I’ll keep comments open this weekend, but you really should head over to Illinoize. Bridget Dooley, one of my favorites, just signed on as our newest blogger.
Only in Illinois could a governor and his confederates claim that a guilty plea somehow exonerates him, even though the plea completely reinforces the notion that his administration was rife with corruption.
Discuss.
[Comments are now closed. Go here for an even fresher thread.]
*** Very Important Update: The US Attorney’s office has issued a “correction” to the Levine guilty plea. In “Update 11″ below, Individual B should read “Individual E.” So, it’s not Kelly. ***
*** Take a look at Update 11 for some of the only new information to come out of this plea. It could bring this thing closer to the governor’s inner circle. ***
No bombshells against the governor are expected in today’s plea. However, Blagojevich might show up as an unnamed official who wasn’t necessarily tied to a criminal act, sources said. […]
Sources say much of the plea will revolve around the allegations previously revealed in Rezko’s indictment. It could also discuss a controversial deal tied to the sale of a Gold Coast property and former Chicago Ald. Edward R. Vrdolyak. The Sun-Times previously reported the feds are investigating Vrdolyak’s ties to that deal, and that Levine had provided to the feds potentially incriminating information on Vrdolyak.
Essentially a rehash of the Cari plea?
* Check here for the press release. It’s not there yet, but will likely be posted on that page as soon as it’s distributed, or shortly thereafter.
* Yes, I’m still alive. It shouldn’t be much longer now.
*** UPDATE *** AP: Millionaire campaign contributor Stuart Levine pleads guilty to two counts of mail fraud and money laundering.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Doesn’t appear to be much new in here yet, according to people who have read it. No names. $1.5 million to campaign fund mentioned (as with the Rezko indictment).
*** UPDATE 3 *** The Tribune’s story is now up, but it appears to have been written before the hearing.
*** UPDATE 4 *** From a reporter friend who has read the plea: “I can’t see anything new here…” But, Levine was originally “facing life and now he’s looking at 67 months.” In other words, he appears to be cooperating in a major way.
*** UPDATE 5 *** Download the plea right here. [pdf file]
*** UPDATE 6 *** “With respect to Count One, beginning no later than in and about the spring of 2003 and continuing through at least in or about July 2004, in the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, and elsewhere, Defendant, Antoin “Tony†Rezko (“Rezkoâ€), Joseph Cari, Steven Loren, Jacob Kiferbaum, Individual A, and others known and unknown to the Grand Jury, devised and intended to devise, and participated in, a scheme and artifice to defraud the beneficiaries of the Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois”
*** UPDATE 7 *** If Individual A is Bill Cellini and Individual B is Chris Kelly (as they allegedly were in the Rezko indictment), then this next part shows Cellini either had some significant pull within the Blagojevich administration or some good sources:
In about August 2003, Defendant was re-appointed to the Planning Board. Prior to that point, Defendant discussed his possible re-appointment with Individual A and, separately, with Individual B. Individual A said he’d get back to Defendant about
his request and later called Defendant and said that it would happen. A short time later, Defendant was at a meeting in Rezko’s office with Individual B and Individual B said that the board seat Defendant wanted had been taken care of. Defendant understood from these conversations that he would be re-appointed to the Planning Board.
About the time Defendant was re-appointed, Rezko and Defendant discussed Defendant’s appointment and Rezko said that he had suggested that Defendant be made the vice-chairman of the Planning Board and that Rezko expected to influence a certain number of votes on the Planning Board. In February 2004, the Planning Board elected Defendant as vice-chairman.
*** UPDATE 8 *** Reading these things can be maddening sometimes, but this is interesting. A “local public official.”
In or about the spring of 2003, Individual A indicated to Defendant that Rezko had complained to Individual A that a certain local public official, who Defendant knew had a relationship with and raised money for a certain public official, had been pushing Rezko and Individual B for money, which Defendant understood to mean that the local public official wanted to make money from the State of Illinois because of his assistance to the certain public official. Defendant offered to have Individual C share his finder’s fee with the local public official so that Defendant could gain favor with Rezko, and Individual A later indicated that Rezko wanted Individual C to split his finder’s fee with the local public official. Defendant then told Individual C that Individual C would have to split his finder’s fee from Investment Firm 1 with a local public official.
*** UPDATE 9 *** As before:
In or about April 2004, Rezko and Defendant agreed to use their influence and Defendant’s position at TRS to prevent Investment Firm 7 from getting its $220 million allocation unless Individual J agreed either to pay an approximately $2 million fee to a consultant chosen by Rezko and Defendant, or to arrange for approximately $1.5 million in political contributions to be made to a certain public official.
*** UPDATE 10 ***
Shortly before the Planning Board meeting on April 21, 2004, Defendant had several telephone conversations with another Planning Board member about Mercy and its application for a CON. That Planning Board member said he had his “marching orders†from Rezko and that Rezko wanted to help on Mercy’s application.
*** UPDATE 11 *** Was this in the Rezko indictment? It seems new to me and could be quite significant. As reported before, Individual B is alleged to be Chris Kelly ….[After checking the Rezko indictment, it does appear to be new info]:
In or about the Spring of 2004, Rezko, Individual B, and Defendant agreed to establish or obtain a company that they or their nominees would own and control. Rezko, Individual B, and Defendant further agreed that they would use their influence and Defendant’s position at TRS to ensure that TRS would make hundreds of millions of dollars of real estate investments with their company. Defendant, Rezko and Individual B expected to share the profits from the company. Defendant intentionally concealed from and failed to disclose to the TRS Board material facts relating to his plan to establish a real estate asset management company, including his arrangements with Rezko and Individual B.
*** UPDATE 12 *** From the Daily Herald this week:
Asked if he’ll stand by Kelly in the event of an indictment, Blagojevich said he wouldn’t answer, because “I don’t believe that will ever happen.”
*** UPDATE 13*** WARNING: I don’t want to see any idle speculation in comments about who the “local official” might be. Go somewhere else if you can’t contain yourself. Let the reporters do their jobs. Be patient. And, please, don’t call me with this stuff either. I’m kinda busy at the moment. One last thing: A legislator is almost definitely not a “local official.”
*** UPDATE 14 *** Statement from the governor’s campaign office:
Statement is attributable to Sheila Nix, Blagojevich campaign spokesperson:
After nearly one year of the Topinka campaign attacking the Governor and distorting the facts, today’s plea agreement makes clear that Governor Blagojevich had absolutely no knowledge of any of the wrongdoing perpetrated by Stuart Levine, a long-time supporter and contributor to both Judy Baar Topinka and Joe Birkett.
*** UPDATE 15 *** From Tony Peraica’s campaign:
“Two weeks and two days ago, Stroger Organization major donor Antoin ‘Tony’ Rezko was indicted by the U.S. Attorney on 24 counts stemming from a corrupt scheme with Stuart Levine to extort kickbacks from firms that wanted state business. Today, Stuart Levine gave up his fight, and pled guilty to the charges lodged against him. Now that Tony Rezko’s partner in this corrupt scheme has acknowledged his own guilt, it’s going to be hard for Mr. Rezko to defend himself. […]
“For too long, the residents of Chicago and Cook County have had to rely on U.S. Attorneys to fight corruption. That’s embarrassing. The good news is that every couple of years, voters have a chance at the polls to select for themselves elected leaders who can wage the war on corruption on their behalf. Tuesday November 7 offers the voters one such choice - they can choose me, someone committed to reform, or they can choose Todd Stroger, a man who willfully overlooks the corruption in his own inner circle.”
Judy Baar Topinka’s campaign estimates that the average voter has seen Gov. Blagojevich’s TV ads at least 200 times. So, I don’t have to tell you that the vast majority of those ads have been negative.
I don’t even watch much network TV and yet I still find myself asking, “What’s she thinking?” about 10 times a day. It doesn’t even have to be about politics. A dog will walk across the street in front of my car. “What’s she thinking?” I’ll mutter as I slam on my brakes.
A waiter forgets to bring the check. “What’s she thinking?”
The Sun-Times endorses Rod Blagojevich. OK, I’ll just let that one drop.
I was mildly surprised that they let that last line through. It shows they’re willing to take a joke.
By the way, I apologize for what comes next in the column, but it was the best way to illustrate my point. You’ve been warned.
Meanwhile, Sun-Times editorial page editor Steve Huntley’s column runs next to mine today and is entitled, “. . . and here’s what we can do to get back to the issues.” Huntley had to write the Blagojevich endorsement for the Sun-Times. But he appears to try to make up for it today.
Let’s face it, voters: We must come across to the politicians as being more inclined to flip-flopping than John Kerry. We say we hate negative campaigning, loathe it, can’t stomach it. But every election we let those nasty TV ads influence us, too often decisively, in crucial elections. In other words, we were against attack ads before we listened to them and succumbed to their message.
A case in point is the gubernatorial race. As soon as he had the March primary behind him, Gov. Blagojevich, looking vulnerable to a strong challenger, had his campaign go on the airways with ads attacking his opponent, state Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka. […]
Far from the political hack and handmaiden to the Ryan corruption the ads depict, the lively and personable Topinka is a mainstream politician who has proved herself an exemplary public servant in the Legislature, where she served 14 years, and as Illinois treasurer for the last 12 years. She has been a wise steward of state finances and expanded the responsibilities of the treasurer’s office with programs to help families save for college, educate women and children on financial matters and aid qualified home buyers to get access to low-interest mortgages.
Blagojevich calls her “George Ryan’s treasurer” because Topinka served four years when the disgraced Ryan was governor. She was an independently elected constitutional officer and bears no responsibility for the corruption that will land Ryan in prison next year. Scandal hasn’t tainted her office.
* Our buddy Tim Nieukirk is profiled by the Daily Herald’s Animal Farm today.
It’s not often a Washington politician sets his sights on Springfield. Usually it’s the other way around.
But when it’s the downstate Washington just outside Peoria and you’re 25, working second shift and living with your parents, a campaign for change carries a more literal and personal interpretation.
Meet Tim Nieukirk, official write-in candidate for governor backed by a series of ads on Youtube.com that are laugh-out-loud funny.
* Sun-Times: Adding fuel to an already heated immigration debate, congressional nominee Peter Roskam appeared Thursday with one of the most polarizing figures on the issue.
* Tribune: In a surprise move, city Treasurer Judy Rice announced her resignation on Thursday, and Mayor Richard Daley tapped the private sector, naming Stephanie Neely to replace her.
* Sun-Times quoting Congressman Jackson on Neely’s choice: “Where has democracy gone? The mayor has now appointed the city clerk, the city treasurer and 29 of the 50 aldermen. Depending on the outcome of the county election in two weeks, he might soon also appoint new aldermen in the 7th, 8th and 18th wards. … Why not wait until the election and let the people decide through an open democratic process?”
I’ve noted before that the governor seems to have a lot of fundraising ties to the Indian-American community. What I didn’t know was that his family was also profiting from it. The Tribune has the story.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s wife earned more than $113,000 in real estate commissions this year through a woman who holds a longstanding, no-bid state contract and whose banker husband has business pending before state regulators.
The four real estate deals involving the Chicago couple Anita and Amrish Mahajan, the last of which closed Sept. 28, account for the only commissions Patricia Blagojevich has earned this year.
The governor’s office scoffed at questions about whether it is a conflict of interest for the governor’s spouse to make money from a couple whose businesses depend on decisions made by the Blagojevich administration.
“It’s unfair and completely ridiculous to suggest she should be expected to keep track of every client she does business with to see if they have contracts with the state,” said Abby Ottenhoff, the governor’s chief spokeswoman. She said the questions were rooted in outdated attitudes toward working women.
“Every client?” If those are the only commissions she’s earned this year she doesn’t have many clients.
Amrish Mahajan–who has donated $10,000 to Blagojevich’s political campaigns–is president of a Harvey bank with requests pending before state banking regulators to acquire two out-of-state banks. His bank has lent millions of dollars to indicted Blagojevich fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko.
Mrs. Blagojevich has also done a lot of deals with Rezko in the past.
Go read the whole thing, but I love this part of the story.
“I didn’t hire her,” Mahajan said in a brief interview from the balcony of her Chicago townhouse. “I didn’t even know who she was until closing. That’s when I heard she was the governor’s wife. I try not to get involved in politics.”
Mahajan then referred the Tribune to her attorney, James Regas.
“Why shouldn’t she hire Patricia Blagojevich?” Regas said. “They’ve been friends for a long time. He [the governor] is very close to the Indian community here.”
I imagine Mrs. Mahajan’s denial is what spurred the story on. So far, this isn’t much to go on. But that denial hints that more may be there.
I’m told that WGN TV reported last night that more indictments will be handed down today. For now, here’s a look ahead at the Levine stuff. This was posted last night at the Tribune’s site:
Political insider Stuart Levine is expected to plead guilty in federal court Friday to kickback schemes stemming from his activities on two state regulatory boards.
The guilty plea by Levine, reappointed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich to the two state posts, could reverberate on the campaign trail a little more than a week before the election.
Levine is accused of scheming to extort kickbacks from investment firms seeking to do business with the state while he was on the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System board. He also plotted to share in a $1 million kickback in his duties with the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board, prosecutors charge. Levine is expected to plead guilty to both schemes, his lawyer has said.
Sources said Levine’s plea agreement would closely track the 65-page indictment against himself and Antoin “Tony” Rezko, a Blagojevich confidant and fundraiser.
I assume the Sun-Times will have more today. I’ll update as appropriate.
*** UPDATE *** People, try not to get your expectations up too high, OK? I’m tired of deleting speculation about who could be indicted.
It is Stu Levine’s guilty plea, after all. There could be some Republicans in big trouble, too. Just sit back and wait. We’ll know this afternoon.
We’re starting to approach Nixonian territory here. The attorney general demands that the governor stop breaking the law and grant requests for copies of federal subpoenas, the governor flatly refuses.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration is violating state public-information law by refusing to release subpoenas it received in a federal corruption probe, the state attorney general said Thursday.
Blagojevich’s office said it would continue to withhold the subpoenas.
“Without legal support, the office of the governor and the agencies under his control cannot withhold federal grand jury subpoenas in their possession and must release these documents pursuant to a FOIA request,” Assistant Atty. Gen. Terry Mutchler wrote in a letter to Blagojevich’s legal counsel, William Quinlan.
Blagojevich spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff said the governor’s office does not intend to change its policy. “We appreciate the attorney general office’s advisory input,” she said. […]
The attorney general’s office disagreed with the administration’s rationale for keeping subpoenas secret.
“There’s no magical meaning to a subpoena under the Freedom of Information Act,” said Mutchler, who is public access counselor for the attorney general. “The FOIA applies the same to a subpoena as it does to a request for any other public record in the state of Illinois.”
Actually, if you read the letter from Madigan, she doesn’t just disagree with the governor’s “rationale,” she claims much of his rationale has no basis in reality and the rest of it is not backed up with any facts.
You can read the letter by clicking here. [pdf file]
That sums up the Illinois Department of Correction’s arrogant attitude toward the hardworking people who are forced to pay taxes to keep our state’s prison system running.
That unfortunate conclusion has become obvious the past few months as our reporters have tried to pry enough information out of the Illinois DOC to piece together the terrible happenings at the Dixon Correctional Center May 12. That’s the day an inmate with multiple rape convictions - who had free run of at least part of the prison - allegedly raped a female prison worker at knifepoint.
We steadfastly believe it is a reasonable expectation that the DOC be willing to explain why the inmate, John Spires, was allowed to roam freely with limited supervision. The citizens of Illinois, and especially those who work at the Dixon prison, deserve to understand the DOC’s decision-making process when granting a prisoner such privileges. The DOC, however, disagrees.
We also believe it is reasonable that the DOC release information detailing the staffing levels at the prison when the incident occurred. Again, the DOC doesn’t think so.
In late August we made a formal request under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act to DOC Director Roger Walker Jr. asking for records that would shed light on these important questions. Walker and the DOC thumbed their nose at the public’s legal and moral right to this information by flatly denying the request a few weeks later.
In what might be interpreted as a thinly veiled threat to get in line, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley implied Forrest Claypool is risking his political career by not endorsing Todd Stroger. […]
Daley noted that he got over the loss [to Harold Washington in 1983], he sucked it up and he fought for the fellow Democrat.
“I didn’t destroy my political career,†he said pointedly.
Asked if that was what Claypool was doing, Daley replied, “I don’t know.â€
Claypool, however, remained undaunted.
“Todd Stroger was not elected by the voters … but was instead appointed in a back room by a bunch of ward bosses,†Claypool said, re-asserting his contention that ward bosses deliberately deceived voters as to John Stroger’s health in order to dissuade anyone from filing a third-party candidacy until the deadline had passed.
“It’s a disservice to Harold Washington’s memory to compare him to Todd Stroger.”
* Daley was endorsing Todd Stroger when he made the above comments. This is how the Peraica campaign responded, according to the Tribune:
The endorsement was hardly a surprise as the Daleys and the Strogers have had a decades-old political alliance.
The announcement brought a sarcastic response from the Peraica campaign.
“In other related breaking news, the sun rose in the east this morning,'’ Peraica spokesman Dan Proft said in a written statement. “The real story in this race is all of the self-identified Democratic voters not supporting Todd Stroger, not the ones who are.”
If the bosses get away with this, they’ll have more than survived John Stroger’s exit. They’ll have installed a successor who could rule–and repay his debt to them–for several decades.
The alternative the bosses dread is four years of Tony Peraica, teaming with other reformers on the County Board to redirect money spent on patronage to improving services for poor people.
The bosses who lied to put Todd Stroger on the ballot figure citizens don’t much care about all that–or about all those FBI agents rooting through county offices. They want to believe that talk of public anger is just protest chatter from whiners too lazy to actually vote.
* Also, the Windy City Times has a pretty good interview of Stroger this week. He comes off a lot better than many are making him out to be. It ends on a somewhat humorous note:
Everyone has been afraid of getting hit by the bus and stepping out in front, which has disappointed me, because I thought that I’ve always been an aboveboard person. Some of these attacks have not only been on my character, [ but ] they’ve [ also ] been on me as an elected official, trying to portray me as a puppet, among others. I’ve been my own person all of my life, which is probably why my dad yelled at me so much. [ Laughs ] I guess part of my problem is since I am my own person, I have the ability to be truly independent. I came from a strong ward organization, and my dad did not call me up and say, “You vote this way today, you vote this way tomorrow.†I could do what I thought was right. In that, I didn’t have to talk to a lot of people, so maybe they don’t know me that well.
The bickering between Weller and Jackson shows no sign of abating.
U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller sharply criticized a congressional colleague, U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., on Wednesday for spending $270,000 for a “failed” airport advertising campaign.
The summer ad campaign encouraged residents of Will, Southern Cook and Kankakee counties to contact Gov. Rod Blagojevich and urge him to lease land for a third major airport to Jackson’s group, the Abraham Lincoln National Airport Commission. About 25 suburbs donated money to the fund.
Weller (R-11th) said the campaign generated only a few letters to the governor, and the money came largely from impoverished southern suburbs that couldn’t afford it. […]
Bryant said all the ad campaign expenditures were made at public meetings held by the commission and that the governor’s office was inundated with phone calls generated by the campaign.
But a spokeswoman for the governor told a Daily Southtown reporter in August that Blagojevich’s office received only a few calls.
Meanwhile, Weller’s Democratic opponent released a statement yesterday claiming that the incumbent Republican had taken an “extremist, radical position on racial profiling.” From a press release:
In response to a question from the audience regarding what he would do to address racial profiling at the local level, Rep. Weller said that “if we know a middle eastern male has entered our community, I believe our law enforcement needs to be able to go out and look for middle-eastern males.â€
In response to Weller’s comment, Pavich stated, “This isn’t going to work.â€
“We need to recognize the fact that there are a lot of Muslims in the world, and they’re not all from the middle east. A lot of them are blue-eyed and blonde haired. Al-Qaida and other groups recognize this, and are recruiting accordingly.â€
Karl Rove talked to “All Things Considered”: On ‘06: “I see several things; first, unlike the general public, I’m allowed to see the polls on the individual races and after all this does come down to individual contests between individual candidates. Second of all, I see the individual spending reports and contribution reports. For example at the end of August in 30 of the most competitive races in the country, the house races, the Republicans had 33 million cash on hand and Democrats had just over 14 million.”
NPR’s Siegel: “We are in the home stretch though and many would consider you on the optimistic end of realism about.”
Rove: “Not that you would exhibit a bias, you just making a comment.”
Siegel: “I’m looking at all the same polls that you are looking at.”
Rove: “No, you are not. I’m looking at 68 polls a week for candidates for the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, and Governor and you may be looking at 4-5 public polls a week that talk attitudes nationally.”
More Rove: “I’m looking at all of these Robert and adding them up. I add up to a Republican Senate and Republican House. You may end up with a different math but you are entitled to your math and I’m entitled to THE math” (NPR, 10/24).
* AP: The former head of the state’s I-PASS electronic toll-collection system, who stepped down in March amid questions about his handling of a contract, filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority.
* Tribune: Although they promise to move Illinois forward, none of the candidates running for governor has offered a comprehensive blueprint or a bankroll to repair and widen congested, crumbling roads and make mass transit a preferred travel mode.
* Quote of the Day: “If Judy was in the governor’s office, she would be out there scooping the snow herself … and scooping a lot of other things as needed,” Tracy said.
* Once an independent loner in her party, Judy Baar Topinka now heads the ticket
The governor’s office has previously released other lists of those who were passed over for state jobs, but refused to do so once this particular case came up. It’s just one more unanswered question in a long, long, LONG list.
Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office has concluded that names and qualifications of unsuccessful state job applicants should be released to the public, but Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration says it won’t comply.
The administration should heed its own rule that explicitly defines so-called “eligible lists” as public records, an aide to Madigan wrote in a letter to the governor’s office and his Department of Central Management Services. […]
Agencies under the Democratic governor hired the son-in-law of a Democratic congressman to be a pilot and the son of a St. Clair County Blagojevich campaign contributor as a prison business administrator. The information on other job applicants could shed light on whether more qualified people were passed over. […]
But Blagojevich’s personnel office took special interest in Brian Keen, then the son-in-law of U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello of Belleville. In an internal memo obtained by the AP, a Blagojevich staff member said she wanted the military veteran’s application “graded ASAP” and followed with other e-mails about it and Keen’s attempts to get the proper certificate to fly state planes.
The Corrections Department hired Bernard Ysursa Jr., son of a Blagojevich contributor, as an East St. Louis prison administrator. Officials said he was the best candidate interviewed but that he needed more experience, so they made him an intern — a position exempt from the veterans preference law. But another internal document shows that the agency created the internship a full week before Ysursa even interviewed for the job.
Eventually, they’re going to have to own up to all this stuff, whether it’s to reporters or to the feds.
On a related note, we’re all still waiting for Lisa Madigan to issue a formal opinion on whether the governor has to release federal subpoenas to the media, or at least whether he has to provide some details about them.
AG Madigan has said she believes he should, but until we get an actual formal opinion there’s no way to force him to do it other than extended legal efforts. Stu Umholtz could be making some hay with this, but he seems more interested in… well, I’m not sure what he’s interested in. Stu? Are you out there, man? A little help?
[Note from Rich: This does not mean I’ve been bought, so relax. I still own 100 percent of me. We’re simply going to share some resources, maybe do some future Web projects, send readers each direction and do some advertising stuff. The National Journal is the big dog of DC, so it’s a pretty cool thing. We’ll see how it develops.]
For Immediate Release:
October 26, 2006
THE HOTLINE ANNOUNCES CREATION OF STATE
POLITICAL NETWORK
Beltway’s Political Bible Goes Local to Provide Up to the Minute News on State Politics
Washington, DC– The Hotline, National Journal Group’s daily political news and analysis service, announced today the formation of The Hotline Political Network, a new partnership with the nation’s best state political websites.
The Network will allow The Hotline’s influential readers to quickly access superior state and local coverage on top of the comprehensive, ground-breaking reporting on national politics they get from The Hotline.
“For years, The Hotline has had its finger on the pulse of Washington.†said Chuck Todd, Editor in Chief of The Hotline. “Now, we can provide our readers with the best, most authoritative coverage of state and local politics.â€
The Hotline Political Network is pleased to have as a member The Capitol Fax Blog - Illinois’ premiere political blog.
“I’m looking forward to participating in this new network with The Hotline and the National Journal Group,†said Capitol Fax Blog publisher Rich Miller. “It’s an honor to be part of a national network like this, and The Hotline also benefits by associating itself with some excellent state political websites.â€
Aides to Gov. Rod Blagojevich confirmed Wednesday for the first time that one of his top advisers, Christopher Kelly, accompanied the governor on a controversial 2003 fundraising trip with two political insiders who later faced corruption charges. […]
Blagojevich’s Republican opponent, Judy Baar Topinka, called on the governor Wednesday to “fully detail what he discussed with Stuart Levine while they were traveling together to New York for fundraising meetings aboard a cushy corporate jet” between Chicago and Teterboro, N.J.
In a September 2005 plea agreement with federal prosecutors, Cari said he was told that state pension fund business was steered to firms that made campaign donations under the direction of a high-ranking public official. The unnamed person was described in the plea agreement only as “Public Official A.” Blagojevich has denied being that public official.
The Chicago Sun-Times last month reported that the Oct. 29, 2003, trip — plus another to the East Coast later — are focuses of a federal pay-to-play probe of state government.
“The chief fund-raiser is meeting with people who are interested in government contracts along with a high-ranking member of the governor’s staff,” said Joe Birkett, DuPage County’s state’s attorney and GOP candidate for lieutenant governor. “You’re setting the table to exchange your governmental decision-making in exchange for a political benefit.”
Blagojevich campaign spokesman Doug Scofield dismissed the criticism. Kelly and Tusk, he said, never met with Wexford or Maximus — despite what the “preliminary draft” schedule indicates.
“Bradley and Chris were not in any meetings together. I really have no idea why it would be that way on the schedule,” Scofield said. “You have a schedule that looks like it’s inaccurate in a number of ways.”
“Had I known that one of the guys who was part of that was a guy involved in activities like that, frankly I would have preferred to be out of the Harvard Club and back in my old neighborhood with gang-bangers,” said Blagojevich.
The governor told CBS 2 he did not know Levine had given him big campaign contributions. He denied even discussing it with Levine.
“Checks were received by the Blagojevich administration. The timing and the largesse of this money shows me there is some symptomatic pay-to-play quid pro quo activity taking place in Illinois,” said Dillard.
“I firmly believe that the truth will, as the old saying goes, set you free. Stuart Levine is a big time Republican big shot,” said Governor Rod Blagojevich.
The governor says he reappointed Levine to a couple of state boards in the spirit of bi-partisanship, even though Levine was the biggest single contributor to his 2002 opponent, former attorney general Jim Ryan, and also gave campaign cash to his Republican opponents this year.
“It’s interesting that both Treasurer Topinka and Joe Birkett have yet to return the campaign contributions from Stuart Levine even though he was indicted two years ago,” said Blagojevich.
On Wednesday, the governor’s campaign released a 1998 letter from former GOP Gov. Jim Edgar that praised Levine for his service on the Health Facilities Planning Board.
Edgar is among Topinka’s bigger supporters and is featured in her latest TV campaign ad.
“We had every reason to think, based on the glowing recommendation from Gov. Edgar … [and others], that he was a responsible and qualified person to serve on those boards,” Blagojevich said. “Had [Edgar] told us [Levine] was involved in a criminal conspiracy, I’ll be very clear here, we’d have gone in a different direction.”
