Blagojevich's brother Robert takes stand

[July 20, 2010]  CHICAGO -- Robert Blagojevich on Monday testified that he was his brother's "(score)keeper," but that was where his involvement ended in 2008, according to his defense.

"I was a scorekeeper. I kept track of money coming in and out (of the campaign fund)," he told jurors in the federal corruption trial of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

The retired Army lieutenant colonel gave his own take on some of the prosecution's most damaging evidence against him -- taped conversations in which he requested contributions as part of his brother's alleged shakedowns.

The prosecution previously had played a voice mail Robert left for John Wyma, a lobbyist and former Blagojevich chief of staff, in which he asked about the status of a donation from Pat Magoon, Children's Memorial Hospital chairman. The call came just a few days after Blagojevich informed the hospital chief he approved a Medicaid reimbursement increase that would bring the hospital $8 million. On the tape Robert told Wyma the hospitals could "do well by us."

But Robert said he was unaware of Rod Blagojevich's call to Magoon and the rate increase he had just approved.

"People are more willing to give to a governor who shares their (interests)," he said. "Health care organizations were the path of least resistance (because of his policies)."

Robert said he relied on Children's Memorial Hospital as "core constituents" rather than a group that would specifically benefit from Blagojevich's pen. He pointed to his lack of contact with gun companies -- Gov. Blagojevich is anti-gun -- as evidence that the governor's policy positions came before fundraising, not the other way around.

Robert, 54, and his wife, Julie, were the first to take the stand for the defense, as they looked to clear the elder Blagojevich of bribery charges. Their testimony moved at a brisk pace, clearing the way for Rod to take the stand as early as Tuesday.

The apparent strategy became clear immediately -- distance. Robert and Julie Blagojevich testified that Rod and Robert were not close when the governor took office in 2002. Robert's decision to work for the governor's campaign fund in 2008 came as a matter of convenience and principle.

Robert and Julie's son Alex, 27, moved to Chicago in 2006, and Julie reminded her husband of a deathbed promise he made to his mother to get closer to his younger brother. Robert began working full time as his brother's head fundraiser in August 2008 -- just months before both men were arrested in connection to conspiracy charges.

"(Rod) said there were few people he could trust," Robert said. "It was the right thing to do as his brother. ... I'd get a chance to know my brother better."

Even as defense attorney Mike Ettinger asked Robert about his dealings with the other alleged co-conspirators -- his contact with them was minimal, according to the defendant -- Robert kept emphasizing his distant relationship with the former governor.

"I met (Blagojevich aide) Lon Monk at Rod's wedding -- whenever that was," Robert said.

Rod Blagojevich married Patti Mell, daughter of Chicago alderman Richard Mell, in 1989.

Robert's self-described distant ties to his brother, however, have not prevented the brothers from pursuing similar arguments for their innocence. The former governor has long contended that his actions are typical politics.

Robert is making the case that his duties under for the Friends of Blagojevich campaign fund were fundraising as usual, pointing to his experience cold-calling for the Red Cross and the YMCA in his adopted town of Nashville, Tenn.

"I was given a list of people who had given before and their phone numbers," he said with a slight but noticeable twang. "I was taught not to tie (state action to fundraising) and I never did."

He said Rod kept him out of the loop in all things political to help him avoid potential conflicts of interest. And even when he did talk politics with the former governor, he offered only "brotherly advice," as he said during a Nov. 12, 2008, conversation.

"I got no thoughts, no insight ... just brotherly advice," he said. "Make sure it's tit for tat; I wouldn't give it away."

Robert denied that he meant anything other than political gain.

The prosecution seized on a Nov. 5 conversation between the two brothers, in which Robert said the governor should engage in "horse-trading" when making an appointment to President Barack Obama's former U.S. Senate seat, seemingly alluding to Obama's ability to shut down the ongoing federal investigation into Blagojevich. Prosecutor Christopher Niewoehner grilled Robert about whether such a proposal would fly in the military.

"You can't compare the military with the political world -- it's apple and oranges," he said, as Rod looked on beaming. "Horse-trading is something of political value, not personal value."

Ettinger emphasized repeatedly that Robert doggedly shut down discussion of a $1.5 million campaign contribution scheme hatched by two Indian community leaders to appoint congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., to the Senate seat.

"Rod's gonna make a pick that he thinks is best for Illinois and nothing else matters," he said to Babu Patel, a concerned Indian businessman, at the Friends of Blagojevich headquarters in Chicago. "Money is not going to be a factor here."

Robert repeated himself several times, in order to assure Patel "this approach was dead."

Defense attorneys used Robert to confirm that Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan was always his brother's top pick for the Senate seat, but he also affirmed that his brother was all over the place in making a choice. Ettinger read the jury the transcript of a Dec. 4 conversation between the Blagojevich brothers to demonstrate this point.

"My play here is to make (Jesse Jackson Jr.) look like -- if this Lisa Madigan thing doesn't (work out), if Washington doesn't put it together -- then I'm gonna put him in there," Rod Blagojevich told his brother.

The jury and the former governor were attentive as Robert testified -- their pens slowed from the furious pace evident throughout the prosecution's earlier case. Robert appeared confident on the stand, taking time away from testimony to say "bless you" to a sneezing juror, apologize for his foul language on wiretaps and sip water down the "wrong pipe" -- forcing an unexpected break in the proceeding.

Robert is the only co-defendant to stick with the former Illinois governor through the trial. Former Blagojevich advisers John Harris and Lon Monk testified against their former boss in exchange for reduced sentences on bribery charges. Blagojevich fundraiser Chris Kelly took his own life in November 2009.

As the former governor left the courthouse, he said he was "proud" of Robert. He wasn't the only one with a kind word for a witness. Robert marched from the stand during a break in the trial and planted a big kiss on Julie's lips. Alex held his mother's arms throughout his father's testimony.

Rod Blagojevich faces up to 415 years if convicted of a bevy of corruption charges, including extortion and racketeering.

Prosecutors expect to continue cross-examination for a few more hours on Tuesday morning, meaning the former governor could be on the stand as early as Tuesday afternoon.

[Illinois Statehouse News; By BILL McMORRIS]