Column by Mark Kiesling
The man who hosted big-ticket fundraising parties at his Munster home for Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is riding out an indictment storm in the eye of the hurricane where all is calm.
Milan Petrovic, 42, who recently moved from Munster to Burr Ridge, Ill., is a lobbyist with offices in downtown Chicago, Springfield and Washington.
He has also "bundled" cash for U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., U.S. Rep. Danny Davis and U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, all Chicago Democrats, as well as for Democratic presidential contenders Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
But it is his connection with Blagojevich that got Petrovic the dubious distinction of being named during FBI testimony at the trial earlier this year of Blagojevich's second-best bundler, Antoin "Tony" Rezko.
Rezko, who was convicted in June of scheming to extort businesses in return for state contracts, has had his sentencing postponed indefinitely as he moves into a more cooperative mode with federal investigators preparing the case against Blagojevich, whose own corruption indictment was unsealed Dec. 9.
During Rezko's trial, FBI Special Agent William Willenborg testified that Petrovic raised $1,963,485 for Blagojevich, outpacing Rezko, who raised a mere $1,437,350.
Yep, more than half a million bucks more than Rezko, making Petrovic hands-down Blagojevich's top money man.
Blagojevich fundraiser Christopher Kelly, indicted last December on tax fraud charges, has had a change of heart as well, deciding last week that he will plead guilty Jan. 16.
Indicted along with Kelly and Abdelhamid "Al" Chaib was P. Nicholas Hurtgen, a former top aide to ex-Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson. Hurtgen, who was also a former investment banker, allegedly tried to shake down a hospital to force it to hire a politically connected construction firm for its expansion projects.
There's a Hurtgen-Rezko-Petrovic nexus, and it's found in a 2003 ethics complaint filed by a Wisconsin legislator against Gov. Jim Doyle Jr., alleging that Doyle improperly took tickets to a football game in which the Green Bay Packers played the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on Sept. 29, 2003.
The ethics committee found, as documented in a 2006 report, that Doyle had done nothing wrong. As a footnote deep in the document, the committee's legal counsel, Jonathan Becker, noted that before the game Doyle and "members of (his) entourage" went to Gene and Georgetti's steakhouse -- host to many of Chicago's movers and shakers -- for a dinner arranged by Rezko, Hurtgen and Petrovic.
It may call into question his taste in friends, but none of this says that Petrovic has done anything wrong. His wife, Anne, told me that she is certain he has not, but I'd kind of like to hear it from Petrovic himself. He has not returned messages left at his home and office.
I'd also like to ask him how he got CH2M Hill LLC, a worldwide engineering firm based in Denver with three offices in Chicago, as a client of his Advanced Practical Solutions LLC lobbying firm. Advanced Practical Solutions incorporated in 2003, and the next year CH2M Hill was a client.
On Nov. 30, 2006, the Illinois Toll Highway Authority gave CH2M Hill a $2.26 million contract to do a master plan development for the Northwest Tollway, and in 2007, the Chicago Tribune reported the firm got $11 million in tollway contracts.
You've got to wonder why such a massive engineering firm would pick a startup lobbying group, particularly one run by someone who had Petrovic's troubles.
On April 5, 2001, the Petrovics filed for bankruptcy protection, then on May 23, 2001, he voluntarily surrendered his license to practice law in Indiana while under investigation by the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission.
According to the section of the code under which he resigned, he admitted knowing of the investigation and that he "acknowledges the material facts so alleged are true" and because "he ... could not successfully defend himself" if prosecuted.
Those facts remain sealed by the Supreme Court, but Petrovic has never been charged with anything relating to the complaints.
Maybe the answer lies in what happened in the fall of 2001. That year, according to the Web site for his lobbying firm, was when he joined the Blagojevich team as a consultant to the then-congressman who was running for governor.
Petrovic says on his Web site he was "instrumental in providing strategy which helped the candidate win the general election in 2002 to become the first Democratic governor of Illinois in 26 years."
He made it rain money, and his candidate made it to the governor's mansion. At least in theory, as Blagojevich spends most of his time at his home on Chicago's Northwest Side.
Maybe it's because Petrovic could make things happen, which is the difference between a successful lobbyist and one who winds up selling cold pop to tourists from a Washington portable wagon.
CH2M Hill was but one of many top-name clients Petrovic's firm would accumulate as time went on, and the list included well-known Chicago names such as Judge & Dolph, the liquor distributorship owned by the Wirtz Beverage Group.
It's part of the family that also owns the Chicago Blackhawks NHL team and has liquor distributorships in Las Vegas, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
When Judge & Dolph wanted a lawyer to protect Illinois liquor distributorships from unfair competition, it hired former Gov. Jim Thompson, the $620-an-hour Republican powerhouse at Winston & Strawn, one of the world's largest law firms.
When it wanted a lobbyist, it went to Advanced Practical Solutions.
You want a direct line to the governor of Illinois? Go to the lobbying firm owned by his top fundraiser. It's not much of a stretch, and plenty of people and businesses were willing to make it.
The opinions are solely those of the writer. He can be reached at markk@nwitimes.com or (219) 933-4170.
