$100,000+ pensions for 27 retired state pols

BYTHE BETTER GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION April 29, 2011

At the end of fiscal 2010, the General Assembly Retirement System was only 26 percent funded with $66.2 million in assets and $251.8 million in liabilities.

Zettler obtained the pension data under the Freedom of Information Act, and provided it to the BGA, which confirmed the data.

GARS plan participants contribute up to 11.5% of their pay annually and their retirement payouts depend on the total number of years served. For example, those with 20 years of service can collect up to 85% of their final salary for their remaining lifetime. Moreover, if a participant retires at age 60 or older, that person gets a 3 percent pension increase every year.

Leading the GARS list of annual pensions is former state Sen. Arthur Berman, who collects $203,428 annually, according to the data, which is as of March 7.

The Chicago Democrat retired from the General Assembly in 2000 with a salary of $59,657. But he later took a higher-paid position with Chicago Public Schools and his pension was determined based on the higher salary under a reciprocal state-pension system agreement that ended in 1994.

Click on the following for more details:  http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/5076845-418/100000-pensions-for-27-retired-state-pols.html

Thousands got state-subsidized jobs -- but who? | state, blagojevich, subsidized - Jacksonville Illinois News and Information Jacksonville Journal Courier

 

Now federal prosecutors are also asking questions about Blagojevich's "Summer Youth Works" initiative. The Associated Press has obtained a copy of a federal subpoena seeking records from the state Department of Human Services related to the initiative.

At least a third of the state government internships Blagojevich officials handed out were reserved for people with connections to $400,000 in campaign contributions to him. The University of Illinois kept a list of at least 800 applicants with clout. Federal prosecutors subpoenaed records last fall related to state grants to organizations with ties to a state senator who has since resigned from the Legislature.

Click on the following for more details:  Thousands got state-subsidized jobs -- but who? | state, blagojevich, subsidized - Jacksonville Illinois News and Information Jacksonville Journal Courier

Blagojevich legacy: Recall on the Illinois ballot

Jack Franks, a Democratic state representative in Illinois and a frequent Blagojevich critic, sponsored the recall measure that voters will decide upon in November. To him, the fact that recall has been used so rarely shows that it is “an extraordinary remedy for extraordinary circumstances.”

The recall provision is narrowly tailored and complicated. A recall movement can start only with the support of 10 senators and 20 representatives in the 177-member legislature, with a proportion coming from each party. Then comes the statewide petition drive. The number of signatures needed depends on the turnout in the last governor’s election, but based on the turnout from 2006, some 750,000 names would be required.

The governor would be the only elected official who could be recalled.

Click on the following for more details:  Blagojevich legacy: Recall on the Illinois ballot

Blago auction boxes contain client files

Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission spokesman James Grogan says state rules mean any attorney who abandons client files is subject to disciplinary action. Grogan did not speak specifically about Blagojevich.

State records show Blagojevich's law license is inactive.

Daily Herald | School: Blago auction boxes contain client files

Others in Blagojevich probe await fate ::

The Others:  Antoin "Tony" Rezko, Stuart Levine, William Cellini, Alonzo "Lon" Monk, John Harris, Ali Ata, Joseph Cari

Click on the following for an update on their fate:                     Star :: News

Daily Herald | Bill for Blago jury? $67,463.32

Estimates about the total cost of the just concluded trial of ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich range wildly from several million to $30 million

jury cost for nearly two months of trial and 14 days of deliberation. The bill? $67,463.32.

. The jurors' bill includes costs for food and travel. And it includes pay. Jurors got $40 a day the first month, then $50 after that

Daily Herald | Bill for Blago jury? $67,463.32

You might have to help Blagojevich pay legal bills

There is only $75,000 left in the $2.8 million kitty and his defense team hasn't yet billed for the month of July….

Blagojevich are more than $200,000 in debt, according to prosecutors.

The former governor lives in a Ravenswood Manor home and owns a condo in Washington D.C. -- both are subject to government seizure should jurors convict him of racketeering.

That likely means public money could be used to pay any remaining defense bills.

Click on the following for more details:  You might have to help Blagojevich pay legal bills :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Gov. Blagojevich

Blagojevich could lose home if jury convicts him

 

if the jurors at his corruption trial who ended a sixth day of deliberation Wednesday convict him, authorities could end up seizing his home - valued by the county assessor at around $700,000.

property would be in jeopardy only if Blagojevich is convicted of racketeering - one of 24 counts jurors are considering,

Click on the following for more details:  Pantagraph.com | News from Associated Press

The Blago Blog

Here it is at last—a blow by blow account of the Governor’s trial and proceedings around the courthouse.  A must view if deliberations ever end.  All courtesy of the Chicago Sun Times.

Click on the following to connect to this blog:  The Blago Blog

'Blago' to testify in Arlington Heights - The Theater Loop

Second City plans to put him on the stand and provide catharsis for all. At the end of the reprise engagement of "Rod Blagojevich Superstar," which begins Aug. 6, the hit Second City musical based on the life and times of the Blagojeviches, actor Joey Bland

Click on he following for more details:  'Blago' to testify in Arlington Heights - The Theater Loop

E-mails indicate Emanuel traded favors with Blagojevich - Springfield, IL - The State Journal-Register

 

President Barack Obama's chief of staff, then a congressman in Illinois, apparently attempted to trade favors with embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, according to newly disclosed e-mails obtained by The Associated Press.

Click on the following for more details:  E-mails indicate Emanuel traded favors with Blagojevich - Springfield, IL - The State Journal-Register  Note this is a multi-part article.

Daily Herald | E-mails detail past problems in tollway, Wilton partnership

Has anyone taken a look at the Oasis at Belvidere lately?  There maybe many problems there as well as in the 6 county area.

The tollway tried numerous times to get a look at Wilton's books, but the company denied access. By mid-2008, Wilton owed the agency about $1.4 million

Click on the following for more details:  Daily Herald | E-mails detail past problems in tollway, Wilton partnership

The Daily Northwestern - College Democrats to bring Rod Blagojevich to campus

A new acting role for Rod—”an expert on ethics”. 

Blagojevich will speak to the Northwestern community at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 2 at Cahn Auditorium. The event, titled “Ethics in Politics: An evening with Former Governor Rod Blagojevich,” is sponsored by College Democrats.

Click on the following for more details:  The Daily Northwestern - College Democrats to bring Rod Blagojevich to campus

Cops probe burglary in Blago's attorneys' office

 

Burglars broke into the offices occupied by two members of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's legal defense team overnight and stole eight computers and a safe, police said Friday.

Click on the following:  Daily Herald | Cops probe burglary in Blago's attorneys' office

Inside Rod Blagojevich's jobs machine

The Chicago Sun-Times' special report today details how former Gov. Rod Blagojevich doled out jobs based on clout while at the same time declaring a state hiring freeze. 

On his first full day as governor in 2003, Rod Blagojevich ordered a freeze on state hiring.  Only essential jobs would be filled, he said, promising to rein in a record state budget deficit and put an end to what he called "taking care of insiders first and taxpayers last."

Behind the scenes, though, Blagojevich aides flouted the supposed freeze, forging a patronage machine that -- despite their boss' public promises -- eventually would provide state jobs or promotions to nearly 2,500 people

members of Chicago's City Council and members of Congress. Lobbyists and Blagojevich's own top fund-raisers asked for and got people state jobs, too.

Neither Blagojevich nor anyone from his Office of Intergovernmental Affairs is charged with any hiring-related crimes, though U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, whose office charged Blagojevich, said in a 2006 letter that there were "very serious allegations of endemic hiring fraud" under Blagojevich.

Click on the following for more details, such as names of sponsors and recipients:  Inside Rod Blagojevich's jobs machine :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Gov. Blagojevich

Voters get to decide on recall of governors

Should this be called the “Quinn Law” or the “Blagojevich Law”?

Illinois Senate voted overwhelmingly Thursday to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot next year.

If voters approve the amendment, it would create a complicated process for recalling governors.

Click on the following for more details:  Daily Herald | Voters get to decide on recall of governors

Tollway board member David Andalcio steps down

 

A tollway board member keen on minority contracting issues and who drew attention for his large donations to Gov. Rod Blagojevich has stepped down.

David Andalcio of Hinsdale said in his resignation letter Friday that he needed more time to focus on his business and therefore had to resign, effective immediately. Andalcio heads up Wynndalco Enterprises, which primarily works on renewable energy such as wind power.

The Daily Herald reported this summer that he was also promoting his company as a consultant for tollway work. The company's Web site featured pictures of the Illinois tollway and referenced his accomplishments on the tollway board.

Click on the following for more details:   Daily Herald | Tollway board member David Andalcio steps down

Patti denies taking charity's donor list :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Gov. Blagojevich

Rick Roberts, director of strategy for the charity, told Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed that Patti Blagojevich upset donors because she was contacting people off the group's donor list to promote former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's new book.

Click on the following for more details:  Patti denies taking charity's donor list :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Gov. Blagojevich