Illinois First Lady Faces Scrutiny

By PAM BELLUCK

Brian Kersey/Associated Press

Patricia Blagojevich, the wife of Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois, is the daughter of a longtime Chicago alderman and the sister of a recently elected state representative.

In the six years since she became first lady of Illinois, Patricia Blagojevich, now 43, has not played a highly public role in her husband’s administration.

“She has kept a very low profile as first lady,” said Paul Green, a political science professor at Roosevelt University. “She literally could walk down Michigan Avenue and if she didn’t have security, 9 out of 10 people would not know who she was.”

So the extent of her involvement in the brash telephone conversations that resulted in charges of corruption against her husband, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich, on Tuesday came as a surprise to many.

In the 76-page federal complaint, Ms. Blagojevich appears to be an influential and demanding partner to her husband’s schemes to trade the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama for money-making or politically aggrandizing opportunities.

The complaint also shows her participating in a phone call in which the governor discusses trading his influence over the Senate seat appointment to earn money and find Ms. Blagojevich seats on paid corporate boards.

And, in a blast of vulgar language, Ms. Blagojevich eggs on her husband when he reportedly threatens to prevent the Tribune Company from selling the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field unless The Chicago Tribune fired editorial writers who had called for the governor’s impeachment. Ms. Blagojevich is quoted in the complaint as saying that the state should “hold up that [expletive] Cubs [expletive] ... [expletive] them.”

Federal officials have declined to discuss the role of Ms. Blagojevich in the case. She has not been charged in the case. But officials have suggested that she and others involved in the taped phone calls would be looked at as part of the continuing investigation.

Ms. Blagojevich has a deep-rooted political pedigree as the daughter of Richard Mell, the longtime Chicago alderman and a leader in Cook County Democratic politics, who is considered to have been instrumental in getting Mr. Blagojevich in politics.

“Rod’s marriage to her is really what begins his political career,” said John P. Pelissero, a political science professor at Loyola University. “It was really through connections with his father-in-law’s influence that he got elected.”

The Web site for the governor’s office says that in addition to raising the couple’s two daughters, Ms. Blagojevich occupies herself with typical first lady issues: raising awareness on children’s health, food allergies and literacy, and starting the State Beautification Initiative, which planted native wildflowers along state roads.

But in recent years, Ms. Blagojevich, who has a bachelor’s degree in economics and a real estate broker’s license, has attracted attention through the dealings of her home-based real estate company. Her clients have included people who were awarded state contracts or made political contributions to the governor.

The Chicago Tribune, in an analysis, reported that her firm, River Realty, had earned more than $700,000 in commissions since her husband began raising money in 2000 for his first run for governor. The Tribune reported that more than three-quarters of those commissions came from “clients with connections,” not including commissions she earned from Antoin Rezko, a developer and fund-raiser for the Blagojevich campaign, who was convicted of fraud and bribery this summer.

According to news reports over the last year, federal law enforcement officials have been investigating Ms. Blagojevich’s real estate dealings. Officials in the federal prosecutor’s office would not comment Tuesday on whether Ms. Blagojevich was under investigation for the real estate dealings or anything else.

In September, she became development director for the Chicago Christian Industrial League, which helps poor and homeless families. A spokeswoman, Jenny Brandhorst, said Ms. Blagojevich has “a good knowledge of, obviously, Chicago and the development community. She’s done a great job since she’s been here.”

Chicago newspapers have reported that tax records show that in 2007, the Blagojevich family’s income dropped 17 percent, to $214,580 in combined wages. (He earns $177,412 as governor.) In the transcript of the charges against the governor, finding avenues for his family to get more money is a constant theme.

If Mr. Blagojevich owes some electoral success to his father-in-law, their relationship frayed over Mr. Blagojevich’s 2005 decision to close a landfill owned by a cousin of Mr. Mell’s wife, saying that it had environmental problems. Mr. Mell accused the governor of carrying out a vendetta against him and his relatives. Mr. Blagojevich said he had the male “virility” to stick with his decision.

Ms. Blagojevich’s sister, Deborah Mell, a gay rights activist, was elected a state representative in Illinois last month. She first indicated that she would run for Representative Rahm Emanuel’s Congressional seat when he becomes Mr. Obama’s chief of staff, but decided against it.

Ms. Mell’s spokeswoman, Leah Cunningham Pouw, said her own impression of Ms. Blagojevich was that “she is extremely dedicated to her kids,” adding: “I’ve seen her laughing and playing with them. She’s funny; she’s light. When you go in their house, there’s pictures of their drawings posted on the stairwell.”

Asked if she was surprised by the words attributed to Ms. Blagojevich in the transcript, Ms. Pouw said, “Well, Rich Mell is sort of known for his colorful language.”

Ms. Blagojevich told Chicago Parent magazine last month that she did not want her daughters, Amy, 12, and Annie, 5, to go into politics.

“It’s a rough-and-tumble life. Politics in Chicago is like a blood sport,” she said, adding that in her husband’s case, “I’m looking forward to the day he’s not in politics.”

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