William Cellini: 'King of Clout,' a felon, used ties to governors to cash in
For more than 40 years, William Cellini made a successful career off of state government. So much so that he was once dubbed the 'King of Clout' by the Chicago Sun-Times.
A close confidante of former Gov. Jim Edgar and later a felonious fundraiser for ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Cellini had his hands in everything, giving colleagues and me plenty to write about over the years. Cellini once made a successful play for one of the state's first riverboat casino licenses. He leased office buildings to the state, making millions of dollars. Once out of that, he set up a company to manage some of those same buildings, again opening a spigot of lucrative contracts for Cellini. He set up an investment firm that later made vast windfalls off of state pension funds and, before that, led the trade association of road builders that made a fortune off of the state. He even wound up alongside Abraham Lincoln in an oil painting specially crafted for and on display at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, which wife Julie helped develop. But the state deal that perhaps got Cellini the most attention, most of it unwelcome, was for the hotel he helped build in downtown Springfield in 1982 with a $15.5 million state-backed loan. Cellini's investment consortium defaulted on that loan, stiffing state taxpayers for $30 million in unpaid principle and interest. After serving a prison term for his part in a 2004 fund-raising shakedown aimed at helping Blagojevich, Cellini resurfaced in the 2014 governor's race when he gave a glowing endorsement to Gov.-to-be Bruce Rauner. Initially blindsided by Cellini's backing, Rauner's campaign later made clear the candidate wanted nothing to do with Cellini. |
Peering over Lincoln's right shoulder, a likeness of Cellini pores over results of the 1860 presidential election in this painting on display at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum. Despite Cellini's 2011 fraud conviction, the painting still hangs in the facility.
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