The Burris beat - FBI probe appears to widen
Monday, Mar 9, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller
* It just never ends. The Sun-Times reports today that Ald. Dick Mell was paid $100,000 to work for Democrat Blair Hull’s ill-fated 2004 US Senate primary campaign. This is news partly because Mell was paid through Fred Lebed’s consulting group. Lebed, of course, is US Sen. Roland Burris’ longtime advisor, who recently severed his ties to Burris…
There appears to be nothing illegal about that [Mell] arrangement. But — apparently in the wake of Blagojevich’s Dec. 9 arrest — federal authorities have asked questions about it, according to John Ruff, a Lebed and Burris associate who recently broke ties with both men because of the furor over Burris’ Senate appointment by Blagojevich.
Ruff said that, in conversations with Lebed in late January, Lebed told him he’d been asked to provide documents to a federal grand jury to explain payments his company made to Mell.
The feds sure are spreading the net wide, aren’t they? Perhaps this is why…
…Lebed or Hull might have had dealings with Blagojevich in October 2008. The ex-governor’s daily log for Oct. 17 includes an entry: “Blair Hull in Chicago October 28-31. Requesting follow-up mtg. Contact: . . . Fred Lebed.”
Mell got $100K for his Hull work, according to the story, and that was just about all of the money that Lebed’s consulting firm received from the Hull campaign…
Federal election records show [Lebed’s] Prairie Group was paid $120,000 by Hull’s campaign and that Lebed got another $13,102 on top of that.
Weird, that.
* Meanwhile, the Politico offers up one reason why Bill Daley is considering a US Senate bid…
More important, the National Republican Senatorial Committee is already connecting Giannoulias to Blagojevich, alleging that his family’s bank made numerous loans to indicted Blagojevich fundraiser Tony Rezko and to individuals connected to organized crime. The NRSC also alleges that Rezko urged Blagojevich to appoint Giannoulias’ brother to the Illinois Finance Authority Board.
Those vulnerabilities have emboldened Daley to take a serious look at running. Supporters of Daley, who currently serves as Midwest director for JPMorgan Chase, say he would offer a clean break from the era of Blagojevich and Burris.
On the other hand…
Daley’s detractors argue that his family connections to the Chicago political machine — his father was the late Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley — would put him at a disadvantage when Illinois voters are looking for distance from the machine mentality that has long defined the state’s politics.
They point to Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley’s primary victory in last Tuesday’s special election to succeed Rahm Emanuel. Quigley, an outspoken critic of patronage and waste in county government, won the special election touting a message of reform.
“The machine’s old, and the machine’s rusty. Maybe because he’s a Daley, he does this differently. It’s a different world now,” said one Illinois-based Democratic operative.
Not to mention that Daley’s bank got $25 billion in TARP funds, a program which is hugely unpopular with the public and doesn’t appear to have worked as advertised by the Bush administration.
* Related…
* Ex-Illinois Governor Blagojevich Loses Bid to Oust Prosecutor
* Move primary election back to March — or leave it alone
* Bad news for country cousins?
- Anon - Monday, Mar 9, 09 @ 8:31 am:
I cant imagine that Bill Daley runs. Which attack will resonate more with the public: the banker who loaned some money to rezko, or the banking executive who helped drive banks into the toilet forcing americans to fund a massive stimulus package to bail out those very banks? I have to imagine that people’s frustration over bank execs, with their private jets and excessive salaries, will be far worse.
By the way, how much money does Bill Daley make?
- wordslinger - Monday, Mar 9, 09 @ 8:38 am:
Mell’s a Democratic officeholder but has to be paid to work for a Democratic primary candidate. Something oddly refreshing about that. Amoral and vulgar, but refreshing.
Let’s see, Lebed contracts with Hull and gets, $112,500; of that, Mell gets $100,000. And at the time, Mell is still tight with his son-in-law (who we now know ,really likes money), the sitting governor, who, according to the article, is covertly backing Hull in the primary.
What a diabolically brilliant scheme, covered by a complex and ingenious paper trail.
- IrishPirate - Monday, Mar 9, 09 @ 8:41 am:
I doubt Daley will run. His “Hamlet” schtick about running for office is getting old. He strikes me as the Caroline Kennedy of Illinois politics. He wants to hold office, yet doesn’t have the heart to run the first time.
Time will tell. My guess is that he would like to be Mayor. Barring Federal indictment,massive mental incapacity or death I don’t seeing his older leaving office.
- Independent - Monday, Mar 9, 09 @ 9:30 am:
Bill Daley seems much more interested in national issues than local so I take him a little more seriously than when he floated his name for Gov. And to be fair JP Morgan Chase did not take on nearly the risk from exotic derivatives that other mega-banks did.
Unfortunately for Bill being a Daley and trying to position himself as a break from the old way of politics will be a difficult sell. That problem must be aggravating for him as he is clearly the most talented of the four brothers.
- VanillaMan - Monday, Mar 9, 09 @ 9:40 am:
The RNSC is attacking Giannoulais because he is the better candidate. That’s all. If Daley wants to benefit from this, fine with the GOP. They’d love a Daley nominee.
- Arthur Andersen - Monday, Mar 9, 09 @ 11:06 am:
word, the timing of the $100k payment to Mell and the Fed interest is even more intriguing in light of facts revealed at Rezko’s trial. Stoolie Stu Levine was able to slip one crooked finder’s fee past the goalies in Fall 2003. Mell was to get a third, or $125k. The plans later changed and 2/3 of the dough went to a pal of Rezko. Co-inky-dink?
- Team Sleep - Monday, Mar 9, 09 @ 11:45 am:
The NRSC must be shaking it’s boots that a young, popular, independently wealthy candidate who can raise money and has ties to Obama has essentially thrown his hat in the ring.
- Scooby - Monday, Mar 9, 09 @ 11:56 am:
Wow, Daley’s people are already going negative. I bet the stuff that got Daley to bow out of the Governor’s race in the summer of 01 will just go away. He’ll be fine, no one’s got anything on Bill Daley, he can save the party.
- No country for old white men - Monday, Mar 9, 09 @ 2:46 pm:
obama set a new standard ….people are looking for someone more connected to the average illinoisian than an old line white corp banker.
lets find a bright new face outside of mainstream politics…. daley is doing a great job for the party right where he is. A greek banker with ties to blago don’t cut it either.
- Chicago Cynic - Monday, Mar 9, 09 @ 3:46 pm:
I still think my friend 47th ward said it best, Bill Daley is to the Dems what Jim Edgar is to the Repubs.
- Zora - Monday, Mar 9, 09 @ 8:34 pm:
I’ll be Rich: “Wow, only ten comments?”