Rezko lawyers want to bar list of state workers he sponsored

Lawyers for indicted political contributor Antoin "Tony" Rezko asked a federal judge Thursday to bar prosecutors from telling jurors at his upcoming fraud trial about state workers he sponsored for jobs.

Defense attorneys said the government is "clearly attempting to put as many 'clout lists' as it can before the jury to show that Rezko wielded great influence in state government."

But they said whatever role he may have played in hiring state workers was not relevant to the charges against him -- an alleged scheme to shake down companies seeking business or regulatory approval from the state.

Rezko, a major fundraiser for Gov. Rod Blagojevich, played a role in staffing the Blagojevich administration, his attorneys acknowledged.

In a five-page brief filed with U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve, Rezko's attorneys said that Blagojevich was flooded with job applications from across the state when he was elected as the first Democratic Illinois governor in years.

"Indeed, a virtual 'who's who' in the Illinois Democratic Party, including U.S. senators, U.S. representatives and numerous state, county and city officials passed along resumes of individuals they recommended for state employment," they said.

"In an attempt to coordinate the requests that poured in, the governor's staff and members of his transition team, including Rezko, worked to coordinate those requests and in some instances made recommendations of their own," Rezko's lawyers acknowledged.

There is no question that Rezko, a real estate developer and fast-food entrepreneur, was influential in putting some people on the state payroll. Jack Lavin, formerly a financial officer of Rezko Enterprises Inc., is head of Blagojevich's Commerce and Economic Development Department, which hands out state subsidies to businesses.

St. Eve was to rule later on the request to bar such a list, which federal prosecutors plan to offer as a spreadsheet, according to Rezko attorneys. Jury selection is due to get under way March 3.

Federal prosecutors introduced a "clout list" at the 2004 trial of Gov. George Ryan's right-hand man, Scott Fawell, who later was convicted of racketeering and is serving a 6½-year prison sentence.

That list showed thousands of favors, including state jobs, that Ryan had given to everyone from politicians to mobster Tony Accardo when Ryan was Illinois secretary of state.

The Rezko trial figures to be the biggest political corruption trial in Illinois since the six-month trial at which Ryan himself was convicted of racketeering and sent to federal prison for 6½ years.

Blagojevich has been accused of no wrongdoing in the investigation, but pretrial skirmishing has been drenched in references to the governor, who is referred to in court papers filed by the government as Public Official A.

Ryan was known as Public Official A before his indictment.

When reporters asked Blagojevich Thursday about the hiring list, he responded: "I don't know. I have no information."