John Ruff alleges Burris quid pro quo

March 7, 2009

Could Roland Burris still be lying?

John Ruff thinks so.

According the the Sun Times’ DAVE MCKINNEY, CHRIS FUSCO & NATASHA KORECKI, Ruff, a political consultant and Burris co-plaintiff in his lawsuit against Jesse White, came forward because he wants to apologize for helping Burris get seated. Burris’ longtime lobbying partner and close friend, Fred Lebed, says he doesn’t remember asking for Ruff to be involved and says Ruff is mad he didn’t get a spot in Burris’ Senate office.

LEBED: Ruff asked what he can do for us. John quickly got upset we weren’t using him more. He was very upset we wouldn’t hire him to be communications director and I don’t know why. He was just way too pushy.

Ruff says Lebed told him that Burris’ contact with Blago people went as far back as October.

RUFF: He mentioned that he was talking to people on the governor’s staff — I believe he had mentioned [lobbyist John] Wyma, [chief of staff John] Harris and [former chief of staff Lon] Monk.”

Nobody’s backing him up:

Harris’ lawyer, Terry Ekl, and Wyma’s lawyer, Zach Fardon, said their clients have no recollection of speaking with Lebed about Burris’ Senate hopes. Lawyers for Monk could not be reached for comment.

They went back as far as June 27 by Burris’ own admittance anyway. When did the wiretaps begin? And Burris’ son got his job on Sept 10th.

So updated version:

No one - > No money anyway ->Blagojevich lawyer only -> Lon Monk -> John Wyma + Doug Scofield + John Harris + Ed Smith + Rob Blagojevich - > Rob Blagojevich raise money = Not one penny + Tried couldn’t + Was not considered for the Senate - > “We’ll have to do some things for the governor”

Why is this anything unusual?

Explains Carville, Begala and all the other Clinton people.

Speaking of which, was Eric Holder part of the deal?

Is that why barry finally spoke up?

Nothing is random in barry’s cosmos. Though one would think he would show a little more deference to the one person who could unusurp him.

Anyway, Ruff provided his telephone records detailing calls between him and Lebed from October to February. They have known each other evidently for a few years and work together in the past. They both admit the calls took place and unfortunately for Ruff, Lebed saved a message in which Ruff calls him a MF. Ruff says he was pist because he didn’t want to get mixed up with Burris’ investigations. (As of this date, he still has not been contacted by investigators.)

RUFF: There is more to be discovered. I know the key to finding the information out is through Fred. That’s the main point I wish to get across.

LEBED: I don’t know what John’s problem is.

LEBED: He’s on a witch-hunt. He’s fabricating all of this.

The call in question allgedly took place on Dec 30th, hours before Blago’s press conference naming Burris as barry’s successor.

RUFF: He called me at 9:04 a.m. We talked for 12 minutes. He called to tell me that Gov. Blagojevich was appointing Roland as senator. I congratulated him and asked him how he managed to pull that one off. And that’s when he made some flippant remark about ‘We’ll have to do some things for the governor.’ “

Does this sound plausible?

RUFF: At the time, I just didn’t give that much thought to it because I did not believe they would agree to do any pay-for-play politics for that Senate seat. But then Roland said down in Peoria, ‘I attempted to raise money but was just unsuccessful.’ My thoughts sort of raced back to that moment and realized there was something more nefarious, perhaps, that had been involved here.

Lebed saved a Feb 17th (the day the perjury and Ethics Committee probes were anounced) voicemail from Ruff:.

RUFF: You MFers, now I’m getting investigated. You can all kiss my f***ing ass, Fred. Don’t you f***ers call me back.

RUFF: I probably sounded a bit like Blago there. I just felt like they were putting a lot of people who tried to help them in harm’s way.

Bottom line:

RUFF: I feel I owe people an apology. I started off believing that Sen. Durbin and Sen. Reid were wrong for denying him this seat. But I’ve come to realize most other people were right and I was wrong about this.

LEBED: He is lying through his teeth. He’s playing you guys.

NBC 5

LEBED: I have never told anyone that there was or should be a quid pro quo or anything owed in return to the former governor for the appointment. These statements are libelous and falsely attack my good name and reputation.

Blago on David Letterman

February 3, 2009

Newly impeached Rod Blagojevich takes on Letterman. Good questions delivered with Dave's usual in your face ha-ha disrespect. They're all hoping their interview makes it into the trial. You can see how nervous blago is. Don't blame him - every single media outlet loves barry ergo they hate blago. Imagine someone doing this to barry - whose people started it. Who has ever asked what barry said on those tapes? Can't exchange anything if someone doesn't come looking for something.

Transcript courtesy of Lynn Sweet.

Introduced with "I did in my way..."

Part 1

throwaway71

Dave: "Why exactly are you here, honest to God? (audience laughs)

Rod: (laughs) "Well, you know, I've been wanting to be on your show in the worst way for the longest time."

Dave: "Well, you're on in the worst way, believe me." (audience laughs, applauds)

Rod: (laughs) "I sure am."

Dave: (laughs) "There's no getting around that."

Rod: "Well, I figured I had to get impeached and thrown out of office to get the chance to get invited by you.

PART 2

throwaway71

Dave: "But now, and again, you're dealing with a man who's largely ignorant of these matters, but I was under the impression that the reason you were not able to appropriately defend yourself during the impeachment was because of the scheduled criminal trial that will take place in the spring, and therefore, without that on the docket, you would have been able to defend yourself I so assume with witnesses and whatever means at your disposal but because you will now face criminal charges, they would not allow witnesses in the impeachment. Is that roughly what happened?"

Rod: "That's roughly what it is. They were alleging criminal activity that they were not required to prove up, they denied me the right to disprove it, and this is America where you have the right to confront witnesses and address false accusations, and my position was since you're not going to do it, because the prosecutor has his agenda and that's understandable, then take that off the impeachment and let's move on and wait for the court case, and give me the same presumption of innocence that you enjoy, that Paul enjoys, and that all of your guests enjoy - the presumption of innocence and the right to confront accusers who are falsely saying things that you didn't do."

[...]

Dave: "All right, so what have we got? What are we talking about there?"

Rod: "Well, I mean, you know, again, that speaks for itself - there's not a single criminal act in that conversation. I was afraid you were going to have some of those other tapes where I sounded like Christian Bale..." (audience laughs) "And had I known somebody was listening I would not have said some of those words, but these were private conversations with top staff."

Dave: "But what is it - is money going to change hands?"

Rod: "Oh no, campaign contributions, commitment to raise money."

Dave: "In return for some favorable treatment for the track owners?"

Rod: "No, absolutely not."

Dave: "And why did you need the money before the end of the year?"

Rod: "The way the fundraising works is there's two reporting periods: you report at the end of June, you report at the end of December. And then you ask people who are helping you to meet deadlines. And there was a commitment that had been made actually long before December of this year. And it was just to be able to get it in for the filing reports so you can disclose the contributions that you receive, everything that every politician does."

Dave: "So we listen to that, and you're saying to me that we want to hear the worst so we do hear the worst, but that little exchange couldn't have been more innocent, is that correct?"

Rod: "I think that that speaks for itself and again, there are hours of conversations. If the whole story is heard, you'll see a lot of different things and you know, the end result will show a decision and a process that was right for the people of Illinois. That's why I'm certain of being vindicated."

Dave: "So, in your mind, you're fairly certain that after the criminal trial, you'll be declared innocent and people will say, 'Holy God, we bounced the guy. He was completely innocent. He really should still be our governor.'"

Rod: "Yes, I do believe that and I believe it will be a historic result. And I believe that impeachment that they did last week was a hijacking of a governor elected twice by the people without proving any wrongdoing, without giving that governor elected by the people, not so much about me, but the people who elected me, the right to be able to show that I didn't do anything wrong."

And of course the hair. At least he didn't touch it like Joy Behar.

Dave: "Do you use shampoo and conditioner?" (Rod, audience laugh; audience applauds) "Or is it two separate - because they've got a thing, I use it." (audience laughs, applauds)

Rod: (laughs) "Right."

PART 3

throwaway71

DL: "All right. Rod Blagojevich. How do you -- I don't know in terms of protocol whether I address you as Governor, because you in fact did hold the office for a term and a half. Or if I refer to you as Ex-Governor. But what is it - how does it feel like to be introduced as the former Governor of Illinois under the circumstance? It must hurt, right?"

RB: "Of course it does. It's obviously not something I planned on. And everything changed when this happened in early December. But you know, you get up every single day and you keep embracing the truth, and you're confident of what the result will be and you've got to stand strong.

[...]

DL: "And when did you first learn of the investigation?"

RB: "Um...first, and let me say this, the U.S. Attorney, the prosecutor - and I used to be a prosecutor, and I view them as the good guys. And I keep thinking that maybe one day, you know, I'll wake up and they'll realize that this is just one big misunderstanding. But they've been scrutinizing Mayor Daly in Chicago, they've been scrutinizing me, as well as other politicians. And that's not necessarily unhealthy. Cause it keeps everybody to make sure they do things right. But this really began some time - I first learned of it, I think back in 2004."

DL: "And why were they looking into your activities then?"

RB: "Not mine, they were looking at a friend of mine - a contributor of mine, and other political figures - on some of his activities. And that was the first inkling of it.

He is talking about Tony Rezko - the very same Rezko that barry was involved with. The very same Rezko who barry bought his house with when Rezko was already under investigation by the very same people blago is being investigated by. The very same Rezko whose indictment barry was named in. The very same Rezko who was barry's first and primary fundraiser and who raised at least $250K for barry (as an official barry campaign finance advisor) in his US senate run -- $10k directly from a pay to play scheme for which Rezko was convicted. Up until a few days ago (until the impeachment was finalized), Rezko was still in solitary confinement to get him to talk. Problem is, whatever Rezko reveals can be traced back to barry. It's why Rezko refused to cooperate with the feds initially and why he has been in solitary confinement for months. Wake up folks. When you laugh at blago for getting involved with play to play while he's under investigation - barry did the same thing and used the money to finance his Senate Seat in the first place.

DL: "And what was your reaction then? Were you outraged? Or just business as usual? Or what did you think?"

RB: "No, the first thing I did was I had our Inspector General - an independent Inspector General, that hadn't existed before I was Governor - we created that through the law. Then State Senator Barack Obama helped pass that law. [pay to play]. This friend [rezko] is the friend who is very close to Barack Obama as well. And when I learned of this, the first thing I did was I told my Chief of Staff to have the Inspector General investigate it. And look into it. And then events unfolded and --"

[...]

DL: "Now did that - was that before or after you learned you were under investigation?

RB: "This was a little bit after that. And let me say, it wasn't that I was under investigation, the first inkling, it was that the supporter [REZKO] was. It wasn't me."

DL: "I understand. So how are things with you and Dad now? (audience laughs)

RB: "He's reaching out to his daughter and his grandkids. And wants to be helpful during this hard time."

DL: "And has he owned up to it? Has he acknowledged that, "Yeah, I called him in because I was upset about you closing down..."

RB: "No, He retracted the -"

DL: "Oh, so he retracted it."

RB: "He retracted it a few weeks after it all happened. Look, when you do something like that, you open up a whole hornet's nest and a Pandora's box and it's hard to put those furies back in the box.

Didn't disappoint - he got his literary reference and the Elvis is coming.

PART 4

DL: What will you be doing now between this moment and the beginning of the trial?

RB: Well, I'm looking for work. Are you hiring?

DL; Yeah. Are we ever.

RB: This looks like a fun place to work.

DL: Oh it is - it's nothing but fun.

RB: Elvis performed here, didn't he?

DL: That's right.

RB: ...1956?

Unexcerpted 3/4 part transcript.

Burris contributed to blago's campaign

December 30, 2008

Burris does have some connections to blago but nothing significant even for Lisa Madigan or barry's people to attack. Every single person who has done business with the State of Illinois has contributed to blago - otherwise they don't get the business.

SunTimes' DAVE MCKINNEY & CHRIS FUSCO

Burris, his lobbying firm, his clients and a law firm that includes him donated $127,986 to Blagojevich since the governor took office. Burris himself gave $4,500 to the governor, including $1,000 last June. His lobbying firm, Burris & Lebed Consulting, gave $10,796 in cash and services. The law firm with which Burris is affiliated kicked in $5,000 for the governor. Burris' consulting firm has gotten $294,546.30 in state contracts under Blagojevich.

Burris' lobbying clients -- which were under contract with the state for $3.09 million while he represented them -- contributed $107,690 for the governor.

Evidently Blago asked Danny Davis first and he declined. He had said that on TV as well.

Burris said Blagojevich contacted him about the seat on Sunday night. But Burris apparently wasn't the governor's first choice. One of the governor's criminal defense lawyers, Sam Adam Jr., approached Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.) about the seat on Christmas Eve, Davis said. Davis turned down the job on Friday.

barry's viagra joke

December 26, 2006

This one is from last December. Another classic classy barry comment said at least twice in Iowa. Sure wonder why it was on his mind...maybe it was the demographic he was appealing to...

From LYNN SWEET:

At a town hall, Obama slammed the Clintons for running a closed health care reform operation in 1992 and 1993. The "did it the wrong way because they went behind closed doors and tried to do it by themselves."

And then he started talking about drugs companies and how "A whole bunch of these profits are going into these tv ads where you don't even know what the ads are for. Actually, that is not true. There is one drug where you know what it is for."

A simple Viagra joke? Or a plug for Pfizer as an ode to ex Pfizer lobbyist, Moses Mercado, who joined barry's camp in August 2007? The NRA?

Washington Post MATTHEW MOSK:

The waves are being generated by Mercado's other line of work -- as a lobbyist with Ogilvy Government Relations who is registered to represent several dozen big-name clients, including the National Rifle Association, the Carlyle Group, the Blackstone Group, Monsanto, Pfizer Inc., United Health Group, Sempra Energy and Constellation Energy.

barry's comments on lobbyists:

Obama sought to make the case that the culture of influence in Washington affects the pocketbooks of Americans in myriad ways, from drug prices to student-loan interest rates -- both of which, he argued, are inflated through industry manipulation of public policy.