Chris Kelly pleads guilty to O'Hare scheme

By Bethany Jaeger
Christopher Kelly, a close adviser and fundraiser for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, pleaded guilty today to two counts of mail fraud in one of three federal indictments against him. But it's unknown whether he's cooperating in the ex-governor's ongoing corruption trial.

Read his plea agreement here. The Burr Ridge resident reports to jail September 18 and will forfeit $450,000 for a scheme of rigging roofing contracts with two major airlines and using illegal kickbacks for personal use. On top of a three-year prison sentence for a separate tax fraud case, his plea Tuesday calls for a nearly five-year sentence.


Kelly pleaded guilty to rigging bids to steer $8.5 million in inflated contracts for roofing work done on American Airlines and United Airline facilities at O’Hare International Airport between 1998 and 2006. The scheme benefited BCI Commercial Roofing Inc. in Markham, of which he is president and owner.

About $1 million of the kickbacks went to repay gambling debts and a home loan, according to the plea. Some of the kickbacks also went to entities associated with Tony Rezko.

Kelly originally was charged with 11 counts of mail fraud and six counts of money laundering for the scheme.

• His December 2007 indictment charged him with using corporate funds from his roofing and consulting firms to pay illegal gambling debt. He received three years in prison for those charges.
• His February 2009 indictment includes the O’Hare kickback scheme. His plea seeks nearly 4.5 years more on two counts of mail fraud.
• He still faces trial for his involvement in Blagojevich’s ongoing corruption case, scheduled for court June 2010.

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Prosecutors target “Blagojevich Enterprise” - UPDATED

By Bethany Jaeger, with Hilary Russell and Jamey Dunn contributing
Today’s 75-page federal indictment of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and five members of his inner circle details an extensive and long-term scheme that allegedly began in 2002, before Blagojevich took his oath of office in January 2003.


U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s office is now going after what’s described as the “Blagojevich Enterprise,” which includes the office of the governor and Blagojevich’s campaign fund, Friends of Blagojevich. The entity, the feds allege, primarily existed to “exercise and preserve power over Illinois government for the financial and political benefit of Blagojevich,” as well as his family members and friends.

Read the U.S. attorney's press release here. A fact sheet is here. More context and online sources of how we got here at Illinois Issues magazine.

Blagojevich and his associates allegedly conducted a pattern of dishonest behavior designed to enrich themselves, which would violate the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, according to Andrew Leipold, a law professor with the University of Illinois’ Institute of Government and Public Affairs.

Blagojevich is charged with 16 counts of federal corruption, including racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud, extortion conspiracy and attempted extortion. They each carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He also allegedly lied to the FBI, a crime carrying a maximum five-year prison sentence and another $250,000 fine. In addition to the allegations already documented in the criminal affidavit filed with his arrest Dec. 9, 2008, today’s indictment includes new details and allegations.

Who
The indictment reads less like alphabet soup because federal prosecutors in the Northern District of Illinois have identified and, in some cases, convicted individuals as part of the ongoing probe called Operation Board Games. Joining Blagojevich in the indictment include five others:

• His brother, Rob Blagojevich of Nashville, Tenn., who chaired his campaign fund since August 2008.
• John Harris of Chicago, Blagojevich’s chief of staff from late 2005 until last December, when he was arrested with Blagojevich.
• Alonzo “Lon” Monk of Park Ridge, a lobbyist and longtime Blagojevich insider and campaign manager, as well as Blagojevich’s first chief of staff upon becoming governor in 2003.
• Christopher Kelly of Burr Ridge, a Blagojevich fundraiser and previous chair of Blagojevich’s campaign fund.
• William “Bill” Cellini of Springfield, director of the Illinois Asphalt Pavement Association, who raised money for Blagojevich and allegedly influenced officials of the Teachers’ Retirement System. He also was associated with Commonwealth Realty Advisors, a real estate management firm that invested hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of TRS. He was indicted in October 2008 for “allegedly conspiring with others to obtain campaign funds for Blagojevich by shaking down an investment firm seeking a $220 million allocation from TRS.” This replaces that indictment.

What
Before Blagojevich even became governor, he, along with Monk, Kelly and Tony Rezko, allegedly started scheming to use the governor’s office for financial gain that would be split among them once Blagojevich left office. Blagojevich allegedly let Kelly and Rezko exercise significant influence over state government operations, and they, in turn, allegedly generated millions of dollars for Blagojevich’s campaign fund and “provided financial benefits directly to Blagojevich and his family.” For instance, one part of the scheme allegedly included Rezko's real estate business paying Patti Blagojevich, the then-governor's wife, $12,000 a month, as well as another $40,000 in commission, "even though she had done little or no work," according to the indictment.

The indictment also alleges that Blagojevich had control of his campaign fund at all times, even as the chairmen of the fund changed.

UPDATED: Some more highlights of the details:

• Before Blagojevich became governor, he, along with Monk, Kelly and Rezko, allegedly started scheming to use the governor’s office for financial gain that would be split among them once Blagojevich left office.
• Blagojevich, Monk, Kelly and Rezko allegedly agreed to use Blagojevich’s and Monk’s offices to divide financial gain among themselves, including the kickback from the Pension Obligation Bond refinancing in 2003.
• The feds say Blagojevich lied to FBI agents on March16, 2005, when he said he kept state government and politics separate and didn't want to know who contributed money to his campaign.
• From 2004 to 2006, Rezko allegedly gave Monk between $70,000 and $90,000.
• Last year, Blagojevich allegedly directed Harris to find him a paid position at various state boards, and when that didn’t work, he directed Harris to connect his wife with financial institutions. When that failed, Blagojvich directed that those institutions to no longer get state business, according to the indictment.
  

The federal prosecutors are seeking the forfeiture of all funds and assets held at four banks in the name of Friends of Blagojevich, although the campaign fund is not a defendant. Fitzgerald's office also seeks $188,370 from Blagojevich as proceeds of the alleged scheme and racketeering activity. The indictment lists Blagojevich’s apartment and Chicago home as “substitute assets.”

Now what?
The indictment comes after more than a month of public hearings conducted by two panels, one appointed by Gov. Pat Quinn and one convened as a special joint legislative committee between the House and the Senate. Within two hours of the indictment being filed office tonight, one of the byproducts of the legislative committee passed both chambers.

The General Assembly approved SB 364, crafted with the leadership of House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton. It’s aimed at reforming the state’s public employee pension system and requiring all trustees to abide by state ethics laws. All trustees of the Teachers’ Retirement System, specifically, would be replaced. And the governor would be able to appoint more trustees to that board.

The Teachers’ Retirement System, which serves more than 355,500 teachers outside of Chicago, was one of the first state government operations revealed by the feds to be corrupted by Blagojevich’s inner circle, according to Fitzgerald’s office. System officials immediately released a statement of opposition, saying the governor’s ability to appoint more members has potential to increase, not decrease, the opportunity for political influence.

The board’s statement said the rationale behind the measure “erroneously accused the elected members of the board of failing to prevent a corruption scheme in 2004 hatched by a former gubernatorial appointee,” meaning Stuart Levine. “The elected trustees of the TRS Board are angry and deeply troubled by the implication that they were somehow complicit in the illegal behavior carried out by Stuart Levine,” said Bob Lyons, a board trustee twice-elected by annuitants of the Teachers’ Retirement System following Levine’s resignation, according to the statement.

Lyons also said that terminating Jon Bauman, executive director of the system, on July 1 would unfairly punish a man who hasn’t been accused of committing a crime.

Cullerton said the reforms are designed to prevent “what Stuart Levine got away with for so long” by requiring consultants to register, requiring all board members to follow the same ethics standards applied to legislators and executive branch employees to prevent conflicts of interest and so-called pay-to-play politics.

Cullerton also offered his personal reaction to the former governor’s indictment. “I think it’s a sad situation because he is the father of a couple of kids. He lives down the street from me, and it’s always sad when stuff like this happens. But, at the same time, I can’t imagine what this place would be like if he were still the governor trying to solve the problems that we have with the incredible deficits that we have.”

Legislators of both parties added that the indictment should serve as yet another wakeup call to enact meaningful reforms to strengthen rules for campaign finance, state procurement, public access to information and even the structure of government. Ultimately, however, reforms can only make it harder for people who are bent on mischief, Leipold said. “Surely oversight can help, sunshine can help, reporting can help, but nothing’s going to stop things like this completely.”

Many just want to move on from the embarrassment. “There’s plenty of blame to go around,” said Rep. Bill Black, a Danville Republican. “I don’t care about what has happened. Let's get involved and care about how we clean this up. I want my grandkids to be proud of me.”

At the least, federal prosecutors continue to send a message that “business as usual” won’t be tolerated. Sen. Matt Murphy, a Palatine Republican, said: “And the prosecutor is serious. People who want to play that game better learn real quick it’s a losing proposition.”

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Prepare for the stimulus

By Bethany Jaeger, with Jamey Dunn contributing
Jack Lavin prefers not to be called this state’s “stimulus czar,” but his first two days on the job as Gov. Pat Quinn’s chief operating officer (corrected) have been dominated by projections of the amount of money Illinois will capture from the $787 billion federal stimulus package.

But Lavin also responded to concerns that his appointment could be clouded by his past ties to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and convicted felon Tony Rezko. Rezko was one of the people who recommended Lavin for his previous job as director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity during Blagojevich’s administration. Lavin and Quinn reportedly have been friends. Lavin pointed to his record. Here’s what he had to say:

I worked for those two men. They made some bad decisions. I had no part in any of those decisions, and I think my track record at DCEO speaks for itself. And it was a track record of working with business leaders, labor leaders, local governments, local mayors, legislators on both sides of the aisle, the congressional delegation. If you ask them, they will all say that we treated people with respect and integrity. We returned their calls, and that’s just the kind of thing and the kind of collaboration and partnership that we had at DCEO that we need now across all agencies, and working with the legislature, to be on the road to economic recovery.

Lavin testified to a special Senate committee this evening that Illinois could receive about $7 billion for programs and state operations, as well as about $2 billion for transportation-related and capital projects.

While the National Governor’s Association and the National Conference of State Legislatures ranks Illinois 6th in the nation for the amount of money it's estimated to receive in stimulus funds (projected to be about $8.8 billion), it’s clear that the incoming money won’t stretch far enough to cure the state’s $9 billion budget deficit next fiscal year. Estimates also are very fluid and vary.

The anticipation of the federal funds sparks two concerns among legislators. 1) Lawmakers fear that the essentially one-time stimulus funds will build expectations and a false sense of hope that the state could maintain the increased funding levels once the federal money runs run out. 2) It’s widely acknowledged that the stimulus money could help, but it’s not even close to the amount of money that the state and service providers need to completely heal from the recession and consecutive years of deficits. 3) State agencies, particularly the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, are concerned about having enough staff on hand to handle stimulus-funded projects. Both said they could hire temporary workers or consultants to get through increased work load.

Lavin said while those concerns are valid, the stimulus package is designed to plug budgetary holes and avert layoffs, particularly in education. And then, in theory, as the state’s economy begins to recover, the state would be able to pay for some of these ongoing costs and new programs. (Some of the stimulus money will help expand or fund existing programs by using existing funding formulas, while other portions will create new programs.)

Higher education officials also expressed the concern that the $2 billion in stimulus funds could lead to a game of shuffle. Judy Irwin, executive director of the Illinois State Board of Higher Education, said there’s a possibility that money could be cut from education in the state budget to make up for shortfalls in other state operations, and then the federal stimulus money would be used to fill in the cuts to education. If that happened, schools would end up not getting much more money than they do now, she said.

Republicans and Democrats voiced concerns that schools in their home districts are expecting large funding increases that they may never see. “The frustration is that there really isn’t going to be a lot of money. …While it looks like there’s a lot of money going to schools, it’s really not going to be there,” said Sen. Dave Syverson, a Rockford Republican.

We’ll have much more about the details of the stimulus funds and how the state decides to divvy up the money. In the meantime, here’s a quick list of highlights, provided by Lavin’s testimony. Also, the state on Friday will launch a stimulus-specific Web site: www.recovery.illinois.gov.

General stimulus highlights for Illinois
About $7 billion for programs and state operations, according to Lavin’s estimates.
That includes funding for existing programs, using existing funding formulas:

• $2.9 billion for Medicaid
• $2 billion for school aid
• $110 million for workforce investment programs (to help people get trained to take on another job)
• $276 million for “green” jobs and weatherization programs

The stimulus also could bring in about $2 billion for infrastructure and capital, including:

• $935 million for rebuilding highways and bridges
• $371 million for transit assistance
• $260 million for wastewater and clean drinking water
• $222 million for public housing
• $24 for education technology
• $110 million energy programs, some of which can be used for operations and some of which can be used for capital

The state also will have a chance to compete for grants, including through the Department on Energy. That’s where Mattoon could compete for funding to rekindle the FutureGen project that got scrapped under President George Bush last year. Other projects of homeland security, broadband infrastructure and Army Corps of Engineers also could be eligible for grants.

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Whistle Blower Ken Conner Says Obamas' Mansion Appraisal Should Be Revealed

On October 18th I found a story about a whistle blower charging funny business by the bank that gave Mrs. Tony Rezko a mortgage on the lot next to Senator Barack Obama's mansion.

The source of the story was a wrongful termination suit by former Mutual Bank employee Kenneth J. Conner.

The strange thing is that it didn't make the print edition of either of the Chicago newspapers, even though the suit revealed--for the first time--the delivery of a subpoena to Mutual Bank about the deal.

Conner reveals for the first time in his press release below that he has met with the FBI.

Conner has just sent out the following press release, which I have pleased to be able to share with you:

Obama called on to release Mansion Appraisal

Barack Obama’s house appraisal is absent among the hundreds of pages of “house” and “strip” document PDFs disclosed via the Obama website since the summer, suggesting a desire of Barack Obama to hide the appraisal’s contents from American voters, the US Senate Select Committee on Ethics, investigative journalists, and/or criminal investigators.

Obama’s purchase transpired on the same day Rita Rezko, wife of multiple felon Tony Rezko, bought land next door to the Obama mansion from a common seller.

Kenneth J. Conner (see Kenneth J. Conner v Mutual Bank) determined the Rezko land to be worth $500,000 at most, rather than a refuted appraisal figure and asking price of $625,000.

Rezko paid asking price of $625,000.

Obama purchased the adjacent mansion for $300,000 below asking price.

Widespread public assessment continues as to whether Barack H. Obama received a gift, payoff, bribe, or kickback from Tony Rezko by way of the Greenwood Avenue, Chicago real estate deals.

Mr. Conner has met with FBI agents interested in whether the Greenwood deals accomplished such an arrangement. Mr. Conner told the FBI and continues to believe that, unless Rezko and Obama overpaid in aggregate—which seems unlikely—Barack Obama did apparently receive a gift [he also used stronger words which I am omitting] amounting to $125,000.

Release of the full Obama house appraisal is needed for Mr. Conner’s wrongful termination suit.

Mr. Conner issues this communication in order to induce public pressure on Barack Obama to release the appraisal before he may assume the Powers of the President of the United States.

Kenneth J. Conner, real estate analyst, may be contacted at 630/947-4727.

Published first on McHenry County Blog.

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Operation Board Game snags another piece

The U.S. attorney’s office in Northern Illinois is advancing its way around Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s inner circle, and Thursday’s indictment of GOP political bigwig William Cellini could be just another attempt to recruit one more person to testify against the governor, says Kent Redfield, political scientist with the University of Illinois at Springfield.

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald indicted Cellini today on four charges of federal corruption. The 21-page indictment spells out a classic pay-to-play scheme of trading political campaign cash for state business. But Cellini’s attorney, Dan Webb of Winston & Strawn in Chicago, already combats the charges as “unfair and unjust” and based on shaky evidence.

The feds allege that Cellini was one of many people who conspired to rig state boards to hire investment firms that would, among other financial benefits, donate to the political campaign of Public Official A, previously identified as Blagojevich. The scheme allegedly happened between spring 2003 and summer 2005. Other conspirators already charged include Blagojevich insider Tony Rezko, former state board member Stuart Levine, attorneys Joseph Cari and Steven Loren and construction contractor Jacob Kiferbaum. Cellini’s indictment lists two more: Co-Conspirator A and a Teachers Retirement System Staffer A, yet to officially be identified. Co-Conspirator A is widely thought to be Christopher Kelly, who already was indicted on separate charges of tax fraud.

Cellini’s indictment alleges that he participated in a scheme to pressure Chicago businessman Thomas Rosenberg to give money to Blagojevich’s political campaign. The alleged ultimatum was that Rosenberg’s company, Capri Capital, had to raise money or donate to Blagojevich’s political fund to get a $220 million business deal with the Teachers’ Retirement System. The system oversees and handles investments for public pensions of teachers and administrators outside of Chicago. Private investment firms handle TRS assets. Through a statement, TRS administrators declined to comment but said the staff will “continue to uphold their fiduciary duty to our participants.”

According to Cellini’s indictment, the schemers decided it was too risky to continue pressuring Rosenberg when he threatened to go to authorities. But after that, Cellini, Rezko and others “discussed the possibility of removing the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois in an effort to stop any investigations into the co-conspirators and others,” according to the indictment.

Webb’s statement describes Cellini as “completely innocent of these charges, and he will fight this case because he has done absolutely nothing wrong.” It highlights the point that while a grand jury found Rezko guilty of 16 counts of corruption, they found him not guilty on one of the most serious charges of attempted extortion, relating to the charges involving Rosenberg. It states that Rosenberg testified in Rezko’s trial that “Bill Cellini never asked him for any money and that Rosenberg never paid any money to Cellini or anyone else.”

Redfield says if the assumption is that the U.S. attorney’s ultimate goal is to get all the way to Blagojevich, indicting Cellini makes sense. But there's no guarantee it'll work.

“At this point, Cellini thinks that this is not a slam dunk,” says Redfield. “And he’s willing to be indicted rather than to cooperate.”

And if the federal grand jury agrees with prosecutors’ assessment of Cellini’s involvement in the scheme, why would a successful, wealthy political insider at all levels of government work to secure funds on behalf of Blagojevich, a Democratic governor? Redfield says it’s all about power. “I don’t think it was so much about fighting for the governor as it was about power in the board and playing the game. He was as mover and shaker when [Jim] Thompson, [Jim] Edgar and [George] Ryan were governors. That’s what he knows and what he does … Power is addictive.”

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Sun-Times Makes Me Smile

Yesterday, I went to the Chicago Sun-Times web site to see what was there about Rod Blagojevich fund raiser Tony Rezko's corruption convictions.

Imagine my surprise and amusement when an ad with a panda in the center popped up over the links to the Rezko articles.

Or don't you remember that one of Rezko's investments was Panda Express?

It's an ad for the cartoon movie "Kung Fu Panda."

Bill Dennis of Peoria Pundit, on the other hand, was so incensed by the panda ad that he vowed never to go to the Sun-Times web site again.

If you missed my article about Rezko's conviction yesterday, here it is. It answers the question,

"What do the two power parties have in common?"

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We've been here before

The Illinois Senate has passed an ethics reform package aimed at preventing pay-to-play politics that stain Illinois government. Even if the House approved the same exact language to prohibit state contractors and their families from donating to officeholders who grant the contracts, all eyes are on Gov. Rod Blagojevich to see not if, but how he’ll change the legislation to “improve” it.

“It’s a beginning, but it does not go nearly far enough,” wrote Rebecca Rausch, Blagojevich’s spokeswoman, in an e-mail after the Senate unanimously approved Sen. Don Harmon’s measure today. “We urge the House to take this opportunity to make the bill broader and more comprehensive.”

Harmon, an Oak Park Democrat, said during floor debate that he intentionally kept the scope of the measure narrow to avoid curtailing speech, or preventing people from donating to political campaigns to show support. He also did not include a provision that would have prevented contractors from donating to statewide political campaigns, which also fund constitutional officers. That provision was desired by Senate President Emil Jones Jr., who called it a "loophole."

Democrats and Republicans lauded the effort and said this is a good first step, but it’s only a first step, as Sen. Christine Radogno said. She’s a Lemont Republican and persistent voice on ethics reform.

Sen. Jeff Schoenberg, an Evanston Democrat, said, “We have moved a major boulder off the road to achieve the level of progress that we hope to achieve.”

But he said before getting too self-congratulatory, legislators need to keep in mind there’s more to do: better define the roll of independent advisors in the executive branch and provide greater accountability and transparency for how pension investment decisions are made. Both target problems under the microscope at the federal corruption trial of Tony Rezko, an unofficial advisor to the governor who is charged with rigging state boards to steer state contracts to political campaign donors. The jury is currently deliberating whether federal prosecutors proved its case against Rezko.

Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson said he hopes Harmon’s measure does win House approval — Harmon said he felt confident the other chamber would concur with his changes — but Watson cast doubt over whether the reform would become reality. He spoke directly about Blagojevich. “I think [the governor] ultimately has to sign it," he said. "We don’t need any help, we don’t need an amendatory veto, we don’t need him to make it better.”

An amendatory veto would send the measure back to the General Assembly, where the two chambers continue to function as two gears — sometimes turning in sync but most often stopping the other from moving. Harmon said he’s also confident the measure would gain enough votes to override the governor’s changes.

We’ll update you when we hear back from the House sponsor, Democratic Rep. John Fritchey of Chicago.

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Hell freezing over?

By Patrick O’Brien
An ethics reform package aimed at cleaning up state contracting practices, including alleged practices under the spotlight of a federal corruption trial of Tony Rezko, could make its way through the General Assembly very soon.

The so-called pay-to-play measure would ban political contributions to statewide officeholders from any business with more than $50,000 in contracts awarded by that office. The business’ contracts with the state would be canceled if they broke the law. Family members of the contractor also would be banned from donating to the officeholders.

Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson, a Crete Democrat, all but dared Gov. Rod Blagojevich to veto or alter the bill in an attempt to “improve” it, as he has with other legislation. “Let him try it,” she said a Statehouse news conference Wednesday. Chicago Democratic Rep. John Fritchey, the House sponsor, vowed that his chamber would override a veto, while the Senate sponsors said they would attempt to get enough votes but couldn’t promise them.

A deal is a long time coming. Lawmakers have debated this version of ethics reform for three years. But the measure gained momentum this year because of the Rezko trial, which includes allegations of exchanging campaign contributions for state contracts and jobs. It's also an election year. “There’s a good chance it may be snowing in hell right now,” Fritchey said of the timing.

Sen. Don Harmon, an Oak Park Democrat and sponsor, said the bill will be heard in a committee next week. He said Senate President Emil Jones, a Chicago Democrat and Blagojevich ally, wanted the bill “improved” even more but that Jones wouldn't stop the measure from advancing to the House. Fritchey said he expected the proposal to move soon.

Working for the weekend?
By Patrick O'Brien
The Illinois House could be in Springfield all weekend to approve a constitutional amendment that would give voters the right to recall elected officials.

House Speaker Michael Madigan said members could be in the Capitol until Sunday as they wait for the Senate to pass its own version of a recall proposal. If the House approves the Senate version by Sunday, there’s a chance it could still land on the November ballot for voters to consider. If the House changed the Senate version, they would miss the May 4th deadline to approve constitutional amendments in time to appear on this year’s ballot. (To be clear: The question on the ballot would ask voters whether the state should change its Constitution to allow a recall, not whether they should recall the current governor)

The Senate proposal would allow voters to recall elected officials, including local politicians and judges. It also would link the lieutenant governor and the governor, which Sen. Rickey Hendon said was because the two officeholders are elected in the general election together (although they're not considered running mates in the primary elections). Under Hendon's proposal, if the governor were recalled, the lieutenant governor would be, too. The House version, sponsored by Rep. Jack Franks, a Woodstock Democrat, is directed only at statewide officeholders, not local officials and judges. That measure is stuck in the Senate.

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The Purple Hotel, 2008

An hour ago I drove down Lincoln Avenue to the site of the former Purple Hotel in Lincolnwood, once a Ramada, before that a Radisson, first a Hyatt.

This week the property, closed by village authorities last year because of a widespread mold infestation, figured prominently in the corruption trial of Antoin "Tony" Rezko. The prosecution's key witness, Stuart Levine, discussed the many drug parties he participated in and presumably enjoyed there.

Other than it's lavender brick work, suited more for South Beach, the hotel is best known among locals as the site where former organized crime financial wizard Allen Dorfman, the man who kept a tight grip on the Teamsters Union Central States Pension Fund, enjoyed his last meal. He walked into the hotel's parking lot, and was shot to death--one of the Chicago area's most notorious mob hits.

The former inn has two parking lots, Dorman was probably shot in the lonely lot pictured on the right, next to Lincoln, since it's adjacent to the restaurant area and it offered two easy escape routes for killers.

The Purple Hotel is on a busy corner, Touhy and Lincoln, and it's just a couple of blocks east of Interstate 94. Lincolnwood officials are eager to see it torn down, and replaced by condominiums and retail development. That was the version of events a year ago, the housing bubble might slow those plans down.

To comment on this post, please visit Marathon Pundit.

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Gov replies -- but he never answers

Carol Marin talks about the governor this morning in her Sun-Times column. In this story it starts off with the Governor attempting to have a press conference talking home mortgage relief. This was supposed to be about this "positive" story but the reporters who were there had other ideas. There were questions not about home mortgage relief but Tony Rezko.

Rogers kicked off the questioning: Governor, did that conversation happen?

Blago: “Let me answer that question with an answer. I’m not a party in that trial. I’m not following the trial. It would be inappropriate of me to comment on a trial I’m not a part in.”

Rogers tried again: Don’t the people of Illinois deserve to know whether or not those allegedly incriminating conversations took place with Stuart Levine, a person who has pled guilty to a variety of federal charges?

Blago: “I already answered your question. Those characterizations do not characterize how I operate.”

Rich Samuels of WTTW: Did Blagojevich have a conversation on an airplane with Stuart Levine?

Blago: “You know it’s a good question. I’m not a party in that trial. I’m not in a place where I think it’s appropriate to comment on a trial I’m not involved in.”

Then Carlos Hernandez-Gomez of CLTV: Was the governor’s chief of staff Lon Monk clearing decisions through Tony Rezko as Levine has testified?

Blago (taking a noisy sip of water): “Let me answer that question. I’m not a party to that trial.”

Then Phil Rogers once again: What was the governor’s relationship to Tony Rezko and Stuart Levine?

Blago (another noisy sip of water, his eyes peering over the paper cup):

“Look I’ve asked and answered that a million times. You just ought to go back and take a look at your clippings.”

I'd like to have seen that press conference. It's not wonder he's in his "bunker". He don't want to take questions about this case. I don't blame him, but there are some legitimate questions he's avoiding. Surely he can't avoid them forever, but he certainly can's assume that things are all hokey dorey. Marin continues...

All they show us is that since the feds began showering the Blagojevich’s administration with subpoenas three years ago for everything from state hiring practices, to how lucrative pension investment contracts were handed out and to whom, to the governor and his wife’s personal finances, there isn’t a single answer on a single one of those clippings that provides citizens of this state with a clear answer to any question about his conduct or his relationships.

And if the governor is referring to video clips of past news conferences, all you’ll see, time and again, is the governor running for the door. Literally.

So, budding crisis managers, the lesson here is don’t call a news conference unless you can say something that doesn’t insult the intelligence of the public.

If you were reading this column. I tried not to give too much away almost reads like a lesson for both aspiring crisis managaers and aspiring journalists. The lesson for aspiring journalist and I will include in that description citizen journalists is to never stop asking questions.

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Public Official A

Crystal Laker Allan Showalter's Heck of a Guy blog has put the Tony Rezko trial in literary perspective. It's so good, I asked his permission to share it with you.

Here's the beginning.

Public Official A - A Comic Morality Play In The Illinois Style

Filed under: Local | By DrHGuy | February 28, 2008 at 8:31 am

Judge reveals Blagojevich is ‘Public Official A’
Rezko allegedly sought donations for governor

-Headline from February 26, 2008 Chicago Tribune

I guarantee you that the rest is worth reading.

Posted first on McHenry County Blog.

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Middle East online: Auchi's win win for Chicago

British tycoon remains bullish on Chicago development
Auchi: Riverside Park project to create 10,000 new construction jobs; it is a win-win for Chicago.

When Rezko contacted him about a potential land deal in one of America’s greatest cities, Auchi says the idea piqued his interest.

Auchi was impressed by Rezko who, in 2004, appeared to have the confidence of the business and public leadership in Illinois. During Auchi’s brief visit to Chicago, Rezko introduced him to prominent business leaders and elected officials as Auchi familiarized himself with the marketplace first-hand.

[***]

In addition to his success as a global businessman, Auchi is widely lauded as a distinguished civic and charitable leader. In fact, when traveling to any given country, he is typically invited to meet the head of state. As a result, he was surprised that some in the press took issue that he had met with the Illinois governor during his 2004 visit to the United States.

Darn Rezko suckers everybody, even an Iraqi Donald Trump.

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RezkoWatch: Terrorist donations to Obama campaign?

Great work again by RezkoWatch's B Merry:

Did former Weather Undeground Terrorist William Ayers, pictured in the 1960s, donate to the Obama campaign?

From Peter Hitchens in the Daily Mail:

It suggests very bad judgment, as do strong, persistent suggestions that Obama also accepted quite small contributions from extreme Left-wing veterans of the terrorist Weather Underground now living in Chicago.

His list of contributions shows one for $200 from a certain William Ayers. Can this possibly be the same William Ayers, now a Chicago professor, who used to plant bombs in the Seventies and has said: "I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough"? His partner, Bernardine Dohrn, once "declared war" on the US government.

It wouldn't be surprising. Those (like me) who know the Left-wing codes notice things about Obama that suggest he is far more radical than he would like us to know.

From RezkoWatch:

To be perfectly clear, the $200 campaign contribution cited by Hitchens is yet to be located. Ayers' name does not appear on any of Obama's political action committee reports—Obama for Illinois, Obama for Congress 2000, Obama 2010, or Obama for America—filed with the Federal Election Commission .

Ayers is married to Bernardine Dohrn, also a former Weather Underground terrorist. Both are tenured professors. Dohrn is a law professor (even though she has no license to practice law) at Northwestern University. Ayers is an education professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago.

During his terror salad days, Ayers said this, "Kill all the rich people. ... Bring the revolution home. Kill your parents." Yes, this man is an education professor.

Of the Charles Manson killings, Dohrn emitted this ghastly comment shortly after the crime, "Dig it! First they killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them. They even shoved a fork into the victim's stomach! Wild!" And she is a law professor.

RezkoWatch discovers that Obama and the terrorist-twosome have appeared together:

In November 1997, Ayers and Obama participated in a panel at the University of Chicago entitled Should a child ever be called a "super predator?" to debate "the merits of the juvenile justice system".

In April 2002, Ayers, Dohrn, and Obama, then an Illinois state senator, participated together at a conference entitled "Intellectuals: Who Needs Them?" sponsored by The Center for Public Intellectuals and the University of Illinois-Chicago. Ayers and Obama were two of the six members of the "Intellectuals in Times of Crisis" panel.

Ayers, "who in the 1960s was a member of the terrorist group Weatherman and a wanted fugitive for over a decade as a result of the group's bombing campaign," is currently the Board Chairman of the Woods Fund of Chicago and Obama is a former Board member.

Although they've been professors for over a decade, it still angers me that academia opened their arms to these thugs.

That's not all from that blog to report this afternoon:

Thankfully, the RW tipster provided the NYT link as well as information that led to the following:

The RezkoWatch Confidential Tips email inbox brought a chilling surprise posed in the form of a question: Was the Khaleel Ahmed who donated to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)'s campaign in 2004 the same Khaleel Ahmed who was arrested in February 2007 with his cousin on terrorism charges?

On June 16, 2004, Khaleel Ahmed, 215 Orchard Avenue, Bensenville, Illinois, contributed $2,000 to Obama for Illinois. This was Ahmed's first and only political contribution.

Additionally, a search for his cousin's name, Zubair Ahmed, found this as well: On June 16, 2004, Zubair Ahmed, 907 Polo Lane, Oak Brook, Illinois, contributed $500 to Obama for Illinois. This likewise was Zubair's first and only political contribution.

More on this pair, from the New York Times:

Two cousins were arrested here Wednesday on charges of conspiring to commit terrorist acts against American military personnel in Iraq, as well as others abroad, in an Islamic holy war against the United States and its allies.

The defendants, Zubair A. Ahmed, 27, and Khaleel Ahmed, 26, were taken into custody at their Chicago homes after a federal grand jury in Cleveland returned a fresh indictment in a pending terrorism case in which three Ohio men are already awaiting trial in Toledo.

The new indictment accuses the two Chicago men of plotting with the Ohioans "to kill or maim persons in locations outside of the United States," including members of the armed forces serving in Iraq.

It says the cousins, both United States citizens, sought training in firearms and countersurveillance from a person with an American military background. The indictment identified that person only as the Trainer. It describes the Trainer as an American citizen who communicated extensively with the three original defendants about paramilitary training but who was not engaged in the conspiracy.

This is not the kind of change that I can believe in.

Related Marathon Pundit posts:

University of Illinois at Chicago's Bill Ayers: Not a jarhead

The Weather Underground and Ward Churchill-UPDATED!
Bernardine Dohrn watch
David Horowitz says you should know about Bernardine Dohrn and William Ayers
Moron Professor Bill Ayers
More on Bill Ayers' wife, Bernadine Dohrn
SDS' 1968 Tragical History Tour
Update on another campus radical: Bill Ayers of the Weather Underground

To comment on this post, please visit Marathon Pundit.

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Rezkowatch gets a letter from Nadhmi Auchi's lawyer (Updated with Sun Times on expected John Thomas testimony)

Rezkowatch writes

Today, RezkoWatch received an emailed 3-page letter from media lawyer Alasdair Pepper of London's Carter-Ruck which stated that Nadhmi Auchi is a client. The letter enumerated a list of cited material from RezkoWatch which Pepper, on behalf of his client, said,

..."contains numerous highly defamatory and false allegations, in addition to other false claims about our client" and that it makes "very serious allegations and claims without making any real attempt to check the truth of them.......

That said, any characterization of Nahdmi Auchi as "corrupt" or involved with "corruption" have been removed from RezkoWatch unless they are contained within cited source material.

Additionally, RezkoWatch articles containing information about Nadhmi Auchi from questionable sources have been archived while those sources and information contained therein are verified.

Cheers I guess....I'm sure it's still talley-ho with Patrick Fitzgerald.

Update: Today's Sun Times: My life as an FBI mole

For the first time, the FBI "mole" who's expected to be a key prosecution witness against indicted developer and political fund-raiser Tony Rezko is talking.

In an exclusive interview with the Sun-Times, John Thomas said his life became frantic as he amassed hundreds of hours of recorded conversations for federal investigators while trying to maintain the real estate business he built on pluck and hustle.

[***]

Thomas wouldn't discuss details of his work for the FBI.

But sources said that, for more than two years when he was giving information to agents, Thomas provided a fly-on-the-wall look inside Rezko's real estate operations and his desperate attempts to keep his projects afloat.

Sources said Thomas also logged frequent visits to Rezko from Gov. Blagojevich and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). [my emphasis] Blagojevich and Obama were among the many politicians for whom Rezko raised campaign cash. Neither has been charged with any wrongdoing.

I don't have a crystal ball. I just have a hard time believing this isn't going to be big trouble for Obama and Democrats over all.

I guess only the sources can say.

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RezkoWatch Blog

Surprized it didn't happen sooner. A blog devoted to Rezko. There is a blog roll with other Rezko watchers.

HT Flying Debris

Update: Raw Story on the scrubbing of the site with the Rezko-Blagojevich pictures.

After rumors began circulating that Auchi may have met with Obama, information was deleted from two websites connected to Auchi's company about a spring 2004 visit to the United States that occurred as Obama was campaigning to be Illinois' junior senator.

And then this at the bottom,

More recently, according to the FBI, Rezko had contacted "certain Illinois government officials" to help Auchi get a visa to the United States. Although the senator has stated that he did not work in any way to help Auchi receive a visa, news accounts raised questions of whether Rezko may at one time have introduced Obama to Auchi.

"[W]hen he was running for the Senate, Mr. Obama stopped by to shake hands while Mr. Rezko, an immigrant from Syria, was entertaining Middle Eastern bankers considering an investment in one of his projects," the New York Times reported in June 2007.

But Obama's campaign says that the senator never met with Auchi.

"He has no recollection of ever meeting him," wrote campaign spokesman Bill Burton in an e-mail to RAW STORY.

I wonder if this will lead to bans on digital cameras at political fundraisers?

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Rezko or Alsammare in that picture with Blagojevich and Auchi?

ABC linked to Middle East Online for a series of photos of Nadhmi Auchi with Blagojevich and Emil Jones.

ABC claims the man to Blagojevich's right is Rezko,

A Middle East Web site shows a photograph of what it described as Auchi visiting Illinois government officials in April 2004, with Rezko visible on the right of the photo.

He doesn't look like Rezko to me and instead looks like Aiham Alsammarae shown here in photo I downloaded from the NYT: Escaped Minister Says He Fled Iraqi Jail ‘the Chicago Way’

Alsammarae would have been Iraq's Minister of Electricitiy at the time of this photo in April 2004 so I'm not sure he would have been in country for this event. But it sure doesn't look like Tony Rezko in the photo as ABC is saying here.


Rich originally linked the ABC photo here.

Another Auchi Blagojevich photo op from GMH's website.

Update: Middle East Online and GMH have trashed their links to the Auchi Blagojevich Emil Jones bash so here's the pic of Auchi and Jones from the site yesterday,

Update: Nibras Kazimi also believes it's Alsammare in the top photo,

Regarding that top picture, I immediately recognized the third man as Alsamarrae.

Check the comments in his post Obama’s Saddam Connection?


xp Bill Baar's West Side

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Breaking: Rezko bail request denied, will stay in jail

Breaking news via WBBM News Radio Chicago: Tony Rezko's bail request has been denied, he will have to remain in jail until a verdict is reached in his federal trial, which begins on February 25.

Rather than residing in the stately home on the left for the next few months, the strange-looking building on the right will be the home for Antoin "Tony" Rezko, the indicted Democratic political insider and onetime friend and associate of Barack Obama.

According to WBBM-AM reporter Steve Miller, Rezko entered the hearing this afternoon "in an orange jump suit and leg shackles." I presume he left the same way.

Five years ago, Rezko hosted a $1,000 a-head fundraiser for Obama's US Senate campaign at his Wilmette residence.

The question that has to be asked is this? After a taste of life behind bars, will that make Rezko want to "drop a dime" on Governor Rod Blagojevich in exchange for sentence leniency? Reverse Spin wonders the same thing.

In other Rezko news, Stuart Levine, a Republican who is cooperating in with prosecution's case against Rezko, was ordered to undergo drug testing by Judge Amy St. Eve, after a request made by Rezko's defense team.

Levine pleaded guilty to various corruption charges in 2006, receiving a relatively light sentence in agreeing to testity against Rezko.

To comment on this post, please visit Marathon Pundit.

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Tony Rezko: "a philanthropist to the medical community" with some help from Nadhmi Auchi.

Today's Sun Times,

On Monday, prosecutors said that, in 2005, Rezko "directly appealed to the State Department" and, "it appears, asked certain Illinois government officials" to let Iraqi-born billionaire Nadhmi Auchi enter this country. At the time, Auchi was "unable to enter the United States" because of a criminal conviction in France. His sentence "was suspended as long as Auchi committed no new crimes."

Aides to Obama and Blagojevich said Monday that Rezko never requested -- nor did they deliver -- any help to Auchi, whose business empire includes 62 acres in the South Loop that Rezko's development company once owned.

Last April 4, Auchi's firm, General Mediterranean Holding, transferred $3.5 million to a bank account held by the law firm Freeborn & Peters on behalf of Rezko, according to prosecutors. The next day, more than $1.3 million of that was paid to a Rezko-controlled business, three family bank accounts -- including $700,000 to his wife Rita's bank account, which previously had a balance of $4,000 -- and to creditors. Among them was Dr. Robert Simon, head of Cook County's $1 billion hospital system, who got $50,000.

Simon said Monday he's known Rezko for years, calling him "a philanthropist to the medical community." "I provided him with a loan that was solely based upon a personal friendship, and it was repaid to me in full," Simon said in a statement on county letterhead.

Rezko spent much of the rest of the remaining money on lawyers, prosecutors said.

And Nick Cohen writing back in 2003 on Nadhmi Auchi: The politics of sleaze

There is a rumour that MI6 liked to have him around because he understood the Iraqi regime. I can't substantiate it, and it may be nonsense. All I can do is point to a strange coincidence. Britain handed Auchi to France in the spring when the overthrow of Saddam's regime became inevitable and knowledge of that regime was no longer a unique selling point. The flight of Saddam should provide a happy ending of sorts, were it not for a small problem. When the Coalition handed out contracts to set-up mobile phone networks in liberated Iraq, one went to a firm called Orascom. And who's backing Orascom?

For Orascom, Check Time from 2003 Cronyism in Iraq? Also, the Financial Times original story and this apology of a sorts dated just a few weeks ago to Auchi,

An article published by the Financial Times on 11 November 2003 headed ”US delays mobile phone contracts to investigate” stated that US authorities in Iraq had launched an investigation into the award of mobile phone operators licenses to enquire into possible corrupt practices. The article further stated that the investigation would focus on the role played by Nadhmi Auchi, an Iraqi-born billionaire, in the awarding of the contracts. The US Government ultimately decided not to pursue the investigation, beyond a preliminary enquiry, as there was no evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of Mr Auchi. We are happy to correct the position and apologise for any misunderstanding.

Maybe Waxman's not looking hard enough. There is a fascinating trail of philanthropy between Chicago and Baghdad worth sorting out, and considerable sorting it's going to take.

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Rezko and the middle east

AP: Rezko's bond revoked; judge declares him a flight risk

U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve said, among other things, she grew concerned after learning Rezko — a key supporter who contributed heavily to the campaigns of Sen. Barack Obama and Gov. Rod Blagojevich and raised thousands more — received $3.5 million from a company in Lebanon after claiming he didn't have any income.

Rezko will be the Democrat's nightmare. He'll be a catastrophe for the party as his story unfolds.

More from the Sun Times,

“The reality is this defendant has played a shell game,” and has “misled the court” about his financial situation, Assistant U.S. Attorney Reid J. Schar said.

Rezko allegedly secretly received millions of dollars in a bank account and funneled the money through third parties to family, friends and creditors -- all without telling the court, prosecutors alleged.

Rezko got $3.5 million from a British-based Iraqi billionaire to whom he has business ties and also cashed out of a large land investment on the South Side, prosecutors alleged.

The slum lord stuff is going to look like small potatoes.

And the Trib on Blagojevich and Obama's shared Rezko indigestion.

So when five of the six Democratic statewide officers from lieutenant governor to treasurer appeared Monday at a news conference urging voters to turn out for Obama in the Feb. 5 primary, Blagojevich’s absence was notable.

About an hour after the event began, Rezko, who raised campaign cash for Blagojevich and Obama, found himself jailed after a federal judge revoked his bond in advance of his corruption trial scheduled for late February.

Both the Obama and Blagojevich camps, however, insisted the governor’s absence was unrelated to Rezko’s legal travails.

Instead, they said Blagojevich was asked to call Democratic governors who’ve yet to endorse a presidential candidate and lobby them to back Obama. Blagojevich got that assignment because it’s something only he can do among the statewide officers, governor spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch said.

I'd love to hear the reaction to a call from the Gov.

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Just in Time for Super Tuesday

Hillary Clinton received a gift from U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald today.

Rod Blagojevich fund raiser and Barack Obama political career launcher Tony Rezko has been taken into custody.

Posted first on McHenry County Blog.

He’s to be tried on various corruption charges, starting late next month.

The arrest will put the Hillary Clinton’s Rezko attack on front pages in numerous states.

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