Posted on 06/07/2008 11:08:29 PM PDT by Libloather
Rezko whistleblower still has no hospital, five years after the fact
By Rob Olmstead | Daily Herald StaffContact writer
Published: 6/8/2008 12:04 AMSend To:
It takes two to tango.
Illinoisans are fond of complaining about political corruption, but what if the businesses and individuals who came in contact with politicians seeking bribes refused to play ball and ratted them out?
If Edward Hospital CEO Pamela Davis of Naperville is any example, the lesson is doing the right thing is a double-edged sword.
Davis was the company CEO who felt she was being shaken down by construction company executive Jacob Kieferbaum when she went to the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board in 2004 to apply to build a hospital in Plainfield.
She was told if she hired Kieferbaum to build the hospital, at a more expensive rate than a company she had already chosen, she'd get her hospital. If she didn't, no hospital.
Davis went to the FBI, and the end result was the conviction of Kieferbaum, health facilities planning board member Stuart Levine and, on Wednesday, former political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko.
So all's well that ends well, right?
Not exactly.
Five years later, Edward still has no hospital in Plainfield, whereas if Davis had just gone along to get along, chances are it might. The company has applied again for a permit, but there's no guarantee it will be granted this July.
Which begs the question: when businesses and individuals get shaken down -- often in terms that are vague and much less obvious than the approach used with Davis -- do they have an obligation to blow the whistle and perhaps lose a job or crucial business, or is it OK to take the perfectly legal route of taking the "suggestion" of which contractor to use, or which consultant to hire?
"I appreciate the awkward position it puts people in," said Jim Wagner, the head of the Chicago Crime Commission and a former FBI agent. "It's a terrible chance to take. But I do think you have to fault those people (who don't come forward) because we as citizens do have a responsibility."
If we don't, he said, "We're really taking a chance on destroying our society. … Those are the people who have to step forward and have to puff out their chest and say 'I'm not going to let it continue,' " Wagner said.
Jay Stewart of the Better Government Association isn't as convinced.
"Ask anyone who's ever blown the whistle whether it caused them any pain, stress or harm," Stewart said. "If it was easy to do, a lot more people would be doing it."
The typical response to whistleblowers is character assassination, possible firing and maybe lost business, he said.
"It does take two to tango, but when the second person has a gun put to their head, I don't know if I can fault them for dancing," Stewart said.
Given the difficulty, blowing the whistle "takes courage," said Patrick Collins, the former federal prosecutor who put George Ryan in prison but is now in private practice.
"I'm thinking about IBM," said Collins. "It was the brand name in computers and they're basically told (during the Ryan administration), 'If you don't hire Larry Warner, don't bother applying' " for a state contract.
Warner was Ryan's best friend at the time.
"Does IBM have an obligation to step forward? Clearly, they don't have a legal obligation," Collins said.
"Corporations who have courage but aren't making money go out of business. They're being responsible by thinking of all these (financial) issues. But at the end of the day, to break this cycle, I do think it takes people to say, 'Hey, this ain't right,' " Collins said.
And what does Pamela Davis think?
She wouldn't comment for this story, but Edward Hospital Vice President and spokesman Brian Davis made the following statement when asked about the burden of blowing the whistle.
"I want to be very clear that Pam has absolutely no regrets," said Brian Davis, no relation to Pamela Davis. "But this week's events are another reminder that it's been nearly five years since Edward first filed an application to build a hospital in Plainfield. The people who are still waiting are the people of Plainfield."
Here's how Tony Rezko fared on each of the 24 charges he faced and what each involved:
GUILTY:
COUNT 1, Mail Fraud: A completed questionnaire sent July 18, 2003 via United Parcel Service from Glencoe Capital, a Chicago-based private equity firm, to the Illinois Teachers' Retirement System's Springfield office.
COUNT 2, Mail Fraud: Glencoe Capital presentation materials sent to TRS via United Parcel Service July 30, 2003.
COUNT 4, Wire Fraud: An April 14, 2004, phone call from Stuart Levine in Highland Park to attorney Joseph Cari in Hong Kong to discuss the name of a consultant to receive a finder's fee from the Virginia-based investment firm, JER Partners, in exchange for an allocation from TRS.
COUNT 5, Wire Fraud: A $750,000 compensation agreement faxed May 19, 2004, from a firm in the Turks & Caicos Islands, British West Indies, to JER in Virginia on May 19, 2004.
COUNT 6, Wire Fraud: A May 20, 2004, phone call from Chicago attorney Joseph Cari pressuring JER to sign the compensation agreement.
COUNT 7, Mail Fraud: A May 10, 2004, Federal Express shipment of materials related to investment firm Sterling Financial's application for an allocation of TRS assets.
COUNT 8, Mail Fraud: A May 19, 2004, Federal Express envelope from Sterling to TRS containing materials related to its planned presentation at the May 2004 TRS board meeting.
COUNT 11, Mail Fraud: A Nov. 25, 2003, letter from contractor Jacob Kiferbaum seeking the contract for construction of a hospital in Crystal Lake and offering help in obtaining approval for the project from the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board.
COUNT 12, Mail Fraud: A May 24, 2004, letter from the planning board to Mercy Hospital confirming that the board approved the hospital project.
COUNT 13, Wire Fraud: An April 17, 2004, phone call from Levine to friend and partner Dr. Robert Weinstein to discuss the applications of three money management firms, Stockwell, IMH and Capri Capital for TRS allocations.
COUNT 14, Wire Fraud: An April 21 phone call from Levine to Weinstein to discuss IMH and Mercy Hospital.
COUNT 15, Wire Fraud: A May 21, 2004, phone call from Levine to Weinstein to discuss JER, IMH, Capri, Mercy Hospital and TRS assets.
COUNT 17, Aiding and Abetting Bribery: Plan under which Chicago money manager Sheldon Pekin was told by Levine to split a finder's fee from Glencoe Capital and pay Rezko business associate Joseph Aramanda $250,000.
COUNT 20, Aiding and Abetting Bribery: The illegal solicitation by Levine of funds from JER to be paid to a consultant named by Rezko and Levine.
COUNT 23, Money Laundering: A March 24, 2004, check from Pekin to Aramanda for $125,000, part of a fee from Glencoe Capital.
COUNT 24, Money Laundering: An April 26, 2004, check from Pekin to Aramanda for $125,000, part of a fee from Glencoe Capital.
NOT GUILTY:
COUNT 3, Wire Fraud: A May 19, 2004, agreement faxed from the investment firm Wayne, Pa., offices of the investment firm LLR Partners to Pekin.
COUNT 9, Wire Fraud: A May 7, 2004, e-mail from TRS outside attorney Steven Loren in Chicago to the investment firm of IMH in Arizona, containing advice on the firm's prospective application for TRS funds.
COUNT 10, Wire Fraud: A May 10, 2004, e-mail from Loren to IMH with advice concerning the prospective application.
COUNT 16, Attempted Extortion: An alleged spring 2004 attempt to obtain money from Hollywood producer Thomas Rosenberg, an owner of Capri Capital, in exchange for an allocation of TRS funds.
COUNT 18, Aiding and Abetting Bribery: A plan under which Pekin would split a finder's fee he was supposedly going to receive from LLR and pay part to a person to be chosen by Rezko and Levine.
COUNT 19, Aiding and Abetting Bribery: A plan under which Pekin would split a finder's fee he was supposedly going to receive from Stockwell and pay part to a person to be chosen by Rezko and Levine.
COUNT 21, Aiding and Abetting Bribery: A plan under which a finder's fee that was to be paid by IMH in exchange for a TRS allocation that would be split and part paid to a person designated by Rezko and Levine.
COUNT 22, Aiding and Abetting Bribery: A plan under which Rosenberg was to be shaken down for campaign money or a $2 million payoff in exchange for a TRS allocation for Capri Capital.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/rezko/989494,CST-NWS-charges05.article
Shhh... Don’t tell Chris Matthews.
Such a shame that no bright young inspiring politician ever came on the Chicago scene to bring a message of hope and change. To change the way things were done in politics, bring peace and healing to the torn streets.
That’s the kernel of a great defense:
“Yeah, they gave me a ton of money, but what did they get for it? Nuttin, I tell ya!”
Wow. How naive was I? I thought you had to use the US mail to commit mail fraud. According to this you can commit mail fraud using UPS or Fedex.
I didn’t know that you could commit wire fraud via email either. I thought you had to use the phone . . .
This sure sounds like U of C Hospital was told ‘you better hirer Michelle my bell. And, now that he is a US Senator,you better pay her a lot more.’. This story shows the nexus between BO,Rezko,and Michels big job Michel knows this game well in Chicago,since she grew up in their currupt system.
All Freepers bookmark this story.
It's always a good thing when you can admit your crimes.
Yeah, Obama the Reformer sure did a bang-up job of cleaning up corrupt Chicago politics - now it’s time for him to show he can accomplish just as much on a national level.
It’s long past time for a full investigation into how/why Michelle Obama got hired by U of C hospitals and then got bumped up to well over $300K in salary. Listening to her, it is hard to imagine she has great professional contributions to make in the boardroom and executive offices — though as a “community relations” hack she will be portrayed as beneficial for purely “external” functions (such as keeping the U of C in good standing with local and national Demagogue politicians.
“Why” has been obvious for some time. Obama immediately got the hospital a big Federal earmark, in the $1.2m range.
NM
Obama says he wasn’t close to Rezko.
Case closed. /s
I'll bet the payoff on keeping quiet will make all his other sleazy deals looks like pocket change by comparison.
ITS AMAZING!!!
B.O. HUSSEIN, who tauts himself as the Master of Change, has never found one thing wrong, not ONE THING to Change in his own Home Town of Chicago, the Ultimate Cesspool of a City!
How the Hell is B.O. HUSSEIN going to find it in Washington?
B.O.HUSSEIN has never been to his Senate Office, let alone been able to smell out any of his Corrupt “Friends!”
B.O. HUSSEIN is Dumber than a Jackass if he really didn’t know about REZKO, his Minister, Ayers and the rest of his corrupt and deviant “Friends!”
Sounds like a leading candidate for Obama’s next Secretary of the Treasury!
As sleazy as I think this Rezko guy is, I am uncomfortable with all these ‘mail fraud’ convictions.
If the underlying act is NOT a crime itself, then how can you convict someone of ‘mail fraud’
In other words, if he had hand-delivered these letters instead of sending them through the mail would he be not-guilty? Wouldn’t a crime still take place? That crime is what should be prosecuted.
Tell that to Scooter Libby.
It may be that if BO becomes president, Rezko will get a pardon along the way.
That's why Rob Olmstead of the Daily Herald wrote this:
:"Illinoisans are fond of complaining about political corruption..."
It's also why John Kass of the Chicago Trib calls these crooks and miscreants, The Combine. THEY control IL politics and change party loyalties like we change underwear. It makes no difference who's in office and 'runs' IL, an 'R' or a 'D' - it's all the same. The Combine make the decisions and The Combine always lines their pockets.
Patrick Fitzgerald (yes, HIM) is making a dent, but its an uphill fight and he's running out of time. It's also why The Combine - and their IL GOP toady's tried like heck to get Karl Rove to have Fitz fired. Yep, boy genius Karl Rove is best buds with a major player in The Combine, one IL GOP official nicknamed 'KJ' (google is your friend).
Which is also why the Rats in Congress want to know what role Rove played in the firing of those US Attorneys. They know somethings up, they just can't find it yet (I'd have NO PROBLEM with Rove getting busted and sent to prison).
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