Rod Blagojevich stared with laser-focus on the witness stand as the prosecution called lobbyist John Wyma, his former top aide and close friend, to testify Tuesday.
Wyma, 43, is wearing a gray suit with a pink-and-blue striped tie.
Prosecutor Carrie Hamilton went through several of the key sequences in the government’s case with Wyma, including allegations of corruption involving a grant for a school, the Teachers Retirement System board, and a state toll way system expansion program.
Wyma testified that in the fall of 2006 he spoke with former Deputy Gov. Bradley Tusk on behalf of then-Rep. Rahm Emanuel, who was seeking the release of state grant money for the Chicago Academy school to build an athletic field. Wyma said Tusk asked him to reach out to Blagojevich to “see if I could move him on this issue.” Wyma was circumspect.
“In my judgment when he got into these places, there was nothing I could do,” Wyma said. “He had a tendency to dig in on issues and my experience was when he got into that place, it was very difficult to put him on a different course.”
Wyma testified that he refused to ask Emanuel to have his brother Ari Emanuel, a high-profile Hollywood agent, host a fundraiser for Blagojevich.
“Timing was horrible,” Wyma said. “I thought that to ask for a fundraiser while he was doing business with the state was poor judgment.”
In summer of 2008, Robert Blagojevich arrived to manage his brother’s campaign organization, Friends of Blagojevich. Wyma was still attending regular fundraising meetings at that time despite leaving the governor’s staff to become a lobbyist. That fall the Illinois Legislature passed new ethics legislation, which would place stricter limits on fundraising starting Jan. 1, 2009.
On Oct. 6, 2008, Wyma attended a meeting between a client of his, Mike Vondra, and Blagojevich. Vondra, a construction company executive, was looking at what incentives the state would offer if a new petroleum facility was built in Illinois.
After the meeting, Wyma stayed in Blagojevich’s personal office. According to Wyma, Blagojevich “liked Vondra a lot and wanted to get a hundred thousand dollars from him by the end of the year.”
Vondra had just done a fundraiser and Wyma said he told Blagojevich that was unrealistic. Later in that conversation, Wyma testified, Blagojevich spelled out his plan to use a toll way funding project to elicit campaign donations from construction and road building executives.
“My interpretation was that if folks in that trade sector didn’t raise the amount of money he wants, he would not announce the second expansion.”
On Oct. 8, 2008, Wyma attended a Blagojevich fundraising meeting. The topic moved quickly to Children’s Memorial Hospital, which was a client of Wyma’s. Blagojevich had recently been phoned by former Chicago Cubs manager Dusty Baker, a board member of the hospital.
Blagojevich, according to Wyma, said “he was going to give the hospital 8 million bucks and he wanted to get Magoon for 50 [thousand dollars].” Patrick Magoon is the CEO of Children’s Memorial Hospital. Blagojevich asked Wyma to ask Magoon for a $25,000 campaign contribution since Blagojevich planned to increase the hospital’s Medicaid reimbursement payments.
“My interpretation of that was since he was doing something very beneficial to the hospital,” Wyma said, “they in turn should want to do something for him.”
Wyma met with the FBI on Oct. 13, 2008, and provided information about the meetings and a follow-up voicemail message from Robert Blagojevich. When he informed the government about a meeting about the Hospital-related donations planned for Oct. 22, 2008, the government asked Wyma to attend wearing a wire. He declined, but did agree to provide information from the meeting.
At the meeting, Wyma testified, Blagojevich asked him who he thought should request the donation from Magoon – Wyma or Robert Blagojevich. Wyma said he declined to be the intermediary.
Wyma said Tuesday that Blagojevich “said he didn’t want to mix government and fundraising and asked who would be better to make the ask, either Rob or me.”
When Wyma left the Friends of Blagojevich office that day, the press was staked outside. A news article appeared the following morning.
“I began to lose all my clients,” Wyma said Tuesday. He continued to cooperate with the government.