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| Robert Blagojevich Takes Witness Stand Again |
The brother of former Governor Rod Blagojevich continued his testimony Tuesday in the ousted governor's political corruption trial.
During cross examination, Robert Blagojevich was questioned about a number of actions that the government contends were pay-to-play.
One of those times was passing on a resume to Blagojevich's chief of staff at the behest of a campaign donor who wrote a check to Friends of Blagojevich for $10,000. But Robert contends that the campaign donation had been in the works for months before talk of passing on a resume and that he told the donor that there are no guaranteed jobs.
In another instance, Robert told his brother about a Springfield lawyer who had raised campaign cash for Blagojevich in the past but his firm was through with donations because state work kept passing them by.
Testimony later moved on to the appointment of a U.S. senator in exchange for an appointment for Blagojevich. Robert acknowledged his brother talked about being appointed secretary of health and human services.
He says he thought it was politics as usual. "That's what politicians do," Robert told the jury. He explained that his brother cared about health care issues. "I would have been proud if he was appointed to [that] secretary position…if he had wanted to be [secretary of defense] I would've laughed at him."
Testimony moved to Blagojevich considering appointing himself to the Senate and the possibility of putting a place-holder in the seat that Blagojevich could take in case he was facing impeachment. Asked if Republican presidential candidate John McCain had won and Blagojevich didn't have an appointment to make, Robert responded, "wish that would"ve happened." Robert is a Republican while Rod is a Democrat.
Talking about the possible appointment to the Senate of U.S. Representative Jesse Jackson Jr., the governor talked about influential people in the Indian community who wanted to raise cash for Blagojevich in exchange for Jackson’s appointment.
Robert is heard on tapes telling them that money would not play a role in the appointment. He also offered the prosecution two other incidents where he turned down pay-to-play requests that the government isn't entering as evidence.
In one instance a person was willing to make a "substantial" contribution if he could get help pushing through his doctorate degree at a university in Illinois. Robert turned him down. In a second instance, a group of Greek restaurateurs wanted a road changed to allow better access to their restaurants, in exchange for a campaign fundraiser. Robert says the plea was outrageous and told the owners to go to IDOT with their complaint. The fundraiser was later canceled.
(Illinois Radio Network) |
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| 07 20 10 by Newsroom |
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