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[Updated and bumped to the top]
*** UPDATE *** The federal government’s recordings of Stu Levine’s phone calls are proving to be quite damaging already…
In another recording played for the jury after lunch, Thomas Beck, then-chairman of the state Health Facilities Planning Board, and Stuart Levine, the board’s vice chairman, can be heard discussing the Mercy Health System’s plan before the controversial vote on April 21, 2004.
Levine told Beck he thought Mercy would be able to address the shortcomings in its plan at the meeting, but Beck still had some concerns about appearances.
Beck told Levine that their “good friend,” a reference to Rezko, advocated covering their tracks as a voting bloc.
“I’d like everybody to vote ‘no’ now and then, so it doesn’t look like there’s the five, the clique,” Beck quoted Rezko as telling him.
Rezko’s attorneys have argued in previous filings that there was no voting bloc.
* Also…
Acting on “marching orders” from Tony Rezko, former state health planning board chairman Tom Beck testified today he called Rezko associate Stuart Levine and laid out the plan.
“I got the marching orders . . . there’s one . . . Mercy Hospital,” Beck can be heard telling Levine in a secretly made recording of an April 19, 2004, phone call that was played in federal court today at Rezko’s corruption trial. “Our boy wants to help them.”
“Our boy” meant Rezko, said Beck, who chaired the Illinois Hospital Facilities Planning Board, which Levine served as co-chair.
Beck testified today that he often called Levine just before a board meeting to relay Rezko’s wishes about how votes should go. Then, at board meetings, Beck told jurors he would hand out Rezko’s directions on votes to other Rezko “friends” on the board. In all, those five board members comprised a bloc with enough votes to approve projects.
Ouch.
* My syndicated newspaper column takes a look at yet another unkept promise by Gov. Blagojevich…
In early 2006, Gov. Rod Blagojevich faced a firestorm of criticism from Jewish leaders for his appointment of Louis Farrakhan’s “minister of protocol” to the Illinois Hate Crimes Commission. Several Jewish members resigned from the commission in protest of Sister Claudette Marie Muhammad’s appointment, but Blagojevich refused to back down and claimed he didn’t know who she was when he put her on the commission.
A small handful of Jewish leaders opposed the mass resignations from the Hate Crimes Commission. One of those was Rabbi Philip Lefkowitz, of the Agudas Achim-North Shore Congregation. Lefkowitz claims he was sharply and repeatedly criticized by other Jewish leaders for opposing the resignations.
The situation had indeed created a gigantic firestorm in Chicago at the time and tensions were high. Blagojevich, who had just kicked off his re-election campaign, began desperately seeking allies as he tried to walk a fine line between angering African-American allies (several black legislators wanted him to stand firm on the appointment) and the Jewish community. So, he asked some of the more sympathetic clergy to a meeting in his Chicago office.
Lefkowitz attended that meeting with the governor and other religious leaders to discuss how to deal with the Hate Crime Commission resignations. Before the meeting started, Lefkowitz claims he was told by Blagojevich’s Senate floor leader, Carol Ronen, that the governor was interested in helping with his work and offered to free up $400,000 in grant money to help him build a nonsectarian community center in Uptown. Lefkowitz asked for $500,000, and was allegedly told Ronen would see what she could do.
After the meeting, Blagojevich helped Rabbi Lefkowitz with his coat and allegedly said he wanted to assist with the center project. Later, Blagojevich attended a Passover Seder at the Rabbi’s synagogue and once again promised him and the synagogue president, Steve Tuck, that he was committed to the community center grant.
As you might have guessed by now, Lefkowitz never got the money. The furor over the Hate Crimes Commission eventually died down, the media moved on to other things, and Lefkowitz received a letter last May from the governor’s deputy chief of staff informing him the state simply didn’t have enough money to help build the facility.
Last week, Lefkowitz sent a snarky letter to various Chicago newspapers asking whether it’s possible “that as with Pilgrim Baptist Church, the check was sent to ‘the wrong place.’ “
* Meanwhile, the Tony Rezko trial basically went over a lot of old ground yesterday. Rep. Jack Franks’ name came up, but regardless of what you might have read this was not new news…
The Illinois public got its first look Tuesday at a series of letters state administrators wrote under pressure from state Rep. Jack Franks, who urged them to back the private interests of his client, Mercy Hospital, in its 2003 quest to build a Crystal Lake facility.
* The Blagojevich administration released some of those letters a couple of years ago in an attempt to deflect criticism onto Franks. At the time, they accused Franks of using his position as a state legislator to lobby the administration. Franks denied it, but he did send at least one letter on his official letterhead. Not a good move.
However, this is quite misleading…
But one of the letters admitted into evidence Tuesday, written by Illinois Department of Revenue Director Brian Hamer said, “I am writing at the request of Representative Jack Franks.” That use of Franks’ title as a legislator would reflect the feeling of several department heads, who said in previous published interviews they felt Franks was putting the strong-arm on them as a state representative, not a private lawyer.
The mention of his title means nothing. Period. It’s his title. And the agency heads were following the governor’s lead by dumping on Franks. Nothing can be determined by what they said. Plus…
In an interview later, Franks downplayed the work he did and noted that four months had passed between the time he quit representing the hospital and the state board approved the project.
* More reform and renewal…
* Curious hospital vote arises in Rezko trial
* Witness: Levine whisper changed board vote
* Rezko letters hint at ‘pressure’ by lawmaker over hospital expansion
* Tuesday Rezko Update: A Whisper Was All It Took
* Rezko gavel-to-gavel: Hospital project vote flipped
* Whispering at Health Board meeting stunned crowd, former board lawyer testifies
* Crowd gasped when panel OKd hospital, witness says
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Mar 12, 08 @ 2:23 pm
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Sorry, but basically ANY time a legislator writes a letter, or calls a state official, can that official REALLY forget who has the purse strings for his office? For Franks to lobby those dept heads is not much different from the Boss asking you to buy Girl scout cookies from his daughter.
He may not mean to pressure you, but most people would FEEL pressure.
Want a con -con proposal? State legislators can’t do any legal work that has them lobby or represent clients before state or local gov boards.
Comment by Pat collins Wednesday, Mar 12, 08 @ 10:47 am
Pat, I would throw in bond counsel work as well.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Mar 12, 08 @ 11:00 am
He must have only gotten a C in judging the integrity of people when he went to rabbi school.
Comment by Not a Yeshiva Bocher Wednesday, Mar 12, 08 @ 11:06 am
Franks may wish to downplay what he did, but press reports at the time indicated it was HIGHLY unusual for sitting cabinet members to weigh in on a proposal at the Planning Board, unless it was their own project; in fact, virtually unprecedented. I guess Franks just has unusual powers of persuasion.
Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Mar 12, 08 @ 1:11 pm
Anon, you make a good point. My point, though, is we’ve been over this several times already.
Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Mar 12, 08 @ 1:35 pm
Wow — just reading the Trib’s latest entry in their “Gavel-to-gavel” series. The bit about Beck passing out the notecards at the board meeting — indicating that “our friend” Tony likes such-and-such and is interested in this-and-that.
That’s beautiful. I mean, it’s awful. But it’s so classically messed-up and so over-the-top that it’s quite impressive — and awe-inspiringly brazen.
Even Gotti has brains enough to put his hand over his mouth when he was outside his club talking with his soldiers.
And the man himself, Spitzer, used to say that the goal was always to nod and wink — never to commit anything in writing.
That Rezko. Captain of the clowns.
Comment by Macbeth Wednesday, Mar 12, 08 @ 2:34 pm
I should say Gotti “had” — past tense.
Comment by Macbeth Wednesday, Mar 12, 08 @ 2:35 pm
“After the meeting, Blagojevich helped Rabbi Lefkowitz with his coat and allegedly said he wanted to assist with the center project.”
Why is it that after reading that line I envisioned Blogo rifling through the Rabbi’s pockets, filching anything valuable, patting him on the back and sending him on his way?
Why, I ask you, why?
Comment by Garp Wednesday, Mar 12, 08 @ 3:00 pm
I mentioned before that I suspected the tape and other witnesses would probably be so damaging to Rezko as to deflate a defense based on attacking levine.
The Beck testimony and recording definetly put Rezko in the control spot he denies, and is backed up by Beck and recordings.
If he does not see he writing on the wall (make the deal) he is in for a rough ride.
Comment by Ghost Wednesday, Mar 12, 08 @ 3:11 pm
Worse, politically, is that this is VERY easy for the common voter to understand, and know it’s wrong. Complex deals, tax scams are one thing.
This is totally different.
Comment by Pat collins Wednesday, Mar 12, 08 @ 3:18 pm
There are two ways for a prosecutor to present a major ‘flipper’ witness like Levine. One, you can call him first,if you think he will make a decent witness, so you can see up front what damage the defense does to him on cross-examination, and then try to repair and corroborate him with the subsequent witnesses. Second, you can call other witnesses first to lay out the scenario, so that when your ‘flipper’ testifies later, the jury will be more inclined to believe him because he is consistent with what the other witnesses have already said. The USA in the Rezko prosecution has chosen the latter strategy. So they are not sure of Levine as a good witness. But then they had more than just Levine, or they would not have brought the case at all! The tapes first will help the jury believe Levine, even if they also believe he is a bad person. That’s what makes trials so much fun! It’s a chess match.
Comment by Legal Eagle Wednesday, Mar 12, 08 @ 3:21 pm
“That Rezko. Captain of the clowns.”
Some clown.
Appears to have run the state government single handed.
Comment by True Observer Wednesday, Mar 12, 08 @ 3:30 pm
And where was the media to dig up and report on all of this?
Why were we paying good money for those newspapers.
Oh, I forget. The weekly inserts.
Comment by True Observer Wednesday, Mar 12, 08 @ 3:34 pm
===And where was the media to dig up and report on all of this?===
We can’t wiretap, silly.
Also, there have been a ton of stories published about Rezko and his influence, or have you been absent these past few years?
Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Mar 12, 08 @ 3:58 pm
>> Appears to have run the state government single handed.
Strange but true — and (ironically?) it’s perhaps more than Blagojevich can claim.
Comment by Macbeth Wednesday, Mar 12, 08 @ 4:31 pm
Index cards, whispers, changing votes… corrupt and incompetent.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Mar 12, 08 @ 4:47 pm
actually, the administration should have told the rabbi that they did not get the money because they did not have a school located far away from the synagogue in a building no one has ever seen them at; did not have an official who had to be pardoned in order to receive the money; and did not have a teacher who had been harrassed and threatened with retaliation after the lawsuit.
Rabbi, come on! The Blagojevich Administration has its standards, now!
Comment by some former legislative intern Wednesday, Mar 12, 08 @ 6:39 pm