More Top Picks Kitchen Accessories
player ready...The guilty plea of political insider Stuart Levine on federal kickback charges has thickened the clouds of corruption hanging over next week’s election and could taint how voters view Illinois government for years to come.
Given the scope of the scandal, Levine attorney Jeffrey Steinback said it could be two years before his client fulfills his agreement to cooperate with federal prosecutors.
“He is cooperating fully with the government in some very sensitive, ongoing investigations,” Steinback told reporters after Levine’s plea. “I know the government regards him as very important … and I expect that Mr. Levine will be testifying at trials and before grand juries for a period of time to come.”
Levine pleaded guilty Friday to attempted kickback schemes involving his positions on the state teacher pension board and the state hospital construction board.
The campaigns of Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Republican challenger Judy Baar Topinka both have tried to spin the scandal to their favor in the closing days of the race. But the plea agreement’s description of the attempted kickback schemes–involving what Steinback estimated to be $20 million to $50 million in public and private funds–referenced Democratic and Republican operatives working in tandem.
That could further discourage voters who have expressed little confidence in polls that either Blagojevich or Topinka would clean up corruption.
“There’s no doubt that people are looking at this election and saying, `They’re just a bunch of crooks, and to hell with all of them,'” said Christopher Mooney, a professor of political science at the University of Illinois at Springfield.
The governor’s campaign maintained that the plea agreement made it “clear that Gov. Blagojevich had absolutely no knowledge of any of the wrongdoing perpetrated” by Levine, whom Blagojevich reappointed to the two state boards.
Though the governor is not named in the plea agreement, his two top fundraisers are part of the document.
Ties to Blagojevich
One fundraiser, Antoin “Tony” Rezko, has been indicted on charges of being a co-schemer with Levine, shaking down firms seeking investment business with the teacher pension fund. Rezko pleaded not guilty.
Another major Blagojevich fundraiser and close friend, Christopher Kelly, is not named in the plea agreement but is referred to as “Individual B.” Jon Bauman, executive director of the Teachers’ Retirement System, confirmed Kelly’s identity based on conversations with Levine and subsequent interviews with federal officials. Sources familiar with the investigation also confirmed Kelly’s identity.
Levine “understood that Rezko and Individual B had significant influence with the State of Illinois administration because of their relationships with senior State of Illinois officials and their roles as important fundraisers,” the plea agreement stated.
The plea agreement also alleges for the first time that Kelly played a role in making sure Levine kept his posts on both state boards. In the agreement, Levine admits he talked separately with Springfield-based Republican power broker William Cellini and Kelly about being reappointed to the state hospital planning board. At an August 2003 meeting in Rezko’s office, Kelly told Levine “that the board seat [Levine] wanted had been taken care of,” the agreement said.
Blagojevich, who previously has communicated his confidence that Kelly did nothing wrong, expressed Saturday that that confidence remains and said Levine’s plea agreement provided no new information about Kelly.
Asked after an event on the West Side if he had spoken to Kelly since the plea agreement was announced, Blagojevich said, “Why should I? There’s nothing new here.”
According to the plea agreement, Kelly and Rezko worked together with Republican fundraiser Levine and Cellini to arrange finder’s fees from firms seeking investment business.
Cellini was not named in the document but is referred to as “Individual A,” according to Bauman and federal sources.
In one instance, the plea agreement alleges the four were involved in a scheme to try to extort $2 million in finder’s fees, or $1.5 million in campaign contributions, from a firm seeking to invest $220 million in teacher pension funds. Sources have said the campaign contributions were allegedly to go to Blagojevich’s campaign fund.
Cellini, whose asphalt paving association has donated to Blagojevich, also agreed to use his influence to have Levine reappointed to the hospital construction board, the plea agreement said.
Cellini was not charged. His lawyers did not return a telephone call for comment. Kelly’s attorney, Michael Monico, said “we deny any wrongdoing” if prosecutors are referring to Kelly in the plea agreement.
Kelly’s alleged involvement prompted Topinka to contend that Blagojevich’s multimillion-dollar war chest is the result of illicit activity. “I think the governor should probably review his friendships with the thought of them trying to be helpful to the state rather than trying to rip the place off,” she said after a Downstate event.
Asked about the Levine plea, Topinka said, “It just makes everybody feel that the whole political system is not worth anything, that it is all corrupt, just throw them all out. And it’s sad when you have people like that who violate the public trust because they ruin it for everybody else.”
More Top Picks Dyslexia Vs Visual Processing Disorder How To Tell
But Topinka’s running mate, lieutenant governor candidate Joseph Birkett, also came under fire Saturday from Blagojevich, who pointed out that Birkett has accepted campaign donations from Levine; Birkett said he is them donating to charity.
Fees for Topinka ally alleged
The plea agreement also alleges that a key Topinka ally, Robert Kjellander, the state’s Republican national committeeman and treasurer of the Republican National Committee, earned finder’s fees for pension investment business after he had been paid by Levine to lobby for a Levine company.
Kjellander was not named in the plea agreement but was listed as “Individual K” in the document. Based on matching the federal records with minutes of the Teachers’ Retirement System board, Bauman confirmed that Kjellander is “Individual K.” Kjellander was not available for comment.
Board officials called the plea the end of a sad chapter.
“Stuart Levine betrayed a sacred public trust, pursuing criminal conduct for his own personal gain,” Bauman said.
———-