Rod Blagojevich Gets 14 Years FED TIME!

Rod Blagojevich, the ousted Illinois governor whose three-year battle against criminal charges

became a national spectacle, was sentenced to 14 years in prison Wednesday, one of the stiffest penalties imposed for corruption in a state with a history of crooked politics.

Among his 18 convictions is the explosive charge that he tried to leverage his power to appoint someone to President Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat in exchange for campaign cash or land a high-paying job.

Judge James Zagel gave Blagojevich some credit for taking responsibility for his actions, but said that didn’t mitigate his crimes. The judge also said Blagojevich did good things for people as governor, but was more concerned about using his powers for himself. The former governor admitted his crimes and apologized in court earlier in the day.

“When it is the governor who goes bad, the fabric of Illinois is torn and disfigured and not easily repaired,” Zagel said.

Because of his crimes, “I have jeopardized my ability to protect my children,” he told the judge. “My children have had to suffer. I’ve ruined their innocence.”

The twice-elected Democrat received by far the harshest sentence among the four Illinois governors sent to prison in the last four decades. He is the second in a row to go to prison; his Republican predecessor, George Ryan, currently is serving 6 1/2 years. The other two got three years or less.

Blagojevich, in a last plea for mercy, tried something he never had before: an apology. After years of insisting he was innocent, he told the judge he’d made “terrible mistakes” and acknowledged that he broke the law — even as he maintained that at the time he did not know he was breaking the law.

“I caused it all, I’m not blaming anybody,” Blagojevich said. “I was the governor and I should have known better and I am just so incredibly sorry.”