Thursday, June 18, 2009

Illinois universities hit with Blago-related subpoeanas

Earlier this month the Chicago Tribune revealed that several clout-endowed individuals, including jailed political insider Tony Rezko, pulled strings to get otherwise unqualified applicants into my alma mater, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Apparently the US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald reads the Trib:

The U.S. attorney's office wants to know if former Gov. Rod Blagojevich or his power brokers sought a leg-up for applicants to the University of Illinois and at least two other state universities.

Campus spokespeople confirmed today that the University of Illinois, Southern Illinois University and Northern Illinois University have received subpoenas.

NIU's subpoena seeks records of communications between campus officials and Blagojevich, William Cellini, Antoin "Tony" Rezko, Chris Kelly and Alonzo "Lon" Monk between 2002 and 2008.

"It sounds like sort of a sweep across the state to look at all the universities," said NIU spokeswoman Melanie Magara.

Rezko and Kelly were Blago's top fundraisers. Kelly has already pleaded guilty to tax charges, and was hit with new ones in February. Cellini, a Springfield Republican, was indicted last fall and again in February on various corruption charges. Monk, a former chief of staff for the Democratic governor, was also caught in the February net of indictments.

Related posts:

Marathon Pundit exclusive: Van der Hooning wins five of six counts in case against Univ. of Illinois
Broken promises: How "jarheads" got shunted aside at the University of Illinois: A Marathon Pundit series
Marathon Pundit Exclusive: What happened behind the scenes of the University of Illinois veteran scholarship scandal
University of Illinois: "Hookers are Praised as Soldiers" –Marathon Pundit's Third Investigative Report
University of Illinois military scholarships scandal update
Exclusive: Van der Hooning, and Illinois vets, get a hearing at the Court of Claims

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