Rezko witness: Gov dreamed of White House

COURT | Dem fund-raiser says Blagojevich had plan to reward cash with contracts

Gov. Blagojevich was sitting across from his then-deputy governor, Bradley Tusk, on the New Jersey-bound private plane in 2003 when Tusk got up and asked well-known Democratic political fund-raiser Joseph Cari if he'd switch seats.

Cari didn't know the governor well, he testified Tuesday at Tony Rezko's corruption trial. So Cari was surprised when Blagojevich offered a vision for his political future and told Cari he could play a role.

"The governor wanted to know about my experience in the 2000 election" as one of unsuccessful presidential hopeful Al Gore's top fund-raisers, Cari testified. "He then slid into how excited he was to be governor, some of the dreams he had and also he had aspirations beyond the governorship."

Cari took that to mean "running for the presidency."

And Blagojevich had a path for getting there, Cari said: Raise political cash from across the country, and reward big contributors with state contracts.

Responding later Tuesday, an aide to the governor denied he ever outlined such a strategy to Cari, who has pleaded guilty to taking part in a fraud scheme involving Rezko.

"As we've said before, no conversation like that ever took place," Blagojevich spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff said. "It's absurd. The governor barely knows Mr. Cari."

But Cari testified that he also met with Rezko and another Blagojevich fund-raiser, Christopher Kelly, about heading up national fund-raising efforts for Blagojevich. Cari said he repeatedly rejected their pitches because his wife had died in 2002 and he wasn't interested in getting involved.

But Cari did do business with the Blagojevich administration. He was on the Oct. 29, 2003, flight with Blagojevich because an investment firm he helped head was hosting a fund-raiser for the governor in New York. That firm landed a $35 million pension deal with the state and was looking for more business.

In trying to get it, Cari met with Stuart P. Levine, who has pleaded guilty to scheming with Rezko to shake down firms seeking state business for kickbacks and campaign contributions to the governor.

Cari has pleaded guilty to aiding Levine in the attempted extortion of a Virginia investment firm whose business was supposed to be contingent on the awarding of a lucrative finder's fee to an associate of Rezko. Cari detailed the scheme for jurors Tuesday as prosecutors sought to corroborate Levine's earlier testimony.

Levine, the prosecution's star witness, ended weeks of testimony earlier in the day, denying suggestions from Rezko lawyer Joseph Duffy that, to avoid a long prison term, he would do anything to help prosecutors land a bigger fish -- Rezko. Levine -- expected to spend 67 months in prison in exchange for his cooperation -- said he agreed only to give "honest information as to whatever . . . I was asked about."