Noose Tightening around Blago

April 23rd, 2008 at 09:29am Aaron Chambers

Another week brings another witness putting Gov. Rod Blagojevich at the center of an alleged pay-to-play scheme in his administration.

A former top official in Gov. Blagojevich’s administration said Tuesday the governor gave him a $127,000-a-year state job in exchange for pouring cash into Blagojevich’s campaign fund, including tens of thousands of dollars out of his own pocket.
That bombshell from Ali Ata came as the onetime director of the Illinois Finance Authority pleaded guilty in a deal in which prosecutors plan to have him testify in the ongoing corruption trial of former Blagojevich fund-raiser Tony Rezko.

Ata, in his plea agreement, one-upped other witnesses by claiming that cash changed hands in front on the governor. Stuart Levine, the federal governments lead witness in its prosecution of Blagojevich pal Tony Rezko, and Joe Cari, another witness, previously testified they had conversations with Blagojevich in which, according to their interpretations, the governor offered state business in exchange for campaign contributions.

Back to Ata, from the Sun-Times:

Ata placed the governor at a meeting where money was exchanged and a reward — his future state job — was promised. Ata said that, in 2002, he met with Blagojevich at Rezko’s Chicago offices and gave the governor a $25,000 check for a campaign contribution. Rezko placed the check on a conference table, according to Ata’s plea deal. Then, according to Ata, Blagojevich “expressed his pleasure and acknowledged that the defendant had been a good supporter and good friend.” The governor, “in the defendant’s presence, asked Rezko if he [Rezko] had talked to the defendant about positions in the administration, and Rezko responded that he had.”

Yet Blagojevich continues to act as if he has no idea what anybody is talking about when they ask about such matters. His spokeswoman on Monday continued to insist that Public Official A is not the governor.

“As we’ve said many times before, we don’t endorse or allow the decisions of state government to be based on campaign contributions,” she said.

In a telephone call, she further pointed to previous statements from the governor’s office saying that Blagojevich doesn’t do business in the ways being alleged in federal court and that, based on the descriptions arising from the case, the governor is not Public Official A.

But as the Tribune pointed out, the world already knows that Public Official A is Blagojevich:

It is obvious from the details and descriptions contained in Ata’s plea agreement that “Public Official A” could only be Blagojevich. Campaign contributions detailed by Ata track with donations he made to Blagojevich that are listed in public records. The governor’s name has come up frequently during testimony in Rezko’s trial, and before that proceeding began, prosecutors had used the pseudonym to refer to the governor in court documents.

Three cheers for pointing out the obvious, even when the governor pretends reality is something other than what it is.

Entry Filed under: Rod Blagojevich