Ex-Blagojevich aide pleads guilty
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CHICAGO - A former chief of staff to ousted governor Rod Blagojevich pleaded guilty yesterday to taking part in a scheme to sell or trade President Obama’s Senate seat and vowed to testify at the former governor’s corruption trial.
John Harris, 47, admitted in his signed plea agreement that he repeatedly talked with Blagojevich about how the thengovernor could turn his power to name a successor to Obama to his own financial advantage - such as trading it for a high-paying job.
Harris’s defense attorney, Terry Ekl, said that he expects Blagojevich to go to trial on racketeering conspiracy charges, and that his client would take the witness stand to outline what he knows about corruption in the former governor’s administration.
A spokesman for the US attorney’s office, Randall Samborn, had no comment.
Harris pleaded guilty before US District Judge James B. Zagel to a single count of wire fraud for a November 2008 phone conversation about appointing Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett to the seat being vacated by Obama’s election as president.
Jarrett has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
In exchange for his cooperation in the investigation and testimony at Blagojevich’s trial, prosecutors have agreed to recommend a sentence of no more than 35 months in federal prison. But Ekl is free to argue for a lesser term.
