Blagojevich reports gift from indicted fundraiser

The Chicago Tribune reports:

Gov. Rod Blagojevich received more than $500 in gifts last year from one of his closest confidants and top fundraisers who is now under federal indictment on tax-fraud charges, according to an ethics statement the governor filed Thursday.

Officials for the governor and an attorney for Christopher Kelly did not return phone calls late Thursday to explain what Kelly and his wife, Carmen, gave Blagojevich and his family.

The revelations were part of the governor's most recent statement of economic interest, which he is required to file annually.

It covers 2007 and requires only that officials report receiving gifts worth more than $500; the report does not include further details about the gifts.

Federal prosecutors in December charged Kelly, a former adviser on gambling issues, with cheating on his taxes to pay gambling debts and under-reporting his income between 2000 and 2005 by more than $1 million. Kelly wagered millions of dollars with one undisclosed bookie and additional millions at Las Vegas casinos, according to prosecutors.

Kelly has pleaded not guilty to the charges and Blagojevich has offered moral support to his friend, a wealthy roofing contractor.

The statement, which was filed on the last day possible, comes amid the federal corruption trial of Antoin "Tony" Rezko, who is charged with using his influence with Blagojevich to extort people seeking state business. Kelly's name has arisen in the Rezko trial, but Kelly has not been charged with any misdeeds connected to public corruption.

Others listed on the filing as giving the governor gifts worth more than $500 include the governor's brother, Robert, and his wife, Julie; lobbyists John Wyma and Daniella Landau; the governor's father-in-law, Ald. Richard Mell (33rd); and family friend and baby-sitter Betty Bukraba, whom Blagojevich appointed to a paid post on the state Civil Service Commission.