Blagojevich trial, William Cellini, Testimony, Blagojevich Rezko Obama corruption buddies

The Blagojevich defense team is trying to bar testimony from convicted Blagojevich corruption buddies who have not been sentenced yet. There are so many to choose from.

From the Chicago Tribune, November 16, 2008.

” Connections could touch every somebody”

“To fully appreciate our politics you’ve got to look at the connections. Sadly, this task is beyond the national press and some locals besotted with our renowned vintage, Combine Kool Aid.
But you readers have the mental agility to follow along.
So as U.S. District Judge James Zagel accepted the not guilty plea, Cellini stood with his defense lawyer, Dan Webb.
“I had a glass of beer last night,” Cellini told Zagel, saying he had no problem following the court proceedings. The three talked as if they knew each other well. They do.
Cellini is accused of helping shake down a Hollywood producer and politically connected Chicago investor Thomas Rosenberg for $1.5 million in campaign cash for Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Cellini also is accused as a point man in a plot to remove U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald as federal prosecutor.”

“Cellini really began to pile up the cash when then-Gov. Thompson gave him a state gaming license. Webb and Zagel were young prosecutors under then-U.S. Atty. Thompson. Later, Zagel was director of the state’s Department of Revenue under Thompson. Webb ran the State Police.
Everybody knows somebody. So, no, Illinois politics isn’t a Robert Ludlum novel.
Illinois is Six Degrees of Bill Cellini.”

“The Combine wants Fitzgerald promoted out of town. But President-elect Barack Obama has promised newspaper editorial boards he would keep Fitzgerald in Chicago to fight political corruption.
That’s the same President-elect Obama with Mayor Daley’s guy Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff, and another Daley guy, David Axelrod, as Obama’s chief strategist. The mayor’s brother Billy is one of Obama’s chief economic advisers. Whew!
Some political analysts become quite upset when “Daley machine” and “Obama” are mentioned in my column. They feel compelled to give me a vigorous corrective. But this same Flat Earth society denied the existence of a Combine for years, then shut up for a while when Obama’s real estate fairy Tony Rezko was convicted in the federal government’s Operation Board Games probe.

“The case exposed the Combine in detail, illustrating how Republican and Democratic insiders stacked state pensi”on boards to reap millions upon millions in pension investment fees. The Cellini case is fruit of Rezko’s tree.
It’s nice to be connected when things are going well, but since Fitzgerald arrived, things haven’t gone well. Some are sweating the Cellini indictment, like state Sen. James DeLeo (D-How You Doin?).
DeLeo has not been charged with anything. But the last thing he wants is his friend Cellini facing years in prison. Does Cellini have a good singing voice? Who knows?”

Read more:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass-cellini-bdnov16,0,4612076.column?page=1

To learn more about Rod Blagojevich, Tony rezko, Barack Obama, et al and the events leading up to the Blagojevich trial visit:

Blagojevich Trial 101