Gov can't duck questions raised by Rezko charges

Gov can't duck questions raised by Rezko char
October 13, 2006

No doubt about it: A lightning bolt hit the governor's office Wednesday. The dark clouds shadowing his administration over alleged "pay-for-play" tactics opened up with the leveling of extortion charges on Tony Rezko, one of his chief fund-raisers and closest advisers. Whether the political storm rages enough to threaten Rod Blagojevich at the polls with less than a month to go may depend on how fully voters accept his word that he was ignorant of his friend's activities.

The culture of corruption is so pervasive in Illinois -- a former governor is headed to prison, federal investigators have peppered City Hall with indictments and the feds are taking aim at Cook County government -- it would be easy, but wrong, to rush to judgment and assume Blagojevich knew what Rezko was up to in allegedly pulling off kickback schemes aimed at collecting millions of dollars from firms wanting to do business with the state. Blagojevich's Republican opponent, Judy Baar Topinka, jumped on the express train of blame in seizing on the indictments as proof he was corrupt.

Declaring he would feel a "tremendous sense of betrayal" if the charges against Rezko were proved, Blagojevich denied that he had ever authorized any shakedowns by Rezko and previously indicted co-conspirator Stuart Levine, the former Teachers Retirement System board member who is cooperating with U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation. Blagojevich said his wife was innocent of wrongdoing in real estate business deals with Rezko.

But when he first heard scuttlebutt about Rezko's activities, how could the governor, who has made an issue of wiping out corruption-as-usual in government, have accepted Rezko's assurance of being aboveboard without having aides look into the matter? We're not suggesting he should have launched a full-scale investigation, only that he should have asked a few more questions than he obviously did.

This indictment, like so many other of the Illinois corruption cases, shines a harsh light on political fund-raising. The high-flying Rezko, let us not forget, has pumped money into the campaign coffers of Cook County Board President John Stroger and Sen. Barack Obama (who stopped accepting money when suspicions about Rezko surfaced), other prominent Democrats and President Bush as well.

At a time when a political campaign requires such massive amounts of money, a candidate may be more susceptible to the mere appearance of improper conduct in lining up funding sources. But if the indictment in the Rezko case is proved, the problem for Blagojevich clearly is beyond appearances.

Illinoisans headed to the polls will be all ears for further explanations from the governor about Rezko's role in his administration.