In 2005, Blagojevich's father-in-law, Chicago Alderman Richard Mell, accused the governor's adviser and fundraiser, Christopher Kelly, of trading state jobs and appointments for campaign contributions. That accusation, which Mell later recanted, launched several investigations.
_ Blagojevich's then-chief of staff personally approved people hired for such routine jobs as secretary, auto mechanic and film office intern, even though those jobs are supposed to be sheltered from political influence.
_ Blagojevich's own inspector general found that the governor's patronage chief and a state agency had engaged in a "concerted effort" to subvert hiring laws. At another agency, people were hired before it was determined what jobs they would fill.
_ The Blagojevich administration gave a $522,000 contract to a campaign contributor to clean, among other things, Transportation Department road-salt storage barns. The agency's finance director at the time was the brother-in-law of the company's owner.
_ In 2006, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald asked the state attorney general to back off her investigation and let his office pursue "very serious allegations of endemic hiring fraud" in the Blagojevich administration.
_ Later that year, it was disclosed that Blagojevich's former campaign treasurer gave a $1,500 check to one of the governor's daughters a month before his wife started a $45,000 state job.
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