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Jones also told his fellow lawmakers, “this bill does not cast any aspersions on any current Board members because they are mere allegations.“ “We don’t know any facts,” he said. During the session, Senator Kirk Dillard had the apparent audacity to ask Jones, "is there anything in this bill that prohibits a member of the Health Facilities reconstituted Planning Board from giving campaign contributions to politicians?" "No, that's not included in the Act," Jones answered. "So, it would still be possible for somebody to give a large, say twenty-five-thousand- dollar contribution one day to a political figure and get reappointed or appointed to this Board a couple of days later?" Dillard asked. "There is no such prohibition," Jones said, "for this Board or any other board, be it the Gaming Board, be -- there is no such prohibition." Indictment headlines non-stop during Obama's real estate deals The first indictment in the Planning Board case came a month before the mansion deal was finalized. On May 9, 2005, CBS Channel 2 Chicago, reported, "Stuart Levine is accused of using his position on a powerful state health board to cut himself and his buddies in on hospital construction contracts worth $113 million." Hurtgen and Kiferbaum were also charged for their part in the Edward extortion scheme. CBS pointed out that before joining Bear Stearns, Hurtgen “worked in the administration of then-Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson as deputy secretary in the state Department of Administration, which supervised state bond issues.” On May 10, 2005, the Sun-Times reported Levine, “who has given more than $1.6 million to mostly Republican state politicians since 1993, was re-appointed to the planning board -- as well as the state Teachers' Retirement System board -- at the urging of ... Rezko.” Levine was rousted out of bed by FBI agents, the Times said, “and hauled into court on fraud charges alleging kickbacks, influence-peddling and insider dealing.” John Glennon, a former adviser to Republican Governor George Ryan, was also charged with “criminal conspiracy for concealing kickbacks in the financing and construction of two Illinois hospitals and lying to federal authorities." The Republican Combine member Glennon gave $1,000 to Obama on January 8, 2004. At the time, Fitzgerald would not say whether anyone in Blagojevich's office had been questioned or who else was tied to the scheme. But the Times quoted FBI Agent, Robert Grant, as saying: "Stay tuned; there will be more charges in the future." This article noted that Kiferbaum was already cooperating. Five days later, the Times reported Rezko “had a hand in staffing decisions at the scandal-tainted Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board.”
Evelyn Pringle is a columnist for OpEd News and investigative journalist focused on exposing corruption in government and corporate America.
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