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Others Obama considered to be qualified candidates, including Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Chicago Urban League Director Cheryle Jackson, were offered later, the report said. "Mr. Harris did not make any effort to extract a personal benefit for the governor in any of these conversations," the report said. During Emanuel's interview Saturday, federal authorities played for him a taped recording of at least one conversation he had with Blagojevich's office, according to a transition official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss information not included in the report. Emanuel left for a long-planned family vacation in Africa on Tuesday and was not available for comment. Harris' lawyer, James Sotos, declined to comment. Blagojevich attorney Edward M. Genson, who has said the prosecutor's allegations are built on nothing beyond talk, said Obama's report proves his point. Obama's report details a conversation about the appointment between Jarrett and Tom Balanoff, head of the Illinois chapter of the Service Employees International Union, in which Balanoff told her that Blagojevich had "raised with him" the idea of being appointed Health and Human Services secretary. Balanoff informed Jarrett he had told Blagojevich it wouldn't happen, and Jarrett agreed, discounting the notion as "ridiculous," the report states. However, there was never any suggestion in the conversation that Blagojevich was linking the Senate appointment to the possible Cabinet posting, the report states. SEIU officials are referenced, but not named, in the FBI affidavit, and Balanoff is believed to be one of them. Blagojevich mentioned in a Nov. 5 conversation taped by the FBI that he would take the HHS job or "various ambassadorships" in exchange for appointing Obama's choice, according to an affidavit filed with the federal complaint. The affidavit states he discussed it again days later with an unnamed SEIU official, believed to be Balanoff. The governor told advisers in a Nov. 10 discussion that "it was unlikely" Obama would give him the HHS appointment or an ambassadorship, and he discussed other favors he could seek, according to the complaint. Obama's report also addresses confusion over earlier statements by David Axelrod, a top adviser who had said at one point that Obama discussed the Senate appointment with Blagojevich. Axelrod had discussed potential recommendations for the Senate appointment with Obama and Emanuel, and "was under the impression" that it would be Obama who would offer those to Blagojevich. "He later learned that it was Mr. Emanuel who conveyed those names," the report states.
[Associated Press;
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