The head of the state authority involved in talks about the possible sale of Wrigley Field said Wednesday that he and the authority’s executive director have been interviewed by federal agents in the corruption investigation of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
William Brandt, chairman of the Illinois Finance Authority, said he met with federal agents in late January or early February to answer their questions about the Wrigley deal. Brandt said agents also separately interviewed the authority’s John Filan.
“They wanted the story of Wrigley Field from the people who were there,” Brandt said. “They wanted to run that down.”
Filan, a former Blagojevich aide, could not be reached for comment.
Brandt said he told agents during his one-hour to 90-minute interview that he had no idea that Blagojevich allegedly had plotted to withhold state financial support for the Wrigley deal if Tribune Co. refused to fire members of the Chicago Tribune’s editorial board, which had been critical of how he ran the state. Tribune Co. owns the newspaper, Wrigley and the Cubs.
“We were as astonished as anyone,” Brandt said.
The Chicago Tribune has previously reported that Tribune Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Sam Zell was interviewed by federal authorities in January as a potential witness.
Zell has declined the newspaper’s repeated interview requests, citing the ongoing federal investigation. Tribune Co. officials have said no executive or any company representatives did anything improper.
A grand jury indicted the former governor last week on 16 criminal counts, including one count alleging attempted extortion involving the stadium deal.The Finance Authority and Tribune Co. began secret talks in August after an earlier state effort to buy Wrigley fell apart. That failed deal involved the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, the city-state agency that owns and operates U.S. Cellular Field.
Brandt said he set conditions for the proposed deal, code-named Project Elwood in reference to a “Blues Brother” character. He said no taxpayer money would be involved, ticket prices could not be artificially raised to repay bonds, Tribune Co. had to guarantee the bonds and the Cubs had to stay at Wrigley for at least the next 30 years.
Records indicate that the Finance Authority’s negotiations with Tribune Co. continued until the Dec. 9 arrest of Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris.
None of the editorial board members lost their jobs, and top editors with the newspaper said no one from Tribune Co. tried to exert any influence over operations of the board.
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