Rod Blagojevich convicted, and Those Fabulous Blago Brothers: The Tampa years
Our favorite indicted, removed-from-office-on-Thursday governor, Illinois’ Rod Blagojevich, is a uniquely Chicago phenomenon. So why does so much of his back story take place in Tampa?
It turns out that Blago’s family, a friend’s campaign money, his publicist and even the former governor himself all — at some point — spent time in the Cigar City. (Blago did a stretch at the University of Tampa in the 1970s. But more about that later.)
Robert Blagojevich, left, at the UT 2008 commencement. (University of Tampa)
The most recent Tampa-factoid in the Blago saga emerged in the past two weeks, as the Illinois Senate prepped for his impeachment trial and new tapes came out detailing various cell phone conversations by the governor and his associates. Blagojevich had quite a cast of characters surrounding him, including one named Betty Loren Maltese, who was once the mayor of Cicero, Ill., and is now in prison. ABC 7 in Chicago reported:
For more than two years, Maltese’ bulging campaign fund had invested millions of dollars through a company headquartered in Tampa, Florida, the firm Invest Financial Corporation. Its CEO at the time was Robert Blagojevich, the governor’s older brother.
