Rod Blagojevich (/bləˈɡɔɪ.əvɪtʃ/, born December 10, 1956) is an American former politician who served as the 40th Governor of Illinois from 2003 until his impeachment, conviction, and removal from office in 2009.\n', '

A Democrat, Blagojevich was a state representative before being elected to the United States House of Representatives representing parts of Chicago. He was elected governor in 2002, the first Democrat to win the office since Dan Walker\'s victory 30 years earlier. Blagojevich was impeached and removed from office for corruption; he solicited bribes for political appointments, including Barack Obama\'s vacant U.S. Senate seat after Obama was elected president in 2008. Blagojevich was convicted and sentenced to 14 years in federal prison.\n', '

Blagojevich was born in Chicago, Illinois, the second of two children. His father, Radislav, was an immigrant steel plant laborer from a village near Kragujevac, Serbia. His mother, Mila Govedarica, is a Bosnian Serb originally from Gacko, Bosnia and Herzegovina. His parents moved to Chicago in 1947. Blagojevich has a brother, Rob, who worked as a fund-raiser for Blagojevich in his later political career. Blagojevich spent much of his childhood working odd jobs to help the family pay its bills. He was a shoeshiner and pizza delivery boy before working at a meat packing plant. In order to afford university costs, Blagojevich worked for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System as a dishwasher.\n', '

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