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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/ILLINOIS_GOVERNOR_ADVISOR_B?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

CHICAGO (AP) — A partner in a prominent, Washington-based political consulting firm is among those secretly recorded discussing ways Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich can cash in on President Barack Obama’s old Senate seat. Frederick S. Yang, a top executive at Peter D. Hart Research Group Associates, is identified by prosecutors in the Blagojevich criminal complaint as “Advisor B,” Michael D. Ettinger, a lawyer representing the governor’s brother, said Thursday. Robert Blagojevich, who has not been charged with a crime, runs his brother’s campaign fund.

The Hart firm has represented dozens of Democratic governors and members of Congress. The revelation that a key executive at the company was captured on FBI wiretaps working with the governor could embroil one of the nation’s most respected and influential polling and consulting groups in the Blagojevich scandal.

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In a Nov. 7 recorded conversation characterized by prosecutors, Yang told Blagojevich he “should leverage the President-elect’s desire to have ‘Senate Candidate 1’ (Jarrett) appointed to the Senate seat in order to get a head position” with a union organization called Change to Win.

Ettinger and other defense lawyers believe they can show Blagojevich’s actions, and those working with him, were not criminal, just part of ordinary horse-trading in politics. Ettinger said prosecutors have many secretly recorded tapes that could shed more light on the Blagojevich’s actions, including as many as 50 taped conversations with his brother.

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Yang also participated in a Nov. 12 call where the formation of nonprofit organization was discussed, with the hope that Blagojevich could hold a high-paying position. Yang suggested the union job would lead to less questions and scrutiny for Obama, the complaint states.

“Advisor B stated that he likes the ... idea, but liked the Change to Win option better because, according to Advisor B, from the President-elect’s perspective, there would be fewer ‘fingerprints’ on the President-elect’s involvement with Change to Win,” the complaint says.

Yang noted that Change to Win already has a revenue stream, meaning Blagojevich “won’t have stories in four years that they bought you off.”

Garin-Hart-Yang represents 12 senators, 18 House members and six governors, while Hart Research conducts public opinion polling for a number of major media organizations, according to the firm’s Web site.

The union organization that figures in the complaint, Change to Win, is a 6 million-member coalition of unions that was started in 2005. Its members include the Service Employees International Union, the Teamsters and the United Farm Workers of America. Tom Balanoff, an official at SEIU’s Local 1 in Chicago, has been identified as the SEIU official mentioned several times in the Blagojevich complaint, including being identified as “an emissary” for the appointment of Jarrett.

SEIU is listed as a client of Peter D. Hart Research, which has conducted surveys for Change to Win, according to a union news release.