Don’t know a thing about it, but where exactly does “Shortshanks” come in? Nothing on such a large—read EXPENSIVE—scale happens in Chicago without the Mayor getting a slice, or getting even for being left out.
There was some smoke several months ago regarding the sale of the Chicago Cubs and the feds got interested. Maybe that was his connection. But the Tribune Company is much more than the Cubs and the Chicago newspaper. LA Times, a couple of TV stations, the Orlando Sentinel, Baltimore Sun, etc.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-thu-tribune-blagojevich-zellmar12,0,6176923.story
Tribune Co. chief Sam Zell interviewed by federal prosecutors in criminal probe of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich