Unlocking Biden's baggage reveals Blago ticket

Once upon a time, long before Barack Obama sent text messages about Joe Biden, there was another five-letter Illinoisan who had his eye on the altar.

B-l-a-g-o.

If only fate and fortune weren't such merciless home wreckers, it might have been Gov. Rod Blagojevich standing beside Sen. Joe Biden during Saturday's ceremony in Springfield.

The matchmaker of such a Blago-Biden ticket would have been Joseph Cari of Chicago, a Harvard-educated lawyer, political financier, power broker and the fundraising chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Soon, Mr. Cari will be known only by an 8-digit number.

That numeric title will be bestowed on Cari by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons when he reports to a federal penitentiary after pleading guilty to trying to extort campaign money for Gov. Blagojevich from an investment firm seeking state contracts.

So it is interesting indeed that Mr. Cari has deep connections with Blago, Biden, a loose link to Obama himself and several other notable political figures.

First, Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del):

Mr. Cari was a top campaign official and successful fundraiser for Sen. Biden in 1988, during the Delaware senator's maiden run for president. Biden's campaign chairman 20 years ago was William Daley, brother of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley.

Together, Cari and Bill Daley raised more money for Biden than any other candidate in the Democratic field.

Even though Biden lost in 1988, Cari didn't veer far from him after that.

Shortly before Cari's corruption indictment by a federal grand jury in Chicago in 2006, Sen. Biden called him "an honorable guy" and was planning to appoint him to a high-ranking campaign position for the 2008 presidential campaign. However, the Illinois shakedown scheme (that had nothing to do with Biden) derailed Cari's future plans.

Next, Gov. Rod Blagojevich:

Cari told federal prosecutors that the governor told him he "could award contracts, legal work and investment banking" in exchange for campaign fundraising help. Cari said that Blagojevich henchmen, including Antoin "Tony" Rezko, wanted him to work as a national fundraiser for the governor.

Cari once told a prospective shakedown target: "This is how things are done in Illinois."

When such an Illinois thing included a $1.5 million bribe from a state contractor, Cari became entangled in the messy federal case. He pleaded guilty and testified against Rezko.

Cari testified about a private jet trip he took with Blagojevich in 2003 to a New York fundraiser and how the governor spoke of his future political dreams.

"He had aspirations beyond the governorship," Cari said.

"What did you understand by that?" prosecutor Reid J. Schar asked.

"Running for the presidency," Cari said.

Cari's testimony helped convicted Tony Rezko.

Since then, Mr. Blagojevich's presidential stock has tumbled although the governor has never been charged with wrongdoing, denies such a midair conversation with Cari ever occurred and claims to have barely known him.

Finally, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill):

While Mr. Cari was a top-level Democratic operative and money man during Obama's rise through Springfield to the U.S. Senate and did support his campaigns, Cari did not have any organizational position with Obama.

Cari however was more tightly wound with convicted influence peddler Tony Rezko, who had a 20-year personal and professional relationship with Mr. Obama.

During the height of the Rezko investigation, Obama's campaign returned a $1,439.59 donation to Joe Cari.

Cari was such a household name in Democratic circles that Mr. Obama could probably have told his handlers most of this from memory and spared his campaign a costly private investigation tab.

It didn't take much "vetting" to find out all of this information. You can be sure that Mr. McCain and the Republicans are foaming at the mouth while waiting to fire off a few Biden/Cari/Rezko questions.

And the truth is unlikely to fit in a text message.

Chuck Goudie, whose column appears each Monday, is the chief investigative reporter at ABC7 News in Chicago. The views in this column are his own and not those of WLS-TV. He can be reached by email at chuckgoudie@gmail.com.