Illinois Governor Blagojevich not involved in Tollway contracting - spokesman says

Illinois Tollway spokesman Joelle McGinnis says that Governor Blagojevich was not controlling Tollway contracts and that the Tollway has not been involved in the fundraising by the Governor which got him arrested by the FBI and put under impeachment proceedings by the state legislature.

"The Tollway has had no involvement in the Governor's campaign fund. The Tollway was not involved in any private activity of the Governor," Joelle McGinnis told us today.

The chairman of the Tollway board of directors John Mitola insists that the Tollway was never pressured by the Governor to approve favored contractors. He answered "Not once" to a question recently about whether the Governor or aides had attempted to steer Tollway projects. Contracts of the Tollway, he said, are decided according to state law and awarded after competition to best value bidders.

US Attorney mischaracterizes $1.8b project - spokesman

McGinnis points out that the US Attorney's characterization of the Tollway's $1.8 billion express lanes project in paragraphs 63, 64 and 67 of the federal complaint against Gov Blagojevich is misleading. Only $400m of the $1800m was for express lanes, the other $1400m was for interchange rebuilds, including two of about $500m each, and $400m spread among other smaller projects.

see announcement of $1.8b project:

http://www.tollroadsnews.com/sites/default/files/BlagLaunches.pdf

The federal complaint is that according to a  witness the Governor was using a lobbyist to shakedown a contractor for $500k for the $1.8b Tollway project and that Blagojevich said the project could be larger if the contractor paid more than $500k to the Blagojevich fund.

After the announcement an FBI wire tap of a meeting at the Governor's campaign offices had Blagojevich telephoning  the same highway contractor asking him to raise money before Jan 1 when more restrictive state rules were due to come into effect.

McGinnis, the Tollway spokesman points out that there is no $1.8 billion project on which to bid. It is more a "program" involving multiple projects which yet have to be designed and permitted and which are nowhere near bidding.

Further they will likely involve multiple contracts, not one $1.8b contract.

She's right about that - the characterization of the $1.8b program in the federal complaint is clearly oversimplified, if not inaccurate.

But the Tollway allowed the Governor to present it as his plan. The announcement was on the letterhead of "Office of the Governor" and read in its first par: "In an effort to reduce congestion, cut down on emissions and invest in Illinois jobs, Governor Rod R. Blagojevich today unveiled a new Illinois Tollway Improvement Plan which will include the introduction of Green Lanes and interchange construction. Building on the successes..."

Two of the Governor's aides are listed ahead of McGinnis as press contacts on the announcement.

One cannot imagine the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission allowing the Governor of Pennsylvania Ed Rendell announce its major projects. That of course is an extreme of distance in the relationship of a state toll authority and the Governor. In New Jersey and Massachusetts the secretary of transportation, a governor's appointee, is an active chairman of the board of the state toll authority. Others have differing degrees of independence of politicians.

Those best placed to resist involvement in political corruption may be the multi-powers agencies with board appointees from several jurisdictions.

Illinois Tollway presented as a tool of the Governor

By allowing Gov Blagojevich to make press announcements on the $1.8b green lanes and interchange upgrades program and many other earlier Illinois Tollway projects the Tollway was at a minimum supporting the impression the Governor was the man to go to on contracts, even though legally they were the Tollway's.

Today's Illinois House of Representatives investigating committee report recommending impeachment of Gov Blagojevich says (p29) that the evidence shows a "long-running pattern of trading campaign contributions for official acts of the Governor" and it cites among others the $1.8b Tollway project as an example.

It concludes the section: "...the Governor was overseeing elaborate schemes to link state contracts... with campaign contributions... a clear abuse of power."

Today the investigating committee of the state House voted 21/0 to recommend impeachment to the full state House.  The report details a litany of abuses of power by Blagojevich including pay-to-play schemes, hiring abuses, suppressing information, and expenditures without legislative mandate.

Fun animation

Here for a fun Chicago Tribune animation  "Blagojevich's next move" by JoeFournierStudios. Blago announces his intention to run for US President in 2012 or 2016 and announces his selection of Secretary of State "someone with communications skills who can not only talk to world leaders but also speaks my language" - my wife Patti. (Profanities at left.) All additional appointments can now be purchased through my chief of staff Tony Rezko..." (cash register scenes follow)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-fournier-blagojevich-cabinet-html,0,7306082.htmlstory

see also http://www.joefournierstudios.com/animation.html

and nice jazz http://www.joefournierstudios.com/music.html

TOLLROADSnews 2009-01-08