Mayor Bloomberg had to wade into the messy world of Illinois pay-for-play politics when it was revealed that he donated money to disgraced former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich's 2006 re-election campaign. According to City Room, Bloomberg told reporters that he and Blago had "similar views on abortion rights, gun control laws and the importation of prescription drugs from Canada," and the mayor explained, "I made lots of campaign donations at that time. His was less than some of the others. There was never any scandal about him in those days and so I supported him." (In other words, when you're as rich as me, who can count all the politicians I donate to?)
YBradley Tusk, a former deputy governor under Blagojevich and the man who helped Bloomberg win his 2009 re-election, mentioned Bloomberg's donation during his testimony at Blagojevich's corruption trial. Per Chicagoist, he said "then-governor Blagojevich held up the grant as a means of pressuring [former Congressman, now White House Chief of Staff] Rahm [Emanuel] into getting his well-known entertainment-agent brother Ari to hold a fundraiser for Blago. Under cross, Tusk admitted he never contacted any law enforcement, about Blago's pressuring of Rahm even though he thought it was 'illegal and unethical.'"
