From the Daily Herald: 
 
Corruption plea deal turns spotlight on governor 
 
‘High-ranking official’ may have rewarded campaign donors, court papers reveal 
 
and Rob Olmstead 
Daily Herald Staff Writers 
Posted Friday, September 16, 2005 
 
A “high-ranking public official” and two “close associates” may have rewarded campaign donors with fees from lucrative suburban teacher pension consulting contracts, federal prosecutors disclosed in court Thursday. 
 
The high-ranking official and his associates also may have picked lawyers, investment firms and consultants who did business with several state pension funds as part of a campaign fund-raising strategy, the court filing alleged. 
 
While the U.S. attorney’s office would not comment on the identity of the high-ranking official, named “Public Official A” in court documents, two sources familiar with the court filing said he is Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Those same sources, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity, identified one of the two “associates” as Antoin “Tony” Rezko, a top Blagojevich fund-raiser. 
 
Neither Blagojevich nor Rezko has been charged with any wrongdoing. 
 
When asked if Blagojevich is Public Official A, Blagojevich spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff said, “We don’t know who Public Official A is. The only people who know are the federal government.” 
 
Rezko’s attorney could not be reached for comment. 
 
The allegations surfaced as part of two plea agreements struck Thursday as part of a federal probe into alleged corruption at the Illinois Teachers Retirement System involving a former board member, his intermediary and outside legal counsel. 
 
Steven Loren, 50, of Highland Park, the former outside legal counsel, pleaded guilty to attempting to obstruct the Internal Revenue Service. Joseph A. Cari, 52, of Chicago, a former finance director at the Democratic National Committee, pleaded guilty to attempting to extort money from an investment firm that wanted teacher retirement money by pressuring it to sign a contract with a consultant of his choosing. 
 
Cari admitted that he served as the intermediary for Stuart Levine, a 59-year-old Highland Park businessman who has pleaded not guilty in the probe. Levine also faces charges that he abused his role on the state’s hospital planning board to support or block the new hospital projects based on whether his construction and financing friends were hired. A whistle-blowing lawsuit by Edward Hospital in Naperville spurred those charges. 
 
As part of his plea deal, Loren told prosecutors that companies wanting to do business with the teachers pension fund were asked to pay placement fees to “Individual A,” whom sources identified as Sheldon Pekin, a Chicago businessman. Loren said that Pekin would split the fees with “certain individuals” at the direction of Levine and his “associates.” 
 
“Based on his conversations with Levine, it was Loren’s understanding that Levine’s associates, who were close to a high-ranking public official, would use those placement fees as an incentive or reward to those who made campaign contributions that would benefit the high-ranking public official,” the plea agreement said. 
 
It said that “those people would get money without providing any services.” 
 
Blagojevich spokeswoman Ottenhoff dismissed the questions about whether Blagojevich is the unnamed public official as “speculation based on testimony from an admitted extortionist (Loren) who was told this by a person twice-accused of extortion himself (Levine).” 
 
Blagojevich reappointed Levine to the state hospital board, saying in May that he was simply retaining a Republican his predecessors had appointed. 
 
Cari’s plea agreement quotes Levine as saying that a “high-ranking Illinois public official,” described only as Public Official A, played a role in picking consultants. He said the public official, “acting through two close associates, was selecting consultants for the private equity funds that appeared before the state pension funds.” 
 
“Levine said that this was part of a fund-raising strategy,” the plea agreement said. 
 
Pete Giangreco, spokesman for Blagojevich’s campaign fund, said Thursday marked the first time anyone at Friends of Blagojevich had heard anything about the allegations. 
 
Democrat Blagojevich has retained Winston and Strawn, the same law firm representing former Republican Gov. George Ryan in his corruption trial that starts next week. But Ottenhoff said the firm is not representing the governor on any of the teacher pension allegations because no one in the governor’s office has been contacted by federal authorities on the matter. 
 
Blagojevich has shattered all state records for campaign fund-raising, but questions long have lingered about how he was doing it. A Daily Herald analysis in May showed Friends of Blagojevich raised $7.34 million from those his administration has given state contracts or appointments. 
 
Ironically, Blagojevich, who promised to change “business as usual” in Springfield, now finds himself in a similar position to Ryan. Just three years ago, Ryan repeatedly had to answer the question of whether he was the unnamed SOS Official A in federal corruption indictments. It turned out he was.