IRS agent ties down Blago debt

CHICAGO - Rod and Patti Blagojevich were awash in more than $200,000 in consumer debt when the former Illinois governor was arrested. The couple indulged in a lavish, six-year shopping spree on custom-tailored suits and other luxury clothing, a federal agent testified yesterday.

Blagojevich and his wife spent more than $400,000 on clothes, mainly for themselves and not their children, from 2002 through December 2008 when he was arrested, IRS agent Shari Schindler told Blagojevich's federal corruption trial.

"Sometimes they used credit cards to pay for other credit cards," Schindler said.

Prosecutors are plainly suggesting that the staggering mound of debt facing the impeached Illinois governor and his wife could explain his alleged plan to get a Cabinet post or high-paying labor-union or foundation job in exchange for filling the U.S. Senate seat Barack Obama was leaving to become president.

Blagojevich, 53, has pleaded not guilty to scheming to receive a high-paying job or other financial benefit in exchange for the Senate seat. He also has pleaded not guilty to scheming to launch a racketeering operation in the governor's office. If convicted, he could face up to $6 million in fines and a sentence of 415 years in prison, though he is sure to get much less time under federal guidelines.

Blagojevich looked uncomfortable, shifting in his chair and managing a weak smile at times, as Schindler read off payment after payment he made for expensive ties and suits. Jurors followed the credit-card statements projected on a screen, some of them looking down to jot notes. Patti Blagojevich, who entered the courtroom in the morning wearing a fashionable pink outfit, left the room before testimony about the family finances began.

Schindler said the Blagojeviches had eight or nine credit cards and their debt shot up dramatically from $170,000 to more than $200,000 in the year before his arrest when they started to tap a home-equity line of credit.

Blagojevich's taste for expensive clothing has been known. A former chief of staff, Alonzo Monk, testified during the first week of the trial that the governor had frequently visited his tailor and been known to order as many as nine suits at a time.

The bill from the tailor was the second-largest expense facing the Blagojeviches after their mortgage, Schindler testified.

Blagojevich frequently bought custom shirts and ties and in April 2006 spent $1,302.53 on ties in one day, said Schindler, who went through numerous Blagoj-evich tax returns, credit-card statement and other documents in analyzing their finances.