[1]Patrick Fitzgerald's DOJ portrait
I keep hearing names bandied about, that Special Procecutor Patrick Fitzgerald [2] is supposed to be hearing, as well. Oh, yes, Fitz is still out there.
The names? Well, they’re ones you’ll want to keep tucked away, because in my estimation, they’re going to loom large very shortly.
MilanPetrovic. He’s quite a little Fundraiser, is Petrovic. Reportedly, Blago’s top fundraiser, and very much involved in collecting funds for Barry O, as well, raising according to some reports, nearly 2 million dollars for Blago… That’s about half again as much as Tony Rezko ever raised for him. At least, that they’re telling us about. (You’ll recall Rezko had some rather ummmm interesting methods of fundraising, that you wouldn’t want on the books, if you know what I mean.
Last I heard, Petrovic was the founder and President of Advanced Practical Solutions located in downtown Chicago, Illinois. This is… or was….(the website) is currently not responding… essentially a consulting firm, which makes sure the client’s message gets out there. Whoever the client is. These included Motorola, Trump Casino and the Illinois Hospital Association. And Blago, of course, as a part of the Democrat Party Machine in Illinois.
Petrovic’s name first came up (In my files, anyway) in 2003, with reports that Petrivic was making a nice little pile of cash by lobbying the Hospital board. Apparently, there’s some sort of connection between Petrivic’s lobbying efforts and Michelle Obama’s $300,000/yr job [3], as remembered by Joshua Pundit:
After Barack Obama became an Illinois state legislator, his wife moved up as well, scoring a job as ‘vice president of community relations’ at the University Of Chicago Hospital for a very generous salary of $121,910. When Obama became a senator in 2005, her ‘salary’ leapfrogged to $$316,962 for the same job…and one of Senator Obama’s first acts in office was to see to it that the hospital received over a million dollars of your tax dollars as an earmark.
Well, Michelle has moved on,and guess what…that vital job of hers,worth a salary of over $300 K has been quietly eliminated. [4]
Heh. Nothing suspicious here, huh?
Another name that keeps coming up, in my research of Petrvic, is David Wilhelm, who you may recall as the former Democratic National Committee chair. He also was reportedly a ‘top advisor’ to Blago.
Apparently, Petrivic recently contacted the FBI in Springfield offering to turn states’ evidence… in short, trying to keep himself out of jail. Apparently among the various names offered up was Rahm Emanuel [5], Obama’s chief of staff. It’s unconfirmed, but I keep hearing he offered up Obama himself.
Alonzo Monk is the second name. The Chicago Sun Times notes him as being a fundraiser, too.. In short, a left-wing lobby type.
Monk is a major player in the eyes and ears of Fitzgerald. Monk is reprtedly “Lobbyist 1” in the criminal complaint against Blago. Monk was on Blago’s staff [6]as far back as 2001, when Blago was a state legislator. Eventually, Monk made it to the level of Blago’s Chief of staff when he was elected Governor.
Monk’s name keeps coming up with what looks to be the name of a smaller player in terms of Obama, but he was certainly front line stuff with Blago, one John Wyma. I’m not sure of the level of Wyma’s involvement, but I’m not hearing enough about him currently to be a concern except as a possible money connection point. Reportedly, Wyma, Monk and Petrivic got their clients millions in state contracts, which in Blago’s employ, serving as both Blago’s staff, and lobbyists.
Monk’s name also keeps coming up with connections to David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett, both now senior advisers to Barack Obama.
How these names will eventually play out is the big question. But I thought some background might be useful going forward.