He angrily accused his son-in-law, the governor, of ripping apart their family, being so politically manipulative that he would "throw anyone under the bus," and granting plum appointments in exchange for $50,000 campaign contributions.

The surprisingly harsh words come from Blagojevich's longtime political patron, who helped shape virtually every facet of the governor's political career but later became a liability amid concerns the powerful 33rd Ward boss would dictate policy from the Executive Mansion.

Mell said he rarely talks anymore with her, and the Blagojeviches won't return his phone calls -- isolation Mell compares to "putting a stake through my heart."

"She's got blinders on. Patti will wake up one day," Mell said, hinting that she cannot see Blagojevich's penchant for doing anything for his own political gain, even at the expense of family and friends.

"He uses people, and he used me. He uses everybody, and when there's no more use, he discards them," Mell said. "When he was running, we talked five or six times a day. After he became governor, we never talked. He wanted everyone to believe he got there on his own."

Comparing himself to a spurned spouse replaced by a trophy wife, Mell said he has been displaced within Blagojevich's political circle by fund-raising chief Christopher Kelly, who Mell said "trades appointments to commissions for checks for $50,000" to the governor's political fund. Both Kelly and a Blagojevich spokesman denied that claim.

"It's like the case of the individual who marries his childhood sweetheart [who] ... helped him get through law school or med school or become an actor," Mell said.

"Fast-forward 20 years; now he's at the top of his profession. He's a famous doctor. He's the president of the bar association. He gets nominated for an Academy Award. He and the wife now come home from the event, and he says, 'What a great man I am.' And she says, 'Wait a second, I remember you when you were crying that we needed more money or you were crying that you thought you'd fail one of the tests.' He, with his gigantic ego, cannot stand that anymore, so he jettisons that wife and gets a new trophy wife. I am the old wife. The new wife is Chris Kelly."

Kelly, who was an unpaid gambling adviser to Blagojevich and whose sister landed a $91,000-a-year state job under Blagojevich, declined a request to be interviewed Friday but issued a statement denying he ever linked plum appointments with campaign donations.

Mell further criticized Blagojevich for failing to hire defeated former Ald. Vilma Colom (35th), another Mell protege, while hiring another former alderman, Ray Frias, on the recommendation of lobbyist Al Ronan, whose firm was convicted of federal corruption charges. Blagojevich aides denied that Ronan had any input in Frias' 2003 hiring for an $80,000-a-year job with the Illinois Department of Transportation.

"My wife begged me not to support him for governor. She said you know how he is, and I did it anyway. I remember when there was a problem in his congressional campaign. I told Patti maybe we should just shut this campaign down now. But she said, 'Oh no, dad, we've come so far. No dad, we can't do that.' Her mother said shut it down, and I told her my daughter will hate me. Do you think he'd ever have had a chance without me?" Mell said.

The depth of their animosity even sunk to a seemingly trivial dispute over placing Blagojevich's name on 33rd Ward stationery after he was elected governor.

"Instead of calling me and saying why are you doing this, he [Blagojevich] had Chris Kelly call me and say, 'The governor is real mad at this.' And I said, 'Mad at what? A goofy name on a letterhead? This is the most bizarre thing I ever heard,' " Mell recalled.

Mell's decision to go public with his numerous grievances against his son-in-law was big news at the Statehouse. At first, some thought this was part of a Blagojevich- choreographed effort to assert his independence from Mell. But after hearing the intensity of Mell's remarks, they were stunned.