Patti Blagojevich's family rallies to her defense

[December 12, 2008]  CHICAGO (AP) -- The family of Gov. Rod Blagojevich's wife said her profanity-laced comments recorded by federal prosecutors don't reflect who Patti Blagojevich really is.

"That is absolutely not my sister," Deborah Mell told the Chicago Sun-Times and NBC5 in an exclusive interview Wednesday. "Patti is a mother, a sister and a devoted wife. She is particularly protective of her family."

Prosecutors say the governor plotted to sell President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat and he was arrested Tuesday. In the criminal complaint, his wife emerges in recorded phone conversations as scheming to punish those who got in her way.

According to the complaint, it was Patti Blagojevich's voice in the background spewing a suggestion to "just fire" some newspaper editors if the Tribune Co. hoped for state assistance to sell Wrigley Field, the storied home of the Chicago Cubs.

"Hold up that (expletive) Cubs (expletive)," she says as her husband is talking on the telephone. "(Expletive) them."

Patti Blagojevich's family acknowledged the salty language contained on the recordings but said those words were uttered at a stressful time as both she and her husband were under federal scrutiny.

"I can understand it. This a pressure cooker she's living in," said Deborah Mell, who will be sworn in as a state representative next month.

Patti Blagojevich, 43, has not been charged with wrongdoing, and she has not spoken publicly since her husband's arrest.

Chicago Alderman Dick Mell said his oldest daughter is "loyal sometimes to a fault" and would "jump down (his) throat" when he argued with Rod Blagojevich at holiday gatherings.

Dick Mell helped his son-in-law in his first run for governor, but a year after his election in 2002, the alderman publicly questioned if Blagojevich fundraisers were trading political contributions for state jobs.

"At that time, I felt that I was right to say what I said. I don't know, that's ancient history," Mell said.

A breach formed between father and daughter, and Mell said a conversation he had with Patti Blagojevich on Wednesday was the first time they had spoken in "quite a while."

"She said she's going through a rough time," he said. "But she said, as rough as it is, what happened two years ago when her mother died was harder."

Rich Mell, Patti's brother, said he is upset by the scrutiny of her and her children, 12-year-old Amy and 5-year-old Annie.

"There's a family involved," Rich Mell said. "It makes me angry."

Deborah Mell said she didn't know how she'd vote if a vote to impeach her brother-in-law came before the General Assembly.

"I don't know what's going to happen. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it," she said. "I've thought about it briefly. That's not my focus right now."

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Information from: Chicago Sun-Times, http://www.suntimes.com/index

[Associated Press]

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