Blagojevich's Realtor Wife and Lobbyist Tipper
I was in Chicago for the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws annual
conference for a week, which
is why I haven't been blogging lately. I was there when Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was arrested, so the arrest and the tales of
selling a Senate seat and blackmailing the Chicago <span>Tribune</span> are old news now. But there are
a couple of interesting facts about the situation which have been
largely ignored.<br>
<br>
Most instructive is the fact that the governor's wife had a successful
real estate business based, it appears, on business from Tony Rezko,
later convicted on political corruption charges, and on those seeking
her husband's support when he ran for governor. <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/illinois/chi-patti-blagojevich…; target="”_blank”">According
to the Chicago <span>Tribune</span></a>:<br>
<br>
<div>A Tribune investigation revealed she
earned more than $700,000 in commissions on other deals after her
husband began raising money in 2000 for his first gubernatorial
campaign. Of those commissions, the Tribune found more than
three-quarters came from clients with connections.<br>
</div>
<br>
After the election and the loss of Rezko as a client, her business
suffered and she sought other pursuits.<br>
<br>
There is no better way to allow political supporters to get around gift provisions and campaign finance limitations than to have a spouse who's a realtor.
It's easy for supporters to give the spouse business, or get their
business associates to do this. It's no accident that many local
government politicians have spouses who are realtors. This should
always be suspect, and such spouse-realtors should be asked to disclose
all of their clients and to refuse to do work for those doing business
with the local government.<br>
<br>
An interesting fact about this scandal is that it was, of all people, a
lobbyist who went to the Feds back in October and clued them in on the
governor's attempts to get those doing business with the state to give
him large campaign contributions before the law changed on January 1,
according to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/11/us/politics/11illinois.html" target="”_blank”">an
article in the New York <span>Times</span></a>.
According to <a href="http://blagosblunders.blogspot.com/2005/03/john-wymas-profile-raised.ht…; target="”_blank”">an
old article in the Chicago <span>Tribune</span></a>,
this wasn't any ordinary lobbyist, but a former chief of staff of Gov.
Blagojevich when he was in Congress, and the political director of his
gubernatorial campaign. Unless the lobbyist was trying to protect
himself, a tip from such an inside source must be almost unprecedented.
Government ethics enforcement would be far easier with the cooperation
of such people.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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