From the Tribune 
 
Governor denies wrongdoing 
 
Tribune staff reports 
Published September 16, 2005, 4:00 PM CDT 
 
 Gov. Rod Blagojevich today denied vehemently he had any knowledge of wrongdoing involving his administration and the state teachers pension fund. 
 
 "What was written in that document is not the way we do things," Blagojevich said, referring to allegations in the plea agreement of Joseph Cari, a prominent fundraiser for the Democratic Party. 
 
 The plea agreement, filed Thursday in federal court, referred to a "high-ranking Illinois public official" as possibly complicit in a scheme to extort money from investment firms seeking to do business with the Illinois Teachers' Retirement System. 
 
 "This is hearsay upon hearsay upon hearsay from someone who just pled guilty to extortion," the governor said, "What I find aggravating, because of this triple hearsay from someone who just pled guilty to extortion, I'm in a position to have to answer questions like this. I'm happy to do this, but it's frustrating." 
 
 Reporters questioned Blagojevich about the Cari plea during a news conference in Chicago on an unrelated subject. Cari had been charged as a result of a federal probe into alleged corruption at the teachers pension fund. On Thursday, he pleaded guilty to one count of attempted extortion. 
 
 His plea, and a related one by former pension board attorney Steven Loren, suggested a high state government official orchestrated a scheme to siphon campaign cash and reward donors. Neither plea agreement named the official. Cari's plea agreement referred to the person as "Public Official A." 
 
 Cari further said in his plea that Stuart Levine acted as a conduit between the unnamed public official and the Teachers' Retirement System to steer pension business to people and firms that would help the public official. 
 
 Levine is a prominent campaign donor who was initially named by a Republican governor to be a trustee of the pension fund for public teachers outside Chicago. He was re-appointed by Blagojevich. Levine has pleaded not guilty to earlier charges that he extorted kickbacks from investment firms seeking pension fund business. 
 
 "It's true I re-appointed Mr. Levine," Blagojevich said today. "I did it because the law requires a Republican opponent on the retirement pension system." 
 
 The appointment of Levine, "the single biggest fundraiser for my opponent, Jim Ryan," in the 2002 gubernatorial election, also was a show of bipartisanship, Blagojevich said. Additionally, he said, Levine's reputation at the time was clean. 
 
 Had he known alleged criminal activities were going on behind the scenes, Blagojevich said, "I would not have made that appointment." 
 
 Asked repeatedly who "Public Official A" could be, an exasperated Blagojevich said, "I gave you my answer. I don't know who Official A, B, C or Z is." 
 
 "We do things honestly. There's transparency. We just don't operate the way that document describes," the governor said, referring to Cari's plea agreement. 
 
 Blagojevich also said he barely knew Cari, having had contact with him "maybe a handful of times in my whole life." 
 
 The governor did acknowledge Cari hosted a campaign fundraiser for him in New York "sometime in the fall of 2003." 
 
 Cari, 52, of Chicago and Loren, 50, of Highland Park, pleaded guilty just minutes apart Thursday in U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve's courtroom. 
 
 Both are cooperating in the continuing federal probe, according to their plea agreements with the government. Their sentencings were indefinitely postponed until after their cooperation has been completed. They remain free on bail. 
 
 
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