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Reform and Renwal, Part 947,496

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Illinois

* We somehow missed Bernie’s column yesterday. The top item was about confessed briber Ali Ata and his long relationship with Gov. Rod Blagojevich…

“He’s a friend,” Blagojevich said [in 2003], adding that they had been acquainted for 15 years. […]

“He’s totally committed to our mission of change and reform,” the governor said.

Unfortunately, that “mission” apparently wasn’t about the sort of “change and reform” that we normally associate with that phrase.

* The governor, by the way, “postponed” an appearance set for today. It’s not hard to wonder why…

A half a century after former U.S. Congressman Ken Gray was working on plans to help build a major highway right through West Frankfort, the retired legislator will have to wait just a little longer for the unique honor of having this area’s portion of the Interstate named after him.

Original plans called for the official ceremony to take place on April 25, at the southbound rest stop near Benton. However, to accommodate the governor, the date for the event has been changed to May 8, at 3 p.m., at the same location, according to the office of Illinois Senator Gary Forby

* Meanwhile, Mike Lawrence had this to say when asked whether the Rezko trial was making it more difficult for the governor to get anything accomplished this year…

“I think it is reaffirmation for legislators that he’s not someone they want to get close to.”

* The Tribune editorialized today that passing a capital plan depends on trustworthy leaders…

When the Blagojevich administration pushed through a $10 billion pension bond deal in 2003, it selected a bond house that paid a mysterious $800,000 consulting fee on the deal to Republican power broker Robert Kjellander.

You may have read about him this week. A federal prosecutor said a former buddy of Rezko who pleaded guilty to corruption charges this week is prepared to testify that Rezko told him in 2004 that Kjellander was pushing White House operative Karl Rove to remove Patrick Fitzgerald as U.S. attorney in Chicago. The ostensible goal: take the heat off the pols in Illinois. Rove and Kjellander deny there was any such effort.

Meanwhile, under the direction of a federal judge, $12 million in Chicago tax money is being paid to 1,427 people who were victims of political discrimination by the administration of Mayor Richard M. Daley.

Illinois needs billions for roads, schools, bridges and more. But just as surely, it needs political leaders whom the people of Illinois think they can trust with 25 billion of their dollars.

I’m not sure how we get from Point A to Point B with the players we have, but maybe the Tribune will inform us later how that might be accomplished.

* Over at the Rezko trial, Hollywood producer and real estate mogul Tom Rosenberg testified yesterday about an alleged shakedown attempt to squeeze $1.5 million in campaign contributions for Gov. Blagojevich’s campaign. Rosenberg has immunity from prosecution, so he was quite blunt about his alleged conversation with Bill Cellini over how much he would make from an investment deal with the Teachers Retirement System…

“I expected Mr. Cellini to offer a solution,” Rosenberg said, “and to give me an amount that would be necessary to pay to the Blagojevich campaign.”

* Rosenberg also claimed that he could see the future, and it wasn’t pretty…

[Rosenberg once predicted to] GOP power broker Bill Cellini that the way a state board operated, people could end up in court. Rosenberg called up Cellini when he had business stall with the Teachers’ Retirement System board. Rosenberg had a feeling that his old nemesis Stuart Levine, who was on the TRS board, was behind torpedoing the deal. […]

Cellini allegedly told Rosenberg in Feb. 2004 that TRS executive director Jon Bauman was under “serious stress.”

“Bauman was having serious stress issues because he was being pressured by the governor’s people to invest TRS money into incompetent companies or risky ventures,” Rosenberg said he told Cellini. “I said, tell him not to do it. He said: ‘Jon is not that strong,’ Rosenberg said.

“One day, Jon Bauman is going to be raising his hand under oath and he’s going to tell what happened and that day is going to be very bad for Mr. (Chris) Kelly and Mr. Rezko.”

* Rosenberg also claimed to have said this…

“And if there isn’t a grand jury already on Mr. Rezko and Kelly, there shortly would be,” [Rosenberg] said he warned.

* Related…

* ‘Men With Broken Hearts’

* Hollywood mogul says he didn’t like being squeezed

* Give me a million dollars, baby

* The Human Stain — an Allison Davis sidenote

* Let the people vote on recall measure

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Apr 25, 08 @ 9:22 am

Comments

Didn’t the State have to bail TRS out a while back? Now on top of its regualr financial troubles we find assets are being wasted or invested poorly to direct money to the Gov?

Any incumbent of the genral Assembly who thinks they should not impeach better hope their challengers do not hit this point hard during the election. This is why the impeachment provision does not provide the safeguard a recall provision would. Put the power in the hands of the citizenry.

Comment by Ghost Friday, Apr 25, 08 @ 9:35 am
I recall having read several “letters to the editor” over Mr. Bauman’s name in the past couple years. They seemed like storm warning flags to me about the TRS pension fund shenanigans, unless I misinterpreted their intent. Even with his hefty salary, I am sure Mr. Bauman was, and is, indeed under “serious stress.”

Comment by anon Friday, Apr 25, 08 @ 9:45 am
Growing up in Illinois, it was taken as a given that there was a certain amount of corruption. Some were outraged by it, some were believers in the spoils system, some thought a little bit was okay to grease the wheels of government.

What everyone presumed, for the most part, was that the corrupt, the really big guys, were pretty sharp — if not smart, then cunning. That’s why they rarely got caught.

I don’t believe that anymore. The players in this trial have all the subtlety of a tuba.

In the movie “All the President’s Men” there’s a great line from the Deep Throat character that seems appropriate here:

“Forget the myths the media’s created about the White House. The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.”

His next line is, “Follow the money.”

A lot of the players in this mess have been at this game for a very long time. You wonder why they haven’t been taken down until now.

Comment by wordslinger Friday, Apr 25, 08 @ 10:27 am
==You wonder why they haven’t been taken down until now.==

Someone let the dogs out. I wonder who? Mmmmmm . . .

Comment by anon Friday, Apr 25, 08 @ 10:33 am
Wordslinger dont foget the LEvine/Cellini phone call where Cellini is worried that Kelly and Rezko are way to heavy handed about shakedowns and are going to get everyone busted.

Corruption went from cunning under Ryan to Sledgahammer cunningless under Blago.

Comment by Ghost Friday, Apr 25, 08 @ 10:57 am
WORDSLINGER

I don’t know if todays politicians are more or less smart than those of earlier days.

The big difference is that now days the Feds have taken over many of these prosecutions. In the old days it was the local states attorney who did the investigations and prosecutions. The Feds have unlimited resources, and unlike the local states attorney, they have no connection to the potential party under investigation. Also, the laws have changed. Now the Feds have the power to grant immunity for witnesses; that was not the case in “the old days”

Also, I think what really opened the flood gates leading to all these Federal prosecutions was the indictment and Fed prosecution of the former Gov. Stratton. To the best of my memory this was the first Federal prosecution of a Illinois Gov.

Finally, I think in some instances, the Fed prosecutors are overly ambitious. The more “scalps they can hang on the wall”, the greater monetary reward they will get when they go into private practice!

Comment by MOON Friday, Apr 25, 08 @ 11:27 am
Thanks to Mr. Fitzgerald, a new day may be dawning in IL politics…no insider could ever bringdown the house of cards that is
IL politics quite the way he seems to be going about it…
I always knew many elected public officials were on the take, but never realized that in the background were political insider/kingmakers/ who profitted from the corruption way more and in a less visible manner, regardless of what party held the reins of power…sad and fascinating at the same time…

Comment by Anonymous45 Friday, Apr 25, 08 @ 12:02 pm
wordslinger, I agree that there has always been the assumption of a certain amount of corruption in IL or Chicago politics. However, I think most people believed this was limited to a certain volume or a certain type of corruption that was manageable in the sense that it wasn’t going to put our state into dire financial straits. A patronage hire here, a kickback there - where’s the harm in the big picture? Problem is, it seems the level of corruption has been ratcheted up to levels that defy logic and are going to cause some very serious long term financial consequences for the citizenry of this state. Between the direct costs of financial mismanagement and numerous unqualified people thrown into positions they are not prepared to handle, and the indirect costs of future financial fallout from legal costs, poor investment returns, etc, we’re heading down a very dangerous path financially. The longer we let the current administration fester in place, the worse things are going to be for whoever has to fix this disaster.

Comment by BigDog Friday, Apr 25, 08 @ 12:11 pm
First, the feds do not have “unlimited resources” - they just don’t have to get elected (and in some places, local prosecutors are appointed). Second, the reason Fitzgerald gets so much in the way of resources for public corruption is Northern Illinois is seen as a “target rich environment” - although that is true of all of Illinois. In contrast, the federal prosecutors in LA have shut down their public corruption unit. Based upon media accounts, there are plenty of things for Fitzgerald to look at for a long time - including the Republican suburbs. And, by the way, both Obama and McCain have said they would reappoint Fitzgerald.

Comment by Smitty Irving Friday, Apr 25, 08 @ 12:45 pm
It’s my understanding that TRS has a very good record for investment returns since Bauman has been there.

Comment by steve schnorf Friday, Apr 25, 08 @ 1:08 pm
Rosenberg’s testimony very “darning.”
Sounds Like Rezco and Kelly were way out o=f their league dealing with R. No subtlety at at in squeezing Rosenberg.

Fitz has job security for sure - at least as long as he wants to stay.

I can’t imagine that any new President would want to create a firestorm of protest by reaplcing him.
An alternate strategy might be to promote Fitz to a high level position in Washington.

Comment by Captain America Friday, Apr 25, 08 @ 1:15 pm
About the time Ali Ata is to take the stand next week, state employees will be taking their anual ethics training….hmmmm

Comment by Hack Slacker Friday, Apr 25, 08 @ 1:26 pm
The funny thing about the ethics training is that pay-to-play is not covered because it’s not barred under Governor Reform’s ethics law. Oh wait, there’s another funny thing about the training. Until recently the front cover barred sharing the training materials with anyone without the express permission of the Gov’s IG! Hysterical.

Comment by Google Girl Friday, Apr 25, 08 @ 3:29 pm
Smitty: Republican suburbs still exist? News to me.

Comment by The Cypress Saturday, Apr 26, 08 @ 10:19 am
Hurtgen’s trial is next week. Let’s see where that goes. He was the one who paid Kjellander nearly $1 Million- about half of which ended up in Rezko’s pocket.

The question is why was Rosenberg under immunity- what did he have to give? Most likely he has the dirt on Cellini. If things get too hot for Cellini then goes Kjellander. Hurtgen could be a short cut to all of this.

The question is, “was it worth it for them”. I mean Cellini made out like a bandit all these years so maybe he thinks it’s worth it but for the rest did they ever really see the big payday. If so their legal fees must be gobbling it up pretty fast.

Go Fitzy Go!

Comment by GofGelnview Saturday, Apr 26, 08 @ 3:51 pm
This seems like the next likely step for this investigation:

http://www.sj-r.com/News/stories/26006.asp

Hurtgen also recieved a $500,000 finder’s fee for a $100,000,000 investment from TRS.

Good business IF you can get it?

Comment by GofGelnview Saturday, Apr 26, 08 @ 4:17 pm