Illinois Governor Milorad Blagojevich, recently rated the Worst governor in the nation along with his chief of staff were attested today on Federal corruption charges. Blageojevich is charged with conspiring to trade President-elect Obama’s recently resigned Senate seat for pay. (See complaint, also details of complaint)

He was the first Democrat elected governor of Illinois in 30 years.

This is not the first of the Governor’s shady dealings as Newsweek reported in an article by Michael Isikoff he is currently under investigation by Attorney General Patrick Fitzgerald:

A prime focus of Fitzgerald’s probe, code-named Operation Board Games, is the state’s Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a temperamental onetime reformer from Chicago who now has a lower approval rating (13 percent) than President Bush. He is referred to in the latest indictment as “Public Official A”–the intended beneficiary of campaign contributions that Cellini and his accused co-conspirators, including convicted political “fixer” Antoin (Tony) Rezko, allegedly sought from a Chicago businessman turned Hollywood producer seeking state business. Fitzgerald has denounced the practices uncovered by Operation Board Games as part of a “pay-to-play scheme on steroids,” in which businesses were brashly hit up for campaign funds in exchange for state contracts and appointments to state boards. Stuart Levine, another of Cellini’s alleged co-conspirators, who raised huge sums for Blagojevich and got reappointed to two state boards, testified at Rezko’s trial that the governor once told him during a 2003 plane ride, “You stick with us and you’ll do very well for yourself.” (Levine has pleaded guilty and is cooperating in Fitzgerald’s probe; Rezko is seeking his own deal.)

Blagojevich has not been charged, and his office has adamantly denied any wrongdoing. “The governor was not involved in the improper activities alleged in the indictment,” his spokesman, Lucio Guerrero, said after the charges against Cellini were filed. Pressure continues to build, however. In just the past few weeks, new subpoenas went out for records relating to a health-care company that won a favorable state ruling after hiring a former aide to the governor as its lobbyist. “They are continuing to work their way up the ladder,” says one lawyer close to the case who asked not to be identified talking about the ongoing probe.

The Board Games investigation follows an earlier Fitzgerald dirt-digging effort that culminated two years ago in the conviction of Blagojevich’s Republican predecessor, George Ryan, on 18 felony counts. Kent Redfield, a professor of political science at the University of Illinois in Springfield, notes that three of the state’s last seven elected governors have gone to prison–a gubernatorial incarceration rate unequaled in the country. Even while producing towering figures like Lincoln and Adlai Stevenson, “there has always been a ‘Let’s make a deal’ and ‘Where’s mine?’ kind of politics that is pretty pervasive in the culture of Illinois,” Redfield says.

Although Blagojevich was the first governor to back Obama, and will appoint his successor in the Senate, he’s now keeping a low profile. The governor’s spokesman, Guerrero, tells NEWSWEEK that it “hasn’t been decided yet” whether Blagojevich will even attend the Inauguration in January. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t still state business to conduct. In the days before the election, the governor had to figure out what to do with Richard E. Beard, the $200,000-a-year executive director of the Lincoln Library and Museum. Beard had just been arrested shoplifting a DVD box set of the TV show “House” from a local Target. (He has pleaded not guilty; Target also identified him as having previously walked off with a box set of “Seinfeld” DVDs.) And as it turned out, he was convicted last year of stealing neckties from Macy’s. Blagojevich fired him–an executive decision to restore integrity in the land of Lincoln.

Blagejevich is connected to Obama beyond this incident. Ryan Lizza reported in the New Yorker that Obama received “his first high-level experience in a statewide campaign” while advising Blagojevich during his campaign for governor. Additionally Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s current Chief-of-Staff also was a top strategist for that campaign. From the report:

He and Obama “participated in a small group that met weekly when Rod was running for governor,” Emanuel said. “We basically laid out the general election, Barack and I and these two.” A spokesman for Blagojevich confirmed Emanuel’s account, although David Wilhelm, who now works for Obama, said that Emanuel had overstated Obama’s role. “There was an advisory council that was inclusive of Rahm and Barack but not limited to them,” Wilhelm said, and he disputed the notion that Obama was “an architect or one of the principal strategists.”

Of course Obama’s other good friend and partner indicted developer & Obama advisor/fundraiser Tony Rezko was also involved with Blagojevich. Rezko used his influence with the Governor to “profit from companies seeking business with the state.” Rezko, a top fundraiser and advisor for the Governor attempted to corrupt two boards and create a pay-for-play system that has been tied to the Blagojevich administration.

One of the boards Rezko attempted to influence was a state health planning board that was kept alive while Obama chaired the Illinois Senate’s health committee. During Rezko trial an e-mail was revealed that suggested Obama may have been involved in recommending candidates for the board and played a role in keeping the board alive past the date it was set to expire.