[uranbigis]

Report: No 'quid pro quo' on Obama seat
December 23, 2008 at 3:48 PM


WASHINGTON - A report issued by Barack Obama's transition concluded that the president-elect had no contact with Gov. Rod Blagojevich or his office and no one acting on Obama's behalf was involved in any "quid pro quo" arrangement the governor allegedly sought for filling the vacant Senate seat with a candidate of Obama's choosing.

The report [PDF link – Z] was put together by attorney Greg Craig following Blagojevich's arrest for allegedly engaging in a scheme to sell the vacant U.S. Senate seat, as well as other state appointments and services.

Craig said Obama, his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, and his adviser, Valerie Jarrett, all submitted to interviews with U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald last week. Craig said neither Jarrett nor David Axelrod, another senior adviser, had any contact with Blagojevich or his office.

The report did say that Dr. Eric Whitaker, a close friend of Obama's and a former Blagojevich cabinet member, was approached "by a member of the Governor's circle," deputy Gov. Louanner Peters, for information.

Obama has portrayed himself as taking a hands-off approach to the governor's decision about who to appoint to his Senate seat. In fact, the report noted that he was very much interested in who would succeed him in the Senate.

Once Jarrett said she was not interested in becoming a senator, Obama asked Emanuel to tell the governor that he would support Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., Ill. Comptroller Dan Hynes and Illinois Veterans Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth. Later, Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Cheryl Jackson, a former Blagojevich spokeswoman who heads the Chicago Urban League, were added to the list.

Vice President-elect Joe Biden said earlier Tuesday that the report would show "no inappropriate contact" between Barack Obama's presidential transition team and Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

"I don't think there is anything to exonerate," Biden told reporters following an economic briefing. He said the report will show "there has been no inappropriate contact between any member of the Obama staff or transition team with Blagojevich."

Obama, who is vacationing in Hawaii, told his staff to review all internal contacts with Blagojevich and his staff.

Obama has said he was eager to release the report, but was asked not to do so by federal prosecutors.

"It's a little bit frustrating," he said last week. "There's been a lot of speculation in the press that I would love to correct immediately...By next week you guys will have the answers to all your questions."

Still, because the report did not include actual transcripts of what was said, questions may linger.

Obama ordered up the report earlier this month after the arrest of Blagojevich and the governor's then-chief of staff, John Harris, on charges that they had tried to barter the Senate seat for the governor's financial gain. Illinois law grants the governor sole power to fill a Senate vacancy.

On Dec. 15, Obama said the report was complete and had found no "inappropriate" contact between his aides and the Blagojevich camp. He said then that its release was being delayed until this week at the request of U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald.

When asked about the Senate seat shortly after the election, Obama suggested that he would be taking a hands-off approach. "There's going to be a lot of good choices out there, but it is the governor's decision to make, not mine," he said on Nov. 7.

Since then, the president-elect has declined to comment on whether there is any inconsistency with that statement and a recent Chicago Tribune report that suggested Obama's incoming chief of staff had presented a list of acceptable candidates to the Blagojevich administration.

"It would be inappropriate for me to comment, because the ... story that you just talked about in your own paper, I haven't confirmed that it was accurate, and I don't want to get into the details at this point," he said on Dec. 16.

-- Jill Zuckman and John McCormick


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