* As you know already, former Gov. Jim Thompson wrote a letter to the Tribune the other day attacking the paper for writing about Patti Blagojevich’s real estate business. Mrs. Blagojevich has, in the past, had clients who also were closely connected to state politics and government.

But Big Jim and his wife had a different standard when he was governor. Dan Curry dug up this 1987 Thompson quote…

[Jayne Thompson] no longer practices law because “I`m somewhat of a liability to some law firms. It precludes them from getting the kinds of state business they think they are entitled to and probably are.“

Sensitive to conflict-of-interest charges, she tries to avoid any hint of impropriety as wife of the highest official in the state.

* Meanwhile, the self-promotion at taxpayer expense continues…

llinois taxpayers could be on the hook for as much as $335,000 in the coming year to make sure Illinois politicians are photographed and videotaped at various state events.

According to state documents, the state has renewed the contracts of five video production companies in the northern part of the state to do the special public relations work.

The figure could rise even higher when the ink dries on contracts for private companies in other parts of the state.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich came under fire for the contracts last year when his gubernatorial opponent, Republican Judy Baar Topinka, called them an example of the governor using taxpayer money to promote his political agenda.

* The governor courts the Gucci loafer crowd…

[A] quintet of clout-heavy players hoped to cash in on that generosity Wednesday with a small fund-raising gathering for Gov. Blagojevich at the Chicago Yacht Club.

“I am honored to be hosting this event along with my friends David Gustman, Michael Henneman, Michael Rumman and Roger Bickel,” attorney Brian Hynes wrote in the invitation.

The hosts: Hynes, a Springfield lobbyist; Gustman, an attorney and next-door neighbor of Tony Rezko, the governor’s indicted former adviser; Rumman, a Rezko business associate and former member of the governor’s Cabinet; Bickel, an attorney and former staff member of imprisoned ex-Gov. George Ryan’s, and Henneman, who owns a Downstate engineering company that has gotten a slew of government contracts.

* More fun stuff…

Illinois law prohibits tax deadbeats from getting state business, but that hasn’t kept an associate of indicted gubernatorial adviser Tony Rezko from operating restaurants on state property.

Al Chaib owes the state $359,639 in unpaid business taxes dating back five years, yet his firm, Morpheus LLC, owns Subway sandwich shops at all seven Illinois Tollway oases, the Chicago Sun-Times reported in Thursday’s editions.

“We have asked the tollway and lawyers from the attorney general’s office to look into the ownership issue and make sure there is no conflict with state procurement rules,'’ said Abby Ottenhoff, spokeswoman for Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

* And the feds take over yet another case…

Federal prosecutors have taken over a state investigation into allegations of influence peddling involving a fundraiser for Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

In 2005, Illinois State Police closed a case against Harish M. Bhatt, a Joliet pharmacist and major fundraiser for the governor, who had been accused of offering to help derail a fraud investigation into a Chicago pharmacist in exchange for a $25,000 campaign contribution to Blagojevich. Jatin Patel, who stopped payment on a $25,000 check he had given to the governor’s campaign shortly after writing it, has denied any wrongdoing.

The state has ordered Patel to repay $1.5 million in alleged Medicaid overbillings. Bhatt, who was also subject of a fraud investigation, has not had sanctions imposed by the state and says he did nothing wrong. Patel has told the Chicago Tribune that Bhatt had offered to help in Patel’s fraud probe in exchange for a campaign contribution, an assertion Bhatt denies. […]

Now, the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago is subpoenaing state police files and taking over the investigation, The State Journal-Register has learned.