Witness: Rezko said governor's ethic laws 'just for show'

Political power broker Stuart Levine said he once worried about new ethics laws -- but was assured by Antoin "Tony" Rezko, a former Gov. Rod Blagojevich insider and fundraiser, the laws were "there just for show."

Levine, the government's star witness in Rezko's corruption trial, testified Monday that he had concerns he would be blatantly breaking Blagojevich's new ethics law by talking to others about business on his state board overseeing billions of dollars in teacher pensions.

"Mr. Rezko told me that no one of consequence was going to pay attention to the ethics ordinance -- that it was there just for show," Levin recounted at Rezko's corruption trial.

The ethics ordinance, meant to clamp down on influence peddling and conflicts of interest in the wake of former Gov. George Ryan -- now imprisoned on corruption charges -- was highly touted by Blagojevich.

Blagojevich refuses to answer questions about the Rezko trial. He has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

Since the ethics law passed, however, Blagojevich's administration has been at the center of numerous federal corruption investigations.

Most recently, a Daily Herald analysis found that more than 70 percent of $1.5 million Blagojevich raised late last year came from those doing business with the state, lobbying the state or facing state regulation. The governor had to raise the money to pay off millions of dollars in legal bills as the federal probes continue.