Polar Bears and Public Spirit

(UPDATE: LA Times notes Obama/Rezko/ Blagojevich connections, see below)
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The ultimate indignity--even polar bears don't want to be associated with corrupt political fixer Stuart Levine:

Stuart Levine has lost his millions, his reputation and, soon, his freedom.

Last week, he also lost the plaque at the Lincoln Park Zoo denoting his family's support of the polar bear exhibit.

But zoo officials insist it's not because of his headline-making, drugs-and-parties testimony as the prosecution's star witness at the federal corruption trial of Antoin "Tony" Rezko. It's because Levine failed to follow through on pledges.

Everyone's jeering at Levine's supposedly drug-clouded memory and his truly disgusting behavior. Rightly so. But decisions were made on those boards on which he served that were otherwise inexplicable. He only had one vote. There are also tapes that back up at least parts of his story.

Perhaps if public shame and scrutiny had been more unrelenting and unforgiving of this kind of individual and this kind of behavior, Illinois wouldn't be in the sorry state that it is.

Levine donated to the Lincoln Park Zoo to buy influence. He didn't donate because he liked polar bears. Well, maybe we'll give him the benefit of the doubt on that.

And as one shrewd local observer has recently noted about the one person Levine implicates most often-- Tony Rezko "no one has ever accused him of being a civic-minded fellow who simply enjoys political fundraising because he delights in good government".

UPDATE: La Times, Top of the Ticket, which they explain don't usually get into this level of detail, but this is apparently important enough. They looked at overlapping donors of Obama and Blagojevich, and come to some judgments:

Another overlapping donor is John Rogers, head of Ariel Capital, a major Chicago-based investment firm. Rogers gave $12,500 to Blagojevich in 2004, the FBI spreadsheet shows. Rogers has also given Obama $25,000, state and FEC records reveal.

Aides to Obama and Rogers said the pair has a friendship that is separate from Rezko. Ariel vice president Matt Yale said Rogers’ inclusion on the FBI spreadsheet was a surprise, adding, “To the best of our knowledge, we have not made any contributions to Governor Blagojevich or any political candidate on behalf of Tony Rezko.” Ariel is not implicated in the criminal case.

As an Illinois state senator, Obama appeared before Illinois pension funds in 2000 and 2001 to urge that they provide more business to black-owned investment houses including, as it happens, Ariel.

Describing his efforts to the Urban League last year, Obama said African-American-owned firms were not getting any business from state pensions. Obama singled out Rogers’ Ariel Capital, calling it a well-respected investment house, but one that received no business.

“We didn't have to implement a formal program,” Obama told the Urban League, taking no credit. “I simply said, ‘Listen to what these folks have to say,’ and in about six months they got about a half billion dollars worth of business simply on their own excellence.”

In 2002, the year after Obama made the pitch, the Illinois Teacher Retirement System reported an 18% increase in assets managed by minority-owned firms. Ariel’s share grew to $442 million by 2005.

In 2006, after the federal investigation became public, the teacher pension board severed its relationship with Ariel, concluding that Ariel’s investment returns were insufficient.