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"The cash was for Obama. Not for me," Blagojevich told Harris, according to the book.

"Right," Harris replied.

"You understand?" the governor asked.

At one point, in a conversation with his wife Patti, Blagojevich even tossed out the idea of naming Washington to Obama's Senate seat.

"How about I make him the (expletive) senator?" Blagojevich asked his wife, according to the book.

The Tribune began seeking comment from Washington, 60, late last week after learning of Blagojevich's claims. He did not respond to letters the Tribune left at his home or to phone messages.

In 2003, Washington was acting chief operating officer for the city school district.

In 2005, when Blagojevich was governor, he served as the deputy director for property management in the state Central Management Services office, earning $110,000 a year. An audit at the time found that Washington billed the state to be reimbursed for meals he had with officials from a property management company even though the company also billed the state for the meals. He was placed on administrative leave without pay, sources told the Tribune at the time.

The following year, Washington served as campaign manager for then Cook County Board President John Stroger. He later became the county's capital planning director, earning $142,000 a year, according to county payroll records.

In February 2010, he submitted his name to then-Mayor Richard Daley seeking appointment as 29th Ward alderman, a post that became vacant after Alderman Isaac Carothers pleaded guilty in federal court to bribery charges. State Rep. Deborah Graham was selected.

The book says that Washington and Rezko were interviewed by investigators, "but not enough detail was gathered to make much of it." Rezko had spoken of giving money to various politicians in the form of what commonly is called "walking-around money" -- money meant to handle various expenses during a campaign and on Election Day.

Obama, according to previous reports, was interviewed by federal agents as part of their investigation into Blagojevich's attempt to sell the president-elect's Senate seat in exchange for a job. LaBolt said the investigators did not question Obama regarding Blagojevich's claim about the $25,000.

Randall Samborn, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago, declined to say whether authorities investigated Blagojevich's musings. Samborn said the two authors wrote "something they claim is from the investigation that never made it into the public record. We have no comment."

Joan Hyde, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Chicago, also declined to comment.

Rezko, who was convicted in federal court of using his clout with Blagojevich to scheme to extort millions of dollars from firms seeking state business or regulatory approval, complained to his federal trial judge shortly before he went to trial that prosecutors were pressing him to implicate Obama as well as Blagojevich, suggesting authorities were interested in Obama as he was campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Rezko is serving a 10 {-year sentence.

During the transition after Obama's election, the White House said it examined whether Obama and Blagojevich negotiated over the selection of a senator and found no wrongdoing by Obama. Indeed, the review, by general counsel Greg Craig, said it found that Obama had no conversations with Blagojevich or his staff about the Senate post. He was keenly interested in who would succeed him but reportedly took a hands-off approach on the matter.

Blagojevich, convicted of trying to sell Obama's Senate seat as well as perjury, is serving a 14-year sentence in a federal prison.

The book, from Chicago Review Press, is scheduled to be published in September.