Fitzgerald, not Trib, blows whistle on editorial extortion

Even the Chicago Tribune was being squeezed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich, according to charges filed Tuesday by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

The corruption charges suggested the governor used potential sweetheart deals involving Wrigley Field, owned by Tribune Co. through its ownership of the Chicago Cubs, in an attempt to extort changes in Tribune editorial staff and direction.

The 76-page FBI affidavit says Blagojevich chief of staff John Harris dangled $100 million in Wrigley Field tax incentives, to be meted out through dealings of the Illinois Finance Authority, in exchange for changes in the Trib editorial board, which has been vociferously anti-Blagojevich over the years, going so far as to call for his recall or even impeachment.

The affidavit states that in a taped phone call Blagojevich told Harris to tell Tribune owner Sam Zell, Cub Chairman Crane Kenney and an unnamed Trib financial adviser, "Our recommendation is fire all those ... people, get 'em ... out of there and get us some editorial support."

John P. McCormick, a member of the Tribune editorial board, was singled out by name.

Harris allegedly told Blagojevich in a Nov. 11 phone call that the Tribune owner "got the message and is very sensitive to the issue," promising "certain corporate reorganizations and budget cuts coming and, reading between the lines, he's going after that section."

Fitzgerald hinted at his news conference Tuesday that may have been one of the "crimes in progress" that led him to stage the early morning arrests of Blagojevich and Harris. No editorial board members were among layoffs made last week, but Fitzgerald said he went to bed at night worried that he'd wake up to the headline of certain people being laid off.

"Fitzgerald certainly believed this was possible," said Steve Rhodes of the Beachwood Reporter, a local media watchdog Web site.

The Tribune maintained its editorial independence - Editor Gerould Kern told Tribune-owned CLTV he had never been pressured to alter editorials since taking the job in July - and political reporter Rick Pearson told WGN Channel 9, "I was not even aware of the circumstances until the criminal complaint came out."

"There's never been pressure from anyone above the editorial board at the Chicago Tribune or its parent company either to voice criticism of the governor or to temper it," McCormick wrote in an e-mail Tuesday. "If somebody did try to muscle the Tribune during a difficult time for our industry, it didn't work."

Fitzgerald also cautioned reporters against drawing inferences against those not named in the affidavit. Yet if Tribune officials were offered a $100 million deal to alter editorial policy, they didn't tell his own intrepid staff about it, even as it had been tracing the corruption case against Blagojevich for years.

The Trib did uncover early that Fitzgerald was running the wiretaps on Blagojevich and Harris, but held the story at Fitzgerald's request until late last week, so as not to interfere with the ongoing investigation.

"On occasion, prosecutors asked us to delay publication of stories, asserting that disclosure would jeopardize the criminal investigation," Kern said in a formal statement released Tuesday. "In isolated instances, we granted the requests, but other requests were refused."