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* We finally have a new prosecution witness in the Tony Rezko trial, and he seems much more believable than Stu Levine. Joe Cari was a bigtime Democratic fundraiser, but, like Levine, backed Jim Ryan for governor in 2002. Cari’s connections to Bill Clinton and his fundraising prowess for Al Gore allegedly brought him to the attention of Blagojevich…
Gov. Blagojevich was sitting across from his then-deputy governor, Bradley Tusk, on the New Jersey-bound private plane in 2003 when Tusk got up and asked well-known Democratic political fund-raiser Joseph Cari if he’d switch seats.
Cari didn’t know the governor well, he testified Tuesday at Tony Rezko’s corruption trial. So Cari was surprised when Blagojevich offered a vision for his political future and told Cari he could play a role.
“The governor wanted to know about my experience in the 2000 election” as one of unsuccessful presidential hopeful Al Gore’s top fund-raisers, Cari testified. “He then slid into how excited he was to be governor, some of the dreams he had and also he had aspirations beyond the governorship.”
* More…
Cari quoted Blagojevich as saying Rezko and another fundraiser, Christopher Kelly, were his most trusted advisers and “they were going to be the key people in his public service wherever it went.” Blagojevich told him there would be “investment banking work, consulting work to give to the people who helped them,” Cari said.
“Wherever it went” meant the White House. Remember those days? Seems like eons ago.
* Another Cari quote…
“Gov. Blagojevich was very attuned that Gov. Clinton at the time was able to raise a lot of money”
Back in Chicago, Cari said he was summoned to meetings with both Rezko and Kelly where they urged him to raise money for Blagojevich.
He said Kelly “pushed me pretty hard — that this would be good for my law firm and my private equity firm, that I could have whatever I wanted but they needed help raising funds nationally.”
Cari said he met with Stuart Levine at Rezko’s office in January that year. Rezko said he had the power to award contracts and get consultants hired through the governor’s then-chief of staff, Lon Monk, Cari said.
“Mr. Monk took direction from [Rezko],” Cari told the jury.
Rezko illustrated his clout by picking up the phone and apparently calling Monk in front of him, Cari said.
Assistant U.S. Atty. Reid Schar then asked Cari, who was a managing director at an investment firm known as HealthPoint, what Rezko told him he could do for him.
“Legal work or help for HealthPoint,” Cari said. “Things like that that would be helpful to me.”
And what did Rezko ask in return? Schar queried.
“To raise money for the governor, nationally,” Cari said.
* Related stories…
* Blagojevich apparently following Rezko case after all
* Blagojevich: ‘I’m in good company’
* Rezko defense probes possible tie between Levine, Bush
* Cross examination of Levine ends
* ‘I’m here to tell the truth,’ Rezko witness declares
* Cari depressed but says mind is clear
* Rezko trial shows who’s dialed in
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Apr 16, 08 @ 7:34 am
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I’m shocked.
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, Apr 16, 08 @ 8:26 am
Me too.
Comment by Cassandra Wednesday, Apr 16, 08 @ 8:29 am
Tusk saw the Blagojevich Express train speeding out of control before he bailed. He may have even shoveled a few piles of coal into the fire. I think the bridge over that next canyon is out, Rod. Ugh.
Comment by Truth Wednesday, Apr 16, 08 @ 8:38 am
I think the Jury will believe Cari, forget Rezko making a deal, but Rod should be thinking about it
Comment by Just Because Wednesday, Apr 16, 08 @ 8:43 am
I woke up this morning in the good ol USA. The sun is shining, food and medicine are plentiful, and the noose is tightening around the governor. I think I’ll go and fix myself some apple pie and relish this turn of events. As Truth says, “….train speeding out of control.”
Comment by Justice Wednesday, Apr 16, 08 @ 8:49 am
I see one minor problem with this. Maybe major.
Presidential candidates can’t ( and couldn’t then) raise big money from small groups of people. Donations had been limited, and soft money was banned.
You can’t raise for a presidential run by bilking state contractors for $1.5 million donations. He would have been limited to $2000 chunks.
Clinton could do it back in 1992. Rod couldn’t do it in 2004.
And he knew that - I think he voted for McCain-Feingold.
So, I am slightly struggling with this alleged concept that Cari is talking about.
Comment by problem Wednesday, Apr 16, 08 @ 9:08 am
The answer is he had to get reelected first.
Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Apr 16, 08 @ 9:09 am
Cari’s testimony appears to be a powerful antitidote to Levine’s memory problems.He essntially corroborates the central thrust of Levine’s narrative to the jury.And Cari appears to put the Governor at the heart of the Levine-Rezco-Kelly conspiracy.
Comment by Captain America Wednesday, Apr 16, 08 @ 9:24 am
Cari was a big-time bundler, too. An investment house gets a negotiated state bond deal. Next thing you know, 50 investment bankers from the firm have maxed out for your presidential exploratory committee.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Apr 16, 08 @ 9:43 am
Problem - Blago has never allowed little inconveniences like truth and laws to interfere with his wants. Just ask the legislature and JCAR or anyone else who has to try to work with him.
Comment by cynically anonymous Wednesday, Apr 16, 08 @ 9:46 am
Does the gov’t hvae any witnesses at all that are not on drugs?
Comment by Bill Wednesday, Apr 16, 08 @ 10:36 am
Bill - Does it not bother you that these people were at the top of the gov’s food chain??
Comment by Just Be Realistic Wednesday, Apr 16, 08 @ 11:13 am
Bill, some would argue you would have to be on drugs to get in that deep with the gov.
Comment by OneMan Wednesday, Apr 16, 08 @ 11:29 am
Joe Cari is a good guy who made some poor choices around the time his life was in shambles (his wife was extemely ill for some time and her passing really messed him up). While Levine is despicable and generally not that credible on his own, I have to believe that absent a truly compelling cross-examination, Cari’s testimony is really going to hurt Rezko and the Governor.
Comment by pingu Wednesday, Apr 16, 08 @ 11:52 am
Problem, you have to remember that fundraising networks run deep. Cari’s connections to Gore meant he probably had binders and Excel files full of people who could easily max out for a federal race - or dump countless funds in for a re-election campaign. And, as ’slinger pointed out, bundling is legal. Lawyers, corporate execs, bankers, doctors and other ultra-professionals do this frequently.
Cari’s testimony clearly shows that Blago actively or at least subtly sought out donations and clout. There’s no getting around that. Politicians - even the good ones - have to make the phone calls and be proactive when it comes to raising money to stay in office. Blago is no different.
I don’t think Tusk bailed. He can’t be making much more in NYC. And I can’t imagine he has any more influence there than he did here.
Comment by Team Sleep Wednesday, Apr 16, 08 @ 11:56 am
I’m getting a kick out of the orchestrated spin on these boards defending wilhelm and carl as if but for the evil stu, their reputations would be pristine. Stu was a follower not a leader. Those who tangled themselves with the blago corruption machine did so because they were greedy and they deserve all the scorn and federal attention they are getting.
Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Apr 16, 08 @ 5:56 pm
I think Monk and Tusk bailed because they saw the writing on the wall and wanted to find some lucrative employment while they were still employable. It will be interesting to see if they are called to testify. I would sure like to hear from them about who met with the guv.
Comment by Disgusted Wednesday, Apr 16, 08 @ 6:01 pm
Anon556, I don’t know what your obsession with Wilhelm is (and I know you’ve posted before on this), but you’re so far off base on this it’s kind of nutty. There are a lot of honorable people who worked to get Rod elected because they believed it was important to get a Dem elected for the first time in 30 years. Just because they did so, doesn’t mean they’re all automatically crooked.
There’s a world of difference between doing a small amount of lobbying, wholesale cashing in or worse, the kind of conduct we see on display in the Rezko trial. Sorry you don’t understand that.
Comment by DaveChgo Wednesday, Apr 16, 08 @ 6:21 pm
You know, Jim Ryan (to name just one) had three times the adversity in his life this guy Cari ever did and we never saw him either go to the dark side or blame his problems on someone else.
I’ve been hearing this crap from Cari’s legion of friends, flacks, lawyers, and spinners ever since he got the second federal knock. I’ve had a bellyful of their rationalizations.
Face the facts, guys. Your pal is a crook. He didn’t make one phone call, he made about a dozen, if not more. He threatened everyone from the poor lady who answered the phone up through the CEO of the company with either firing or loss of the TRS money. If somebody hadn’t finally said NO to him, the cash may well have been on its merry way to the sun-soaked islands.
Comment by Arthur Andersen Wednesday, Apr 16, 08 @ 7:27 pm
Between the testimony of Cari and Levine to direct representations of the Governor, and all of the other circumstantial evidence of corruption, it seems like the feds are about two pieces of chewing gum from being able to indict the gov. himself.
The fact that Rezko, unpaid and with no experience in government , had such power seems untenable to the type of person who would be a juror. Did he do any due diligence on Rezko? His only remaining defense is incompetence, and jurors don’t like that one either.
Comment by Quizzical Wednesday, Apr 16, 08 @ 9:13 pm
Also, Blago as President? Isn’t there some kind of law against saying that with a straight face?
Comment by Quizzical Wednesday, Apr 16, 08 @ 9:16 pm