Division Street

Onetime Democratic fundraising star Joe Cari is expected to testify in the Tony Rezko trial this afternoon in what should prove to be another big news day coming out of the federal courthouse.

Cari, whose role in the saga I wrote about for Chicago magazine here, is likely to deliver a blow to the governor by testifying that he was offered political favors in exchange for campaign contributions. Kitchen cabinet member Chris Kelly will probably come out the worse for wear as well, as Cari testifies to meetings he had with Kelly that were allegedly less than savory. Former New York gubernatorial candidate Carl McCall will likely be unpleasantly referenced, and former Democratic National Committee chairman David Wilhelm may turn out to have been Cari’s bridge to the Blagojevich administration; Cari supported Republican Jim Ryan in 2002 because of a friendship that developed out of experiences they each had with cancer striking loved ones.

Prior to Cari’s testimony, Judge Amy St. Eve is expected to consider a motion brought by defense lawyers to allow questioning Cari about his use of antidepressants, as well as two suicide attempts, including one just days before he agreed to his plea bargain with the feds.

It’s too bad the Democratic National Convention is in Denver this August instead of right here, smack dab in the heart of the Old Politics. Oh, what a showcase to the nation we could have been! As Clout Street notes, “It’s going to be a busy fall on Dearborn Street.”

* On September 8, Niles Mayor Nicholas Blase is scheduled to go on trial “on federal
corruption charges for allegedly using his public office for more than three decades to steer local business owners to purchase insurance through an insurance agency that paid him bribes and kickbacks from the revenue it collected from insurance clients in Niles.”

* On September 15, former Chicago alderman Edward “Fast Eddie” Vrdolyak (who has actually been a member of both parties) is scheduled to go on trial “on federal fraud and bribery charges for allegedly scheming with cooperating businessman Stuart Levine to obtain a kickback for Levine from the sale of a building in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood for a condominium development.”

* On September 17, former Chicago alderman Arenda “Most politicians are Ho’s” Troutman is scheduled to go on trial “on federal bribery charges for allegedly accepting a $5,000 cash bribe and agreeing to accept an additional $10,000 and other benefits in exchange for taking official action to support zoning changes and alley access on behalf of a purported private developer as part of an undercover investigation.”

* On November 10, gubernatorial kitchen cabinet member and gambling policy advisor Chris Kelly is scheduled to go on trial “on federal tax fraud charges for allegedly understating his true personal and business income by more than $1.3 million over five years, in part by concealing the use of corporate funds for personal expenses including gambling debts to sports bookmakers.”

* And while Tony Rezko’s trial will presumably be over with by then, the federal investigation from which it spawned presumably will not.