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Levine to plead guilty six days before election day

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Illinois

This is cutting it awful close.

A millionaire campaign contributor charged with swindling a medical school and masterminding a scheme to shake down hospitals for kickbacks indicated Wednesday that he plans to plead guilty.

Stuart Levine, 60, of suburban Highland Park, a former member of the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board, plans to enter his guilty plea at a Nov. 1 hearing, defense attorney Jeffrey Steinback said.

Steinback told reporters after court he had “no idea” if Levine’s written plea agreement with prosecutors would provide enough detail about corruption in state government to have an impact on the upcoming election.

“It wasn’t my intention to set a date that would have any effect on the election whatsoever,” Steinback said. He said the reason for the date just days before the Nov. 7 election was “the convenience of the court.”

What a freakin’ nightmare that’s gonna be.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 1:17 pm

Comments

I suspect that the voters will be the losers here with the real goods being delivered after the election. You guys & gals in the media better rest up before November 1… you may not get much time for any naps the week before the election.

Comment by North of I-80 Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 1:31 pm
It’s not what is discovered in the plea, it’s how quickly the impact can be made and felt by the parties involved. You can have months of bad news, but if it has no impact, then no harm. If it is something that can strike the core of GRod and the hay made resinates, then it will lead to a nightmare. If GROD has the ability to make an apparent hit fall to the wayside, or opponents of GRod can not make the case, then it won’t matter at all what Levine says.

It’s not what is found out, it’s what the effect of what is found out that will make it interesting.

Comment by Timing is Everything Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 1:45 pm
Basically… this will have a huge impact… or none at all….

Comment by Lovie's Leather Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 1:50 pm
Running on a treadmill. I think there may be much buzz surrounding this, but ultimately I don’t think this is the issue to decide the election.

Comment by Ashur Odishoo Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 2:15 pm
Bet the plea hearing gets pushed back beyond Nov. 7.

Comment by Bubs Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 2:17 pm
But the question is who will Levine rat out in this plea deal? The real nightmare could be Quinn as our governor in 2 years.

Comment by anon Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 2:36 pm
I am with Bubs. Not a chance this will happen on the date set. (But there is always wishful thinking.)

Comment by Shelbyville Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 2:38 pm
The real dream would be to have Quinn as our governor. A silver lining in the cloud of corruption enveloping Blagojevich.

Comment by Northwest Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 2:40 pm
Levines’ plea will not affect the election and if the guv is indicted that doesn’t mean that Quinn gets the job. The guv will deny, deny, deny the outrageous charges and it will take years before he ever goes to trial. It is sad that Illinois will have to suffer through this.

Comment by anon Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 3:03 pm
Can we expect a headline: “Public Official A = Governor Rod” after the plea agreement????

Comment by Sine Die Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 3:25 pm
Has there ever been a case when a sitting Governor has been indicted? Can a sitting Governor be indicted??? I believe we will be stuck with him until after his second term.

Comment by Hard Working Taxpayer Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 3:37 pm
A vote for Blago is a vote for Quinn. Interestingly, there will have to be a “factual basis” presented before the court can accept the plea. I wonder if we will hear about “Public Official A” again.

Comment by Dark Knight Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 4:07 pm
usually a sentence is handed down after the convicted who has agreed to cooperate has given all he knows to the feds. This way the US attorney will tell the judge how much help he has been. If Levine’s sentence is pretty light he helped a lot if its still a stiff sentence he wasn’t much help. But the feds take there time and dot the i’s and cross the T’s so don’t expect a lot of new indictments soon. I think blago will be elected or defeated on something else (like a huge campaign chest from selling state jobs and contracts)

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 4:10 pm
What’s going to be even more interesting is the Hurtgen court date on Oct 11th. we still don’t know if he is co-operating but considering mention of him in Gov. Ryan’s case, his connections to Gov. Thompson in Wisconsin and Blago he too could blow the lid off the corruption not only in Illinois but also Wisconsin.

Comment by redvest Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 4:20 pm
So, the partisans on this blog DON’T CARE if their candidate is indicted? Their response is that Pat Quinn will make a good governor?

Are the Democrats in Illinois simply beyond cynical to the point that they enjoy the corruption they are heaping on this state?

They serve up “Urkel” Stroger thanks to nepotism, Alex “I know nothing” Giannoulais for Treasurer, and Rod “Kiddie Check” Blagojevich for Governor, and still want them as their elected officials?

These people just don’t care who should be their candidate, as long as they win. What an attitude!

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 4:47 pm
word is mickey Segal might be making or has made a deal also

Comment by Connect the dots Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 4:56 pm
Ahhh Vanilla,
All the years of Republicans increasing the number of state employees so they could pack Springfield with their friends must have taught you nothing. Politics in Illinois has always been first and foremost about making sure your candidate wins, regardless. Both parties are corrupt and always have been. Republicans and Democrats have supported candidates with questionable histories. Jim Edgar should still be counting his luck that Peter Fitzgerald didn’t prosecute the MSI scandal. You’re either naive or so partisan you’re blind. It isn’t one party that’s the problem. It’s the whole political culture.

Comment by likes chocolate Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 5:00 pm
Hey V-baby,

You get sick of seeing people post about Topinka dancing with Ryan, or people trying to tie Topinka to Ryan (I believe you posted something close to that the other day). Well I get sick of hearing the old broken record indictment thing. Prove it! Where do you get your information? How do you know that there will be an indictment? Please, let all of the Blago hacks in on your inside dope.

Weâ€™ve been listening to you for 8 months. Whereâ€™s the beef, baby?

They were coming after the primary, then late May, then July, then August, blah, blah, blah.

Comment by B Hicks Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 6:02 pm
I’d be too embarrassed to come out and vote for Rod even if I were a Democrat. If he’s named “Public Official A” in a definitive way, who the heck wants to say, “Yeah, I liked him over Judy.” If I were a Dem, I’d just stay home.

Comment by GOP Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 6:10 pm
Uh-oh the Million Do$$ar Baby Tommy Rosenberg must be VERY VERY nervous…

Comment by in deep stu-du Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 6:37 pm
B Hicks….the beef is that the now sitting governor PROMISED no more business as usual. Kick the republicans all you want for their past indiscretions, but all he’s done is business as usual. The newspapers don’t dub Blago as “Ryanesque” for no reason. “Likes Chocolate” has got it right….neither party has the ethics market cornered.

Comment by Walking Wounded Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 7:36 pm
He only thought for a couple of seconds about having Levine at that post? What if he puts others into power so recklessly as well? You know, like top aides to the Nation of Islam leader, for example.

This incumbent scares the living daylights out of me.

Comment by Terrified Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 7:40 pm
I think that the thisline from a PJ Star editorial on 9-12-06 says it all “Rod Blagojevich made corruption a top priority when he ran for governor four years ago…”

History has told us that the corruption that he was interested in was not that of the previous administrations by rather what he could get for himself.

Comment by Huh? Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 8:02 pm
Wonder if good old Stu will be able to talk a little about the good old days in DuPage County with he bought and sold the GOP powers there like used toasters?

Comment by Reddbyrd Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 8:16 pm
George Ryan and Larry Warner should be happy they didn’t kick a cop in the groin. That got a guy 66 months in jail. Makes Ryan’s sentence look pretty light: a split second stupid action gets five and a half years, while a decade of corruption gets just one year more.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/pryor13.html

Comment by Ouch Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 8:50 pm
Maybe the Blago lovers here can explain why his close friend and fundraising guru Tony Rezko has been “out of the country on business” for some time now. One would think that a person in those roles would be at the candidate’s side down the stretch.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 10:04 pm
Note to “Likes Chocolate”: the difference between Blagojevich and Edgar is that as soon as Edgar was aware of the MSI issue, he stepped up, acknowledged the problem and took corrective actions to address it. When you have thousands of employees under you, someone will screw up. True leadership is displayed equally in how you address problems and how you establish a vision. To my recollection, the Blagojevich has significantly more federal investigations than the Thompson, Edgar and Ryan administrations combined. To compare Blagojevich to Edgar is like trying to compare John Gotti to John McCain… it’s apples and oranges. It’s almost laughable that democrats futilely attempt to point to Edgar. I worked under Edgar and he had COMPETENT senior advisors and left the state in better shape than he found it. Rod’s career is ruined because he lacks leadership and lacks vision. I’m a republican, but I tell you, Paul Vallas would not have had the State of Illinois in the shape it is now. I bet the unions are second-guessing their endorsements of 2002 now.

Comment by David Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 10:06 pm
I should of voted for Glenn Poshard

Comment by Carol Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 11:13 pm
David, stop smoking what you’re smoking. Yeah, Edgar stepped up alright. Once the heat was turned on, he finally paid for the free home computer system MSI gave him. Good lord, he was the first sitting Governor in something like 70 years to be forced to testify in a criminal case. Some top people went to prison in the MSI scandal, and then of course Edgar’s top fundraiser and very close friend Bob Hickman went to jail in the Tollway scandal.

So far with Blagojevich it’s just a lot of allegations and some investigations. No indictments. On the scale of sleaze, Edgar is still a lot dirtier than Blago. I’m really tired of the loose talk. Sticking to the judicial record, these are the facts.

Maybe 5 years from now, things will change. Maybe Blago will surpass Edgar. But it’s nothing but cheap talk to say that now.

Comment by NoneOfTheAbove Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 11:24 pm
Mayor Daley should annex Oxford Wisconsin since alot of the citizens from chicago are resideing there.

Comment by Tom Bigno Thursday, Sep 14, 06 @ 12:10 am
Some “top” people went to prison… and Edgar testified… all true. The top people as you referred to were consultants as I recall. I don’t recall Edgar ever being referred to as Public Official A nor do I recall Edgar’s campaign treasurer being investigated by a federal prosecutor. Nor do I recall anyone giving $1,500 checks to Edgar’s children and then winding up on the state payroll. The only thing smoking from where I sit is the beginning of the brushfire that is about to erupt into a indictment bonfire. The smoke that is being blown here is from the Blagojevich sympethizers… and I suspect some of it is being done on the taxpayers dime. For the record, I’m not a state employee, not a Ryan appointee, and not an Edgar appointee. I happened to work in state government under Edgar in the mid 90’s back when the Governor was respected and was approaching 70% approval ratings… what is Blagojevich’s rating — below 50%? Keep smoking what you’re smoking…I’ll let history mirror the truth.

Comment by David Thursday, Sep 14, 06 @ 1:12 am
Both parties in the past have cornered the ethics market and they are stomping it to death. At the top of the tree like bine weed they come back together.

In the old days, when there were actually business and corporate leaders (yes they were millionaires) with a sense of civic responsibility to the City, the State and the people, they exerted, perhaps too righteously, efforts for good government. Most of them were republicans, but these were people of national stature. They made the Republican Party ethical.

Corporate mergers, moves out of Chicago, downgraded the stature and abilities, and removed the vision of what remained. Daley pere coopted them and the Republican Party in Chicago collapsed. Out of this came a successful prosecuting attorney (Jim Thompson), a career politician from Charleston who was clean (Jim Edgar) and finally, like detritis rising to the surface, George Ryan. The republicans in Chicago were so weak that they had to form what John Kass calls ‘the combine’. Glenn Poshard would have been a good governor, but he was given away by the Democrats in the combine.

In turn, we got Blago. He was a person with zero administrative experience. He could not, I am specuilating, even run Dick Mell’s businesses (the usual place for a son-in-law.) He can not run a government, but he is ours.

Comment by Truthful James Thursday, Sep 14, 06 @ 8:35 am
David, the “consultants” you’re thinking of had left their jobs in Edgar’s Administration to try and earn the big bucks. I don’t know about Edgar’s campaign treasurer, but like I noted, his top fundraiser Bob Hickman went to prison in the Tollway scandal. And good lord, Edgar’s patronage chief, Ms. Cellini, was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the MSI scandal, it was eventually learned. And the computer Edgar received for his home from MSI was valued at much more than $1,500.

I have no love for Blago either. But I can’t stand the hypocricy. The fact that Edgar served before the rise of the web and instant communication, and was able to fool more people in his day, I can’t help that.

Blago may someday go down in history as the most corrupt Governor. I’m just saying the evidence just isn’t there yet. Right now he hasn’t even caught up to Edgar on the sleaze scale. I’m just not going to get excited by loose talk from the same angry state workers that were spreading the rumor that Blago had a baby with a mistress or hooker, or some such crap. That was a couple of years ago. Just wait they said, it will all come out soon. Still waiting.

Comment by NoneOfTheAbove Thursday, Sep 14, 06 @ 2:43 pm
I knew one of the consultants that went to prison. I also know that there are a lot of misguided hacks (on both sides of the aisles) spreading innuendo. I didn’t know Bob Hickman, but he broke the law and he went to jail. Edgar, despite any of your rhetoric to the contrary, was never indicted and certainly was never “outed” as Public Official A as Blagojevich was. Blagojevich is worse than any Governor we have had because he has had the opportunity to govern and has simply opted to campaign. Campaigns are fun, but governing requires leadership and he couldn’t lead an acute case of priopism.

Comment by David Thursday, Sep 14, 06 @ 10:41 pm