Foul-mouthed first lady
PATTI BLAGOJEVICH | Governor's wife allegedly spews obscenities in taped conversation about Trib Co.
Stringing obscenities together like holiday lights on the Thompson Center Christmas tree, Illinois first lady Patti Blagojevich participated in backroom calls with her husband on how to leverage his political position into a high-paying job for her, the federal complaint against her husband says.
Patti Blagojevich -- who publicly used her first lady platform to promote food allergy awareness, treatment of lazy eye and a children's book club -- secretly was recorded directing a deputy governor speaking with her husband "to hold up that f- - - - - - Cubs s- - - . . . . f- - - them," according to the complaint.
(Rich Hein/Sun-Times)
In the same conversation between the governor and the unnamed deputy governor, where the two discussed pressuring the Chicago Tribune editorial board in exchange for state aid for a Wrigley Field sale, Patti Blagojevich got on the phone to say that Tribune owner Sam Zell can "just fire" the offending writers and would do so if the paper was hurting other Tribune Company business.
She then turned the phone back to her husband, the complaint said.
Patricia Mell married Rod Blagojevich in 1992, moving from one political family to the next. The daughter of powerful Ald. Dick Mell and sister of newly elected state Rep. Deborah Mell, Patti Blagojevich told the Sun-Times in a 2002 interview she was beguiled by her husband's courtship performance of a medley of Elvis Presley hits.
He didn't have political aspirations when they met, she said.
Patti Blagojevich, who has not been charged with any wrongdoing, worked in real estate through her firm River Realty while raising the couple's two daughters and attending to her first lady duties.
Her real estate work, which included dealings with convicted Blagojevich fund-raiser Tony Rezko, drew scrutiny from federal investigators looking into pay-to-play allegations in the governor's administration. In August, she said she was moving away from real estate and taking a job with a non-profit homeless agency.
The family's income dropped 17 percent in 2007, to $214,580 in combined wages, tax records show. A spokesman previously attributed the decline to the slow real estate market.
Blagojevich family finances were of great concern in a Nov. 10 recorded conversation between the governor, his wife and other advisers, the complaint said.
During the two-hour call, the governor wonders if Patti's "series 7" securities license can factor into a lucrative deal for filling the Senate seat, saying the family is "struggling" financially.
The governor said "the immediate challenge [is] how do we take some of the financial pressure off of our family."
He wonders if President-elect Barack Obama could get his wife a job on a corporate board. Patti Blagojevich said on the taped call that she believes she is qualified, and would take such a job immediately.
If Patti Blagojevich "picks up another 150 grand a year or whatever" on a corporate board, it would help the family's finances, the governor said, according to the complaint.