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Senate Republican Leader Frank Watson and House Republican Leader Tom Cross have often met with Madigan, his Senate counterpart Emil Jones, and Blagojevich in an attempt to referee disputes.

In August 2008, Blagojevich claimed that House Democrats who held City of Chicago jobs were fearful of voting in favor of his 2008 capital bill because they thought Madigan might be able to get them fired.

Blagojevich told reporters: " They fear their leader, Mr. Madigan, and if Mike Madigan tells them to vote a certain way, they will tell you privately, and I've had these discussions with a couple of state reps, one of whom said, ' I'm afraid if I vote for the jobs bill I'll be fired from my job at Streets and Sanitations.

I'm afraid I'll lose my job.

'" The one state legislator who works at the Streets and Sanitation Department in Chicago is Rich Bradley, who told the Chicago Sun-Times that he hadn't talked to Blagojevich in about two years.

Rep. Gary Hannig told the newspaper that Blagojevich had told House Democrats he was referring to D ' Amico.

When contacted, D ' Amico said that Blagojevich had asked him if he feared losing his job with the city of Chicago's water department, at which point D ' Amico said that he had been in a union for 26 years and could not be fired easily, and instead he opposed the capital bill because Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley opposed it.