Gov pushes ethics, keeps tainted funds
SPRINGFIELD | Still has $65,000 in donations from felon
SPRINGFIELD -- Besides the multiple federal investigations he's facing, Gov. Blagojevich has 65,000 other reasons he might have trouble persuading state lawmakers this week to "follow my lead" on ethics reform.
The governor has kept $65,000 in campaign contributions from one of his administration's former top employees, Ali D. Ata, even though Ata pleaded guilty to felony charges earlier this year.
(AP file)
After cutting a deal with federal prosecutors in April, Ata testified against former top Blagojevich adviser and fund-raiser Tony Rezko, who was convicted in June of wide-ranging corruption involving state deals.
After a Sun-Times reporter asked about the Ata contributions, Blagojevich campaign spokesman Doug Scofield said Sunday he was not aware of Ata's money being dumped.
Blagojevich's keeping the Ata money has given ammunition to his critics, even as the governor is calling legislators back to Springfield today to consider his ethics proposal. "This is a hypocritical move by him, especially at a time when he refuses to give back the ill-gotten gains of a felon," said state Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock), one of Blagojevich's harshest critics.
Ata pleaded guilty to lying to a federal agent and evading federal income taxes. His subsequent testimony helped convict Rezko.
Ata testified he gave $25,000 to the governor's campaign fund with the understanding he'd then be appointed to a high-paying state post. Blagojevich appointed Ata to be his $127,000-a-year chief of the Illinois Finance Authority. Ata also testified he gave Rezko $25,000 to pay contractors who had threatened to place a lien on the governor's Northwest Side home because renovation work there hadn't been paid for.
The governor has denied Ata's accusations.
Scofield said the governor's campaign fund had been "quick" to dump money that had been contributed by Rezko after Rezko was charged in 2006. At that time, the campaign gave $85,000 from Rezko and Rezko companies to charity.
In all, prosecutors said Rezko raised $1.2 million for the governor, a figure Scofield questioned, calling it "quite high."
Earlier this year, Barack Obama moved to distance himself from Rezko by giving nearly $160,000 -- the amount of past campaign contributions his staff said they had linked to Rezko -- to charities.
Though Blagojevich also gave away money he got from Rezko, his campaign chest held on to a total of $212,500 from 16 donors the Obama campaign linked to Rezko, including Ata.
"I think we'd be happy to look at a list the senator or anyone else might provide," Scofield said. "But we have aggressively returned money taken from Tony Rezko, and we think that's the appropriate thing to do."