Reform law could have helped Blagojevich corruption scheme

TopNews reports:

By coincidence, a good-government reform measure, which President-elect Barack Obama - as Illinois Senator – backed in 2003, has probably helped Gov. Rod Blagojevich in an alleged corruption scheme which involved hospital construction.

The legislation, related to the revamping of the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board, reduced the size of the board, thereby setting new limits on the State governor’s ability to appoint members of his own political party on the panel.

According to the federal criminal complaint filed against the governor, he abused the authority invested in him – he put together a friendly, five-member majority on the shrunken board, and along with his allies, extorted money from companies that sought approval for building medical facilities. An FBI affidavit filed in the case says that the top man involved in this design was Antoin ‘Tony’ Rezko, who is both a friend and a major fund-raiser for both Blagojevich as well as Obama.

As we've said before,you'll be hearing more about the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board.