CHICAGO, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- Illinois first lady Patti Blagojevich has been fired from a $100,000-a-year job with a charity that helps Chicagoans emerge from poverty, the charity said.
"We exercised the right to terminate her contract," Chicago Christian Industrial League interim Executive Director Mary Shaver told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Shaver told the Chicago Tribune she could not discuss why the board fired Patti Blagojevich because it is a personnel issue.
Blagojevich had a one-year contract to raise money for a financially troubled Chicago shelter that provides transitional housing, training and counseling to the homeless.
The Tribune reported in October that political connections helped her get the job after she left her real estate business amid questions about her commissions from state contractors and political supporters of her husband, impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
The Sun-Times said in each of her first three months on the job, the league brought in $10,000 to $15,000 a month -- the same as it did before she started.
Her firing comes as the Illinois Senate prepares for an impeachment trial Monday that could remove the governor from office.
Authorities arrested Gov. Blagojevich Dec. 9 on federal charges he tried to trade official government actions for campaign contributions -- including trying to sell an appointment to replace President Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate.
"It's pretty clear her ability to raise funds for the league would be hampered by headlines, and news media camping out in front of the league waiting to question her didn't help," a source told the Sun-Times.
