Feds subpoena Tribune in Blagojevich investigation
Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed documents from the Chicago Tribune's parent company in the investigation of an alleged attempt by Gov. Rod Blagojevich to get certain editorial writers fired, a spokesman confirmed Thursday.
"As we've said before, we will fully cooperate with the government in its investigation into Gov. Blagojevich and his administration," Tribune Co. spokesman Gary Weitman said in a statement.
Weitman confirmed that the company had received the subpoena but said the newspaper would not comment further "as this is an ongoing criminal investigation."
Blagojevich was charged in a criminal complaint Tuesday with pressuring the newspaper to fire editorial writers who had been critical of him. He also was charged with plotting to sell the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by the election of Barack Obama as president. In addition, prosecutors said he squeezed companies seeking business with the state for campaign money.
Based on wiretaps, prosecutors alleged that Blagojevich told chief of staff John Harris, who is also charged, to threaten to withhold aid from the Illinois Finance Authority in the proposed sale of the Chicago Cubs unless the editorial writers were fired.
Tribune Co. owns the baseball team and has discussed with the finance authority a plan under which the authority would issue millions of dollars in bonds and in return take ownership of Wrigley Field, where the Cubs play.
The Tribune has been planning to sell the Cubs and the bonds would make it possible for a buyer to purchase the team without getting the stadium as well.
Under the plan, the buyer would have to agree to keep the Cubs at historic Wrigley Field for 30 years, Finance Authority Chairman William Brandt told the Illinois Legislative Audit Commission Thursday.
In the legislative hearing, Brandt said he was astonished at charges that Blagojevich threatened to derail that plan. Brandt said he and his staff had "no knowledge of this and I think that if we did, the anger would have been more than palpable."
"We are all astonished to have read what we read," Brandt said.
Brandt said that the threats Blagojevich allegedly made might have been hard to carry out because the plan was designed to keep the Cubs at Wrigley Field, one of the largest tourist draws in the state, and thus had gained key support.
"Once this starts and once civic-minded people have come together and decided this is a good thing for the State of Illinois, I don't think there would be any way to stop it short of a full public hearing," Brandt said.
Tribune Co. Chairman and CEO Sam Zell acknowledged Wednesday that he has been contacted by the FBI in connection with the corruption investigation but declined to discuss the case in any detail.
Zell, referred to indirectly as "Tribune Owner" in an FBI affidavit attached to the complaint, indicated he didn't know whether the Tribune was pressured by Blagojevich and his chief of staff to force the firing of editorial writers. In the end, none was fired.
"I'm not personally familiar with any of that, and considering the fact that this is an ongoing criminal investigation, I would feel reticent to comment accordingly," he told CNBC.