White House internship for son of Blago figure
The son of an Oak Brook man who was a key figure in the probe of Rod Blagojevich’s attempt to sell President Barack Obama’s old Senate seat, was selected for a prestigious internship in the Obama White House.
Raghuveer Nayak’s son, who is a student attending Yale University, will serve as a summer 2013 intern, according to a list released by the White House on Tuesday.
The student, who ran unsuccessfully for alderman in Connecticut, volunteered on Obama’s presidential campaign.
“I knew in my gut that this was a critical campaign, so volunteering for Obama was never a question for me,” the student, Vinay Nayak, said on his personal website.
The White House news release listed Vinay Nayak as one of the 147 summer 2013 interns.
“The mission of the program is to make the White House accessible to future leaders around the nation and to prepare those devoted to public service for future leadership opportunities,” according to the release.
The elder Nayak faces trial this fall in Chicago on charges tied to surgical centers he owns. Raghuveer Nayak came under scrutiny in the investigation into former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. In 2010, the SunTimes reported that Raghuveer Nayak, a major political donor, told the FBI that then U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. asked him to make a $6 million offer for Obama’s vacated Senate seat.