From the SJ-R:

Governor clarifies Rezko relationship
This scandal ‘will never touch me,’ he says

By BERNARD SCHOENBURG
POLITICAL WRITER

Published Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Tuesday he asked a now-indicted friend and fundraiser, Antoin “Tony” Rezko, to recommend people to lead state agencies.

“I have no recollection of … where he’s personally come to me about an appointment to a board or commission,” the governor told the editorial board of The State Journal-Register.

“But I want to be clear here,” the governor added. “I sought his advice on recommendations for agency directors, for two reasons.

“Number one, I had every reason to think he was honest and independently successful in business and that he was able to bring us people who were not part of state government before.”

“And,” he said, “he also has connections and roots in the African-American community, and he could help us with candidates, qualified candidates from the African-American community who can be agency directors, because part of what we wanted to do was to have a diverse administration.”

Rezko pleaded innocent last week to federal corruption charges involving alleged shakedowns of companies seeking to do business with the state.

Blagojevich on Tuesday said that scandal “will never touch me,” because he was never involved in any discussion about such a “ridiculous and blatantly illegal” scheme.

Among agency directors recommended by Rezko were Michael Rumman, former director of the Department of Central Management Services. Blagojevich credited Rumman with saving hundreds of millions of dollars through new efficiencies. However, Rumman left state government after a scathing audit of his agency by state Auditor General Bill Holland, who said, among other things, that those savings could not be documented.

Another Rezko recommendation was that of Kelly King Dibble, executive director of the Illinois Housing Development Authority, Blagojevich said.

He noted she is African-American and Harvard educated.

Blagojevich said Rezko also suggested the appointment of Brenda Russell as director of the Illinois Department of Employment Security. He said she is granddaughter of the Rev. Ralph Abernathy and “has, by all accounts, (been) very successful in her job.”

The director of the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Jack Lavin, used to work for Rezko, and Blagojevich also lauded his efforts at job creation.

“The irony is, in many ways, I reached out to Tony for these recommendations for these big spots, and in most cases, he’s made some great recommendations,” the governor said.

Blagojevich said some of the investigations involving state government, and for which he has been criticized, originated with his own inspector general’s.

“When I inherited my office as governor from Governor (George) Ryan, the old way was, you had an inspector general that was your pal,” Blagojevich said. He said it “required a lot of struggle” to get other political leaders to go along with a strong inspector general system.

Blagojevich said he told staff members to go along with the inspector general’s recommendation to fire one-time CMS employees Dawn DeFraties and Michael Casey, who he said had been “taking care of their own friends (in state hiring) at the expense of the law and the rules.”

DeFraties and Casey have appealed their April firings to the state Civil Service Commission. Their lawyer says it was the governor’s office that sought favoritism in hiring.

Blagojevich also said Tuesday that he thinks state agencies are adequately staffed.

He noted that there are thousands fewer state employees than they were under Ryan.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has complained of understaffing at various agencies, and state Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, the Republican candidate for governor, has said she would add back some employees, including 400 in the Department of Corrections.

“I think one of the best things we did was hold that workforce low,” Blagojevich said.

“AFSCME, they want more state employees, whether we need them or not. But this is how we afford health care for every child, preschool for every child, more money in our schools,” the governor said.

Rich Whitney of the Green Party is also on the ballot for governor