In 2008, Rod Blagojevich allegedly set out to shake down a Children's Hospital after getting a phone call from onetime Cubs manager Dusty Baker.
Baker, who supported the hospital, was asking for state assistance.
"Dusty Baker called me. I'm going to do $8 million for them. I want to get (Children's CEO Patrick) Magoon for 50," Blagojevich allegedly said in a meeting with John Wyma, who back in 2008 relayed the conversation to the government.
The revelation comes in a defense court filing that quotes the government's 2008 application for warrants allowing them to secretly record Rod Blagojevich.
"According to (Wyma), as a result of his efforts and the efforts of others associated with
Children's Memorial, including Dusty Baker, Governor Rod
Blagojevich has recently committed $8 million from the state of
Illinois toward this particular issue. It is my belief that the
conversation as related by CS indicates that Governor Rod
Blagojevich expects a quid pro quo of $50,000 from Children's
Memorial in exchange for his commitment of money to
Children's Memorial."
The point of the filing, which came from Robert Blagojevich's attorney, Michael Ettinger, was not to talk about Baker.
One day after the ex-governor said on the "Today" show that secret recordings in the case will vindicate him, his brother is asking that the tapes be thrown out.
In today's filing, Ettinger argues that the government didn't have the proper probable cause to record his client.
He points to numerous portions of conversations where Wyma told the government that Rob Blagojevich only wanted to talk about fund-raising -- which as fund-raising chair for Friends of Blagojevich, wasn't unusual and not probable cause to secretly record him, according to Ettinger.