CHICAGO - President-elect Barack Obama said Thursday he had ordered his staff to divulge any contacts they may have had with corruption-tainted Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

At a news conference, Obama said he was "absolutely certain" that there had been no dealings with Blagojevich on the governor's alleged scheme to sell off the president-elect's recently vacated Senate seat for Illinois.

"I have never spoken to the governor on this subject. I'm confident that no representatives of mine would have any part of any deals related to this seat. I think the materials released by the US attorney reflect that fact," he said.

"I've asked my team to gather the facts of any contacts with the governor's office about this vacancy so we can share them with you over the next few days," Obama added.

Stressing that federal prosecutors had not been in touch with him or his staff, and reiterating his demand for Blagojevich to resign, Obama said "this Senate seat does not belong to any politician to trade."

"It belongs to the people of Illinois and they deserve the best possible representation," he said, indicating his support for a special election to take the Senate appointment out of Blagojevich's tainted hands.

"They also deserve to know that any vacancy will be filled in an appropriate way so that whoever is sent to Washington is going to be fighting for the people of Illinois.

"I hope and expect that the leaders of the legislature will take these steps to ensure that this is so."

Blagojevich, who was briefly detained by prosecutors on Tuesday, denies wrongdoing and has refused to resign over the sordid allegations of kick-backs and chicanery exposed in FBI wire-taps.