Sunday, September 05, 2010

Jan Schakowsky's Long and Torrid Blago Love!


Can you blame Jan? Every Girl Crazy 'Bout A Sharp Dressed Man!

That TRIBUNE photo captures the essence of Blagoof!

Between 2000 and 2006, Schakowsky’s congressional campaign contributed $28,000 to Friends of Blagojevich. When Blagojevich launched his first campaign for governor in 2001, the Chicago Tribune reported that he “was introduced to the crowd by liberal North Side and North Shore U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, who called him a ‘political ally.’” (“Blagojevich candidacy starts with home base,” August 13, 2001)

When Blagojevich ran for re-election in 2006, Schakowsky endorsed him over his primary opponent despite an ongoing federal investigation into alleged corruption.

According to Illinois news reports, Schakowsky spent the summer months of 2008 raising money for a Blagojevich re-election bid in an effort to secure an appointment to then-Senator Obama’s seat.

In April 2008, Schakowsky told the Sun-Times that she and Blagojevich “have a working relationship, and we have a long-standing friendship.” In the weeks leading up to Blagojevich’s arrest for attempting to sell Illinois’ U.S. Senate seat, Schakowsky confirmed that she spoke with the governor about the appointment and was under consideration.

Schakowsky’s Convicted Felon Husband and Rod Blagojevich

From 2001-2002, Friends of Blagojevich paid more than $541,000 to a political consulting firm run by Schakowsky’s husband, Robert Creamer, according to state records. The firm, Strategic Consulting Group, reportedly provided “consulting,” “field consulting” and “predictive dialer” services to the Blagojevich campaign.

During the same election cycle, Creamer and his firm were linked to fraudulent voter activities in the Illinois’ 17th Congressional District – and a slush fund he helped create called the “17th District Victory Fund” was later fined by the Federal Election Commission.

In 2004, Creamer was indicted on 16 counts of bank fraud and 18 counts of tax fraud after failing to pay more than $300,000 in income taxes and pulling a $1 million overdraft in a check kiting scheme. In 2005, Creamer pleaded guilty to two felonies, bank fraud and failure to pay federal taxes. In 2006, Creamer was sentenced to five months in prison and 11 months home confinement.

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