Having already established his bonafides as a straight-arrow who maintained that government and fundraising should never mix, Robert Blagojevich admitted today that he passed along the resume of the niece of a major Korean-American fundraiser, who later made a $10,000 donation.
But under the onslaught of a rapid-fire cross examination, Blagojevich denied that the two were linked.
"A lot of people wanted jobs in the state!" Blagojevich said. He conceded that he passed along the young woman's resume, but quickly added, "What else did I say? There's no guarantee she's going to get a job!"
When confronted by prosecutor Chris Niewoehner with his previous statements that fundraising and government should not mix, Blagojevich refused to back down.
"Sometimes they bleed over," he said, declaring he had always been told that when such circumstances occurred, he should stay out of it and pass the information on to those on the government side.
"I faithfully followed through on that!"
Also on the stand, Robert Blagojevich admitted that he told his brother about a downstate law firm which had raised money, and was unhappy they weren't getting state business. But he insisted "I was just passing information on," and did not believe he was mixing fundraising with government.
