From Crain's Chicago Business

Blagojevich challenger seeks hearings on donations

By Greg Hinz
Feb. 03, 2006
(Crain's) - Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Edwin Eisendrath on
Friday called for the Illinois General Assembly to hold hearings into
what he believes are suspect campaign contributions received by
incumbent Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Speaking a day after ChicagoBusiness.com disclosed details of a
$100,000 donation received from a state Medicaid vendor, Mr.
Eisendrath said hearings are needed to "really dig into" what
happened.
Mr. Blagojevich's fundraising "really has crossed the line," said Mr.
Eisendrath, who formerly represented the Lincoln Park 43rd Ward in
Chicago's City Council. "We need to know who promised what."
Crain's reported Thursday that Mr. Blagojevich got five campaign
donations totaling $100,000 from a Florida-based Medicaid provider
just six days after signing legislation to shake up how the state runs
its Medicaid program.
The company's registered lobbyist is John Wyma, a close friend and
former aide of Mr. Blagojevich who was involved in a flap earlier this
winter over another client who stood to gain from the governor's
now-defunct plan to legalize keno gambling here.
State officials insist that the healthcare vendor, WellCare, is
ineligible to bid for the new business that became available as a
result of the Medicaid shakeup and the onset of plans to offer health
insurance to all children in the state.
But company officials will not concede that, and Mr. Eisendrath said
the Blagojevich administration "has no credibility on this" after
repeated financial scandals.
Mr. Eisendrath's call for hearings got a cool but not ice-cold
reception from Steve Brown, the spokesman for Illinois House Speaker
Michael Madigan.
"The legislature, I suspect, is going to take up additional
legislation on ethics in coming weeks and months," Mr. Brown said. If
Mr. Eisendrath has something to offer, "He's welcome to attend."
Mr. Madigan is co-chair of Mr. Blagojevich's re-election committee.