Blago Netted Cash From Pardon

By Marcus Gilmer in News on May 4, 2009 4:00PM

This really shouldn't surprise us at this point, but the Sun-Times has uncovered even more money-related shenanigans from our ousted governor Rod Blagojevich. It seems that back in '06, Blago pardoned Anan Abu-Taleb for a past tax-fraud conviction. But Blago took things one step further: besides the pardon, he also permanently wiped the incident from Abu-Taleb's record. Meanwhile, as many as 20 other pardoned folks were denied similar treatment from Blago, and that's probably because they didn't donate campaign cash to the ex-gov.

The Sun-Times is on the case:

Between 2002 and 2007, the law firm of Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw gave Blagojevich more than $207,000 -- including $25,000 in 2006, the year Blagojevich granted Abu-Taleb clemency. John Gearen -- Abu-Taleb's cousin by marriage -- is a longtime partner at the firm.

Rieck & Crotty, which represented Abu-Taleb, gave a total of $23,541 more to Blagojevich, though that was in 2001 and 2002, before the firm took on the clemency case.

Attorney James Montana, who also represented Abu-Taleb, says the campaign contributions played no role in Abu-Taleb's "appropriately granted" clemency bid, noting his client never personally gave to Blagojevich and that it took two years for the ex-governor to act after the pardon case was first presented.

Rob Warden, director of Northwestern University's Center for Wrongful Convictions, was understandably skeptical about the circumstances surrounding Abu-Taleb, telling the S-T, "Basically, it's pretty obvious that he just granted it as a political favor, which is precisely the way this ought not be done."