Posted on 04/23/2008 11:59:40 AM PDT by prolifefirst
A former top official in Gov. Blagojevich's administration said Tuesday the governor gave him a $127,000-a-year state job in exchange for pouring cash into Blagojevich's campaign fund, including tens of thousands of dollars out of his own pocket.
That bombshell from Ali Ata came as the onetime director of the Illinois Finance Authority pleaded guilty in a deal in which prosecutors plan to have him testify in the ongoing corruption trial of former Blagojevich fund-raiser Tony Rezko.
» Click to enlarge image From left: Tony Rezko, Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Ali Ata. (AP/Sun-Times files)
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Ata placed the governor at a meeting where money was exchanged and a reward -- his future state job -- was promised. Ata said that, in 2002, he met with Blagojevich at Rezko's Chicago offices and gave the governor a $25,000 check for a campaign contribution. Rezko placed the check on a conference table, according to Ata's plea deal. Then, according to Ata, Blagojevich "expressed his pleasure and acknowledged that the defendant had been a good supporter and good friend." The governor, "in the defendant's presence, asked Rezko if he [Rezko] had talked to the defendant about positions in the administration, and Rezko responded that he had."
Later, at a July 2003 fund-raiser for the governor at Navy Pier, Ata -- who had contributed another $25,000 -- said Blagojevich spoke of having him join the administration and said, "It had better be a job where [Ata] could make some money."
Ata started working as director of the state agency in 2003 and was formally appointed to the job in 2004, the year Blagojevich created the authority.
Responding to Ata's allegations, a Blagojevich spokeswoman said: "We don't endorse or allow the decisions of state government to be based on campaign contributions."
Blagojevich hasn't been accused of any crime. His administration is the target of a federal investigation involving "pay to play" allegations that state positions and contracts were traded for campaign contributions.
Ata's plea deal refers to the governor only as "Public Official A" -- the same reference prosecutors have used. But sources -- and the judge in Rezko's corruption case -- previously identified Blagojevich as "Public Official A." And Ata made the same dollar-amount contributions on the same dates detailed in the plea deal to the governor's campaign, state records show.
Besides saying he had to give money to the governor's campaign to get his state job, Ata said he also had to keep Rezko happy to keep the job. To do so, he said he agreed to Rezko's repeated pleas for cash and ended up giving him a total of $125,000 in cash.
Ata, 56, of Lemont, was a co-defendant in a business-fraud case against Rezko -- involving Rezko's fast-food franchises -- that has yet to go to trial.
Rezko is on trial on unrelated charges that he used his influence in the Blagojevich administration to orchestrate a kickback scheme involving state business deals.
Ata pleaded guilty to lying to an FBI agent when he said he didn't get anything in return for making contributions to Blagojevich and admitted he lied about Rezko's influence.
He also pleaded guilty to failing to report $1.2 million in income related to a development at Addison and Kimball.
Ata, facing 12 to 18 months in prison, could get less time based on his cooperation. Prosecutors dropped a charge that Ata helped Rezko fraudulently secure $10 million in loans related to his Papa John's pizza restaurants in Chicago and Milwaukee.
Ata gave a total of $65,000 to Blagojevich's gubernatorial campaign fund. He also contributed $5,000 to Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama, who gave that money to charity after Ata's indictment last year.
Though Ata left his state post after about a year, following a critical audit, he soon got a three-year, $55,200-a-year consulting deal with the agency -- which he declined after the Chicago Sun-Times reported a foreclosure he didn't disclose. Ata said then: "For someone to imply that I paid $60,000 to get a job of $127,000 is erroneous and wrong."
Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is fighting single-handily to hold back the completely corrupt politians in Illinois - both Democratic and Republican.
I know that there’s a lot of people here pissed off at Fitzgerald because of the case he was special prosecutor for in D.C., but he’s doing great work in Illinois and we love him here. IIRC he’s about 63:65::convictions:indictments of corrupt politicians and their friends. He’s put our previous governor in jail and is homing in on the current one.
Maybe, but after seeing what he did in the Libby case, I can't help but be suspicious of his integrity and his methods.
The Libby case was a travesty, and Fitz should have been disbarred for it.
Go for it, send Blago where he belongs! Sick, sick, sick of corrupt Illinois politicians!
Illinois is a political cesspool. Hey, I have an idea, let’s go get a President from the cesspool.
He’s working for the Hildabeast ~ man still can’t be trusted.
What is he doing for Hillary Clinton? That’s kind of interesting, seeing as how he was appointed to his present job on the behest of a Republican Senator.
Isn’t this the same poltical group that Hussein comes from?
The man is bringing down Obamasama's Illinois corrupt political machine ~ starting with the Governor, and ending with the main bagman!
If that's not evidence of being one of her running dog lackeys I have no idea what would be!
Those of us actually FROM Illinois were well aware that Fitzgerald really IS above party politics and goes after corruption anywhere.
And it's quite laughable to believe a U.S. Attorney that was appointed by a Republican President on the recommendation of a conservative Republican Senator and proved himself a hero to conservative Republican voters in Illinois for going after the Daley, Blagojevich, and Madigan regimes was working for Hillary all along.
He indicted dozens of high ranking Democrat party operatives in Illinois, but because of an investigation in Washington, Dick Cheney had to find a new chief-of-staff, though everyone else in the Bush administration was fine.
Yep, that seals it. Obviously Fitzgerald is a rabid card-carrying partian liberal Democrat.
Corrupt political machines need to be brought down no matter who benefits in the short term. New York could sure use a cleansing like this.
So explain the pursuit of “Libbygate” long, long after it was clear the administration did nothing illegal ?
Oh I get it - he’s not a partisan political hack, he’s just a leech on the taxpayer’s dime. I don’t find that to be much better.
We’ll see, He wasted two years investigating who was gossiping about some DC.bozo’s wife.
If the election in 2008 goes bad he will be canned by either O or H.
Politicians of both parties in Illinois are simply racketeers. Blago’s greatest crime was raiding a public pension in a way that only Jimmy Hoffa could have dreamed about. Of course it was “legal” because it was signed off on by the minions who populate the legislative branch.
DING! DING! DING! DRUM ROLL PLEASE! Post of the day!
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