Blagojevich trial, Update, May 15, 2010, witnesses lining up

We are going to need a very elaborate score card soon. Witnesses are being lined up. A legion of Blagojevich and Rezko corruption buddies are waiting in the wings. The connections to dead corruption figures keep piling up. Where will this lead? Eventually to Obama.

From the Chicago Tribune May 14, 2010.
“Congressman Jackson says he will testify after receiving subpoena from Blagojevich
Congressman Jesse L. Jackson Jr. says he has been subpoenaed to testify at ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s upcoming corruption trial.

In a statement issued Friday in Washington, Jackson said he will testify if necessary.

Blagojevich faces federal charges including allegations he schemed to sell a U.S. Senate seat once filled by President Barack Obama.

According to a criminal complaint, Blagojevich tried to shop the seat to Jackson. The Democrat’s supporters allegedly were willing to raise $1.5 million for Blagojevich if he him.”

Read more:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/sns-ap-il–blagojevichtrial-jackson,0,7325566.story

From the Chicago Tribune May 14, 2010.
“Harris agrees – again – to testify against former boss
In the fall of 2008, John Harris was chief of staff to the governor of Illinois, a lawyer at the peak of his career offering advice to the state’s top executive.

But that governor was Rod Blagojevich, and Harris on Friday admitted that some of that advice dealt with how Blagojevich might enrich himself by appointing a successor to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama.

Since prosecutors recently filed a new indictment in the case, Harris pleaded guilty for a second time and again agreed to testify for the government against his former boss. His attorney, Terry Ekl, said Harris has surrendered his law license and is trying to support his family by learning to work on electrical towers as a 48-year-old apprentice.”
“In exchange for Harris’ testimony at the trial, set to begin June 3, the government will recommend that he be sentenced to just under three years in prison.”

Read more:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-blagojevich-aide-guilty-plea-20100514,0,6469755.story

From the Chicago Tribune May 14, 2010.
“Metra: Pagano cashed in on unchecked power
Metra’s longtime executive director, Phil Pagano, amassed so much unchallenged power that he felt confident enough to forge the signature of the agency’s chairwoman as part of a scheme to improperly give himself nearly half a million dollars in vacation pay, an investigation disclosed Friday.

The allegations were contained in the executive summary of a report released one week after Pagano — the subject of a rapidly expanding inquiry into financial irregularities — stepped in front of a Metra train near his home in Crystal Lake.

Besides outlining the “blatantly illegal” advances Pagano took on vacation pay, the investigation also showed Pagano faced serious financial concerns, borrowing $839,000 against the value of a deferred compensation account and an insurance policy. Those concerns were not spelled out in the report.

“This investigation revealed substantial evidence of financial irregularities and abuses carried out by a person at the highest level of Metra who, as a result of that position, was in the best position to perpetrate these acts,” special counsel James Sotos concluded in his report to Metra’s directors.”

“The report will be turned over to the Illinois attorney general’s office for a possible criminal investigation and to any other agency that requests it, Sotos said, adding that Pagano violated Metra’s rules of conduct and “likely various state and federal criminal laws.”

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s office said Friday it has asked Sotos for the report, some portions of which were not disclosed publicly at Fitzgerald’s request.”

“In his report, Sotos referred to a document which he called the “Ladd certificate,” referring to Metra’s former longtime Chairman Jeffrey Ladd”.

“Ladd, an attorney, did not respond to calls for comment Friday. Neither did Pagano’s attorney, George Jackson III.

Ladd surfaced in the 2008 trial of Antoin “Tony” Rezko, who was a key fundraiser and adviser for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Ladd testified under a grant of immunity from prosecution about his dealings in 2004 with the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board, which Rezko and political insider Stuart Levine controlled.

Ladd, a veteran lobbyist, told the Rezko jury he had been hired by hospital groups to represent them before the board, and testified that his clients paid $80,000 to a Rezko associate to keep Rezko from secretly working against them.”

Read more:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-metra-pagano-0515-20100514,0,879475.story

There’s that pesky reference to the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board again.

Let’s see, who else is connected to the rigging of that board aside from Blagojevich, Rezko and Levine……