can kill lab mice with it is to give them so much smoke they become deprived of oxygen. No lab animal has ever been killed by ingesting cannabis, even at doses many hundreds of times (in terms of mg dose per kg body weight) larger than humans would/could ever consume.
Dr. Lester Grinspoon — hardly a medical novice — has called marijuana one of the safest substances known to man.
September 14th, 2009 at 8:22 am
Thomas Geller, MD, Associate Professor of Child Neurology at the Saint Louis University Health Sciences Center, et al., wrote in their article “Cerebellar Infarction in Adolescent Males Associated with Acute Marijuana Use,” published in Pediatrics in Apr. 2004:
“Each of the 3 cannabis-associated cases of cerebellar infarction was confirmed by biopsy (1 case) or necropsy (2 cases)… Brainstem compromise caused by cerebellar and cerebral edema led to death in the 2 fatal cases.”
Apr. 2004 - Thomas Geller, MD
——————————————————————————–
Liliana Bachs, MD, Senior Medical Officer at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, et al., wrote in their article “Acute Cardiovascular Fatalities Following Cannabis Use,” published by Forensic Science International in 2001:
“Cannabis is generally considered to be a drug with very low toxicity. In this paper, we report six cases where recent cannabis intake was associated with sudden and unexpected death. An acute cardiovascular event was the probable cause of death. In all cases, cannabis intake was documented by blood analysis.”
2001 - Liliana Bachs, MD
——————————————————————————–
Liliana Bachs, MD, Senior Medical Officer at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, wrote in a Nov. 28, 2005 email to ProCon.org:
“Causality is a difficult assessment in forensic toxicology. It is often an ‘exclusion diagnosis,’ and so it is in our cases. I’m therefore not sure about how to classify those deaths.
At the time I published that study [see above] I would probably not classify [the cannabis] as primary causation because it was not broadly accepted that [a death from cannabis] could occur at all. Today I see reports coming all the time that acknowledge cannabis cardiovascular risks, and the situation may be different.”
Nov. 28, 2005 - Liliana Bachs, MD
I wouldnt bet the farm either way
September 14th, 2009 at 8:31 am
Micky, don’t get in too deep. When it comes to pot, Rhayader has done his homework.
Which is ironic as it’s so hard to get teenagers on pot to do their homework.
September 14th, 2009 at 8:47 am
I wouldnt bet the farm either way
Yeah fair enough. Also, I have no farm to bet.
There is a LD-50 for pure THC — which is really only available in the synthetic form, Marinol — but it’s 1,270 mg/kg in males, according to the THC MSDS.
So let’s do the math. A 200 lb man weighs 90.7 kg. A lethal dose of pure THC would amount to 115,189 mg, or 115.2 grams. If we assume a 10% potency in street marijuana — pretty good stuff — that means one would need to somehow get 1,152 grams of cannabis into the bloodstream at once. That’s over a kilo. If you can get that stoned, more power to you.
(Also ignored in this calculation is the fact that other cannabinoids present in marijuana actually lessen the effect of THC. So the dose would actually be higher.)
September 14th, 2009 at 8:52 am
When it comes to pot, Rhayader has done his homework.
Hah, I appreciate that, but I’m just into this stuff on a hobby level of course. I’m always open to new information, because Bob knows we can be led astray from time to time when looking stuff up on the internet.
September 14th, 2009 at 8:54 am
Yeah I,ve done my homework too for about 30 years as a chronic junkie, alcoholic, with close to 15 years of sobriety whos passed the state exam on substance abuse knowing the chemical breakdowns of all thesesubstances in the human body. I presently volunteer at two treatment centers and sponsor 4 recovering addicts while having a little crew that 12 steps destitute users, I’ve seen itall, I know my sh*t.
I’ve seen many people have adverse reactions to pot but of course theirs always a contributing factor, but such is the case with many drug fatalities.
Trust me, you dont want to give any potent bud to someone who got any cardio or lung complications, same with stimulants or depressants
September 14th, 2009 at 9:05 am
Yeah, on the street theurban legend is that you’d have to eat about4 pounds of hash to die.
But you ae to take into account metabolism. I rarelt smoke ans when I do I dont consider it breaking my sobriety bcause it never leads to me to crae anything else like stimulants or booze would. I used to be able to smoke all day long, now, 3 grams last me two weeks. I know for a fact I’d end up in emergency if smoked what I used to
September 14th, 2009 at 9:12 am
sorry again bout the sloppy typing.
I’m laying on my side typing with one hand with a chemo pump on one side and a mean a$$ (LITERALLY) rash on the other side typing with one finger in the dark so not wake up my wife. good news, radiologist says i’m outta the woods.
September 14th, 2009 at 9:14 am
Haha, of course I can’t think of where I heard it now, but I heard a story recently about David Crosby telling someone “a little weed now and then isn’t cheating”. Something like that anyway — and I agree.
3 grams over two weeks is a nice slow pace. I’m usually somewhere between 2.5-3 grams per week — that basically breaks down to like 2 small bowls per weekday, maybe 4 on a weekend day spread through the day and night.
Less than I used to smoke in college by a long shot, but I still like my ganj.
September 14th, 2009 at 9:17 am
sorry again bout the sloppy typing.
Again, no problem at all, especially given your circumstances.
good news, radiologist says i’m outta the woods.
Great man, that’s fantastic!
September 14th, 2009 at 9:37 am
Well micky, OJT does have it’s advantages, though it’s been my experience that former junkies tend to lump recreational users into the same category as those with substance problems.
I was a huge pot-head back in my 20’s but walked away from it when I weighed the consequences of getting caught doing something illegal. Some people aren’t so lucky.
Some people have addictive personalities and some people don’t. I gamble, drink, and would probably smoke a joint if it were legal. But I do none of the above in excess and believe that neither does the majority.
I pretty much disdain any addict who lets their addiction control and/or wreck their lives and the lives of others, but I do believe in letting the majority who aren’t controlled by their vices enjoy themselves.
I prefer to enjoy myself within the parameters of the law. Rhayader chooses to dance on the edge, but neither one of our lives are being adversely affected by our choices.