Whatever happened to THAT politician: The Blagojevich casualties edition.

Former governor/congressman/state representative Rod Blagojevich unseated a few people on his way to the top of Illinois. And, to help mark this anniversary week of Blagojevich’s arrest on federal corruption charges, we’re talking to them. First up, Myron Kulas. Kulas had served in the legislature for more than a decade when Blagojevich booted him in the 1992 Democratic primary. Kulas says Blagojevich won in part because of the help he got from his father-in-law, Alderman Dick Mell, but he also blames the redistricting process that divided his district. koulasredis Kulas lost badly, taking just 37-perent of the vote. Although he insists he is not bitter towards Blagojevich, Kulas has some tough words about his former opponent’s record. koulaspers Kulas went on to work for Cook County’s environmental department, he says, drawing on his experience as chair of House Environment Committee. He’s now retired. (To hear Kulas’ reaction to Blagojevich’s arrest, check out our story from Monday morning.) Four years later, Blagojevich took a shot at Congress, easily defeating 5^th district incumbent Michael Flanagan. Flanagan, a Republican, held the seat for just one term. In 1994, he defeated House Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski, who was in all sorts of corruption trouble himself. But Blagojevich took him down in 1996, winning 64% to 36%. flanaganloss Flanagan says he thought about a later run for U.S. Senate (“for about 15 minutes"), worked with the CTA to get federal appropriations from the Republican-controlled Congress (“Hizzoner, the mayor, gave me a small contract to help out at the Chicago Transit Authority for a while.") and eventually wound up in Washington as a lobbyist. According to public records, his clients in recent years have included -- among others -- the Northfield Park District, American Biotech Labs, Visa and the Illinois Chamber of Commerce. But now he’s got a contract with the State Department for about a year that has him working in Iraq. I caught up with Flanagan when he was home on leave. He says he’s working with the Provincial Reconstruction Team along the Iranian border. Flanagan says he lives and works out of tents there and doesn’t have access to running water. flanaganiraq Flanagan added, “I’m kidding, of course." Not that he necessarily needs to be too careful with his words. The former congressman doesn’t have any plans to run for office again. flanaganfut When I asked him what his reaction was to the news that Blagojevich had been arrested, Flanagan said he’s “not a bitter and angry person" and “doesn’t hold grudges," at least any he’d air publicly. But he says there were enough issues known about Blagojevich, Mell and “that whole rotten organization," that he says he thought, “It’s nice to see the wheels finally turn, but my goodness what took so long?" Oddly enough, Flanagan and Blagojevich both appear to have at some point donated to each other’s campaign funds. Illinois State Board of Elections records show Flanagan gave $250 to Blagojevich’s 2002 campaign for governor. And, according to news clips at the time, Blagojevich donated $100 to Flanagan to help him close out some campaign debt after his loss in 1996. (Neither FEC records nor Flanagan could confirm that.)