Politics | Rod Blagojevich Blagojevich Sought Cabinet Post for Obama's Senate Seat FBI tapes reveal wish for health secretary post By Matt Cantor Posted Dec 9, 2008 11:53 AM CST Copied In July 2007, Blagojevich, right, shakes hands with Illinois House Speaker Michael Madiganas Blagojevich's Chief of Staff John Harris, lower right, who was also arrested, looks on. (AP Photo/Jonathan Kirshner) Rod Blagojevich had said he wanted “something real good” in exchange for his choice of a replacement for the president-elect in the Senate, Politico reports. Otherwise, he said in FBI tapes the day before the election, “I’ll just send myself.” A Senate seat is a "f---ing valuable thing," the Illinois governor said. "You just don’t give it away for nothing.” As a trade-off for nominating Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett to the Senate, Blagojevich wanted the post of health secretary, according to conversations with his chief of staff, John Harris, who was arrested today along with the governor. He also tried for a union payoff to nominate the group’s preferred candidate, prosecutors said. Read These Next The sheriff says he's never seen a worse case of child sex abuse. We knew Letterman would pipe up about Colbert eventually. Journal pulls a controversial paper on arsenic after 15 years. Google exposes man's butt, is ordered to pay him $12.5K. Report an error