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Assistant U.S. Attorney Reid J. Schar said in his closing argument in the nine-week trial of Antoin "Tony" Rezko that there was no mystery concerning how Rezko obtained control of two powerful state boards and used them to pressure companies and individuals hoping for state business to pay sizable kickbacks.
"The answer to that question is access and clout and it stems from Rezko's ability to raise a lot of money," Schar said. "He is one of the top fundraisers for Gov. Rod Blagojevich."
Blagojevich has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
Schar scornfully dismissed defense claims that Rezko had actually been a responsible businessman and even gave up a lucrative state contract to make certain he didn't appear to be engaging in political improprieties.
"The defendant was concerned about the discovery of impropriety," Schar said. "As for impropriety itself, he had no problem with that."
Rezko, 52, is charged with scheming with millionaire attorney Stuart P. Levine to split a $1.5 million kickback from a contractor who wanted to build a hospital in the McHenry County suburb of Crystal Lake.
He is also charged with scheming with Levine to pressure kickbacks out of money management firms wanting to invest assets of the $40 billion fund that pays the pensions of retired downstate and suburban school teachers.
Rezko, a real estate developer and fast-food entrepreneur who bankrolled a number of Illinois political campaigns, denies he had anything to do with such a scheme.
But Schar said Rezko gained power over the Health Facilities Planning Board, which wields authority over hospital construction projects, by stacking it with obedient members whose vote he could reliably control.
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 The chairman himself was reappointed after delivering a $1,000 campaign contribution to Rezko and two others contributed $25,000 each before getting appointed, Schar noted.
Schar relied heavily on testimony from Levine -- who has been denounced by the defense as a habitual drug user and admitted swindler and liar.
Levine testified that in April 2004 he met for dinner with Rezko and outlined a wide-ranging scheme for collecting $7 million in payoffs. Schar pointed to recordings of Levine phone conversations following the meeting as indicative that Rezko approved the scheme.
"Tony's fine with all of it," Levine said in a phone conversation with his longtime friend and partner, Dr. Robert Weinstein. In the same call, Levine quoted Rezko as telling him: "It's like find us whatever you can. Just do it and make it happen, Stuart."
Chief defense counsel Joseph J. Duffy was expected to make his closing argument Tuesday.
[Associated
Press; By MIKE ROBINSON]
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