Springfield Journal-Register: 2 items on possible Blagojevich scandal

[kevsand]

Is Blagojevich implicated?
Pension probe sources say he's the official prosecutors cite
By MIKE ROBINSON
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published Friday, September 16, 2005

CHICAGO - Campaign donors working to benefit a "high-ranking public official" may have been rewarded with a share of fees paid by firms doing business with the state teachers pension fund, prosecutors said in court filings Thursday.

While the filings did not name the official, sources familiar with the investigation said it was Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The sources spoke only on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the ongoing case.

A spokeswoman for the governor, Abby Ottenhoff, said she did not know who the official was and called the statements in the court documents hearsay and "speculation based on testimony from an admitted extortionist."

http://www.sj-r.com/Sections/News/Stories/66353.asp

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Blagojevich denies wrongdoing in teacher pension scandal
Last Updated 9/16/2005 4:22:36 PM

CHICAGO -- Gov. Rod Blagojevich insisted today that he is not connected to corruption at a teachers pension fund and that he does not tolerate misconduct by anyone who works for him.

"I have no involvement whatsoever in anything surrounding the alleged corruption at the teachers retirement system, and nobody close to me does either," Blagojevich said at a news conference.

"We don't operate that way," the Democratic governor said. "No one who is associated with me operates that way, and if they did, they understand I wouldn't tolerate that for a split second."

http://www.sj-r.com/extras/breaking/index.asp#312

[kevsand]

1. Follow up story in today's edition

http://www.sj-r.com/Sections/News/Stories/66421.asp

(excerpts):

Blagojevich has long been dogged by perceptions that people who made large contributions to his campaign fund get contracts or jobs from his administration. In January, his estranged father-in-law, Chicago Ald. Richard Mell, said Kelly was trading appointments on state boards to people who contribute to Blagojevich. Mell later recanted under threat of a defamation lawsuit.

The governor confirmed that he was interviewed by U.S. attorneys over the winter about the Mell allegations - the Illinois attorney general's office has launched a separate inquiry - but he would not tell reporters whether other topics arose. He said his campaign has retained the Chicago law firm of Winston & Strawn, which is run by former Republican Gov. James Thompson, and has received fundraising guidance from its attorneys.

(snip)

Blagojevich's connection to Levine initially proved embarrassing in May, when Levine was accused of extorting kickbacks on another state panel, the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board. The governor had reappointed Levine, who was the pick of a previous Republican administration.

He also had reappointed Levine as a TRS trustee. Blagojevich said he did so in part because he was obligated by law to place a Republican on the pension board, but there is no such requirement in state law.