drag President Barack Obama into the fray this afternoon, asking union
official Tom Balanoff whether the FBI asked him about campaign money
going to Obama.
Prosecutors objected, as they have so often
during cross-examinations, and U.S. District Judge James Zagel said
Sorosky should only ask in general what the FBI had said to Balanoff.
Sorosky tried the question again, using Zagel’s recommended wording.
“I know that won’t be objected to,” Sorosky said, causing the nearby
Blagojevich to laugh.
But Balanoff didn’t get to give an answer,
and Zagel wouldn’t let the line of questioning go on after a private
sidebar discussion among the lawyers.
Sorosky did get to ask
about Balanoff’s labor group — the Service Employees International
Union — supporting candidates for office. He asked whether the SEIU had
supported “a young state senator” named Barack Obama as well as
Blagojevich in his first run for governor in 2002.
“They cared
about working people?” Sorosky asked. Balanoff said that was essentially
right.
Sorosky had Balanoff go back to an early November 2008
meeting Balanoff had with Blagojevich. In the sit-down, Sorosky asked,
didn’t Blagojevich mention appointing Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan
to the Senate seat soon to be vacated by Obama, a move that would
eliminate her as a rival in the 2010 race for governor?
“That’s
what he said, yes,” Balanoff answered.
So there was a “logical,
political reason for going the Madigan route?” Sorosky asked. Balanoff
said in his view that was true.
Sorosky then walked Balanoff
through his earlier testimony, when he had talked about going to
Blagojevich to promote Valerie Jarrett after Obama called Balanoff and
said Jarrett was his preference.
Balanoff insisted he was acting
more on Jarrett’s behalf and less on Obama’s. At one point, Zagel
chided Sorosky for asking questions that were too argumentative,
suggesting that questions beginning with the word “so” should raise a
red flag.
“So, maybe you can eliminate the so’s,” said Zagel,
adding to his earlier ban on questions that start with "wouldn't you
agree?"
Sorosky challenged Balanoff and asked whether
Blagojevich ever explicitly offered to appoint Jarrett if Obama named
the governor to a cabinet post. “I certainly believed that was what he
was implying,” Balanoff said.
But Sorosky pressed for a yes or no
answer.
“The governor did not say to you, ‘Tom, we’ve been
friends for a long time. We’re all big boys. I’ll appoint Valerie
Jarrett if the president appoints me?’” Sorosky said.
“No,”
answered Balanoff.