Blagojevich trial focuses on Johnston contribution

The Chicago Tribune reported today that in testimony given Monday in the trial of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich on alleged corruption charges, a lobbyist told how he and Blagojevich rehearsed how they were going to get a $100,000 contribution from Maywood and Balmoral Park owner John Johnston.

“He’s gonna sign the bill, and all of a sudden you’re gonna give a contribution,” lobbyist Alonzo “Lou” Monk testified he told Blagojevich of what he would tell Johnston in an effort to receive the money in return for the governor signing legislation that required the riverboat casinos to share profits with the racetracks. The bill was approved by the state legislature before Thanksgiving 2008 and was signed by Blagojevich after he was arrested a few weeks later on Dec. 9, 2008.

The conversation between Monk and Blagojevich was actually played at the trial as a result of the FBI placing bugs in the campaign office where the two had met. On the recording Monk—who has already pleaded guilty and is cooperating with prosecutors—is heard to say: “Look, I want to go to him (Johnston) without crossing the line and say, ‘Give us the (expletive) money. Give us the money, and one has nothing to do with the other (the bill signing), but give us the (expletive) money.”

Monk testified that Blagojevich had personally asked Johnston for the money a few months prior to the passage of the legislation, but it was never received. Monk said he was then asked by the former governor to meet with Johnston to get the money. Monk said that Johnston said, ‘I knew it,’ when he realized the signing of the bill by Blagojevich could implicate him because of the donation.

Prosecutors are trying to prove Blagojevich used his power as governor to trade favors for campaign dollars. Defense lawyers are attacking Monk’s credibility and that the lobbyist wasn’t truthful to either Blagojevich or Johnston, who reportedly paid Monk $150,000 annually in lobbying fees. The defense team claims Blagojevich was reacting to Monk’s statements rather than scheming.

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