RAMSDELL: This area is prime real estate. And this area did not need a $52 million infusion from the City hall to a private developer to build something that thousands and thousands of residents oppose. Ramsdell says the group’s members want construction halted until the case has been resolved. Ultimately, they want the TIF district revoked and Wilson Yard put on the open real estate market. A spokesperson for Chicago’s law department says her office hasn’t seen the lawsuit yet.

For the past three years, Oneida County has been in federal court seeking to collect the real estate taxes owed by the Oneida Indian Nation, but we have been prevented from doing so by federal court injunction. That injunction is presently on appeal. We are closely following the efforts of Seneca and Cayuga Counties to address the issue of unpaid cigarette taxes on cigarette sales by the Cayuga Indians.

In my role as Oneida County Executive, I have urged and continue to urge the State of New York to collect taxes on Indian sales of cigarettes to non-Indians to the extent permitted by law. It is time for the State to step in and collect these taxes. It is the State’s responsibility to enforce its tax laws and the citizens of Oneida County expect the State to do the responsible thing.

Patti Blagojevich earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in real estate commissions, but that cash cow went to the slaughterhouse when their good friend, developer Tony Rezko, from whom Patti won business, got indicted. She now works as a fundraiser for a charitable organization.

So what is this financial pressure? Blagojevich’s legal bills are paid from his campaign fund.

But what about Patti Blagojevich’s legal bills? Does she have her own attorney?

Let me throw another idea into the mix. Blagojevich’s best friend, Christopher Kelly, was indicted last year for a series of financial crimes. He is accused of under-reporting his income to the Internal Revenue Service and hiding gambling debts on his business ledger. Rezko, meanwhile, was accused in Nevada of writing $400,000 in bad checks at Las Vegas casinos.