Living beyond his means, frustrated by his station in life as a $170,000-a-year public servant and sounding jealous and contemptuous of Barack Obama, then Gov. Rod Blagojevich exploded in a phone conversation with aides complaining he did not have enough money to send his daughter to college and that people with power and money had abandoned him.
Testimony in Blagojevich's federal corruption trial Thursday focused mainly on money: how much Blagojevich and his wife made and spent--$400,000 on clothes during the six years he was in office--how much they paid in taxes and how they were jockeying to elevate their status.
In the afternoon session, prosecutors played a profanity-laden tape of a conference call Blagojevich had with his attorney, William Quinlan, and three top political consultants in Washington; Doug Sosnik, a former top aide to President Bill Clinton, Bill Knapp and Fred Yang on Nov. 10, 2008. Blagojevich's wife, Patti, was also on the call. Blagojevich had just learned that president-elect Barack Obama had a favored candidate, Valerie Jarrett, to replace him on the Senate and Blagojevich wanted to know what he would get in return.
With calls for his impeachment in the Illinois General Assembly and his publicized ties to now convicted real estate developer Tony Rezko, Knapp was not encouraging, telling the governor that he would be a "national joke" if he appointed himself to the seat and was not likely to get appointed to a cabinet or ambassador post. When Blagojevich asked whether Patti could get appointed to paid corporate board positions, the consultants had no answer. Knapp told Blagojevich that his best move would be to make Obama happy and appoint Valerie Jarrett to the Senate, according to the official transcript of the call, which was taped by the FBI.
Blagojevich exploded:
"I mean you guys are telling me I just gotta suck it up for two years and do nothing. Give this mother [expletive] his senator. [Expletive] him. For nothing? [Expletive] him."
Earlier in the conversation, Blagojevich said:
"Look it, we're struggling here now. Look, I don't want, look it, I gotta tell ya, I don't wanna be governor for the next two years. I wanna get going. I'll...I...this has been two [expletive] [expletive] years where I'm doing the best I can trying to get through a brick wall and find ways around stuff but it's like just screwing my family and time is passing me by and I'm stuck, it's no good. It's no good. I gotta get moving. The whole world's passing me by and I'm stuck in this [expletive] job as governor now. Everybody's passing me by and I'm stuck."
Knapp asks "Who's passing you by?"
"Everybody. Everybody. I mean we're struggling financially. Okay, her [Patti Blagojevich's] business got dried up because the Tribune's been [expletive] writing about every one of her real estate clients."
Blagojevich suggests that he might name one of his deputy governors, Louanner Peters, to the Senate seat, to which Knapp responds: "That would be revenge." Or perhaps Jesse Jackson Jr., rather than just giving it to "[expletive] Valerie Jarrett . . . and I don't get anything from some [expletive] chicken shi. ... oh, don't get me started, and he's [Obama] gotta pretend like he's not for anybody and I piss everybody off."
"[H]ere's the immediate challenge. How do we take some of the financial pressure off of our family here? Okay? And then I have a personal issue which is, I feel like I'm [F*****] my children. That's what I feel like. . . . I can't afford college for my daughter."
Blagojevich is charged with multiple criminal counts, including racketeering, conspiracy, attempted extortion, bribery, for allegedly using his power as governor to enrich himself financially. Rezko was a participant in the charged conspiracy, allegedly shaking down individuals and businesses who sought government appointments, contracts or jobs, according to the indictment.
After the tape was played, two prosecution witnesses who worked at Rezko's Rezmar Development Corp. testified that Patti Blagojevich received hefty payments for doing no work, including one $40,000 payment to Patti's River Realty company on Jan. 21, 2004. Questioned by Assistant U.S. Atty. Carrie Hamilton, witness Robert Williams testified that on the same day she and her husband received a bill for $39,000 from Rezmar subcontractors who had done work on the Blagojevich's home. Williams was the chief financial officer for Rezmar at that time. Prosecutors were trying to show that Rezko was paying for the work.
On cross examination by attorney Sam Adam, Williams admitted that Patti Blagojevich may have done work for Rezmar or another one of Rezko's businesses that he was not aware of. Adam tried to show in his questioning that Patti, a licensed real estate broker and agent, had done "prospecting" work, finding buildings in Chicago that Rezko could use for a development project, and earning a fee for doing so.
Another witness who worked for Rezko testified that he was directed to get Patti involved in a large development project, known as the Roosevelt Clark project because Rezko was going to be paying her the consulting fees. "I thought it was a bad idea," witness Michael Winter testified.
Winter invited Patti to one meeting but other than that, she had no other involvement in the project, Winter testified. Typically brokers are paid on commission, Winter testified, not on a monthly basis as a consultant.
Earlier in the day, an IRS auditor, who analyzed the Blagojevich's finances between 2002 and 2008, testified that the Blagojevich's paid more than $400,000 in income taxes during that time period and their single biggest expenditures was for clothing - $400,000. Blagojevich frequently bought expensive clothing and had spent $205,000 on custom suits alone. He frequently spent $200 to $500 on a couple of ties at a time from Saks Fifth Avenue for hundreds of dollars, auditor Shari Schindler testified.
Their combined salary over the six years was between $238,000 and $392,000, according to government documents. Patti Blagojevich's River Realty firm took in a total of $230,000 from Rezmar, according to court documents and testimony. The couple had debt from credit cards and a home equity line of credit that totaled more than $200,000, in 2008, according to court documents.
The trial will resume on Tuesday. To view the court documents, click here.
Janan Hanna is a licensed attorney, a lecturer at Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism and a freelance writer.