Earth to Rod: Rezko Trial is About You

March 21st, 2008 at 01:36pm Aaron Chambers

Gov. Rod Blagojevich has tried his best to act like he’s not paying attention to the federal corruption trial of his pal Tony Rezko. He has said repeatedly that he is not following the case and that, in fact, it has nothing to do with him.

You might conclude, then, that Blagojevich has nothing to hide. You might think he’d be happy to talk about that which he presumably is familiar — those matters pertaining to his administration.

Only, he doesn’t have much to say about that, either. He rarely appears in public. When he does, he does so only during short, highly choreographed events with a cadre of guards and stiff-lipped press aides.

If you buy the case made by federal prosecutors, Rezko’s allegedly corrupt activities were practically synonymous with Blagojevich’s administration in its early years. It may be no wonder, then, that Blagojevich insists he knows nothing of Rezko’s allegedly crooked behavior, even as he won’t talk about the activities of his own administration.

With each passing day of testimony at Rezko’s trial, they appear increasingly indistinguishable, according to reports published by the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Associated Press and other media.

Susan Lichtenstein, the governor’s former general counsel, testified that when she interviewed to become top attorney for the governor, Rezko sat in on her interview. An aide to Blagojevich’s patronage chief testified that the patronage chief, Joe Cini, met Rezko every Monday morning. The aide, Jennifer Thomas, went to those meetings and brought along a spreadsheet so Rezko could view open state positions.

Thomas testified that she and Cini visited Rezko’s Chicago office on “most Mondays” between late March of 2003 through June of that year. She brought with her a spreadsheet of open positions on various state boards and commissions to Rezko’s office so they could talk over how to fill vacancies. They would also talk about how Rezko’s favored people were faring in the vetting process.

Separately, the governor’s director of boards and commissions testified that Rezko had great influence over who won appointments to state boards.

The Health Facilities Planning Board’s former chairman testified that he schemed with Rezko concerning board approval of hospital construction. Guess who appointed him to the board, at Rezko’s behest?

Thomas Beck, appointed by Blagojevich in 2003 as chairman of the Illinois Health Facilities Planning board, testified under immunity from prosecution that he got the post after seeking out support from Rezko. When he approached Rezko, Beck said he also came with a $1,000 donation to the governor’s campaign fund.

Prosecutors played tape of Beck calling co-conspirator Stuart Levine on the phone to talk about their plan to rig an upcoming board vote. Beck referred to Rezko in that call.

“I got the marching orders,” Beck told Levine. “…Our boy wants to help them.”

Rezko allegedly conspired with Stuart Levine, a longtime political insider, to shake down firms seeking business from the state. Their alleged scheme related to two state boards, in particular, where Levine had seats — the Teachers’ Retirement System, which manages a pension fund for teachers, and the Health Facilities Management Board, which regulates hospital construction projects.

Levine has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with the feds. In exchange for a reduced sentence, he is the government’s chief witness against Rezko. He has spent the better part of this week on the stand describing Rezko’s uncanny power over Blagojevich’s office.

On Thursday, prosecutors played a tape of Levine talking on the phone about Rezko’s extraordinary influence over state government.

Levine was plainly excited to be so close to power and eager to share his feelings with others – including corrupt contractor Jacob Kiferbaum.

“I have never been in a better position than I am right now,” Levine tells Kiferbaum on a recording played at the trial. “Maybe it’s because there has never been such tight control of the central apparatus.”

“I mean, this guy is making decisions,” he says on the recording.

“He can get anything done that he wants done,” he said.

In the courtroom, Levine was on the stand.

The “central apparatus,” Levine testified, was Gov. Blagojevich’s office. And the guy who was “making decisions,” according to Levine, was Rezko.

“Although I had been involved in politics and in corrupt political deals before,” Levine said, “I had never witnessed . . . someone who was able to influence the governor as I saw that Mr. Rezko could. And I had never been as close to an individual who had that type of power.”

On Wednesday, Levine told the jury about a plane ride he shared with Blagojevich after the governor reappointed him to the Health Facilities Management Board. Levine said he thanked the governor for reappointing him.

Levine told jurors this morning at the corruption trial of indicted Blagojevich fund-raiser Tony Rezko that Blagojevich responded: “Never discuss any state board with me. You discuss them with Tony Rezko or Chris Kelly, but you stick with us, and you’ll do very well for yourself.”

Levine told the jury how he interpreted that statement: “I took it to mean I would have an opportunity to make a lot of money.”

Also Wednesday, Levine said Rezko reached through Blagojevich’s chief of staff, Lon Monk, to control all major decisions made by the governor’s office.

According to Levine, “Mr. Rezko told me that all major decisions that were made in the governor’s office were cleared by Mr. Monk through Mr. Rezko.”

A Blagojevich spokeswoman, breaking with the governor’s know-nothing position, confronted the damning testimony directly on Wednesday.

“Stuart Levine’s assertions about the governor are wrong,” communications director Abby Ottenhoff said in an e-mailed response. “As we’ve said before, that’s not how the governor does business.”

I suppose that’s progress. At least the governor’s spokeswoman acknowledged that the government’s key witness is on the stand in federal court saying he viewed the governor as a fellow crook. These are serious allegations and the public deserves a serious response — something the governor has yet to provide.

Rezko is innocent until proven guilty. Chris Kelly, another top Blagojevich fundraiser and adviser under indictment in a separate case, also is innocent until proven guilty. Blagojevich has not been charged with a crime.

But federal prosecutors in Chicago don’t often lose when they take on public corruption. The odds are stacked against Rezko, Kelly and, yes, Blagojevich. Blagojevich’s campaign fund allegedly stood to share in kickbacks demanded by Rezko and Levine.

At the very least, if you believe a parade of former Blagojevich insiders, Blagojevich handed control of his administration’s affairs to Rezko. The governor has not even begun to explain why he made that happen.

Entry Filed under: Rod Blagojevich, Illinois politics