BLAGO WANTED ZELL DONATION
$25,000 | Targeted for contribution while Trib sought help in Wrigley deal
Tribune Co. chairman Sam Zell was targeted for $25,000 by the Blagojevich campaign last November while the company's Wrigley Field deal was under consideration and two weeks before the ex-governor was arrested, internal campaign documents obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times show.
Zell's name appeared on a Nov. 25, 2008, document titled "Focus List" among a group of 33 potential donors. Alongside Zell's name was the $25,000 figure and a notation that read: "Rod to follow up." On a Sept. 22, 2008, fund-raising document titled "Call List," an entry noted "Sam Party on 9.27."
(AP)
In another campaign document dated Dec. 3, 2008, Tribune Co. sports consultant Mark Ganis is listed among 143 names of potential donors for tentative or scheduled fund-raising events. Next to Ganis' name are the notations "New York Event" and "Rod went to dinner on 9/19. Rob needs to follow up."
The Tribune Co., parent of the Chicago Tribune, hired Ganis to help structure a sale of Wrigley. His name also appeared on the September call list next to a notation that read: "Patti and Rod dinner."
Lawyers for the former governor and his brother, Robert, who headed his campaign fund, told the Sun-Times on Thursday they did not solicit Zell for cash during that time. Blagojevich was arrested Dec. 9. A Zell spokeswoman said the real estate mogul never promised any money and did not donate last year.
Attorneys for the Blagojevich brothers did not deny Zell's name was on the list, but said he was never asked for cash. "We never asked Zell for any money, we never asked Ganis for any money," said Sheldon Sorosky, Blagojevich's lawyer.
"Robert never asked Zell for money or to have a fund-raiser," said Michael Ettinger, Robert Blagojevich's lawyer. "And he never asked Ganis to have a fund-raiser or to participate in one."
But the documents are the first disclosure that the governor wanted to target Zell for money as his company sought state help in its potential sale of Wrigley. The state help could have saved Tribune Co. $150 million, the feds have alleged.
The revelation comes after Tribune Co. disclosed Wednesday that federal agents interviewed Zell in January as a "potential witness" in the Blagojevich case. Among the charges facing Rod Blagojevich is that he schemed to have members of the Chicago Tribune editorial board fired in exchange for helping push through the Wrigley deal.
"Sam never committed to or made a contribution to the former governor, and Sam's wife has not contributed since Blagojevich ran for re-election in 2006, which was prior to Sam's involvement with Tribune," Zell spokeswoman Terry Holt said. Holt said Blagojevich, Mayor Daley and then-Sen. Barack Obama were invited to the "Sam Party on 9.27," Zell's birthday party.
The Tribune Co. did not respond to a request for comment. Ganis could not be reached for comment.