Complaint: Zell receptive to firing editors

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was told by an aide that Tribune Co. owner Sam Zell was receptive to firing Chicago Tribune editorial writers who had been critical of the governor, according to prosecutors' criminal complaint.

Tribune's owner "got the message and is very sensitive to the issue," John Harris, Blagojevich's chief of staff, told the governor in a Nov. 11 phone call that was intercepted by federal investigators, according to the complaint.

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald accused Blagojevich of corruption by threatening to withhold state assistance to now- bankrupt Tribune for the proposed sale of the Chicago Cubs' Wrigley Field ballpark unless editorial writers calling for the governor's impeachment were fired.

Blagojevich was also charged with trying to sell President- elect Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat, according to federal prosecutors who said the governor had put a "for sale" sign on his administration.

Zell led the $8.3 billion buyout of Tribune in December 2007. The Chicago-based company, owner of the Los Angeles Times, Cubs and radio station WGO, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday, saddled with almost $13 billion in debt.

Tribune has been trying to sell the Cubs Major League Baseball team and Wrigley Field to help pay down debt.

Harris reported back to Blagojevich that an unnamed Tribune financial adviser, acting as go-between with Zell, had said there were "certain corporate reorganizations and budget cuts coming and, reading between the lines, he's going after that section," according to the affidavit.

'That's Fantastic'

Blagojevich responded, "Oh, that's fantastic," according to the document.

The actions of Tribune's "executives and advisers working on the disposition of Wrigley Field have been appropriate at all times," the company said today in a statement. "No one working for the company or on its behalf has ever attempted to influence staffing decisions at the Chicago Tribune or any aspect of the newspaper's editorial coverage as a result of conversations with officials in the governor's administration."

Harris singled out John P. McCormick, the Chicago Tribune's deputy editorial page editor, to the Tribune adviser "as somebody who was the most biased and unfair," according to the compliant.

McCormick wasn't part of 11 firings at the newspaper on Dec. 4, the governor's spokesman told Blagojevich, according to the document. "Go tell Harris that," the governor told the spokesman in response.

The document didn't say whether any editorial writers were among the 11 jobs cut.

While the document didn't name Zell, it identified Tribune's owner as an individual who "acquired effective control of the Tribune Co. as a result of a financial transaction in 2007."