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| Monk Testimony Continues in Blagojevich Retrial |
(IRN)-The jury in the corruption re-trial of former Governor Rod Blagojevich will continue to hear from a former chief of staff Wednesday morning.
They met in law school and later, Alonzo "Lon" Monk went to work for Blagojevich when he was in Congress. Monk would follow Blagojevich to the governor's office and acted as his chief of staff. It was during that time that Monk says fundraiser Tony Rezko talked about using the governor's office to personally gain wealth for himself, Monk, fundraiser Chris Kelly and Blagojevich. One scheme would have involved creating an insurance company and directing state business to it.
Monk left the Blagojevich camp in 2006, but continued to help with campaign fundraising. He told jurors Tuesday that Blagojevich told him to put pressure on construction and engineering companies that would benefit from a multi-billion dollar tollway construction plan. Monk testified that during a fundraising meeting, Blagojevich told road builder Gerald Krozel that it was important for his people to "step up" and donate campaign dollars before Jan. 1, 2009, when ethics laws would affect the way companies could make campaign contributions. Krozel earlier testified that he felt he was being pressured for campaign cash in order to see the tollway construction project go through.
Monk also testified about his relationship with the next witness in the trial, horse race track owner John Johnston. Monk worked as a lobbyist for Johnston earning $12,500 a month. Monk told the court that Blagojevich wanted to get $100,000 in campaign cash from Johnston in exchange for him signing a bill that would make casinos provide a subsidy to the racing industry.
(Source: Illinois Radio Network) |
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| 05 18 11 by Newsroom |
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