Friday, March 07, 2008
Clout in 21st century Illinois
by George Dienhart
According to a Sun Times piece by Chris Fusco, It only took 10 minutes for Gov. Blagojevich’s name to surface in the Tony Rezko trial. Assistant U.S. Attorney Carrie Hamilton told jurors that Rezko was a key Blagojevich political fund-raiser in 2002. She added that Rezko was active in a nascent gubernatorial office when he "gave names of people” that he felt should be given key positions in Blagojevich’s administration. She added, "The administration took his recommendations very seriously," eventually appointing many of the people Rezko had recommended to seats on various state boards and commissions.” In other words, it was politics as usual in Illinois.
I seem to remember a certain Illinois politician calling for change. He wished to become Chief Executive, following a very unpopular public official. The press lauded him as a breath of fresh air. Democrats embraced him as the face of 21st century politics. Voters felt he was charismatic, and might one day run for President of the United States. His name was Rod Blagojevich, and the parallels to Barrack Obama are startling.
The most startling similarity is the alleged close ties to Tony Rezko. Neither Blagojevich nor Obama have been accused of breaking the law, but curiously, Rezko is always in the background. He is constantly lurking in the shadows, ready to dispense with advice (Hey governor, I know just the guy for that job…) or to help broker a mortgage deal (I might know someone that is interested in that empty lot, senator). It is what Mike Royko used to call Clout. For the past few years, Tony Rezko was amassing as much clout as anyone. Whether it was potential future U.S. Presidents in Obama and Blagojevich, or in the form of other businessmen with political connections, Tony Rezko’s rolodex was enviable. His alleged connections include:
Stuart Levine- the Highland Park lawyer that proved that Rezko gave equal time to Republicans. He and Rezko allegedly conspired to force movie producer and investor Tom Rosenberg to pay a $2 million kickback to them or a $1.5 million campaign donation to Blagojevich. If Levine would not play ball they told him he would lose $220 million of business with the state.
William Cellini- Levine’s buddy is also alleged to have committed a faux pas concerning teacher’s union pensions. If true, he is another embarrassment to the Republican Party.
Chris Kelly- One of Blagojevich’s closest advisors, according to the Tribune, is referred to as Co-schemer B in the Rezko case. His role as chief Blagojevich fundraiser must have “Public Official A” extremely nervous.
Joseph Aramanda- A pizza magnate that gave the Barrack for Illinois PAC $10,500.00. That is a lot of Pizza…
Joseph Cari- He sounds familiar, right? Turns out, he was Al Gores National Finance Chair in 2000. He has already pleaded guilty, and will be a witness for the prosecution. He was accused of trying to set up a fake consultancy to facilitate kickbacks.
Jacob Kieferbaum- a construction company executive alleged to have solicited bribes in connection with the proposed Mercy Hospital in Crystal Lake. The kickback would be delivered by having Mercy Hospital hire Kieferbaum Construction, which would inflate its rates thereby hiding the kickback. Jacob Kieferbaum pleaded guilty. It seems this was such a good idea that they decided to try it a second time on Edward Hospital in Naperville. In Naperville, hospital executives alerted federal authorities. I guess it was not such a good idea after all…
This list made Rezko a powerful man with much influence. In fact, he had become so influential that he is alleged to feel confident enough to use his clout with the Blagojevich administration to staff important state boards with people he could control. This included the Teachers Retirement System, which invests teacher’s pension money. He also had influence with the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board. This put him in position to gain from both the teacher’s retirement investments and the building of a hospital in Crystal Lake.
Rezko’s associates were clearly powerful men. All of whom can now allegedly be linked to our two favorite agents of change. Barrack Obama and Rod Blagojevich. This is not about politics- this is about corruption. Corruption that is rooted deep within both parties’s and seemingly touches the top level of politicians in the Illinois Democratic Party. One must admit that both Obama and Blagojevich knew Tony Rezko. Why would these two upstanding Democrats sully their reputations by associating themselves with someone allegedly as dirty as Tony Rezko? That's one question still needs to be answered.
http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2008/03/clout-in-21st-c.html ::enjoy.
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