Looks to me like the IL Prison Guards union is taking advantage of the situation. I think most of us have learnt a thing or two about prison guards union shennanigans over the years (not just in CA).
What if this closure and transfer was the one thing Blago did that WASN’T corrupt?
Wouldn’t that be ironic, don’t you think?
It may be tied to a politician near the Thomson Correctional Center, the prison to which Pontiac Correctional Center would move. State Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline, is in the district of the Thomson Correctional Center; there are others, of course.
Another consideration would be some sort of pay-off through Blago’s wife, who's a real estate broker in Illinois (direct deal or broker referral fee). Remember, it was revealed last week that Blago's wife was the broker for Barack and Michelle Obama in the May 2005 house-flip:
For example, this from August 6, 2008:
Mill Creek Highlands is one of Clinton's newest housing communities. Inside one of the new homes, a crew is busy at work. It's a location that could attract incoming prison employees to Iowa.
“I didn't make the decision to build it on the Iowa line,” said Clinton realtor Dan Jefferies. “If they were concerned about it, they should have built it in central Illinois.”