The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Chicago

Barack Obama insists he didn't have any contact with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich or anyone else who might have been scheming to sell the president-elect's U.S. Senate seat. But he has not yet given his transition staff the same clean bill of health - perhaps with good reason.

An examination of the FBI complaint against Blagojevich and the days immediately following Obama's historic election victory suggests the governor was highly interested in Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett as a potential Senate appointee, albeit with a steep price tag. The 76-page complaint contains multiple references to "Senate Candidate 1," whose description clearly fits Jarrett, a former finance chief for Obama's earlier campaigns and incoming senior White House adviser.

In secretly recorded conversations, the Democratic governor said he'd be willing to appoint Jarrett - Obama's supposed favorite to replace him - in return for a high-paying job at a national union organization called Change to Win.

At a news conference Thursday, Obama said his office was assembling any information about possible contacts "between the transition office and the governor's office," and that he intended to release any such detail in the next few days.

"But what I'm absolutely certain about is that our office had no involvement in any dealmaking around my Senate seat," Obama said. "That I'm absolutely certain of."

It remained unclear whether anyone on Obama's team had been in contact with Blagojevich or his associates regarding the Senate seat.

According to the complaint, Blagojevich met Nov. 5 with an official of the Service Employees International Union-Local 1 who is believed to be Tom Balanoff, a longtime Obama supporter who spoke at the Democratic National Convention.

Blagojevich "understood" that the SEIU official was "an emissary to discuss Senate Candidate 1's interest" in the Senate seat. Though just a day after the election, media reports had already identified Jarrett as being interested in the job.

SEIU officials released a statement Thursday saying the organization had been in contact with the U.S. attorney's office and had no reason to believe the union or any union official had been involved in misconduct. The statement said the union, and specifically Balanoff, were "fully cooperating" with the probe.

During a Nov. 5 call, Blagojevich said the Senate appointment was a thing of value, something not given away "for nothing."

Two days later, Blagojevich allegedly suggested he'd be willing to "trade" the Senate seat to Jarrett in exchange for the Health and Human Services secretary's job. He repeated that desire during a separate, three-way call involved Blagojevich, Chief of Staff John Harris and someone identified only as "Advisor B," a Washington-based consultant.

Harris noted that Blagojevich also would consider being appointed to a high-paying position at Change to Win and that Balanoff, who declined numerous requests for an interview with The Associated Press, could guarantee the appointment.

In return, Obama would be expected to help Change to Win with its legislative agenda on a national level, said Harris, according to the criminal complaint.

As the FBI listened in, Harris suggested the three-way deal would give Obama "a buffer so there is no obvious quid pro quo" regarding Jarrett. And "Adviser B" said "they should leverage the President-elect's desire to have Senate Candidate 1 appointed to the Senate seat" in exchange for a big job at Change to Win.

On Nov. 10, Blagojevich, his wife, Harris, the governor's chief counsel William R. Quinlan and several Washington-based advisers conducted an extraordinary two-hour conference call.