Feds probe gift to governor

Chicago Tribune/David Kidwell and John Chase/September 10 2006/ link

The FBI is investigating allegations by the wife of Gov. Rod Blagojevich's former campaign treasurer that her state job may have come in return for a $1,500 personal check her husband wrote to one of Blagojevich's children.

The inquiry is the first public indication that Blagojevich and his personal finances are under federal scrutiny as part of a sweeping criminal probe of political hiring in his administration...

...Beverly Ascaridis, who has already been identified in an internal state probe as receiving special treatment to get her job, confirmed federal agents interviewed her and her husband in recent weeks about the check. It was dated within two weeks after she began her $45,000-a-year job as a state parks administrator in August 2003, according to Ascaridis and sources familiar with the investigation...