The Chicago Sun-Times reports:
Michael Vondra -- construction magnate and asphalt kingpin -- is working on a new business deal with BP, the gasoline behemoth.
And he wanted Gov. Blagojevich to help him out with state environmental regulators.
Vondra and the governor talked about the deal last Oct. 6 in the governor's North Side campaign office -- not knowing federal agents were eavesdropping.
Afterward, Blagojevich decided to hit Vondra up for money -- $100,000 to be raised before the state's new campaign-finance rules kicked in the first of this year.
These allegations are part of the criminal complaint against Blagojevich, but they've drawn little attention because federal authorities concealed Vondra's identity in court records.
But sources close to the case have told the Chicago Sun-Times that the deal involved Vondra, a former chairman of the DuPage Water Commission whose asphalt and construction companies have also gotten millions of dollars in business from the Daley administration.
There's a Mayor Daley connection here:
The Daley administration has given millions of dollars in city contracts to companies owned by Vondra or linked to him, including Reliable Asphalt, a major supplier for the city's road program.
Vondra's wife and sister ran a landscaping company that got certified as a women-owned business to get city work. And business associates of Vondra are listed as owning Benchmark Construction, which has been certified as a minority-owned construction company to win millions of dollars in city contracts, though Vondra has been identified as Benchmark's president on campaign contributions made to Mayor Daley and other city officials.
All of these companies often subcontracted work out to trucking companies that were also part of the city's Hired Truck Program, which the mayor disbanded after the Sun-Times reported that the companies were often paid to do nothing, costing taxpayers $40 million a year.
No word yet from Rahm Emanuel on this one.
