Gov. Blagojevich sanitized the record of a woman who once stole $17,000 in city funds

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

Gov. Blagojevich sanitized the record of a woman who once stole $17,000 in city funds, enabling her to run twice against House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie without the blemish of a felony in her background.

The governor's August 2005 action on behalf of Chicagoan Sharon Latiker came after he appointed her to a well-paying state job and shortly before she launched an unsuccessful 2006 bid to oust Currie, a close ally of Blagojevich's political nemesis, House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago).

The disclosure marks the second time this week that questions have arisen about whether Blagojevich let politics color one of his most sacred duties as governor: setting aside the work of a judge or jury.

The governor faced criticism this week for a 2007 decision to pardon a woman tied to the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. as she was securing $1 million in state funds to reopen her private school, which was ravaged by a 2006 fire at Pilgrim Baptist Church.

Latiker got a state job from Blagojevich's administration in May 2003 and did disclose her felony. She was on the state payroll until December 2005, when she left an $86,484-a-year senior administrator job with the Health Care and Family Services Department and hit the campaign trail.

Latiker said she did not have her record expunged because of clout within the Blagojevich administration or because she was running for the House to further the governor's efforts to destabilize Madigan's grip.

"I believe that I got that expungement based upon my ability of what I'd done in the community," Latiker said. "It was the grace of God and the mercy of God, not politics."

Latiker was convicted and sentenced to two years probation for theft, deceptive practice and conspiracy for allegedly stealing $17,250 from March 1990 to October 1990 from the city treasurer's office while she worked in the corporation counsel office. A parole violation left a felony on her record.

Latiker first received a pardon in 1999 before Blagojevich took office, but in 2005, Blagojevich went further by formally expunging the offense from her record.

Blagojevich's office dismissed the potential flap. "Sharon Latiker was pardoned back in 1999 by either Gov. Edgar or Gov. Ryan. I suspect this is coming from Speaker Madigan because Ms. Latiker ran against his floor leader Barbara Flynn Currie," said Deputy Gov. Louanner Peters.

The Sun-Times independently found Latiker's expungement in public records among the 69 pardons and commutations Blagojevich has approved since taking office in 2003.

Currie, a 15-term lawmaker from Hyde Park, said she did not know about Blagojevich's action. But she said, "It was reported to me and to others she had said she had the backing of the governor and other important people" in her campaigns. "But I never saw any evidence of that."

Latiker denied the governor was behind her candidacies, in which she was crushed by Currie.

Since her conviction, Latiker repaid what she took, did community service work, volunteered at Operation PUSH, worked at the Chicago Urban League and headed a series of private schools. She also has been an advocate for expungement reform.

U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) praised Latiker and disputed there was any political underpinning to Blagojevich's move, saying she "never has been a real political player." He said Blagojevich's move was the right one given where Latiker has come since her conviction and reflected a genuine commitment on the part of the governor.

"One of the things I applaud the governor for is his engagement and involvement in issues surrounding corrections and the effort of trying to rehabilitate rather than just incarcerate," Davis said.

But a prominent watchdog questioned why the governor would give someone who took money illegally from the taxpayers' till and give them another government job, then take the step to eradicate all official records of her crime heading into an election where she was seeking yet another public position.

"She ripped off the public before," said Jay Stewart, executive director of the Better Government Association. "It's one thing to give people who had a run-in with the law a second chance. But it's another thing when someone is accused of stealing from the public.

"The timing is really obviously the big thing here. The (expungement) happens right before she runs against Currie. It's safe to say that's a proxy against the speaker. Of all the pardons, I'm sure other people had similarly compelling stories but haven't gotten their pardons signed off on yet," Stewart said.

There is only one Rod Blagojevich.Just one.Can you name the political party he belongs to?