Golden (76 page)

Tom Balanoff also was called to the stand again, repeating his story about taking the call from Obama at the gas station and how he had set up meetings with the governor.

On Election Day, Balanoff and his wife had been at the Hilton and Towers on Grant Park and walked across toward Obama's stage to hear the speech. Balanoff saw Blagojevich with Emil Jones as he was walking into the park, he said, and had a short private conversation with him. Balanoff referred to the conversation they'd had just prior to the election and said there was more to say now. Blagojevich had said great and to give him a call, and the two men parted. Scofield was used to set up the second meeting, and it turned into a one-on-one between Balanoff and the governor.

“I said, ‘I'm close to President Obama, and I'm close to you,'” Balanoff recalled for the jury. He had spoken to someone, and he was there to advocate for Valerie Jarrett.

Blagojevich was supposed to get it. Balanoff didn't want to specifically spell it out, but he wanted to communicate that he had talked to the incoming president without specifically saying it. Obama had wanted at least the appearance that he was staying out of the situation. So Balanoff simply parroted what Obama had said. Jarrett would be good for the state and, as it turned out, a good political decision for Blagojevich. Jarrett was African American, a woman, a sharp Chicago business leader, and a friend to organized labor.

“He agreed, politically it would be smart,” Balanoff remembered.

But the governor also tried to throw up a smoke screen for the union boss. He told Balanoff he was in “active discussions” with the Madigans to send Lisa to the Senate.

Did Balanoff know whether there were really any “active discussions” between Blagojevich and the Madigans? Schar asked.

“I didn't,” Balanoff answered.

Regardless, both men knew it would take months to get that kind of deal off the ground, especially if Blagojevich wanted to see some legislative results from Michael Madigan before appointing Lisa. There was no way Jarrett had that kind of time, especially with Obama wanting her help in his new administration.

So with the idea in the air that Jarrett had some competition, Blagojevich tossed out his real message. If he could be appointed secretary of health and
human services under Obama, he could live out his passion. Balanoff said he got it.

“I understood that if he could be appointed to that position, then Valerie Jarrett could be appointed to the Senate seat,” Balanoff said. “If I took that back and if that could happen, then he would appoint Valerie Jarrett to the Senate.”

Schar asked Balanoff what his response had been. Balanoff testified that it was instant, with Balanoff telling Blagojevich that simply wasn't going to happen. Why? Blagojevich said in return. Was it because of the ongoing federal investigation against him? Well, yes, Balanoff had said, wasn't Blagojevich worried about that?

“He said no,” Balanoff told the jury.

At any rate, Balanoff was trying to be the advocate that Obama wanted, so he told the governor he would in fact reach out to Jarrett and keep the ball in the air. He would make a call and throw some of the things Blagojevich had said to her, and then maybe he and Blagojevich could meet again for coffee that Saturday.

The coffee meeting never did happen. Balanoff said he did talk to Jarrett, who agreed she didn't have time for Blagojevich to figure himself out or weigh whatever he thought he could do with the Madigans. And Balanoff remembered telling Jarrett the governor had said some “goofy stuff” to him about a cabinet post.

It was November 12, about a week later, Balanoff confirmed, before Balanoff would again be heavily used by Blagojevich in his negotiations. It was just after Emanuel had delivered a message from Obama through John Wyma, who had called Harris with it. It was the “thankful and appreciative” message that hadn't sat so well with the governor.

Schar wanted to make one point clear with the jury. It was obvious on the phone call that Blagojevich had all but scrapped whatever the Madigan “negotiations” had been. The governor had barely mentioned the supposed idea of a deal, and Balanoff said he concluded there hadn't been any real talks. Blagojevich had talked about money being funneled into a group that he would of course be paid to lead and said “and then we could help our new senator, Valerie Jarrett,” push the organization's agenda.

Balanoff said he got the message.

“It was clear that he was—at least in my mind—that if this would be set up, he would make Valerie Jarrett a senator,” Balanoff testified. “I believe he thought I was going to take it back to Valerie Jarrett.”

But it hadn't mattered, as news quickly broke that Jarrett was taking a job at the White House after all.

The cross-examination of Balanoff was mostly unremarkable, except for Judge Zagel's reaction to it. Goldstein asked for details about what Blagojevich had said at the November 3 meeting about Lisa Madigan, hoping to emphasize to the jury that the governor had been relaying a very real option. Balanoff said again that Blagojevich had told him he would be getting rid of a political rival by sending Madigan to Washington and could get going with some of his stalled legislative plans. Goldstein stressed that it was Balanoff who had called Blagojevich to set up a meeting where he would tell the governor what Obama wanted, not the other way around. Balanoff had sought out the governor and forwarded messages from the man who would become president. Blagojevich had never explicitly said he would trade one thing for another. And as far as the “active discussions” with the Madigans, Balanoff had no independent knowledge of whether that was real or not.

“That's correct,” Balanoff said.

It was the next few questions that would get Goldstein into hot water with the judge. The lawyer asked if when he told Blagojevich “that's not going to happen” in response to the HHS idea, he had told the governor to stop because he was doing something wrong. It brought a strong objection from Schar, who already was objecting every few moments. The judge already had warned the defense that they were not to raise a “legal advice” defense— the defense that Blagojevich shouldn't be convicted of any crimes because lawyers and others around him had never warned him he was crossing into illegal areas. To make that defense takes a finding by the judge that the defendant had raised issues with a lawyer who had specifically advised that what wound up being the charged conduct was not a crime.

Moments later, Goldstein was at it again, asking whether Balanoff passed along Blagojevich's “goofy” ideas, or if he and Jarrett had stopped and decided to call authorities. It wasn't until after court that Zagel told Goldstein that if he wanted to try that again, he should save it for the very end of his cross-examination. Otherwise, he might get cut short and not get to ask other questions he might still have that could be helpful to his client.

“I will sit you down,” the judge warned. The normally stoic Zagel had an intensity in his voice that he didn't flash often. Patti later said the entire day had made her want to cry in court because she felt like prosecutors were objecting so often, and Zagel in turn sustaining them, that the truth was
being buried. It was all continuing to point to the former governor himself needing to testify to be able to tell the jury everything he wanted it to know.

In the wreckage of the Blagojevich matter, Doug Scofield's reputation had suffered a hit but not been devastated. In 2011, he was the senior partner of his own business, the Scofield Company, which dealt in public affairs and government relations. It was easy to see why he was good at what he did. He projected just the right amount of book and street smarts. He was affable and put off the kind of easygoing vibe that seemed to allow people to trust him quickly. He had an impressive resume, working as chief of staff to US Representative Luis Gutierrez for ten years. He had been a communications consultant for the likes of the Salvation Army and the Regional Transportation Authority.

And if you were to click on his biography on his company's website in the spring of 2011, you would have thought that these had been his most notable work experiences. The materials made no mention that he had been Blagojevich's deputy campaign manager or policy and communications director when Blagojevich first ran for governor in 2002 or that he had been the first deputy governor for him. There was also no mention that Scofield hadn't liked the fact that Rezko and Chris Kelly had so much influence in the new administration and that he had left. Nor did it recount how he had stayed in contact with many of the players in Blagojevich's world, and with the governor himself, returning to assist the governor's reelection campaign in 2006. And in 2008, Scofield had found himself talking with the governor more and more, as another major client, the SEIU, was trying to influence Blagojevich's choice to replace Barack Obama in the US Senate. It was that experience that had led to multiple interviews with the FBI and the US attorney's office and two trips to the witness stand at a high-profile federal trial.

When Balanoff and Andy Stern had wanted to see Blagojevich in early November, they had asked Scofield to contact Blagojevich and set it up. When the men went to see Blagojevich on November 3 at the Thompson Center, Scofield was in tow. Schar asked about the sitdown, and as he had at the first trial, Scofield walked jurors through his involvement. He recalled the first meeting Balanoff had with the governor just as his client did. There was talk about what Obama might want Blagojevich to do with the seat and
talk about Valerie Jarrett. Blagojevich just seemed interested in knowing anything that sounded like inside information about Obama's preference. And he, too, recalled Blagojevich suggesting he was talking to the Madigans. The speaker was blocking whatever he was trying to do, Scofield recalled Blagojevich saying, so maybe he could break the logjam by appointing Lisa.

Scofield had walked Balanoff and Stern back to their nearby office afterward but then had returned to the Thompson Center. He had met again with the governor, as well as Harris, Bill Quinlan, and Greenlee, the deputy governor. What ensued was a clear discussion of what the governor thought he could get in return for making the pick Obama wanted, Scofield remembered.

The governor was intrigued that Obama wanted someone in particular, Scofield said, and saw it as an opportunity that he could make an appointment and exchange it “for something for himself.”

After Balanoff heard from Obama directly later that night, it was Scofield who again set up a meeting with the governor. The second meeting would be November 6, and the day before it, Scofield and Blagojevich were on the phone just after 11:00 A
M.
It was then that Scofield would become the answer to the trivia question, who was Rod Blagojevich talking to when he described Obama's old Senate seat as “fucking golden”?

“Right,” Scofield had responded and then listened to Blagojevich carry on about how he could just parachute himself to Washington if no one would give him anything that he found to be satisfactory for the appointment.

Schar asked just what Scofield really thought the governor was saying when he said that infamous line.

Scofield gave a very straightforward answer, telling the prosecutor he had taken Blagojevich quite literally. The “thing” was his ability to appoint a senator, Scofield testified, without any hint in his voice that this was particularly memorable for him or that it had grown to be the bizarre, signature catchphrase of the entire case. The thing was golden, the governor had said, Scofield said.

“It's valuable to him,” he said. “He's not giving it up for nothing in return.”

Scofield wasn't at Balanoff's second meeting with the governor, but he had stopped by afterward to see how things went. He found himself talking to Blagojevich and Harris about it and learned that Blagojevich had gone ahead and conveyed his interest in a cabinet spot. The governor thought things had been generally positive and was pleased he had gotten his message across.

“If the presidentelect was interested in Valerie Jarrett for the Senate seat, the governor was willing to appoint her,” he recalled. “In return for that, the governor was interested in being appointed to the cabinet and was particularly interested in health and human services.”

Before Scofield left, he said Harris had wanted to know what Balanoff's salary was at SEIU or just in general what his compensation package was. Scofield said he had told them he didn't know for certain but thought it was something like $125,000 to $150,000.

“They seemed surprised the figure was not higher,” he remembered.