CHICAGO | On a recent trip to Springfield, Gov. Rod Blagojevich wanted to focus attention on a statewide construction program that he said would create jobs, build schools and fix roads and bridges.

But reporters weren't interested. They wanted to talk about the damage to his administration from the ongoing trial of former fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko, where the governor's name keeps coming up.

Blagojevich ended the informal news conference abruptly and left.

Wherever he goes, Blagojevich is barraged by questions that he can't or won't answer about Rezko's trial and allegations of pay-to-play political schemes, stealing attention from the issues he's trying to advance.

Such a distraction further weakens a governor who already was hampered by ongoing feuds with lawmakers, some of whom support a ballot measure -- aimed at Blagojevich -- that would let voters decide on a constitutional amendment to allow the recall of top elected officials.

"I think (the trial) has taken a governor who already was displaying some pretty profound weaknesses and just clipped him at the knees," said Cindi Canary, head of the nonpartisan Illinois Campaign for Political Reform.

Blagojevich repeatedly has said he's not involved in allegations involving Rezko, who is charged with scheming to squeeze kickbacks out of companies that wanted state business and says that's not the way he does business.

The governor -- who has not been charged with wrongdoing -- generally sticks to some version of a stock answer when he's asked about the trial: "It would be inappropriate of me to comment on a trial I'm not a party in."

But he has been a central figure in the trial without ever setting foot in the federal courtroom.

Since it began last month, the trial has produced a string of embarrassing allegations about Blagojevich, a second-term governor elected as a reformer -- and whose predecessor is in prison for corruption.

A star witness testified Blagojevich once told him, "Stick with us and you will do very well for yourself." A national Democratic fundraiser claimed the governor said big-money contracts were there for the taking for people who helped him become president.

And in a separate case, former Illinois Finance Authority chief Ali Ata this week pleaded guilty to lying about how he got his job, claiming that after giving $25,000 in campaign money to Rezko -- in the presence of Blagojevich -- the governor asked Rezko if he had talked to Ata about a job. Prosecutors have said they want to call Ata to testify at Rezko's trial.

At a recent public event, Blagojevich initially ignored questions about whether the Rezko trial was making it harder to do his job. But after repeated questioning, he rattled off a list of things his administration had done, including expanding breast and cervical cancer screening program for women.

"We're going to continue to make that kind of progress," he said.

-- Associated Press Writers John O'Connor and Christopher Wills contributed to this report from Springfield.