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| Home Front: Politix |
| Man Of Conviction |
| 2008-06-06 |
| Campaign '08: Obama's shady real estate partner and benefactor has been found guilty of mail fraud, wire fraud, aiding and abetting bribery, and money-laundering. Obama called a deal he made with him a "boneheaded move." So would be electing Obama president. Tony Rezko was the classic influence-peddler and the patron saint of the old politics that Barack Obama claims he wants to change. The 16 of 24 counts of which Rezko was convicted Wednesday accused him of corrupting two state boards and using his influence in the administration of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to squeeze cash from firms seeking state business. Yet Obama chose to do business with him. Sen. Obama has described Rezko as just a "guy in the neighborhood." But like so many of Obama's associations, they run long and deep and indicate a disturbing lack of judgment. Rezko was a player in the shady world of Cook County politics that the Ivy League and Hawaiian prep-school graduate needed to advance in. Like his association with that bastion of bigotry, Trinity United church, this was another politically expedient move. Obama knew of Rezko's troubles long before the real estate deal and has admitted as much. But Rezko was a mover and shaker in Chicago politics, and Obama wanted to move and shake things. It was the cliche of going along to get along. Rezko was among Obama's earliest supporters. In 1995, when Obama ran for a seat in the Illinois Senate, Rezko, through two of his companies, gave Obama $2,000. Obama won election in 1996 in a district that coincidentally contained 11 of Rezko's 30 low-income housing projects. In 2003, when Obama said he'd run for the U.S. Senate, Rezko held a lavish fundraiser at Rezko's Wilmette, Ill., mansion. In 2005, at a time Rezko was under federal investigation of influence peddling in Blagojevich's administration, Sen. Obama and Rezko's wife, Rita, bought adjacent pieces of property from a Chicago doctor. Rezko helped Obama acquire his $1.65 million home by buying that adjacent lot and then selling the Obamas a strip of the land on which to build a fence. By participating in the joint deal, Rezko helped Obama get the type of big house he recently advised college graduates not to pursue. In a March 15 interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, Obama said: "During the time that I was purchasing the house, there were some noises about Tony having potential problems." Obama added: "For me to enter into a business transaction with him was a bad idea. I've said repeatedly it was a boneheaded move, and a mistake that I regret." One of many, it seems. Some noises? At the time of the house deal, Chicago papers had run no fewer than 100 stories about Rezko's legal troubles. More often than not, the investigations into his activities were Page One news. If you were anyone in Illinois politics, you knew about Tony Rezko. National Review Online's Stephen Spruiell tells of one of the counts against Rezko. It involved funneling the proceeds of an illegal kickback scheme into Obama's 2004 Senate campaign. Obama has since donated the $10,000 to charity, but not the same $10,000. That money helped put him on the road to the White House. In February, Rezko told Chicago magazine "Hell, no" when asked if he would testify against others to save his own neck. Now facing long prison time, he may consider changing his stance. Stay tuned. Another shoe from the Obama centipede may be about to drop. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #1 "Iff you were anyone in Illinois politics, you knew about Tony Rezko" > ARMY + "OUTFIT" + CITY OF MILWAUKEE??? RUN, BAMBI, RUN, BAMBI, RUUUUUNNN - "City of New Orleans...We'll be done 500 miles when the day is done"! |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-06-06 01:29 |