Posted on 01/10/2009 8:28:00 PM PST by STARWISE
On Dec. 25, 2008, LR blog reported on Governor Rod Blagojevich's past dealings with the Illinois Horse Track and Gaming industries.
From LR: "Blago got the legislature to approve a "share the wealth" program, which would send 3% of annual revenues of the States' top three casinos to the tracks and to State coffers."
Blago pushed through this legislation at the behest of top Horse Track owners, at least one of whom, is alleged to have given to him a very large contribution.
The matter is currently part of the ongoing investigation of the Governor, by Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald.
Read the full story here.
Now another Blago-Gambling industry scandal is breaking. But this one is threatening to dislodge the candidacy of President-elect Barack Obama's pick to be Attorney General Eric Holder.
Ed Morrissey at HotAir is headlining this morning: "Is Holder in Trouble?"
Holder neglected to mention this on his questionnaire, but he agreed to represent Blagojevich to the Illinois Gaming Board to help push through a casino that Blagojevich and Obama ally Tony Rezko needed for his own financial benefit.
The Gaming Board refused to accept Holder, and the Senate Judiciary Committee (or at least the Republican members) will be interested in hearing what exactly Holder intended to do for the corrupt cabal in Illinois.
Blago and Holder: Got Paid and Played
Seems Blago and Holder go way back and have worked together on a number of issues, including seeking approval for new casinos in the Chicago area.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Dec. 17, 2008:
Before Eric Holder was President-elect Barack Obama's choice to be attorney general, he was Gov. Blagojevich's pick to sort out a mess involving Illinois' long-dormant casino license.
Blagojevich and Holder appeared together at a March 24, 2004, news conference to announce Holder's role as "special investigator to the Illinois Gaming Board" -- a post that was to pay Holder and his Washington, D.C. law firm up to $300,000...
Besides that, the Gaming Board's staff had been concerned that the governor had named his close friend and fund-raiser, Christopher G. Kelly, as a "special government agent" to be involved in official state negotiations about the casino.
Kelly, the Sun-Times later learned, was a business partner of Tony Rezko, another Blagojevich fund-raiser who had held an option to lease a hotel site next to the proposed casino site in Rosemont.
Rezko, also a former Obama fund-raiser, and Kelly both have denied any wrongdoing related to the casino, though both have been charged in separate, unrelated criminal cases since 2004..
Chicago Mob ties?
In the Sun-Times, 2004:
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan laid out her case Thursday that the taint of organized crime has sullied Rosemont, putting pressure on the state's Gaming Board to reject the northwest suburb as a casino site.
Donald E. Stephens, Rosemont's mayor since 1956, was until 2002 a partner in a trade show company allegedly linked to the mob and forced out of its business relationship with a New York City convention center, Madigan alleged.
She also charged that Stephens "boasted" he controlled 5 percent of the stock in a failed Rosemont casino venture, and that shares in that firm, Emerald Casino Inc., went to a partner in his trade show business and another allegedly mob-linked man to whom Stephens had tangential ties through a bank that does business with Rosemont.
"There appear to be connections that Don Stephens and the city of Rosemont had to organized crime," Madigan said during an afternoon news conference. "It certainly is something that needs to be looked at, and it is something that whoever the operator of the casino is -- if that casino is going to be located in Rosemont -- they'll have to show how they're going to be able to overcome any influence of Don Stephens and potentially any influence of organized crime."
Robert Stephenson, a Rosemont attorney, said Madigan's charges would be refuted by former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder, named Tuesday by Gov. Blagojevich as a special investigator into the casino matter.
"When he looks at all this, he will conclude Ms. Madigan's allegations are totally baseless," Stephenson said. "They border on the absurd."
Holder was doing Blago's bidding, and ultimately for Rezko
After Holder got involved, the Gaming Board, approved the casino to be built in Rosemont.
Again from the Sun-Times:
The concern was Holder had a bias to do whatever Blagojevich wanted, which was to give the casino to Rosemont," said Jim Wagner, who was a top Chicago FBI agent before he joined the Gaming Board, from which he retired in December 2005.
"We all believed the only reason Holder was coming in was to fashion an investigation that would manipulate the casino into Rosemont."
The March 2004 Chicago news conference where Holder and Blagojevich spoke was widely covered because of a controversial 4-1 Gaming Board vote earlier that month to allow a casino to be built in Rosemont.
That vote defied the recommendation of the board's staff, which had raised concerns about alleged organized-crime links to the Rosemont casino's developer.
((NOTE: Rosemont was later officially bypassed, due to taint of mob influence, and will NOT get the casino license.))
Will Holder resign like Bill Richardson to spare Obama the embarrassment?
The issue has come up now, in a storm of growing controversy, because Holder neglected to disclose any of his past dealings with Blagojevich on his initial submission of the Senate Committee's background questionnaire.
The Washington Post is reporting this morning that the Holder nomination: "appears headed for rough waters when hearings begin on Thursday."
The questionnaire emerged as an issue after the Chicago Sun-Times asked why Holder did not include the contract with Blagojevich's office. The 2004 deal called for Holder and his law firm, working at a reduced rate, to investigate the award of a gambling casino in Rosemont, Ill.
We could see the resignation of a second Obama appointee in the beginning of the week. If not, the Senate hearings promise to be a spectacle, with likely disclosures of information that could prove extremely embarrassing for the incoming administration.
The hearings starting Thursday will be MUST SEE TV.
~~Transparent admin... PING!
I think they nominated Holder knowing he’s the one and only guy knocked out. They have a backup they prefer.
And yet Obama remains as pure as new fallen snow.
The most corrupt cabinet-elect in history.
Well for the moment. Let’s get to work!
But, you can bet there won't be any such 'nonsense' when he is up for Attorney General. /s
He will be the next Attorney General no matter what he has done, period. And we know since he was part of the Clinton gang there is plenty that he has done wrong/illegally.
And where’s Rahm Emanuel? Still hiding?
New AG Holder May Have Conflict In Blagojevich Probe
If confirmed as attorney general, Eric Holder may have to consider removing himself from overseeing the Chicago corruption probe that ensnared Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, legal experts say.
There is one highly publicized blemish on the attorney general-designate’s record and Republicans are sure to bring it up: Holder’s role in Clinton’s pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich eight years ago.
In regard to the Chicago corruption probe, “I don’t see main Justice and Holder getting terribly involved in this case. I see keeping this out in the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago,” said Wayne State University law school professor Peter Henning, who teaches classes in legal ethics and white-collar crime.
“That said, having Holder recuse himself and not having any of the people involved with Obama involved in this case would be the wisest course,” Henning added.
Yeah .. where are you, Rahm??
~~~~
The fight to replace Rahm Emanuel in Congress will be waged without an endorsed Democratic candidate.
The district’s Democratic committeemen met Saturday and heard candidates who want the party endorsement, including 40th Ward Ald. Pat O’Connor and state Rep. John Fritchey.
State central committeeman James Deleo, an assistant Senate majority leader, presided. He said one reason nobody was endorsed is that the district, which is strongly Democratic, is very diverse.
“It’s Hispanic. It’s black. It’s white. It’s Polish. It’s Italian. It’s lakefront. It’s O’Hare airport. It’s suburban. It’s one of the most diverse districts that I’ve ever seen in a congressional district. This district has everything. So, I think that it’s kind of very hard to come to a consensus candidate,” Deleo said.
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=6597322
~~~
If you read John Kass, you’ll know all about Jimmy Deleo.
###
With so many new readers from strange lands finally getting interested in how Chicago works—and by this I mean the editorial boards of many American newspapers—you might start by learning about Emanuel’s 5th District.
It is dominated by the shadow governor of Illinois, state Sen. James DeLeo (D-How You Doin’?), the state central Democratic committeeman, the fellow who’ll decide who gets slated by the party, the guy behind the guys.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass-09-jan09,0,6818129.column
~~~
Eddie Genson and Jimmy DeLeo go way back. In 1989, when Jimmy was on trial for allegedly taking bribes in traffic court—a case he beat—Genson told the federal jury how Jimmy, a lowly court bailiff making $20,000 a year, could afford a string of Corvettes, Cadillacs, Jaguars and Mercedes, plus a giant Rolex and a fabulous Rush Street night life.
DeLeo was a guy “from the old neighborhood,” Genson said during the trial, and the mysterious $100,000 in cash Jimmy spent had really been plucked from sympathy cards from his parents’ funerals, cash gifts from friends and personal loans.
The jury wouldn’t convict, and Jimmy and Eddie are friends to this day. I wouldn’t be surprised if they chat about almost everything, like who friended whom on Facebook, or that tawdry Jennifer Aniston magazine cover, or the latest dish from the kooky planet of Brangelina.
But about Rod? Oh, no.
Even among friends, sharing that information would be, what’s the word?
Unethical?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kasstuesdayblago12-16dec16,0,5311000.column?page=2
Barack Obama’s AG Nominee Eric Holder Hid Blagojevich Ties from Senate
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3036/3116271606_5b0a9d94a5_o.jpg
Eric Holder, Ruby Ridge, Waco - said Davidians responsible for tragedy.
******
Attorney general pick Eric Holder to earn $4.6 million from law firm in 2008-09
Holder’s total assets are $5.7 million. He listed no liabilities.
He has $1.4 million in cash and in banks, $1.9 million in real estate and $1.3 million in pension-and-retirement savings plans.
******
The GOP senators asked about Holder’s role in:
_The government raid in April 2000 that led to the return of a Cuban boy, Elian Gonzales, to his homeland over the objection of many Cuban-Americans in Miami.
_The investigation of a Democratic campaign finance scandal, connected to fundraising by then-Vice President Al Gore in the mid-1990s.
_The controversial pardon Clinton granted to Rich on his last day in office in 2001.
_Pardons granted to two members of the radical Weather Underground and to Puerto Rican nationalists.
Rich’s ex-wife, Denise, was a substantial Democratic donor and also contributed to Clinton’s presidential library.
Holder later told a congressional committee he would have opposed the pardon if he had paid more attention to the case.
He actually delayed getting the FBI involved, and it appeared as if he really did think someone in the White House was probably involved.
Holder instinctively thinks everything going on is a consequence of government corruption or mob influence, and he then acts as if that's all normal!
I'm LMAO ROTFPMP.
Blago is the gift that keeps on giving!
The most corrupt administration-elect before taking the oath of office! If the Republicans had any spine they’d filibuster HRC, Holder, Solis!
Holder tied to Blago tied to Rezko tied to Obama?? There’s some salt to rub into the wounds of some liberal friends.
Amazing. Holder facilitated the Rich, FALN and WU pardons, with end runs around Justice Department protocols.
He was most definitely paying attention.
from the “Public servant my ass” desk:
A Public Servant’s Private Stint Is at Issue ( Eric Holder )
The Spinnin’ New York Times | January 10, 2009 | ERIC LICHTBLAU
Posted on 01/10/2009 10:36:45 PM PST by george76
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2162538/posts
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2004457941_apholderobama.html?syndication=rss
Holder’s reputation dinged by Marc Rich pardon
By PETE YOST
Associated Press Writer
The last time Washington attorney Eric Holder participated in a high-profile vetting, it was for fugitive financier Marc Rich.
The episode in 2001 became the final scandal of the Clinton administration and landed Holder, at the time the No. 2 official at the Justice Department, in the middle of a congressional investigation.
(snip)
In the Clinton pardon scandal, Holder was deputy attorney general when his duties intersected with the efforts of Rich’s lawyer, Jack Quinn, who had been White House counsel earlier in the Clinton administration.
The entire matter was handled in an unorthodox manner - on a straight line from Rich’s lawyer to the White House, with a consulting role for Holder.
Later, Holder said he told White House counsel Beth Nolan the day before the pardon was issued that he was “neutral, leaning toward favorable” in regard to the pardon. He said he and Nolan “never had a prolonged conversation about the matter.”
To make matters worse, Holder had asked Quinn for his help in becoming attorney general in the event then-Vice President Al Gore won the 2000 election.
Rich did not even qualify for a pardon under Justice Department guidelines, which say no pardons can be requested until five years after completion of a sentence in a criminal case.
Prosecutors on the Rich case testified that no one consulted with them before a recommendation went to the president on the Rich pardon.
(snip)
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