Personnel issue dominates reform hearing

By Bethany Jaeger
Illinois Democrats and Republicans appeared split on whether to use legislation to fire two executive staff members of a hospital planning board plagued by corruption early in former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration in 2003 and 2004. Controversy is nothing new to the Health Facilities Planning Board, and that’s not unique to Illinois. See the National Conference of State Legislators for background on the widespread debate.

Today’s debate, while tense and awkward at times, opens the door for more systemic questions about whether the legislature should fire individuals by name through legislation and whether the legislature can effectively remove politics from the hospital planning process altogether.



The process typically is designed to review hospital construction projects in an attempt to control costs and maintain access to critical health care services. Today’s bicameral legislative committee on government reform, however, didn’t focus on reforming the process (that was the focus of a previous legislative task force — its report is here). Members instead focused on whether the General Assembly should use legislation to terminate two high-level employees. Both are subject to harsh criticism from a hospital executive who blew the whistle on what turned out to be deep-rooted corruption in 2003.

House Republicans, led by Minority Leader Tom Cross, want to fire Jeffrey Mark, executive secretary of the Health Facilities Planning Board, and David Carvalho, a deputy director of the Illinois Department of Public Health that oversees the employees. “In our efforts to continue to fumigate state government, this is another board that needs to be sanitized and start fresh with new players from top to bottom,” Cross said.

Cross added, however: “While we are not alleging that either of the two that held these positions themselves did anything illegal, corrupt activity happened under their watch. They were there before, during and after corrupt activity occurred.”

Both were hired in 2003 and served for six months during a scheme that convicted former board member Stuart Levine and Blagojevich fundraiser Tony Rezko of federal corruption. According to federal prosecutors, Levine and Rezko schemed with a handful of others, including Blagojevich, to rig the state panel to reward themselves and political allies.

Both Mark and Carvalho testified to the committee that they had nothing to do with the schemes and notified appropriate authorities when they noticed irregularities in the way the board operated. For instance, they cited a situation when the board stopped in the middle of taking a vote during a public hearing to sway one more member to support granting a construction permit to a particular hospital project.

“It happened on my watch, yes it did,” Mark said to the committee. “Was I aware of it? Absolutely not. Should I have been aware of it? I’m not sure.” He said he was a subordinate who immediately reported questionable practices to the agency’s lawyer and inspector general. He later cooperated with the U.S. attorney’s office during the investigation.

Carvalho said he, too, conveyed his concerns lawyers and the inspector general. He also said Rezko’s trial revealed he and Levine, in fact, were trying to get rid of him because he was a “pain in the butt.” “What I have tried to do throughout the process is to stand in the way of people, both who were members of the board and people who were applicants, who were trying to get from this process what was not due them under the rules. And today I do feel like that person standing in front of a steamroller for simply doing my job.”

One who did report the suspicious activity directly to federal authorities was Pam Davis, president of Edward Hospital and Health Services in Naperville. She cooperated with the FBI for eight months by secretly recording phone calls and meetings related to her repeated application for a construction permit to build a new hospital in the rapidly growing village of Plainfield. She was pressured to hire a specific construction firm owned by Jacob Kiferbaum, who was scheming with Rezko. “If I did not use their services, I would never have this hospital approved,” she said. The Plainfield hospital project still has not been approved by the board.

Davis stopped short of alleging that Mark and Carvalho acted illegally, but she supports the House Republicans’ efforts to oust them from public office for allegedly protecting the status quo with outdated and unfair regulations and for failing to speak out during irregularities in the board’s proceedings. “While not pointing to any legalities by either of these two public officials, I can only imagine that the corrupt board members felt totally emboldened and powered by this lack of transparency.”

Carvalho said during his testimony: “Contrary to the suggestions of the CEO, the staff of the Health Facilities Planning Board, and I, in particular, are, in fact, grateful to her for her courageous efforts to expose the corruption of that prior board.”

Mark said: “I observed the same things she observed.” He said he felt “confused and surprised, and as I stated before the committee, I consulted the appropriate authorities.”

Mark was recommended for his position more than five years ago by Rezko. “It’s a matter of public record that my name was submitted by Tony Rezko,” Mark said after the hearing. “I met the man once prior to him taking my name. People can perceive whatever they want. I think my background and my record speak for itself. I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished the last five years. I’m very not proud of what occurred during my first six months in this position.”

Sen. Susan Garrett, a Lake Forest Democrat who has been working on the health planning process for a year, said the current controversy could be rooted in bitterness over the panel’s decision to repeatedly deny Davis’ proposal for a Plainfield hospital. “It appears that the process for decades has been political, and that has been the downfall of this whole health facilities planning process. It was our hope and intent to remove the politics,” Garrett said.

“As somebody who is trying to be impartial and bipartisan, we thought we resolved that,” she added. “And I don’t think that has happened. And, quite frankly, I’m not sure today resolved any of the issues that were brought up three days ago or three years ago or three decades ago.”

The measure, SB 1905 (Senate-approved version here), is slated for consideration in a House committee Wednesday afternoon.

Quinn previously tried to name a new chairman of the board, Dr. Quentin Young, in April, but Young soon resigned because of a possible conflict of interest. (He realized that his former practice owns part of a property that rents space to a health care provider. State rules prevents the chair from having financial ties to any facility licensed by the state.)

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Blagojevich should have moved to Springfield

How weird if the Gov (and his wife) end up imprisoned over home improvements when they could have lived on the Taxpayer's dime in a mansion in Springfield. From today's Sun Times.

Federal investigators are zeroing in on whether Tony Rezko paid for all or part of a $90,000 rehab of Gov. Blagojevich's Northwest Side bungalow as the corruption probe of the state's first family accelerates.

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Hell freezing over?

By Patrick O’Brien
An ethics reform package aimed at cleaning up state contracting practices, including alleged practices under the spotlight of a federal corruption trial of Tony Rezko, could make its way through the General Assembly very soon.

The so-called pay-to-play measure would ban political contributions to statewide officeholders from any business with more than $50,000 in contracts awarded by that office. The business’ contracts with the state would be canceled if they broke the law. Family members of the contractor also would be banned from donating to the officeholders.

Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson, a Crete Democrat, all but dared Gov. Rod Blagojevich to veto or alter the bill in an attempt to “improve” it, as he has with other legislation. “Let him try it,” she said a Statehouse news conference Wednesday. Chicago Democratic Rep. John Fritchey, the House sponsor, vowed that his chamber would override a veto, while the Senate sponsors said they would attempt to get enough votes but couldn’t promise them.

A deal is a long time coming. Lawmakers have debated this version of ethics reform for three years. But the measure gained momentum this year because of the Rezko trial, which includes allegations of exchanging campaign contributions for state contracts and jobs. It's also an election year. “There’s a good chance it may be snowing in hell right now,” Fritchey said of the timing.

Sen. Don Harmon, an Oak Park Democrat and sponsor, said the bill will be heard in a committee next week. He said Senate President Emil Jones, a Chicago Democrat and Blagojevich ally, wanted the bill “improved” even more but that Jones wouldn't stop the measure from advancing to the House. Fritchey said he expected the proposal to move soon.

Working for the weekend?
By Patrick O'Brien
The Illinois House could be in Springfield all weekend to approve a constitutional amendment that would give voters the right to recall elected officials.

House Speaker Michael Madigan said members could be in the Capitol until Sunday as they wait for the Senate to pass its own version of a recall proposal. If the House approves the Senate version by Sunday, there’s a chance it could still land on the November ballot for voters to consider. If the House changed the Senate version, they would miss the May 4th deadline to approve constitutional amendments in time to appear on this year’s ballot. (To be clear: The question on the ballot would ask voters whether the state should change its Constitution to allow a recall, not whether they should recall the current governor)

The Senate proposal would allow voters to recall elected officials, including local politicians and judges. It also would link the lieutenant governor and the governor, which Sen. Rickey Hendon said was because the two officeholders are elected in the general election together (although they're not considered running mates in the primary elections). Under Hendon's proposal, if the governor were recalled, the lieutenant governor would be, too. The House version, sponsored by Rep. Jack Franks, a Woodstock Democrat, is directed only at statewide officeholders, not local officials and judges. That measure is stuck in the Senate.

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Missed opportunities

Gov. Rod Blagojevich escaped what would have been a media frenzy today by sneaking around Springfield for the annual Governor’s Prayer Breakfast and, according to the first lines of his speech, holding another meeting in the governor’s mansion about a state capital plan. His office provided audio (coming soon) of the nine-minute speech, and spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch said he then met with labor leaders about capital. He was back in Chicago by noon. The Statehouse press corps didn’t know about the events until after the fact. The quick in-and-out allowed him to avoid reporters who would have followed his every move to ask him to respond to Tuesday’s news — a political insider pleaded guilty and indicated that Blagojevich knew of an illegal deal to exchange a high-level state job for campaign contributions.

Ali Ata, former executive director of the Illinois Finance Authority, pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators and fudging his federal income tax return. The federal probe is separate from but related to the case called “Operation Board Games,” involving Antoin “Tony” Rezko’s alleged influence in state business and campaign fundraising. Here’s that indictment, again.

Ata’s plea agreement indicates Rezko was instrumental in hiring Ata as executive director of the Illinois Finance Authority in exchange for his hefty contributions to Blagojevich’s political campaign. The state agency formed in 2004 and finances about $3 billion in projects for economic development each year.

The plea agreement said Ata met with Rezko and “Public Official A,” identified as Blagojevich, before Blagojevich was elected governor in 2000 or 2001 to talk about supporting his political campaign. They later talked about granting a state position in return.

Donations came in chunks as large as $25,000, as seen in Illinois State Board of Elections records. You can search all of Ata’s campaign donations here. Type in his name and scroll down to see his July 25, 2005, donation of $25,000 to Friends of Blagojevich.

In one conversation, Ata said he would accept a position within the administration, and Blagojevich allegedly said it had “better be a job where [Ata] could make some money,” according to the plea agreement. Ata allegedly was told he could head the Illinois Finance Authority as long as he agreed to report to Rezko. He officially was appointed in January 2004.

The plea agreement says Ata believed that he needed to please Rezko to keep his job. That involved donating about $125,000 to Rezko between 2003 and 2004, while he led the state agency.

Ata faces up to eight years in federal prison and up to $500,000 in fines. He’s fully cooperating with federal authorities.

Public reaction
The more that unfolds in the federal investigations surrounding the Blagojevich Administration, the more ears might perk up at the sound of “recall.” That would allow voters to kick someone out of office, but it requires a change in the state Constitution, either through an individual amendment or through a constitutional convention. Support for both could be growing, according to a survey by the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois at Springfield. A convention would allow elected delegates to rewrite the entire state Constitution. And a majority of the public would have to approve the new charter.

Debate within the Capitol includes whether such emotional voting would lead to undesirable consequences in the long run. Whether the public likes or dislikes Blagojevich, changing the state Constitution to allow a recall of constitutional officers or state lawmakers — or any elected official, as proposed in the state Senate — could forever change the way elected officials behave. Supporters say that change is good because it would remind public officials that they always are accountable to the people who elected them. Opponents argue that change is bad because it would make public officials even more paranoid about voter dissatisfaction and, in turn, lead them to do whatever it takes to ensure they’re reelected.

For more information about a constitutional convention, see previous Illinois Issues articles:

November 2007 feature about Con-Con logistics, by Pat Guinane

December 2007 Q&A with Wayne Whalen, a delegate in the 1969-1970 Con-Con

Illinois Issues Blog entries about Con-Con

See more in the upcoming Illinois Issues magazine in the first week of May.

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The Purple Hotel, 2008

An hour ago I drove down Lincoln Avenue to the site of the former Purple Hotel in Lincolnwood, once a Ramada, before that a Radisson, first a Hyatt.

This week the property, closed by village authorities last year because of a widespread mold infestation, figured prominently in the corruption trial of Antoin "Tony" Rezko. The prosecution's key witness, Stuart Levine, discussed the many drug parties he participated in and presumably enjoyed there.

Other than it's lavender brick work, suited more for South Beach, the hotel is best known among locals as the site where former organized crime financial wizard Allen Dorfman, the man who kept a tight grip on the Teamsters Union Central States Pension Fund, enjoyed his last meal. He walked into the hotel's parking lot, and was shot to death--one of the Chicago area's most notorious mob hits.

The former inn has two parking lots, Dorman was probably shot in the lonely lot pictured on the right, next to Lincoln, since it's adjacent to the restaurant area and it offered two easy escape routes for killers.

The Purple Hotel is on a busy corner, Touhy and Lincoln, and it's just a couple of blocks east of Interstate 94. Lincolnwood officials are eager to see it torn down, and replaced by condominiums and retail development. That was the version of events a year ago, the housing bubble might slow those plans down.

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RezkoWatch: Terrorist donations to Obama campaign?

Great work again by RezkoWatch's B Merry:

Did former Weather Undeground Terrorist William Ayers, pictured in the 1960s, donate to the Obama campaign?

From Peter Hitchens in the Daily Mail:

It suggests very bad judgment, as do strong, persistent suggestions that Obama also accepted quite small contributions from extreme Left-wing veterans of the terrorist Weather Underground now living in Chicago.

His list of contributions shows one for $200 from a certain William Ayers. Can this possibly be the same William Ayers, now a Chicago professor, who used to plant bombs in the Seventies and has said: "I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough"? His partner, Bernardine Dohrn, once "declared war" on the US government.

It wouldn't be surprising. Those (like me) who know the Left-wing codes notice things about Obama that suggest he is far more radical than he would like us to know.

From RezkoWatch:

To be perfectly clear, the $200 campaign contribution cited by Hitchens is yet to be located. Ayers' name does not appear on any of Obama's political action committee reports—Obama for Illinois, Obama for Congress 2000, Obama 2010, or Obama for America—filed with the Federal Election Commission .

Ayers is married to Bernardine Dohrn, also a former Weather Underground terrorist. Both are tenured professors. Dohrn is a law professor (even though she has no license to practice law) at Northwestern University. Ayers is an education professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago.

During his terror salad days, Ayers said this, "Kill all the rich people. ... Bring the revolution home. Kill your parents." Yes, this man is an education professor.

Of the Charles Manson killings, Dohrn emitted this ghastly comment shortly after the crime, "Dig it! First they killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them. They even shoved a fork into the victim's stomach! Wild!" And she is a law professor.

RezkoWatch discovers that Obama and the terrorist-twosome have appeared together:

In November 1997, Ayers and Obama participated in a panel at the University of Chicago entitled Should a child ever be called a "super predator?" to debate "the merits of the juvenile justice system".

In April 2002, Ayers, Dohrn, and Obama, then an Illinois state senator, participated together at a conference entitled "Intellectuals: Who Needs Them?" sponsored by The Center for Public Intellectuals and the University of Illinois-Chicago. Ayers and Obama were two of the six members of the "Intellectuals in Times of Crisis" panel.

Ayers, "who in the 1960s was a member of the terrorist group Weatherman and a wanted fugitive for over a decade as a result of the group's bombing campaign," is currently the Board Chairman of the Woods Fund of Chicago and Obama is a former Board member.

Although they've been professors for over a decade, it still angers me that academia opened their arms to these thugs.

That's not all from that blog to report this afternoon:

Thankfully, the RW tipster provided the NYT link as well as information that led to the following:

The RezkoWatch Confidential Tips email inbox brought a chilling surprise posed in the form of a question: Was the Khaleel Ahmed who donated to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)'s campaign in 2004 the same Khaleel Ahmed who was arrested in February 2007 with his cousin on terrorism charges?

On June 16, 2004, Khaleel Ahmed, 215 Orchard Avenue, Bensenville, Illinois, contributed $2,000 to Obama for Illinois. This was Ahmed's first and only political contribution.

Additionally, a search for his cousin's name, Zubair Ahmed, found this as well: On June 16, 2004, Zubair Ahmed, 907 Polo Lane, Oak Brook, Illinois, contributed $500 to Obama for Illinois. This likewise was Zubair's first and only political contribution.

More on this pair, from the New York Times:

Two cousins were arrested here Wednesday on charges of conspiring to commit terrorist acts against American military personnel in Iraq, as well as others abroad, in an Islamic holy war against the United States and its allies.

The defendants, Zubair A. Ahmed, 27, and Khaleel Ahmed, 26, were taken into custody at their Chicago homes after a federal grand jury in Cleveland returned a fresh indictment in a pending terrorism case in which three Ohio men are already awaiting trial in Toledo.

The new indictment accuses the two Chicago men of plotting with the Ohioans "to kill or maim persons in locations outside of the United States," including members of the armed forces serving in Iraq.

It says the cousins, both United States citizens, sought training in firearms and countersurveillance from a person with an American military background. The indictment identified that person only as the Trainer. It describes the Trainer as an American citizen who communicated extensively with the three original defendants about paramilitary training but who was not engaged in the conspiracy.

This is not the kind of change that I can believe in.

Related Marathon Pundit posts:

University of Illinois at Chicago's Bill Ayers: Not a jarhead

The Weather Underground and Ward Churchill-UPDATED!
Bernardine Dohrn watch
David Horowitz says you should know about Bernardine Dohrn and William Ayers
Moron Professor Bill Ayers
More on Bill Ayers' wife, Bernadine Dohrn
SDS' 1968 Tragical History Tour
Update on another campus radical: Bill Ayers of the Weather Underground

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Breaking: Rezko bail request denied, will stay in jail

Breaking news via WBBM News Radio Chicago: Tony Rezko's bail request has been denied, he will have to remain in jail until a verdict is reached in his federal trial, which begins on February 25.

Rather than residing in the stately home on the left for the next few months, the strange-looking building on the right will be the home for Antoin "Tony" Rezko, the indicted Democratic political insider and onetime friend and associate of Barack Obama.

According to WBBM-AM reporter Steve Miller, Rezko entered the hearing this afternoon "in an orange jump suit and leg shackles." I presume he left the same way.

Five years ago, Rezko hosted a $1,000 a-head fundraiser for Obama's US Senate campaign at his Wilmette residence.

The question that has to be asked is this? After a taste of life behind bars, will that make Rezko want to "drop a dime" on Governor Rod Blagojevich in exchange for sentence leniency? Reverse Spin wonders the same thing.

In other Rezko news, Stuart Levine, a Republican who is cooperating in with prosecution's case against Rezko, was ordered to undergo drug testing by Judge Amy St. Eve, after a request made by Rezko's defense team.

Levine pleaded guilty to various corruption charges in 2006, receiving a relatively light sentence in agreeing to testity against Rezko.

To comment on this post, please visit Marathon Pundit.

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Tony Rezko: "a philanthropist to the medical community" with some help from Nadhmi Auchi.

Today's Sun Times,

On Monday, prosecutors said that, in 2005, Rezko "directly appealed to the State Department" and, "it appears, asked certain Illinois government officials" to let Iraqi-born billionaire Nadhmi Auchi enter this country. At the time, Auchi was "unable to enter the United States" because of a criminal conviction in France. His sentence "was suspended as long as Auchi committed no new crimes."

Aides to Obama and Blagojevich said Monday that Rezko never requested -- nor did they deliver -- any help to Auchi, whose business empire includes 62 acres in the South Loop that Rezko's development company once owned.

Last April 4, Auchi's firm, General Mediterranean Holding, transferred $3.5 million to a bank account held by the law firm Freeborn & Peters on behalf of Rezko, according to prosecutors. The next day, more than $1.3 million of that was paid to a Rezko-controlled business, three family bank accounts -- including $700,000 to his wife Rita's bank account, which previously had a balance of $4,000 -- and to creditors. Among them was Dr. Robert Simon, head of Cook County's $1 billion hospital system, who got $50,000.

Simon said Monday he's known Rezko for years, calling him "a philanthropist to the medical community." "I provided him with a loan that was solely based upon a personal friendship, and it was repaid to me in full," Simon said in a statement on county letterhead.

Rezko spent much of the rest of the remaining money on lawyers, prosecutors said.

And Nick Cohen writing back in 2003 on Nadhmi Auchi: The politics of sleaze

There is a rumour that MI6 liked to have him around because he understood the Iraqi regime. I can't substantiate it, and it may be nonsense. All I can do is point to a strange coincidence. Britain handed Auchi to France in the spring when the overthrow of Saddam's regime became inevitable and knowledge of that regime was no longer a unique selling point. The flight of Saddam should provide a happy ending of sorts, were it not for a small problem. When the Coalition handed out contracts to set-up mobile phone networks in liberated Iraq, one went to a firm called Orascom. And who's backing Orascom?

For Orascom, Check Time from 2003 Cronyism in Iraq? Also, the Financial Times original story and this apology of a sorts dated just a few weeks ago to Auchi,

An article published by the Financial Times on 11 November 2003 headed ”US delays mobile phone contracts to investigate” stated that US authorities in Iraq had launched an investigation into the award of mobile phone operators licenses to enquire into possible corrupt practices. The article further stated that the investigation would focus on the role played by Nadhmi Auchi, an Iraqi-born billionaire, in the awarding of the contracts. The US Government ultimately decided not to pursue the investigation, beyond a preliminary enquiry, as there was no evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of Mr Auchi. We are happy to correct the position and apologise for any misunderstanding.

Maybe Waxman's not looking hard enough. There is a fascinating trail of philanthropy between Chicago and Baghdad worth sorting out, and considerable sorting it's going to take.

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Rezko and the middle east

AP: Rezko's bond revoked; judge declares him a flight risk

U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve said, among other things, she grew concerned after learning Rezko — a key supporter who contributed heavily to the campaigns of Sen. Barack Obama and Gov. Rod Blagojevich and raised thousands more — received $3.5 million from a company in Lebanon after claiming he didn't have any income.

Rezko will be the Democrat's nightmare. He'll be a catastrophe for the party as his story unfolds.

More from the Sun Times,

“The reality is this defendant has played a shell game,” and has “misled the court” about his financial situation, Assistant U.S. Attorney Reid J. Schar said.

Rezko allegedly secretly received millions of dollars in a bank account and funneled the money through third parties to family, friends and creditors -- all without telling the court, prosecutors alleged.

Rezko got $3.5 million from a British-based Iraqi billionaire to whom he has business ties and also cashed out of a large land investment on the South Side, prosecutors alleged.

The slum lord stuff is going to look like small potatoes.

And the Trib on Blagojevich and Obama's shared Rezko indigestion.

So when five of the six Democratic statewide officers from lieutenant governor to treasurer appeared Monday at a news conference urging voters to turn out for Obama in the Feb. 5 primary, Blagojevich’s absence was notable.

About an hour after the event began, Rezko, who raised campaign cash for Blagojevich and Obama, found himself jailed after a federal judge revoked his bond in advance of his corruption trial scheduled for late February.

Both the Obama and Blagojevich camps, however, insisted the governor’s absence was unrelated to Rezko’s legal travails.

Instead, they said Blagojevich was asked to call Democratic governors who’ve yet to endorse a presidential candidate and lobby them to back Obama. Blagojevich got that assignment because it’s something only he can do among the statewide officers, governor spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch said.

I'd love to hear the reaction to a call from the Gov.

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Clinton goes Rezko

She used Rezko.



Update: This...

Also, Obama consistently got caught in a debate trap by responding to every charge with an explanation. It's a standup thing to do on one hand, but it ends up putting Obama off message....

...is a very bad habit I've noticed very smart people new to politics do. You're not obligated to talk about everything and sometimes the best bet is just smile and talk about what you want said instead.

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New Jersey moves to stake claim as nation's most corrupt state

It's a constant struggle between the top corrupt states in our fair nation. Is it my own Illinois? Rhode Island? Louisiana? Which state is the most crooked?

Or could it be New Jersey?

Today the Garden State, in an awe inspiring performance, saw two of its mayors, two state legislators, and seven other public officials indicted today on bribery charges.

And I don't think there is a Republican among the bunch.

Because Democrats and Republicans (such as disgraced former Gov. George Ryan of the latter group) have not been shy in taking part in Illinois graft, I still have to declare, with shame, that Illinois is still the most corrupt of America's 50 states.

However, if New Jersey continues to run up the score on indictments, Bobby Bowden style, I might reconsider. But Illinois will probably still come up on top in the end, since US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is still very busy investigating all kinds of things going on in Illinois state government, many of them involving Barack Obama's indicted pal, Tony Rezko.

Since 2003, the Democratic Party has dominated Illinois government, the sole exception was that a Republican served as state treasurer. She ran for governor last year and lost; now a Democrat, another Obama pal with a questionable background no less, is the state's chief investor. Alexi Giannoulias, whose bank his family owns lent money to a convicted mobster, has pledged to raise $100,000 for Barack "New Kind of Politics" Obama.

Let me be real clear on this: Giannoulias came from nowhere to win the Democratic primary for state treasurer last year. Obama's endorsement, and his appearance in a Giannoulias television spot, are the only reasons he won that race, which last year was the only election Alexi needed to win. The Illinois GOP fared much worse than the national GOP in 2006.

Woodrow Wilson was the last man from New Jersey to move into the White House. As for Illinois, my state has to reach back to Ulysses S. Grant for its last Illinos-to-1600 Pennsylvania Avenue transition.

Bad luck? Maybe. But both are populous states where it's pretty easy to raise money. But it could be that both states are tainted with corruption that keeps top state politicos from claiming the top prize in American politics

As far Illinois' Republican Party, now is a good time to get involved. If the party focuses on the basics, which is what I think they should: Clean and efficient governrment, there's no where to go but up.

Start here, at the Illinois GOP Network.

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Aiham Alsammarae: battling Iranians or fleeing Fitz?

Today's Trib says,

Eight months after Aiham Alsammarae escaped from a Baghdad jail and returned to his home in suburban Chicago, an Iraqi judge has thrown the book at him, sentencing the former electricity minister in absentia to 21 years in prison in a corruption case.

Yet Alsammarae, an Oak Brook resident who had gone back to his native Iraq to serve in the government after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, isn't exactly hiding at home. He says he recently returned to the maelstrom of Iraqi politics, traveling to Jordan to join other Iraqi officials in forming an opposition front as he continues to insist on his innocence.

Reached on a Jordanian cell phone, the Iraqi-American dual citizen, 55, said he is in Amman meeting with Iraqi political leaders in an effort to counter what he says is Iranian influence in the Shiite-majority government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, which has been prosecuting him.

While the ST told us a few days ago,

Rezko, 52, is fighting federal charges that he solicited kickbacks from companies seeking state business under Blagojevich. Sources in December told the Sun-Times the feds are investigating Rezko's dealings in Iraq, where Rezko once had a contract from Alsammarae's agency to build a power plant.

Alsammarae, who lives in the Chicago area and was a college classmate of Rezko, is a dual U.S.-Iraqi citizen. He left his post as Iraq's electricity minister in May 2005, about a month after Companion got the contract. Alsammarae was accused of financial corruption by Iraqi authorities and jailed in Iraq last year before escaping and returning here.

Companion's contract called for it to fly 150 Iraqis to the United States for police-type training. Among the subjects: how to shoot AK-47 rifles.

As Frawley sought to revive the contract in spring 2006, Blagojevich's chief of staff, John Harris, directed the state's homeland security adviser, Jill Morgenthaler, to find "a military site for the training of Iraqi police forces,'' Morgenthaler wrote in an April 26, 2006, e-mail. She wrote the letter in June 2006 offering the Savanna site.

Makes you wonder if Alsammarae isn't running from Fitz's questions instead?

Is it too cynical to think Illinois isn't offering training sites for Secuirty Contractors because others feel some day, they may need a spring from the joint, doing it the Chicago Way?

Update: from the NYT story in Dec on the escape,

Mr. Alsammarae shed little direct light on the two leading theories of how he escaped: either with the help of a mysterious Western private security firm that appeared at the station on Sunday, or with the complicity of the Iraqi police.

“I don’t like to harm these people who helped me,” he said.

Despite the charges against him, Mr. Alsammarae said he did not believe that the American authorities would arrest him in Chicago. “I hope they are smarter than that,” he said.

xp Prairie State Blue

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Sun Times: on Rezko's deal in Iraq

Bravo to the Sun Times for continuing to connect the dots with Rezko, Alsammarae and Illinois's efforts to export Illinois's politics of graft to Iraq.

That Blagojevich's staff could be talking to a company like Companion this summer given the history with Alsammarae, Rezko and Runman is unfathonamble. What can they be thinking.

Two years ago, Iraq's Ministry of Electricity gave a $50 million contract to a start-up security company owned by now-indicted businessman Tony Rezko and a onetime Chicago cop with a checkered financial past.

Within a month, an Iraqi leadership change left the deal in limbo.

Now the company, Companion Security, is working to revive its contract to train Iraqi power-plant guards in the United States.

Companion found support last summer from Gov. Blagojevich, whose staff offered to let the company lease a military facility in western Illinois. Since then, Companion has been lobbying officials from Washington to Baghdad about its Iraqi deal, according to documents obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times.

Blagojevich's offer to assist Companion came as a federal investigation into Rezko's state-government dealings was heating up. A former top fund-raiser for the governor and other politicians, Rezko was indicted on corruption charges in October -- four months after Blagojevich's homeland security chief wrote a letter inviting Companion to train the guards at the Savanna Army Depot.

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Thomas the mole

I need some kind of mapping software to keep all the players straight in these stories: Rezko, Rezmar, Mahru, Broadway Bank, Carnegie Realty Partners... it did raise an eyebrow to see the hitters heavy enough Fitz feared someone getting their legs broke.

When a Tribune reporter discovered that Thomas was acting as a federal operative in May 2006, U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald took the unusual step of asking senior editors at the paper to refrain from publishing a report that would expose the ongoing probe. Fitzgerald offered no specifics but said an article would derail an important investigation and put people in serious danger of harm.

And from the Sun Times: one civic minded fearless fellow,

Because of intense federal interest in Rezko, Mahru -- who is not charged with anything -- was asked if he is a government informant.

"I'm a law-abiding citizen, and any authorities that may wish to speak to me, I'm always available to help in any way I can," Mahru said.

Rezko is under federal indictment for demanding kickbacks from companies wanting to do business with Gov. Blagojevich's administration. He has denied wrongdoing.

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Sun Times: Woman with ties to gov's wife allegedly stole $2.1 mil.

Illinois is a mess. Today's Sun Times,

Anita Mahajan, who has had business ties to Gov. Blagojevich's wife, used lucrative no-bid contracts to steal $2.1 million from taxpayers while lying about her company's tax status, prosecutors said Thursday.

Mahajan, 55, was released on $250,000 bond Thursday night after being charged with six felonies.

The Pols all tangled together in greedy embrace. Somebody is going cut through this ugly knot. I don't if it will be Cal's Stop Rod, but this will come apart.

Anita and Amrish Mahajan are prominent members of Chicago's Indian-American community, with deep ties to some of the state's best-known politicians.

Amrish is president of Harvey-based Mutual Bank and was one of Mayor Daley's first appointees when he was named to a seat on Chicago's Plan Commission in 1989.

The couple were born in India. Amrish met and married Anita after becoming a U.S. citizen in the mid-1970s, and he described himself as a Democrat in a 1988 interview with the Chicago Sun-Times.

"Indians must unite, get involved. Politics is part of the game," he said then.

Amrish and other directors of Mutual Bank have been generous political donors. As a group, they and their companies have contributed $40,000 to Gov. Blagojevich, $57,500 to former Gov. George Ryan and $37,500 to Daley since 1998.

Besides giving money to Blagojevich, the Mahajans have ties to former Blagojevich fund-raiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko. Rezko was indicted last year on federal charges stemming from an alleged fraud scheme involving state pension money.

Mutual Bank, records show, has lent money to Rezko.

In 2005, Mutual Bank held the mortgage on a lot that Rezko's wife, Rita, bought next to Sen. Barack Obama's South Side house.

Update: From Kass today,

Another interesting note is the investigation itself. The fraud charges against Anita Mahajan are not federal charges. They're state charges, filed by the Cook County state's attorney's office.

Suddenly, State's Atty. Richard Devine--the mayor's choice for U.S. attorney in Chicago years ago--has developed a hunger for public corruption cases.

Let's hope the locals don't ruin the infield before the feds play.

In January, five days before search warrants were served allowing county investigators to seize the Mahajan drug testing company files, Mayor Daley had the amazing foresight to quietly return Mahajan's $5,000 contribution.

The mayor, a White Sox fan, is smart. Blagojevich isn't even in the same ballpark.

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