Dec 9, 2008 5:40 pm US/Central
Feds Catch Patti Blagojevich On Tape, Too
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Federal wiretaps of Gov. Blagojevich indicate the his wife was also aware of her husband's alleged attempts to shake down the Tribune Co. over the sale of Wrigley Field.
CBS 2's Mike Flannery has reported that Patti Blagojevich was a potential target in the investigation, but has not been charged with wrong-doing.
The day before Barack Obama was elected president, the governor took a call at his home from his deputy governor Bob Greenlee.
The phone call's topic: Whether to award the financially struggling Tribune Co. State assistance to upgrade Wrigley Field that might have been worth $100 million.
In exchange, Blagojevich was demanding the firing of editorial writers at the Chicago Tribune newspaper, especially John McCormick, author of several angry editorials calling for the governor to be impeached and tossed out of office.
The feds claim that on one secret recording Patti Blagojevich can clearly be heard in the background speaking to her husband as he's on the phone. Her language is less than demure as she complains that bosses at Tribune are ignoring the governor's demands to fire McCormick.
Then Patti gets on the line: "[Sam] Zell"... the owner of the Tribune...can just fire them!"
Patti then said that if Zell's papers were hurting his business, he would do something about his editorial board.
Rod Blagojevich then tells Greenlee to put together the articles in the Tribune that deal with removing him from office so that chief of staff John Harris can go to Zell and say: "We've got some decisions to make now."
Governor Blagojevich then says: "Someone should say, 'Get rid of those people. Someone's gotta go to Zell. We want to see him. ... It's a political f''''ing operation in there."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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