Report: Illinois Pension Probe Focusing on GOP Bigwig
Quoting unnamed sources, the Chicago Tribune reported
that Republican National Committee treasurer Robert
Kjellander is a target of the federal inquiry along with a
number of other political insiders. Kjellander has not been
accused of any wrongdoing and has said he has not been
contacted by federal authorities.
According to the newspaper, Kjellander, Illinois ‘
longtime national Republican committeeman and a friend of
President Bush’s political strategist Karl Rove, got $3.1
million for representing The Carlyle Group,
a Washington-based investment advisor focusing on
private equities.
Kjellander’s Springfield Consulting Group is set to receive
another $1.4 million for business The Carlyle Group has
done with the pension board, which would push his income to
$4.5 million since 2002, according to The Carlyle Group,
the Tribune reported.
More than a month ago, investigators demanded the records
of Kjellander, Springfield Consulting and The Carlyle
Group. The information and document demand included
documents of transactions involving about half a dozen
investment firms and consultants who represented potential
pension board service providers, the newspaper said.
Last week, federal prosecutors charged former pension
board member Stuart Levine with extorting money from
investment firms that were seeking board business
(See
IL TRS Trustee Charged
in Kickback Scheme
). Some of the records sought by investigators involved
firms that figured in the Levine matter, now charged in
multiple corruption cases, and Chicago attorneys Joe Cari,
a former finance chairman for the Democratic National
Committee, and Steven Loren, a former outside counsel for
the teacher fund.
The Teachers’ Retirement System committed $500 million to
Carlyle in six investment deals with Kjellander serving as
the firm’s lobbyist, the newspaper reported.