Category: Current Affairs

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Odious, Ludicrous, and Legal

A friend points out a piece in yesterday’s edition of The New York Times Magazine. It’s the annual “The Lives They Lived” issue marking the passage of remarkable people. The story to which I was directed is titled, “Mildred.” It’s the story of Mildred and Richard Loving, the black woman and white man whose marriage in the late 1950s led the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down state laws that prohibited interracial marriage.

Of course, one reason the remembrance of Mildred Loving strikes with particular poignancy is its appearance in the midst of the battle over gay marriage. Sure enough, the story touches on that fact, explaining that late in her life, activists approached Mildred Loving (her husband died decades ago) to see if she would endorse the gay-marriage cause. The story recounts:

“ ‘I just don’t know,” Loving told them. She hadn’t given it much thought. She listened sympathetically, a worn Bible on her end table, as the group’s founder, the furniture entrepreneur Mitchell Gold, told her of his own struggles as a teenager to accept that society would never let him marry someone he loved. She was undecided when the group left a few hours later, but told Ashley Etienne, a young woman who consulted for the group, that they could continue to chat about the subject over the phone.”

Eventually, Loving did make a statement. She wrote, in part: “Not a day goes by that I don’t think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the ‘wrong kind of person’ for me to marry. I believe that all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people’s religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people’s civil rights.”

She mentions “religious beliefs,” which also play such a big part in the fight over gay marriage. Why? To get a hint, it’s helpful to take a look at the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Loving v. Virginia. In summarizing the facts, Chief Justice Earl Warren noted the trial court’s sentence against the Lovings for violating Virginia’s laws against race-mixing–a year in jail suspended on condition the Lovings not visit Virginia together for 25 years–and quoted Judge Leon M. Bazile’s opinion in the case:

“Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.”

Mind you, that’s a statement from the bench, not from the pulpit (though based on this, I’m guessing the judge, who served 24 years in his circuit court seat, didn’t make too fine a distinction between one and the other.) Lest one think we’re dealing with a rogue jurist with some fringe, antique beliefs, consider the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals’ explanation of why it was ruling against the Lovings: “the State’s legitimate purposes were ‘to preserve the racial integrity of its citizens,’ and to prevent ‘the corruption of blood,’ ‘a mongrel breed of citizens,’ and ‘the obliteration of racial pride.’ ” The religious language has been replaced by what the plaintiffs’ attorneys called “ludicrous” arguments in support of “odious” laws that had just one object: white supremacy. (Audio of the oral arguments, all two hours and 15 minutes’ worth, is at Oyez.org.)

“Odious” and “ludicrous,” yes. They were also the law in Virginia and 15 other states at the time Loving was argued. The United States was still emerging — not in some ancient time filled with Civil War battle smoke, but within many of our own lifetimes — from a regime in which is was thought proper for the state to subject part of its population to systematic humiliation, to rob citizens of their dignity by erecting daily reminders of their legal inferiority and otherness.

That brings me to Proposition 8 and all the other campaigns to “safeguard traditional marriage.” At bottom, they come back to the same effort to impose a certain religious and cultural viewpoint and to maintain a sense of superiority among one group — we straights, who are free to enjoy the privileges and rights attendant to marriage — over the other and to maintain the distinctions between the privileged and the other. The Prop. 8 proponents teach that God’s law proscribes marriage between members of the same sex; what’s more, if the alleged divine injunction is ignored, the collapse of society looms.

Perhaps the most impressive words in Earl Warren’s opinion in Loving v. Virginia are the final ones: “These convictions must be reversed,” he wrote. “It is so ordered.”

If only prejudice were so easily abolished.

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Polysemy Sunday

NPR broadcast a story this morning reporting that retailers will “pull out all the stops” to move merchandise in this doleful shopping season. The report also assured us that sellers “aren’t pulling any punches” in their attempts to unload inventory.

What sort of stunt is NPR pulling here? The story could have gone much further:

–Merchants will not pull a fast one on customers.
–They are trying to pull a rabbit out of a hat. Or maybe a hippopotamus.
–They are not, however, pulling our leg. Times are tough.
–We’re all pulling for nour favorite shops to make it through the downturn. Wal-mart does not count as “a shop.”
–They will not pull the wool over anyone’s eyes. Except maybe in the hat and scarf department.
–They are trying their hardest to pull this shopping season out of the fire. Those Christmas chestnuts are getting charred.
–You don’t need to have any pull with store employees to get a good deal. Although when did it ever hurt?
–Who can resist the pull of a good sale? I’m stocking up on the buy-one, get-one-free lard bricks.
–Maybe the president will pull rank and order us all to shop. That made our problems go away after 9/11.

Pull yourself together. And once you’ve done that, remember we need to pull. Together. To help the economy pull through.

Keep spending!

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Proportionality

From The Council on Foreign Relations:

“What is the doctrine of proportionality?

“The doctrine originated with the 1907 Hague Conventions, which govern the laws of war, and was later codified in Article 49 of the International Law Commission’s 1980 Draft Articles on State Responsibility (PDF). The doctrine is also referred to indirectly in the 1977 Additional Protocols of the Geneva Conventions. Regardless of whether states are party to the treaties above, experts say the principle is part of what is known as customary international law. According to the doctrine, a state is legally allowed to unilaterally defend itself and right a wrong provided the response is proportional to the injury suffered. The response must also be immediate and necessary, refrain from targeting civilians, and require only enough force to reinstate the status quo ante. That said, experts say the proportionality principle is open to interpretation and depends on the context. ‘It’s always a subjective test,’ says Michael Newton, associate clinical professor of law at Vanderbilt University Law School. ‘But if someone punches you in the nose, you don’t burn their house down.’ ”

From The New York Times:

Israeli Gaza Strikes Kill More Than 200

GAZA — Waves of Israeli aircraft swooped over the Gaza Strip on Saturday, firing missiles at Hamas’s security headquarters and killing more than 200 people, bringing the highest death toll in Gaza in years in a crushing response to rocket fire by Hamas against Israeli towns.

After the initial airstrikes, which also wounded about 600 Palestinians, dozens of rockets struck southern Israel. Thousands of Israelis hurried into bomb shelters amid the hail of rockets, including some longer-range models that reached farther north than ever before. One Israeli man was killed in the town of Netivot and four were wounded, one seriously.

A military operation against Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, had been forecast and demanded by Israeli officials for weeks, ever since a rocky cease-fire between Israel and Hamas broke down completely in early November and rocket attacks began in large numbers against Israel. Still, there was a shocking quality to Saturday’s attacks, in broad daylight on about 100 sites, as police cadets were graduating, women were shopping at the outdoor market and children were emerging from school.

The center of Gaza City instantly became a scene of chaotic horror, with rubble everywhere, sirens wailing, and women shrieking as dozens of mutilated bodies were laid out on the pavement and in the lobby of Shifa Hospital so that family members could identify them. The vast majority of those killed were Hamas police officers and security men, including two senior commanders, but the dead included several construction workers and at least two children in school uniforms.

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National Debut

Last night before leaving the station — KQED in San Francisco — the news desk at NPR in Washington called to ask for a “spot” — a brief story (45 to 60 seconds) for the network’s hourly newscast. They wanted something on our governor ordering a furlough for most state workers — two days a month starting the 1st of February — and a 10 percent pay cut for managers. The order runs through June 30, 2010, and was imposed because the state faces a $42 billion budget deficit between now and then. (Unfortunately, California doesn’t own a printing press to help bail itself out of trouble, and lots of people and institutions are going to pay for the problem we’ve got.)

No one else was available to do the story, so I did it. It consisted of a lead for the NPR anchor to read, a script for me to read, and a soundbite. My understanding was that the 45-second limit was close to absolute. I wrote something that timed at over a minute (the timing was done with me reading the script with a stopwatch running). I hacked 15 or 20 seconds off of that, went to a sound booth, called the NPR editor and read it to him, then recorded myself, added the soundbite, and sent it off to the network.

And that was that. I listened to the newscasts last evening, imagining my little piece would be ringing out over the airwaves. Nothing. I figured other stuff had gotten in ahead of that and put the episode into the valuable experience column.

Then this morning, while we were walking the dog, my sister called from Chicago. “Hey, you have your first groupie,” she said. One of her friends had just called to see if she had some relative who might have had occasion to be on NPR news. As Bozo the clown said once — no, many times — “Hey, that’s me.” So sometime this morning, I made my national debut. Stay tuned for the collectible DVD of the occasion, complete with bonus features, including “The Making of the December 20, 2008, News Brief on California State Employee Furloughs: The True Story.” Autographed, individually numbered, and guaranteed suitable for investment purposes (compared to whatever that Madoff fella sold you.)

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December 17

First things first: Or maybe I mean last. Even though it’s the tail end of the day, only 23 minutes left of it in Pacific time, still: Happy birthday, Chris.

Cold snap, Berkeley-style: Just came in from taking The Dog on his final neighborhood patrol for the evening — I say, “Patrol?” to him, and he jumps up to go out. We get frost here every once in a while, but rarely do you see it so early in the evening. A late commuter returning to his car across the street started up his engine, then I could hear the scraping of the wipers across the icy windshield. He kept that up for about five minutes waiting for the defroster to work. Gone now.

Names named: Not that it’s important or that it means anything, but if I don’t keep score no one will: Another one of my guesses about the unnamed persons in the Rod Blagojevich complaint panned out. The first was the man the complaint called Tribune Financial Advisor, who I surmised from an old magazine article was someone named Nils Larsen, a young tycoon who works for Tribune Owner (Sam Zell). That guess checked out. Number Two is Highway Contractor 1, someone that the governor and his cronies were allegedly expecting $500,000 in campaign contributions from in exchange, the complaint suggests, for an inside track on future tollroad work. I guessed that Mr. Highway Contractor 1 is Gerald Krozel, listed as president of Prairie Materials in southwest suburban Bridgeview and chairman of the American Concrete Pavement Association. A business reporter for Crain’s got confirmation that Krozel’s company is talking to the authorities. Next up: The secret identity of the governor’s grilled-cheese chef.

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‘Moderately Severe Antisocial Ideas’

From The New York Times on Sunday: “The Disability Board that Couldn’t Say No”

The story profiles the federal Railroad Retirement Board and notes that last year, it paid 49 out of 50 disability claims, apparently with very few questions asked. Until the late ’90s, the board’s medical standards employed “archaic diagnostic terms like ‘cretinism,’ ‘imbecility’ and ‘middle-class moronism.’ ” And, the story says, “simply having a repugnant’ scar could qualify someone as disabled.”

And also: “Railroad officials complained that disability benefits were given for medical conditions regardless of whether they actually impaired one’s ability to work. The conditions themselves were often vague. A worker, for example, could be considered disabled with ‘moderately severe antisocial ideas.’ What constituted an antisocial idea was open to interpretation.”

I wonder how they determined the severity of an antisocial idea.

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Back to Our Regularly Unscheduled Programming

I knew trying to list all the people in the Blagojevich complaint would be a time sink; I knew it would be hard or impossible to figure out some of the people described in the document; and I knew the effort would be of ephemeral value.

But I went ahead. And after listing the roughly four dozen people mentioned in the government’s narrative of events, I can say it is a pretty interesting exercise and allows me to at least generally answer one question I had the day Blagojevich was arrested: How was it that federal investigators were hot on the trail of the governor’s administration within a matter of months after he was first sworn in? Of course, if you’ve followed the progress of the Antoin Rezko trial–out here in California, I did not–you know the answer: Rezko and other Blagojevich people were so unabashedly aggressive in their pursuit of “contributions” that flares were going up all over the place by the end of 2003. Also not apparent if you haven’t followed Illinois politics closely is the fact Blagojevich and the Democrats found willing partners among Republican operatives who didn’t want to see their own private skimming operations disturbed. And finally, for now: The complaint gives an example or two people who refused to knuckle under to the state’s official extortion team, who either threatened to or did go to the cops. In both cases, the schemers backed off. That said, it’s remarkable to read how many people, some of them seemingly honest and accomplished, who wanted in or were willing to go along once Team Blagojevich put the arm on them.

Anyway — back to other subjects for now, though I’ll continue to fill in the blanks on the Dramatis Personae where I can and probably put the updated list on a separate page somewhere. As before, any input welcome.

One final nod: to my brother Chris, who text-messaged me last Tuesday at 7:52 a.m. that “in case you haven’t heard, Blago was arrested.” Thanks, Chris!

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Reading the Complaint: Dramatis Personae

An attempt to sort out the cast of characters who appear in the government’s complaint against Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. A work in progress, obviously, and if you have any good links or suggestions, send ’em on in.

Named individuals

Imad Almanaseer, former member of Illinois Health Facility Planning Board; joined in scheme to exchange construction approvals for donations to Blagojevich and others; testified under immunity against Rezko.

Ali Ata, Chicago businessman who bought a seat as head of the state Capital Development Board seat with contributions to Blagojevich through fundraiser Antoin Rezko; testified against Rezko and has offered evidence against Blagojevich.

Thomas Beck, former member of Illinois Health Facility Planning Board; joined in scheme to exchange construction approvals for donations to Blagojevich and others; testified under immunity against Rezko.

Patti Blagojevich, the governor’s wife. (Tribune news profile)

Rod Blagojevich, governor of Illinois.

Daniel W. Cain, FBI Special Agent and affiant in the criminal complaint.

Joseph Cari,major Democratic fundraiser who participated in Rezko-Blagojevich scheme; offered evidence against Rezko and Blagojevich as part of plea deal.

William Cellini,Republican businessman who with Levine exercised control over Illinois Teachers Retirement System; secretly organized major donations to Blagojevich as part of the price to keep influence over the board; has been indicted in connection with abetting some of Levine’s and Rezko’s corrupt schemes.

Kelly Glynn, former Friends of Blagojevich finance director.

John Harris, Blagojevich’s chief of staff.

James F. Holderman, chief judge of U.S. District Court in Chicago who authorized Blagojevich eavesdropping in the governor’s campaign office and on his home phone. Holderman is a former federal prosecutor who joined in U.S. Attorney James R. Thompson’s campaign against corrupt Chicago politicians in the 1980s.

Chris Kelly, a principal campaign fundraiser for Blagojevich. (Kelly was indicted last year on federal tax fraud charges and is reportedly (as of 12/17/08) preparing to plead guilty in that case.

Matthew F. Kennelly, acting chief judge of U.S. District Court in Chicago who re-authorized wiretapping of Blagojevich’s home phone.

Stuart Levine, described in complaint as “a member of the board of trustees of the Teachers Retirement System and the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board” who joined in the Blagojevich-Rezko shakedown scheme.

Steven Loren, outside counsel to the Illinois Teachers Retirement System; testified against Rezko under plea deal.

John McCormick, Chicago Tribune deputy editorial page editor.

Michael T. Mason, U.S. Magistrate Judge to whom complaint was sworn.

Lon Monk, lobbyist and former Blagojevich chief of staff.

Antoin (Tony) Rezko, Democratic fundraiser convicted of shaking down individuals and companies doing business with the state.

Thomas Rosenberg, one of the owners of Capri Capital, a real-estate investment firm that Rezko, Levine, Cellini et al. allegedly targeted in an extortion scheme (they are said to have demanded bribes and contributions to Friends of Blagojevich in exchange for approving a Teachers Retirement System investment with Capri).

Dr. Robert Weinstein, “a co-schemer in Levine’s criminal activities,” according to the complaint.

Unnamed individuals and Their Identities

Advisor A: The complaint says: “a former Deputy Governor under ROD

BLAGOJEVICH who is currently a lobbyist.” Speculation has pointed to Doug Scofield, Blagojevich’s former media strategist, former deputy governor, and lobbyist. This fall, the Tribune described him in passing as “a spokesman for the Friends of Blagojevich campaign committee.”

Candidates 1-6 for Obama’s Senate seat:

Candidate 1: Said to be Obama advisor and confidante Valerie Jarrett.

Candidate 2: Lisa Madigan, Illinois Attorney General.

Candidate 3: Rep. Jan Schakowsky has volunteered that she spoke to Blagojevich about the appointment and is quoted as saying (here and elsewhere) that “Number 3 is the only one I could be,” she said. “I’m either not in there at all or Candidate 3.”

Candidate 4: Said to be Deputy Governor A — Deputy Governor Bob Greenlee.

Candidate 5: Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.

Candidate 6: From the complaint: “Senate Candidate 6, based on other intercepted conversations, is believed to be a wealthy person from Illinois.” Blagojevich was recorded asking whether Senate Candidate 6 would be able to raise money for a 501(c)4 nonprofit that Blagojevich thought he might head after he was no longer governor. ROD BLAGOJEVICH asked, ‘if I get [Senate Candidate 6] to do something like that, is it worth giving him the Senate seat?’ ” TheHill.com speculated on the identity of No. 6 the day the complaint became public: “There is no shortage of millionaires in Illinois, and dozens could be politically active and interested in a U.S. Senate seat. One name that popped up among more than a few Illinois political observers was that of Blair Hull, the investment banker and businessman who lost the 2004 Senate primary to Obama. One of Hull’s assistants said he was out of the office on Tuesday and probably would not be available to the press. A call to Hull’s publicly listed residence went unanswered.”

Contributor 1: From the complaint: “… listed on the Friends of Blagojevich spreadsheet as someone from whom Friends of Blagojevich was seeking $100,000 in contributions.”

Cubs chairman: Crane Kenney. His name was brought up in connection with getting Tribune editorial writers fired for anti-Blagojevich editorials.

Deputy Governor A: The complaint specifies that Deputy Governor A is a male. By process of elimination, one online forum participant suggests that A is Deputy Governor Bob Greenlee. I’d consider that less than authoritative, but on the other hand, there’s not a big universe of possibilities. In Blagojevich’s alleged Senate seat gambit, Deputy Governor A was also Candidate 4 for Obama’s Senate seat. Here’s Greenlee’s LinkedIn page. [Update 12/11: Greenlee resigned his job yesterday, which seems to confirm that he is Deputy Governor A.]

Fundraiser A: Described as chairman of Friends of Blagojevich, the governor’s fundraising committee. State records available online don’t list a chairman, but Lou Grant at the Chitown Daily News informs us (including a link) that the chairman is Robert Blagojevich, the governor’s brother. The complaint specifies that Fundraiser A was present at an October 22, 2008, meeting with Blagojevich at the governor’s North Side campaign office; two others present, the complaint says, were Lobbyists 1 and 2. The Tribune and others have reported that the October 22 meeting was attended by Blagojevich, his former chief of staff Lon Monk, and fundraiser John Wyma. Wyma is supposedly Individual A, quoted in the complaint as describing Fundraiser A’s activities. By process of elimination, I’m guesssing that Monk is one of the lobbyists described here — I’ll call him Lobbyist 1.

Highway Contractor 1: From the complaint: “Highway Contractor 1 is an officer of a company that is a large supplier of concrete in the state of Illinois. [An Internet] search also reflected that Highway Contractor 1 is active in one of the largest trade associations, ACPA (American Concrete Pavement Association), in the road building industry in the state of Illinois.” The complaint also alleges that Individual A told investigators that Blagojevich intended to seek a $500,000 contribution from Highway Contractor 1, who was a potential beneficiary of a new tollway project. Highway Contractor 1 is also the subject of one of Blagojevich’s choicest quotes, “If they don’t perform, fuck ’em.”

So with those broad hints, who is this? After looking at Illinois and federal political contribution records, my money would be on Gerald Krozel, a long-time executive of Prairie Material Sales (a major concrete supplier) and recognized last year by the American Concrete Paving Association for his decades of promoting the industry (he was founder of the trade association that later became the ACPA’s Illinois chapter). Krozel and Prairie Group have been heavy, repeat contributors to state and federal campaigns, both Republican and Democratic, including the “Friends” committees for both jailbird former Governor George Ryan and Blagojevich.

The suburban Daily Herald quoted Krozel the day Blagojevich was arrested, apparently without knowing they were talking to the likely Mr. Highway Contractor 1:”Gerry Krozel, chairman of the Illinois division of the American Concrete Pavement Association and a vice president with concrete producer Prairie Material Sales Inc. said the mention of the organization in federal documents came as a big surprise. “We’re a very, very good association,” Krozel said, adding he has talked to Blagojevich but it involved how growth in the concrete industry can create jobs. [Update 12/17/08: Crain’s ChicagoBusiness.com yesterday quoted an executive with Prairie’s parent company, Toronto-based Votorantim Cement North America, as saying the company is cooperating with federal investigators in the Blagojevich case. Votorantim wouldn’t confirm that Prairie Material or Krozel are the entities mentioned in the complaint, and they referred further questions to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Hospital Executive 1: The complaint says: “the Chief Executive Officer of Children’s Memorial Hospital.” The Children’s CEO is Patrick Magoon. Some background on the alleged shakedown attempt on Magoon from The Tribune’s chicagobreakingnews.com: “Inside Blagojevich’s alleged hospital shakedown.”

Individual A: [12/12/08:] Political fund-raiser John Wyma, according to The New York Times (here and also here) and others. One of the best anecdotes in the investigation comes from the October 22 meeting at Blagojevich’s campaign office on Ravenswood Avenue on the North Side. Wyma and Blagojevich’s former chief of staff, Lon Monk, were reportedly at the meeting. When Wyma emerged from the 90-minute session, he was greeted by a Chicago Tribune reporter and photographer. What did he do? He ran for his car. Then he thought better of it.

Individual B: From the complaint: “On October 6, 2008, Individual A and Individual B attended a meeting with ROD BLAGOJEVICH and JOHN HARRIS. Individual B sought the meeting with ROD BLAGOJEVICH to discuss help ROD BLAGOJEVICH could provide to Individual B’s business venture. After Individual B left the meeting, ROD BLAGOJEVICH informed Individual A that ROD BLAGOJEVICH liked Individual B and/or Individual B’s project and wanted Individual A to approach Individual B about raising $100,000 for Friends of Blagojevich by the end of the year.”

Individual C: Complaint says: “A former member of the U.S. House of Representatives who is believed to be attempting to assist ROD BLAGOJEVICH in passing a capital bill worth billions of dollars that would benefit Highway Contractor 1 and the trade association with which he is affiliated.”

Individual D: Complaint says: “Individual D, an individual who ROD BLAGOJEVICH is attempting to obtain campaign contributions from and who, based on intercepted phone calls, ROD BLAGOJEVICH believes to be close to Senate Candidate 5 [Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.]” Based on this story in today’s (12/12/08) Tribune, a likely candidate for Individual D is Raghuveer Nayak, a Chicago-area doctor who has given generously (more than $70,000 this year and $200,000 in the last decade) to all sorts of candidates (including Hillary Clinton, Obama, and McCain this year). [Update: Thanks to Lou Grant for a pointer to a story in the Trb (12/22/08) that reports Nayak is in fact Individual D and that he’s seeking “immunity from federal authorities in return for his cooperation in their ongoing probe” of Blagojevich.

Lobbyist 1: Former Blagojevich chief of staff Lon Monk. (See Fundraiser A entry for explanation.)

Lobbyist 2:

President-elect: Barack Obama

President of Engineering Firm 1: [12/12/08:]

Possibilities: Alfred Benesch & Co., V3 Companies of Illinois, Wight and Co.

The complaint says the firm “received in excess of $10 million from the State of Illinois during each of fiscal years 2004 through 2008.” A commenter (Tom) points to a July 30, 2008, Chicago Tribune article (“Blagojevich Raises Cash While Reform Bill Sits“) that raises two chief possibilities as to the engineering firm involved in the complaint: Alfred Benesch & Co. and V3 Companies of Illinois. Commenter Tom thinks Benesch fits the bill best, and here’s some circumstantial evidence that backs up that conclusion: Searching for Benesch executives in the Illinois State Board of Elections contributor database shows the firm’s president, Michael Goodkind, of Chicago, and his colleagues seem to have been very generous with both Democrats and Republicans in Springfield. They’ve dumped a lot of money on the Friends of Blagojevich (and before he was in office, they did the same for George Ryan, now in prison, and to a lesser extent Jim Edgar). It’s also of note that Antoine Karam, the Benesch executive vice president quoted in the July Tribune story as anxious to see a campaign finance reform law go into effect in Illinois–he says it would save him money in contributions–is a former chief engineer of the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority. That can’t have hurt when the company was bidding for tollroad work.

The other possibilities: V3 Companies of Illinois: The firm has gotten plenty of state highway work, but not quite as much as the complaint suggests. Also, the firm doesn’t appear to have been a particularly active contributor to any candidate or campaign. Wight and Co., based in Darien, Illinois, has done a substantial amount of work for the state during Blagojevich’s tenure (though not as much as Benesch, and not quite as much as the complaint suggests) and is listed as contributing about $125,000 to the governor’s committee. There’s another tie between Wight’s chairman and CEO, Mark T. Wight, and Blagojevich: Patti Blagojevich, a real-estate agent, handled the 2005 sale of Mark Wight’s Chicago condominium to John Wyma, the Blagojevich confidante widely reported to be Individual A in the complaint and also reported last week to be cooperating with investigators.

Both the July Trib story mentioned above and other reporting (see the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform blog on July 22, 2008, “State contractors contributing to Blagojevich“) do a pretty good job of suggesting how the pay-for-play game was being run.

Spokesman: The complaint says, “a State of Illinois employee who is the official spokesperson for the Governor’s office.” That’s Lucio Guerrero.

Sports Consultant: From the complaint: “The president of a Chicago-area sports consulting firm, whose remarks during the conversation indicated that he was working with the Cubs on matters involving Wrigley Field.”

Sun-Times columnist: Michael Sneed.

Tribune Owner: Sam Zell

Tribune Financial Advisor: Complaint says, “Tribune Financial Advisor is believed to be an individual identified in media accounts as a top assistant and financial advisor to Tribune Owner, who played a significant role in Tribune Owner’s purchase of the Tribune.” Based on that, here’s one candidate: Nils Larsen, a managing director at Zell’s Equity Group Investments LLC. In November 2007, Crain’s Chicago Business ran a Larsen profile that characterized him as intimately involved in Zell’s media purchases, including that of the Tribune. [Update: The Tribune says in a story Friday, December 12 that Larsen is the Tribune Financial Advisor named in the complaint: “Sam Zell’s financial adviser at Tribune Co. was middleman sought by Blagojevich.” The story details Larsen’s role in the Tribune Co. and calls him Zell’s point man in trying to sell the Cubs.]

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Reading the Complaint 2 (or, ‘The Governor, His Wife and the F—in’ Cubs’]

From pages 43-45:

In another call between ROD BLAGOJEVICH and Deputy Governor A that occurred a short time later on November 3, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH and Deputy Governor A discussed an editorial from the Chicago Tribune regarding the endorsement of Michael Madigan and calling for a committee to consider impeaching ROD BLAGOJEVICH. During the call, ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s wife can be heard in the background telling ROD BLAGOJEVICH to tell Deputy Governor A “to hold up that fucking Cubs shit. . . fuck them.” ROD BLAGOJEVICH asked Deputy Governor A what he thinks of his wife’s idea. Deputy Governor A stated that there is a part of what ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s wife said that he “agree[s] with.” Deputy Governor A told ROD BLAGOJEVICH that Tribune Owner will say that he does not have anything to do with the editorials, “but I would tell him, look, if you want to get your Cubs thing done get rid of this Tribune.” Later, ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s wife got on the phone and, during the continuing discussion of the critical Tribune editorials, stated that Tribune Owner can “just fire” the writers because Tribune Owner owns the Tribune. ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s wife stated that if Tribune Owner’s papers were hurting his business, Tribune Owner would do something about the editorial board. ROD BLAGOJEVICH then got back on the phone. ROD BLAGOJEVICH told Deputy Governor A to put together the articles in the Tribune that are on the topic of removing ROD BLAGOJEVICH from office and they will then have someone, like JOHN HARRIS, go to Tribune Owner and say, “We’ve got some decisions to make now.” ROD BLAGOJEVICH said that “someone should say, ‘get rid of those people.’” ROD BLAGOJEVICH said that he thinks that they should put this all together and then have HARRIS or somebody go talk to the Tribune owners and say, “Look, we’ve got decisions to make now. . . moving this stuff forward (believed to be a reference to the IFA helping with the Cubs sale) . . . someone’s gotta go to [Tribune Owner], we want to see him . . it’s a political fuckin’ operation in there.” Deputy Governor A agreed and said that HARRIS needs to be “sensitive” about how he does it. ROD BLAGOJEVICH said there is nothing sensitive about how you do it and that it’s “straight forward” and you say “we’re doing this stuff for you, we believe this is right for Illinois [and] this is a big deal to [Tribune Owner] financially” but what ROD BLAGOJEVICH is doing to help Tribune Owner is the same type of action that the Tribune is saying should be the basis for ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s impeachment. ROD BLAGOJEVICH said Tribune Owner should be told “maybe we can’t do this now. Fire those fuckers.” Deputy Governor A suggested that ROD BLAGOJEVICH say, “I’m not sure that we can do this anymore because we’ve been getting a ton of these editorials that say, look, we’re going around the legislature, we gotta stop and this is something the legislature hasn’t approved. We don’t want to go around the legislature anymore.” ROD BLAGOJEVICH agreed and said that he wants HARRIS to go in and make that case, “not me.” Deputy Governor A agreed and said that he likes it. ROD BLAGOJEVICH asked Deputy Governor A to put the list of Tribune articles together.

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Reading the Complaint

I won’t get all the way through the Justice Department’s complaint, USA v. Rod R. Blagojevich and John Harris, today, but here’s a surprise at the outset (on p. 7):


Since approximately 2003, the government has been investigating allegations of illegal activity occurring in State of Illinois government as part of the administration of Governor ROD BLAGOJEVICH. As further detailed below, the investigation has developed evidence that: (a) beginning not later than in or about 2002, ROD BLAGOJEVICH has conspired with multiple individuals, including, beginning not later than in or about October 2008, JOHN HARRIS, to devise and participate in a scheme, which used and contemplated the use of the mails and interstate wire communications, to defraud the State of Illinois and its residents of the honest services of ROD BLAGOJEVICH and JOHN HARRIS by corruptly using the office of Governor of the State of Illinois to obtain and attempt to obtain personal gain, including financial gain, for ROD BLAGOJEVICH and third parties with whom he is associated.

In other words, the feds began investigating the governor the same year he took office. Which kind of makes you wonder what flags went up, what complaints were being made, what behavior was going on that drew such attention so early. To put this in perspective, the Justice Department began investigating Blagojevich even before his predecessor, George Ryan, had been indicted.