* The least popular thing to do in Illinois is question the sainted Patrick Fitzgerald. The US Attorney has put “The Fear” into almost every politician in this state, so it’s difficult to find fault.
However, a ruling yesterday by U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve yesterday has made me rethink parts of Tony Rezko’s prosecution. I went through a bunch of this with subscribers already, so let’s just look at this one avenue here…
The ruling disclosed another alleged transaction involving Blagojevich’s campaign fund. Rezko promised a businessman an appointment to a state post in exchange for a $50,000 political donation to the governor, according to prosecutors.
Joseph Cacciatore allegedly asked Rezko to help his brother, Phil, land a spot on the Illinois Banking Board. Rezko said it would happen if he kicked in $25,000 to the governor’s campaign fund. Rezko offered to contribute another $25,000 through one of his companies on behalf of Cacciatore, according to the ruling.
Phil Cacciatore did get that Banking Board spot, but there are no corresponding contributions on the State Board of Elections website.
* Why is this important? Because Judge St. Eve said that prosecutors could use the alleged Cacciatore scam to buttress a charge against Rezko. The charge centers on an alleged shakedown of Tom Rosenberg for a $1.5 million campaign contribution to Blagojevich. That story has lots of its own serious holes, not the least of which is star witness Stu Levine’s credibility and his alleged $25,000 a month drug habit…
“Two federal fraud indictments did not motivate Levine to plead guilty,” Rezko’s attorneys wrote in a 16-page filing, many parts of it redacted. “Rather, the evidence shows that Levine was fearful that the government would discover his secret life” and that Levine began cooperating only after learning that the government “had discovered and was investigating his secret life.
“As much as the government would like to describe Levine’s [redacted] as merely [redacted], the fact that each such affair involved [redacted] and all-night sessions fueled by huge quantities of illegal drugs gives Levine much more to hide, and much more to fear.”
They really want to get this out, but I’m not gonna help. You shouldn’t, either. Don’t risk being banned.
* And this is a bit weird, too…
Monday’s ruling indicated that prosecutors allege that Kjellander served as a straw man for Rezko in the bond deal. Rezko, the ruling suggested, directed the investment bank Bear Stearns to give the fee to Kjellander, who then transferred $600,000 of the $809,000 fee to Joseph Aramanda, a Rezko business associate. Aramanda then allegedly turned over $450,000 to four other people designated by Rezko.
In an interview Monday, Kjellander said he made a “loan” to Aramanda “because I got a very favorable interest rate. That loan was repaid before the due date, and I made a very nice profit on the interest.”
So, if Kj loaned the money to Aramanda, what, exactly is the beef with Kj? Judge St. Eve decided that this particular avenue would be inadmissable evidence against Rezko. I’m not sure why prosecutors even brought it up, except to throw more mud on the defendant, which is not their job.
* This is mostly irrelevant…
In Monday’s ruling, Blagojevich’s former chief of staff, Lon Monk, was mentioned as signing off on Levine’s reappointments.
Since Monk was the chief of staff, he probably signed off on all appointments.
* All that being said, there are some obvious problems with the Blagojevich administration and serious charges against Rezko. For instance, because this contribution actually exists, I give this bit of evidence more weight…
According to the ruling, Rezko and Levine met at a dinner party on Nov. 2, 2002—just three days before Blagojevich defeated Jim Ryan for governor. At the time, Rezko was one of Blagojevich’s biggest fundraisers and Levine, Jim Ryan’s law school classmate, was the largest single contributor to Ryan’s campaign for governor.
The party was hosted by Fortunee Massuda, a shareholder in Rezko’s pizza business, and her husband, Charles Hannon, according to the ruling. In 2003, Blagojevich appointed Massuda to the state’s Health Facilities Planning Board, just weeks after she gave Blagojevich’s campaign $25,000. Prosecutors contend Hannon was to be the recipient of a bogus consulting fee from an investment firm awarded business by the Teachers Retirement System, on whose board Levine sat, St. Eve said in her ruling. The fee is alleged to have been arranged by Rezko and Levine.
I’m not sure if that fee was ever paid. But there is that campaign contribution, and that’s all bad for the governor. There were others just like it around that time.