McHenry County Blog

“This list reads like a Who’s Who of shady Illinois politics.”

What a lead Wisconsin State Journal reporter Phil Brinkman has written for his article detailing some of the flow of campaign contributions from Illinois residents to Wisconsin politicians. In an Illinois context, the $23,000 since 2003 is not big money, but it was big enough to be the front page story in the Madison paper on Christmas Eve day.

McHenry County Blog wrote of this flow and listed every contributor almost a month ago.

Of ten identified by the Wisconsin Democracy Group, only four are the featured by the paper:

· Multi-indictee Stuart Levine, Illinois Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich appointee to the Illinois Health Facilities Board and the Downstate Teachers Retirement Fund,
· indictee Nick Hurtgen, former Wisconsin Republican Governor Tommy Thompson assistant, indicted with Levine for alleged participating in hospital shake-downs,
· admitted felon and National Democratic Party finance chairman Joe Cari, and
· Republican National Committeeman Bob Kjellander, who has not been accused of any wrong-doing, but is a favorite whipping boy because he received a commission of over $900,000 out of Blagojevich’s $10 billion bond borrowing for a role his employer told regulating authorities did not include contacting the Blagojevich administration, plus several million dollars commission for introducing those wishing investments to the Downstate Teachers Retirement Fund.

“These are really some creepy people,” the paper quotes Mike McCabe, executive director of Wisconsin Democracy Group. “They obviously think Wisconsin is ripe for the picking.”