Roll Call scoops everyone with an interesting piece that suggests how Governor Blagojevich may have sounded out Barack Obama about his vacant Senate seat, as well as giving a candidate for identifying ‘Adviser B’:
Blagojevich has relied heavily on political advice from inside-the-Beltway strategists since taking over the statehouse. In particular, political consultant William Knapp of Washington-based Squier Knapp Dunn Communications has worked closely with the Illinois governor. Knapp’s partner, Anita Dunn, was a top adviser to Obama during the presidential campaign. Knapp, who is a member of the governor’s small inner circle of advisers, helped develop the strategy that catapulted Blagojevich to become the first Democrat in 26 years elected Illinois governor. In doing so, Knapp became Blagojevich’s highest-paid Washington consultant. “Friends of Blagojevich,” his gubernatorial campaign committee, spent more than $12 million from January 2002 to December 2006 with Knapp’s firm, according to state campaign finance records. More than $315,000 was for the firm’s political consulting work; most of the rest covered media buys and advertising… Squier Knapp has also returned the favor. The firm contributed $105,113 to Blagojevich during the 2008 election cycle, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics. Knapp, who led the Clinton/Gore presidential campaign’s creative team in 1996, has also worked for the Service Employees International Union, which was named in the government’s criminal charge as one of the organizations Blagojevich was hoping would provide him with lucrative employment after he left Illinois. Squier Knapp received more than $4.6 million from the SEIU for political activities and consulting in 2007, according to Department of Labor records. Knapp did not return calls and e-mails requesting comment for this article.
This is the first report I have seen indicating that one lobbying/public relations firm could be a link between Governor Blagojevich, the SEIU, and the Barack Obama campaign. Did Blagojevich use Bill Knapp to reach out to the Obama campaign — via Knapp’s partner Anita Dunn — to determine whether Obama might offer something of value in return for naming Valerie Jarrett to the Senate? That’s a key question. It would be gratifying if Knapp would answer, but it’s possible that he’s too busy discussing it with law enforcement. Furthermore, isn’t this the sort of obvious link you would expect to be reported by any one of 100 mainstream media publications which are instead screaming to assert that there’s no link between Barack Obama and Rod Blagojevich. You might even have expected the Washington Post or New York Times to report the fact and get praise from all parties. Instead, none of these august institutions is curious enough to flood the zone.
