From the SJ-R: 
 
Bernard Schoenburg Column 
 
 
Published Thursday, February 02, 2006 
 
5 contributions, 1 address, $100,000 for governor 
 
 Let's say I'm involved with a company and I do a lot of business with the state of Illinois. Let's say I want to show my appreciation, or put in a good word for myself, or merely show that I am a great believer in the fine public policies of state government. 
 
 Well, how about a campaign contribution to the governor? People say that kind of thing has worked before. 
 
 But how to do it? Well, there's the straightforward approach, but maybe there's a way that might fall just slightly below the radar. 
 
 Oh, and I might just forget to have anybody read the papers or watch the news in the state, where the words "pay to play" have come to have quite a political meaning. 
 
 I don't know if the geniuses at a company called WellCare went through any of these thought processes, or if they got any advice from the kind folks who accept the checks for the campaign of Gov. ROD BLAGOJEVICH. But given the ongoing ethics debate in a state where Blagojevich opponents from both political parties have been questioning whether contributions buy state business, I just have to wonder what some of these folks were thinking. 
 
 In his finance report filed Tuesday, Blagojevich reported $20,000 contributions from each of five companies: The Well Care Management Group; WCG Health Management Inc.; WellCare Health Plans Inc.; Harmony Health Systems; and Comprehensive Health Management of Florida. 
 
 The address for each of those companies was the same post office box in Tampa. And for those not counting, that was $100,000 to the governor in a day. 
 
 Now, none of the companies directly do business in Illinois from what I found, but there is a Chicago-based firm called Harmony Health Plan of Illinois, and the comptroller's office reports that it is a significant player in Illinois. In fiscal 2002, which was the final full fiscal year before Blagojevich took office, it was paid nearly $57.9 million. That went up to $90.4 million in fiscal 2005, which ended June 30. In the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, the company has a contract for $75.6 million to be an HMO for Medicaid recipients, and more than $62.4 million has been paid. 
 
CAROL CASSARA, spokeswoman for WellCare in Tampa, confirmed that the companies are related, and the Illinois firm is a subsidiary of WellCare. 
 
 As to the campaign contributions, she said: "We generally do not comment on the details of our political contributions. What I can tell you is that we met all our obligations under Illinois law." 
 
 Kinda makes you wonder about Illinois law. 
 
 After I went through the Blagojevich campaign finance report and saw five big donations from five companies in the same out-of-state place, I asked Blagojevich campaign spokesman DOUG SCOFIELD about it. 
 
 "Ultimately people give," he told me, because they "support this governor's policies." 
 
 "The agency had no knowledge of these political contributions," said KATHLEEN STRAND, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services - the former public aid department. She also noted that Harmony has provided similar service for the state since 1999, and is now one of three Medicaid HMO providers. Negotiations for the current contract ended last summer, she said.