While Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich ran as a reformer, he continues to accept campaign contributions from criminals, and refuses to answer questions about what he does with those donations.
IllinoisLeader.com unsuccessfully attempted to obtain comments from the Governor’s press office as to the question of what politicians should do with campaign contributions made by those convicted of felonies involving governmental misconduct.
The Governor’s people were also asked what the governor thought should be done when a politician finds out that he has received campaign contributions from those the federal government suspects of being part of organized crime.
On Thursday, IllinoisLeader.com unsuccessfully attempted to obtain comment from Peter Giangreco, the Governor’s political point man, what Blagojevich planned to do about the money he received from those convicted of defrauding the government, plus those identified by the FBI as part of the Chicago Outfit.
“There is no law against accepting campaign contributions from anybody,†Jay Stewart, Executive Director of the Better Government Association said. “It’s really a question for the public official.
“It comes down whether the public figure is comfortable with accepting money from those caught up with investigations,†he continued. “Speaker (Michael) Madigan, for example, was under investigation and was cleared. Typically, it is when someone has been convicted that public figures start returning contributions. The other popular option is donating them to charity.â€ÂÂ
James Duff recently pled guilty to multiple fraud and conspiracy charges in connection to the operation a cleaning business fraduently designated as a minority-owned business that allowed the Duff family to obtain more than $100 million in city contracts.
Before his conviction, however, he was a contributor, even though not a large one, to Rod Blagojevich’s gubernatorial campaign. In March of 2001, Duff contributed his first $250. The second $250 came right before the 2002 primary election. Less than a month before the fall election, Duff made a third $250 contribution to Blagojevich’s campaign. IllinoisLeader.com found that in addition to personal contributions, the Duff-controlled Liquor & Allied Workers Union-Local 3 made a total of $39,210 in campaign contributions in the fall of 2003. Blagojevich received $1000 and Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn received $500.
Blagojevich was not unique in having received contributions from Duff. He also was not one of the bigger recipients of Duff contributions. But, he is the governor who has positioned himself as someone who would “end business as usual.â€ÂÂ
Another prominent casualty of federal prosecutors was Chicago’s Near North Insurance. Near North was the Blagojevich for Governor campaign’s insurance agency.
Convicted, along with owner Mickey Segal of various federal charges charges, the firm contributed $1,250 to the future governor’s campaign. The Blagojevich campaign spent $1,047 on insurance with Near North in 2001 and 2002. The same amount was reported as a returned “overpayment†on March 13, 2004.
Blagojevich received another $500 from Segal-controlled DMI Brokerage LLC, mentioned in a Segal indictment as being where over $500,000 in commissions were allegedly placed for clients who had paid Near North a flat fee to buy their insurance.
Back in June, 2003, Blagojevich’s press office was asked if the Governor was going to repay the $1,750 from he received from Segal’s firms. No reply was forthcoming.
On June 29, 2002, an alleged mob-connected video pokers machine comapny named M & M Amusements contributed $500 to Blagojevich’s gubernatorial campaign.
The firm is run by brothers Jimmy and Mickey Marcello, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, which recently reported on an ongoing federal investigation into the company.
And, then, there are participants in Chicago’s biggest scandal so far this century-Mayor Richard M. Daley’s so-called “Hired Truck†program. A year ago, the Sun-Times reported Gov. Blagojevich had received $22,285 from the participating companies.
