Levine: Bribe talk got Rezko to back hospital
'YOU BET' | Star witness claims offer of 'a lot of money' got Crystal Lake facility approved after 'other folks' previously had been promised otherwise
At first, Tony Rezko wasn't keen on the state approving a new $81 million hospital in McHenry County, star prosecution witness Stuart Levine testified Thursday at the corruption trial of Gov. Blagojevich's former top fund-raiser.
But Levine said that changed when he asked Rezko: "Would it make a difference if I could make you and I a lot of money?"
(Sun-Times files)
Listen to the recorded phone calls played during the trial:
Stuart Levine-Tony Rezko on May 18, 2004 at 7:45 p.m.
Stuart Levine-Adrianna Gonzales-Bill Cavanagh on April 12, 2004 at 11:19 a.m.
Stuart Levine-Tony Rezko on May 18, 2004 at 7:45 p.m.
Stuart Levine-Jacob Kiferbaum call on April 17, 2004 at 3:23 p.m.
Stuart Levine-P. Nicholas Hurtgen call on April 17, 2004 at 4:48 p.m.
Stuart Levine-Jacob Kiferbaum call on April 18, 2004 at 10:04 a.m.
Stuart Levine-Jacob Kiferbaum call on April 18, 2004 at 11:50 a.m.
Stuart Levine-Steven Loren call on April 19, 2004 at 5:14 p.m.
Stuart Levine-Steven Loren call on April 19, 2004 at 7:02 p.m.
Stuart Levine-Jacob Kiferbaum call on April 20, 2004 at 4:52 p.m.
Stuart Levine-Sheri Levine call on April 21, 2004 at 4:05 p.m.
Stuart Levine-Sheri Levine call on April 21, 2004 at 5:39 p.m.
Stuart Levine-Steven Loren call on April 21, 2004 at 8:03 p.m.
Stuart Levine-Thomas Beck call on April 19, 2005 at 4:56 p.m.
Stuart Levine-Thomas Beck call on April 19, 2004 at 5:25 p.m.
Stuart Levine-Thomas Beck call on April 19, 2004 at 9:29 p.m.
Stuart Levine-Thomas Beck call on April 20, 2004 at 4:37 p.m.
To get Tony Rezko's backing for a new hospital, star prosecution witness Stuart Levine testified he promised Rezko they'd both make money on the deal -- and so would Gov. Blagojevich's campaign fund. Rezko's response, according to Levine: "You bet!"
Up next: Prosecutors to play more recordings today of Levine.
Rezko's reply, according to Levine: "You bet."
In his third day of testimony, Levine, a 62-year-old businessman from Highland Park and former Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board member, told jurors he worked closely with Rezko and others to engineer the board's approval of Mercy Health System's proposed Crystal Lake hospital on April 21, 2004.
Earlier, in the fall of 2003, Rezko had balked at backing Mercy's proposal because, Levine testified, there were "other folks that had been promised that project would not go ahead."
But then, Levine said, he told Rezko that his friend, Jacob Kiferbaum, hoped to be Mercy's general contractor. Levine also told him, "Mr. Kiferbaum might be capable of raising significant campaign contributions for Gov. Blagojevich in addition to paying a substantial bribe."
Besides offering new details Thursday about Rezko's relationship with Blagojevich, Levine detailed how another Blagojevich campaign fund-raiser, roofing contractor Chris Kelly, wanted a say on who Kiferbaum hired as subcontractors.
And Levine testified that onetime Mercy consultant Victor Reyes -- a former patronage chief for Mayor Daley -- was told by Kelly that Mercy "should be fine, as long as they have a deal with Mr. Kiferbaum."
Rezko, 52, of Wilmette, is charged with conspiring with Levine to stack the planning board and another state panel, the Teachers' Retirement System board, with members they could control, enabling Rezko and Levine to coerce kickbacks from Kiferbaum and others.
Levine and Kiferbaum both have pleaded guilty and are cooperating against Rezko. The governor has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
Kelly, who has been charged in a tax-fraud case unrelated to Rezko, blasted Levine's statements through his attorney, Michael Monico. "If Mr. Levine is suggesting that Mr. Kelly did anything wrong or profited in any way or attempted to profit in any way from Mr. Levine's misdeeds, that is categorically false," Monico said.
Blagojevich's office did not return calls about Thursday's court developments, which included the playing of an April 18, 2004, telephone conversation between Levine and Kiferbaum that the FBI secretly recorded.
"I am telling you that I have never been in a better position than I am right now," Levine is heard saying. "Part of the reason is there's never been such a tight control of the central apparatus.
"This guy is making decisions and can get anything done that he wants done . . . and I have a superb relationship" with him.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Niewoehner asked Levine what he meant by those comments.
The "central apparatus," Levine testified, was Blagojevich's office. And the guy who was "making decisions" was Rezko, according to Levine, who said he'd never seen anything like this.
Levine told jurors that he and Rezko agreed to split a $1 million to $1.5 million bribe from Kiferbaum. The two allegedly engineered the five votes needed for the hospital to be approved. But the hospital was never built, after details about the criminal case against Levine, Kiferbaum and Rezko began to come to light.
* On why he arranged state approval for a proposed new hospital in Crystal Lake: "I was doing it only for the money."
* Levine friend Steve Loren, paraphrasing a hospital CEO who walked out of a planning board meeting in disgust: "I wanted to tell him next time I'll see you, you'll be in prison." Levine's response: "Maybe she knows something we don't."
* Levine on his work for Illinois' hospital planning board: "I don't read a God [expletive] thing. I don't do anything. I don't read a God [expletive] thing."
* Speaking on tape about a fellow board member who wanted to help out podiatrists, Levine, who was greasing a deal to get a kickback, laughed Thursday as he recalled: "I said, 'You're not here for the podiatrists' interests . . . you're here for the people of the state of Illinois.' "