Schakowsky says she's not candidate referenced in complaint

U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky said Tuesday she's not the woman referenced by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald as taking herself out of the running to replace President-elect Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate.

Schakowsky also called on Gov. Rod Blagojevich to resign immediately in the wake of his arrest on corruption charges.

The Evanston Democrat said she spoke with the governor just once just before Thanksgiving about the Senate appointment. During the brief conversation, she said there "wasn't anything even close to asking for quid pro quo of any sort or what I might be able to do for him."

Schakowsky said Blagojevich told her she was on his list of possible appointees and that he thought he'd make a decision before Christmas. The rest was small talk, she said.

"It's clear to me now I was never under serious consideration," said Schakowsky.

During Tuesday's news conference, Fitzgerald laid out an alleged three-way deal in the works in which Blagojevich would get a "cushy union job" at a higher rate of pay. The union would get benefits from Obama, who in exchange would get his candidate of choice - though there is no evidence Obama himself was in any way involved.

"This part of the scheme lost steam when the person the governor thought was the president-elect's choice of Senator took herself out of the running," Fitzgerald said.

According to the complaint against Blagojevich and Chief of Staff John F. Harris, a conversation between the two occurred on Nov. 12 that referenced media reports saying that a person referred to in the complaint as "Senate Candidate 1" wasn't interested in taking Obama's Senate seat.

Days later, Obama appointed Chicago attorney Valerie Jarrett, an Obama adviser and longtime friend, as senior White House aide. Before that, her name has come as his possible Senate successor.

Tuesday, Schakowsky joined the chorus of people calling for Blagojevich to resign immediately.

"He felt he was sitting on a prize quite tangibly," she said.

If the responsibility for deciding Obama's replacement falls on someone besides Blagojevich, Schakowsky said she's unsure whether she'd want consideration.

"The question is can anybody appointed by Blagojevich have the credibility one would need to be senator and then run for Senate," she said.

Another name tossed out as a potential replacement is Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth of Hoffman Estates. According to a spokeswoman, Duckworth never met with or spoke to Blagojevich about the Senate seat. The spokeswoman declined further comment.