Focus switches to 'Lady Macbeth' of Illinois

Wife of disgraced governor was driving force behind couple's political opportunism military operations'

As the controversy surrounding the disgraced Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich, grew yesterday, attention fell on a woman described as "a modern-day Lady Macbeth": Patricia Blagojevich. Mrs Blagojevich, 43, the profanity-spewing wife of the governor who the Chicago Tribune said "plotted against her husband's perceived enemies and backed his corrupt schemes" has found herself with television crews camped outside her Chicago home.

The President-elect, Barack Obama again demanded that Mr Blagojevich resign over the scandal regarding attempts to sell Mr Obama's vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder.

"I think the public trust has been violated," Mr Obama said. "I do not think that the governor at this point can effectively serve the people of Illinois."

He was "absolutely certain" his team had not played a part in horse-trading with the governor over the Senate seat.

As First Lady of Illinois, Mrs Blagojevich normally occupies herself with issues such as state beautification. She is also a paid fundraiser for charity. But an unflattering portrait which emerged with her husband's arrest depicts her as an influential and demanding wife. FBI agents reportedly recorded her screaming profanities while she and her husband were on a two-hour conference call last month during which she, her husband and his aides discussed selling Mr Obama's seat in exchange for her being placed on corporate boards. It is alleged Mrs Blagojevich said she was qualified for such roles because of her estate-agent background. According to the FBI Mr Blagojevich said he expected her to make at least $150,000 a year to alleviate their "financial stress".

The governor then allegedly discussed a plan to force the Chicago Tribune to fire journalists who had called for his impeachment because of corruption allegations. The now-bankrupt newspaper group owns the Chicago Cubs baseball team and Wrigley Field and was desperate to sell both but needed Mr Blagojevich's co-operation to do so. That was allegedly met with an earthy blast of vulgarity from his wife. The heavily censored federal complaint quotes her as saying that the State of Illinois should: "Hold up that [expletive] Cubs [expletive]... [expletive] them." Mrs Blagojevich is also part of the federal corruption investigation into her husband, which is looking into taped meetings and phone calls in which he allegedly tried to peddle influence – in this case by auctioning off Mr Obama's Senate seat.

As the daughter of Richard Mell, a prominent local official, Mrs Blagojevich was able to trade on his influence to help her husband get elected.

Earlier and continuing corruption investigations have focused on the $700,000 (£466,000) she earned as an estate agent dating from the year 2000, when her husband started raising money for his first run for governor.

A Chicago Tribune investigation revealed that more than three-quarters of that came from "clients with connections". She also earned fees from Antoin "Tony" Rezko, a Chicago developer convicted of fraud.

One deal she worked on was the purchase of the garden plot adjoining Mr Obama's house. When he bought it, he could not afford the side garden and Mr Rezko conveniently purchased it. That enabled Mr Obama to proceed with the purchase of his own home.

Federal prosecutors have stated there is no suggestion Mr Obama or his team was in any way linked to the allegations but the overlapping connections of Chicago's top political families have made for an uncomfortable few days for Mr Obama and his team.

Mrs Blagojevich's recorded profanities have amused but not shocked Chicago's residents. Asked about her vocabulary, a spokeswoman blamed it on Mrs Blagojevich's father, Rich Mell, saying he "is sort of known for his colourful language". Mr Blagojevich denies any wrong doing and his wife has not been accused of any crime.