* 5:16 pm - The Associated Press broke a story this afternoon that might cause some trembling over at Tribune Tower. A consultant hired by the Tribune Co. to work on the Cubs deal exchanged several interesting e-mails with former Rod Blagojevich chief of staff John Harris…

A sports consultant helping Tribune Co. with a potential Wrigley Field sale wrote an e-mail to Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s top aide that said the results of the presidential election had put “the opportunities we discussed” in front of Blagojevich, The Associated Press has learned. […]

“Now that the election has gone as we expected, the opportunities we discussed, and Rod and I talked even more about, are in front of you guys,” Ganis wrote in one of two dozen e-mail exchanges between Ganis and Harris obtained by the AP through the Freedom of Information Act.

* And then there’s this…

Ganis told the AP in January that his contact with Blagojevich’s office was limited to discussions about the Cubs.

That’s not what Ganis said this week. Instead, he told the AP that the above-mentioned e-mail was about some hare-brained scheme to get Barack Obama and his staff to mediate the Statehouse civil war and move Blagojevich’s agenda forward. Yeah, that would’ve happened.

* The AP buries this tidbit way down at the very bottom of the story…

Several e-mails mention the Illinois Finance Authority, which prosecutors claim Blagojevich and Harris wanted to use to provide financial assistance of $100 million or more to Tribune to get a tax break on its Wrigley sale.

This would be the real meat, but it’s barely mentioned.

* The AP has only posted two of the “several” e-mails which directly discuss the IFA (shameless plea to AP: Post them all), so we don’t know what all of those communications were about. But here’s what they’ve put online so far…

Sept. 11, from Ganis… “Internally we want to do IFA. Sale or no sale of team in whole or in part depends on numbers we receive in a few weeks. You know where I expect it to go and that hasn’t changed.” […]

Sept. 4, from Ganis: “Hi John. Let’s connect with each other today if you have the time to make sure all are moving on IFA initiative properly. Also discuss counsels if that makes sense.

OK, so that tells us the Tribune Co. was fairly deep into a committment to do the IFA deal on Wrigley Field. That’s further than maybe we had previously thought. But Ganis was also doing some other stuff with the Blagojevich administration…

Sept. 11, from Ganis: “Just in case you guys get the capital bill done and if there is Olympics money, wanted to remind you if the opportunity is there to get a permanent Board seat on the 2016 committee under your control please do it. It’s one appointment where I can help a lot and also watch out for things and be Rod’s (hopefully credible) voice. […]

Sept. 5, from Ganis: “Just saw in the paper that Spielberg’s movie on Lincoln is going to start shooting. Remember, my cousin Sid Ganis is very close with Spielberg. If you or Rod need/want anything and want a direct pipeline to Spielberg just let me know.” [..]

Sept. 4, from Ganis… “Would also like to discuss the wind power opportunity as well. I have a structure to suggest that could be implemented well, quickly and in a meaningful populist manner. All for the betterment of the state. (Sorry for the sales pitch language, I am just excited by the opportunities to do something good and create a new business).”

A real shaker, that guy. Looks like he was working every possible angle. And, to emphasize the point…

Ganis told the AP in January that his contact with Blagojevich’s office was limited to discussions about the Cubs.

Not quite, unless those deals and perks are somehow all connected to the Wrigley thing. Next move: Tribune.

* Here’s some background from the criminal complaint. This intercepted conversation was held a few weeks after that Nov. 6th “opportunities we discussed” e-mail was sent…

On Nov. 30, Blagojevich spoke with the president of a Chicago-area sports consulting firm, who indicated that he was working with the Cubs on matters involving Wrigley Field. Blagojevich and Sports Consultant discussed the importance of getting the IFA transaction approved at the agency’s December or January meeting because Blagojevich was contemplating leaving office in early January and his IFA appointees would still be in place to approve the deal, the charges allege.

The Tribune Co. has been subpoenaed by the feds, but the company has (ironically) refused to disclose a copy of that document. Tribune Co. owner Sam Zell has admitted to being contacted by the FBI, but won’t specify what the G wanted. A top Tribune editor has denied ever feeling any heat to change the paper’s editorial stance on the governor. But Rod Blagojevich pretty much admitted on Rachel Maddow’s program that he at least made the suggestion…

That [Tribune IFA deal] was something, the sort of thing that they would say is an impeachable thing ‘cause I’m using the executive office, they think, without the legislative approval. The Tribune editorial board was advocating that I be impeached for those sorts of things.

And so again, without going into detail, they’re getting the benefit of these things to try to help the Cubs. We just would prefer that they don’t, look, that—that the things that they’re advocating that I be impeached it’d be nice if they they laid off on an issue like that.