I find this next part stunning:April 24 (Bloomberg) -- Ex-Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s top fundraiser represented CDR Financial Products Inc., an advisory firm under investigation in a federal pay-to- play probe in New Mexico, official Illinois e-mails show.
Milan Petrovic, who raised $1.96 million for Blagojevich, introduced CDR to Illinois budget and debt officials, according to e-mails obtained under a public records request. He and his lobbying firm also donated $20,000 to New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a one-time Democratic presidential candidate who withdrew from consideration as U.S. Commerce Secretary following disclosure of the CDR probe.
Richardson “is a public official I admire,” Petrovic, 43, said in a telephone interview, declining to comment further.
CDR, based in Los Angeles, has drawn federal scrutiny in Pennsylvania, Florida and New Mexico since 2004. The Justice Department is looking into whether CDR was awarded $1.5 million in bond and interest-rate swap work in New Mexico in 2004 in exchange for $100,000 in donations to Richardson political committees, according to people familiar with the matter.
Political Adviser
In Illinois, Petrovic has also represented Stratton & Associates, a Denver-based consulting firm run by a senior political adviser to Richardson, state lobbying records show. Stratton lobbied on CDR’s behalf in New Mexico, according to William Sisneros, chief executive officer of the New Mexico Finance Authority.
Stratton principal Michael Stratton, a senior political adviser to Richardson in his 2008 presidential campaign, didn’t return calls and e-mail requesting comment.Petrovic and his firm, Chicago-based Advanced Practical Solutions, contributed $20,000 to Richardson’s campaign and political action committees in 2004 and 2005, New Mexico political finance records show. Petrovic’s friends, business associates and clients donated at least $50,500 to Richardson.
Illinois to New Mexico
Altogether, Illinois residents and companies contributed more than $400,000 to Richardson’s re-election from 2004 through November 2006, New Mexico campaign records show.
Stratton's Role in New Mexico:
It is a standard practice that along with campaign donations CDR would hire close associates of Elected Democrats as Consultants to funnel cash directly into the pockets of the friends of Democrats. In Philadelphia it Ron White who was close a fund raiser and associate of Mayor John Street. He received a 5,000 dollar retainer and super bowl tickets for his work. Here it is Mike Stratton, a close friend Richardson.SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — One of Gov. Bill Richardson's close friends and advisers worked as a consultant for the California firm at the center of a federal pay-to-play probe that derailed the governor's appointment as commerce secretary.
Mike Stratton's consulting firm worked for CDR Financial Products to advise on business in New Mexico at the time the company was hired to work on bond deals with the New Mexico Finance Authority.
Federal investigators are now scrutinizing whether CDR's work, for which it earned nearly $1.5 million in fees, was influenced by political contributions that CDR and its chief executive David Rubin made to Richardson's political committees.
Stratton, a longtime Democratic political consultant, has been friends with Richardson for more than 25 years. He advised Richardson — and raised money for him — during the governor's failed bid for the 2008 presidential nomination.
In addition Stratton worked for the Democrat Governors association when Richardson was the head of that body. That position would have been a great way to meet and greet across the nation and build up contacts on a state and local level. The edges are fraying and this scandal will explode, we can only hope it doesn't destroy the 2.6 trillion dollar muni bond market in the process.
0 comments:
Post a Comment