OBAMA'S EARLIEST AND BIGGEST FINANCIAL BACKER IS CONVICTED OF 16 COUNTS

WASH POST:

Rezko Convicted of Influence Peddling

Antoin "Tony" Rezko, center, returns to the federal courthouse with his two sons for the reading of the jury's verdict in his corruption trial in Chicago, June 4, 2008. (Associated Press)

Updated 5:23 p.m.
By Peter Slevin
CHICAGO -- A federal jury today convicted political fundraiser Antoin Rezko, a longtime backer of Sen. Barack Obama, of influence peddling in the high councils of Illinois state government.

The verdict comes after weeks of vivid insider accounts about attempts to sell political favors in the administration of Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich (D).

The jury concluded that Rezko was part of a corrupt money-making scheme and found Rezko guilty of 16 of 24 felony counts, including fraud, money laundering and joining a bribery conspiracy.

NYTIMES:

Antoin Rezko, a once-powerful fund-raiser who helped propel the career of Senator Barack Obama, was found guilty on Wednesday by a federal jury of 16 counts, including fraud, money laundering and bribery in an influence-peddling scheme that touched the highest levels of the administration of Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois.

OBAMA IS SLIME JUST LIKE REZKO.

VOTE ACCORDINGLY.

(MORE HERE. COMPLETE ROUND UP HERE.)

BOTTOM-LINE: IF THE DEMS GO FORWARD WITH OBAMA AS THEIR STANDARD BEARER THEY WILL GO DOWN TO ONE OF THE BIGGEST ELECTORAL DEFEATS OF ALL TIME.

NOTE: REZKO AND OBAMA GO WAY BACK AND ARE VERY CLOSE; CHICAGO SUN TIMES - 1/24/08:

Here are eight things to know:

1. They met in 1990. Obama was a student at Harvard Law School and got an unsolicited job offer from Rezko, then a low-income housing developer in Chicago. Obama turned it down.

2. Obama took a job in 1993 with a small Chicago law firm, Davis Miner Barnhill, that represents developers -- primarily not-for-profit groups -- building low-income housing with government funds.

3. One of the firm's not-for-profit clients -- the Woodlawn Preservation and Investment Corp., co-founded by Obama's then-boss Allison Davis -- was partners with Rezko's company in a 1995 deal to convert an abandoned nursing home at 61st and Drexel into low-income apartments. Altogether, Obama spent 32 hours on the project, according to the firm. Only five hours of that came after Rezko and WPIC became partners, the firm says. The rest of the future senator's time was helping WPIC strike the deal with Rezko. Rezko's company, Rezmar Corp., also partnered with the firm's clients in four later deals -- none of which involved Obama, according to the firm. In each deal, Rezmar "made the decisions for the joint venture," says William Miceli, an attorney with the firm.

4. In 1995, Obama began campaigning for a seat in the Illinois Senate. Among his earliest supporters: Rezko. Two Rezko companies donated a total of $2,000. Obama was elected in 1996 -- representing a district that included 11 of Rezko's 30 low-income housing projects.

5. Rezko's low-income housing empire began crumbling in 2001, when his company stopped making mortgage payments on the old nursing home that had been converted into apartments. The state foreclosed on the building -- which was in Obama's Illinois Senate district.

6. In 2003, Obama announced he was running for the U.S. Senate, and Rezko -- a member of his campaign finance committee -- held a lavish fund-raiser June 27, 2003, at his Wilmette mansion.

7. A few months after Obama became a U.S. senator, he and Rezko's wife, Rita, bought adjacent pieces of property from a doctor in Chicago's Kenwood neighborhood -- a deal that has dogged Obama the last two years. The doctor sold the mansion to Obama for $1.65 million -- $300,000 below the asking price. Rezko's wife paid full price -- $625,000 -- for the adjacent vacant lot. The deals closed in June 2005. Six months later, Obama paid Rezko's wife $104,500 for a strip of her land, so he could have a bigger yard. At the time, it had been widely reported that Tony Rezko was under federal investigation. Questioned later about the timing of the Rezko deal, Obama called it "boneheaded" because people might think the Rezkos had done him a favor.

8. Eight months later -- in October 2006 -- Rezko was indicted on charges he solicited kickbacks from companies seeking state pension business under his friend Gov. Blagojevich. Federal prosecutors maintain that $10,000 from the alleged kickback scheme was donated to Obama's run for the U.S. Senate. Obama has given the money to charity.

REZKO AND OBAMA ARE CORRUPT AS THEY COME... FROM CHICAGO - AND THAT'S SAYING A LOT!

WOW: NYTIMES COVERS OBAMAGATE!

NYTIMES:

As Mr. Obama built a career that carried him to the Senate in 2004, Mr. Rezko was there with him, holding fund-raisers and rallying support.

Now, as Mr. Obama runs for president, the once-beneficial relationship with his old friend and patron has become problematic.

Last fall, Mr. Rezko was indicted on federal charges of business fraud and influence peddling involving the administration of Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois, whose picture was also on Mr. Rezko’s wall. Since then, Mr. Obama, a Democrat, has had to answer questions about a land deal with Mr. Rezko’s wife, Rita, and about other ties to him.

Since early June, Mr. Obama has given to charity more than $21,000 in donations that his Senate campaign had received from Rezko associates now linked to the federal inquiries. He gave away $11,500 from Mr. Rezko himself last fall.

Mr. Obama says he never did any favors for Mr. Rezko, who raised about $150,000 for his campaigns over the years and was once one of the most powerful men in Illinois. There is no sign that Mr. Obama, who declined to be interviewed for this article, did anything improper.

... Mr. Obama turned to Mr. Rezko for help at several important junctures. Records show that when Mr. Obama needed cash in the waning days of his losing 2000 Congressional campaign, Mr. Rezko rounded up thousands of dollars from business contacts. In 2003, Mr. Rezko helped Mr. Obama expand his fund-raising for the Senate primary by being host of a dinner at his Mediterranean-style home for 150 people, including some whose names have since come up in the influence scandal.

And when Mr. Obama and his wife, Michelle, bought a house in 2005, Mr. Rezko helped smooth the transaction. Even though his finances were deteriorating, Mr. Rezko arranged for his wife to buy an adjacent lot, and she later sold the Obamas a 10-foot-wide strip of land that expanded their yard.

The land sale occurred after it had been reported that Mr. Rezko was under federal investigation. That awkward fact prompted Mr. Obama, who has cast himself as largely free from the normal influences of politics, to express regret over what he called his own bad judgment. ...

In addition to enlisting his huge circle of donors, Mr. Rezko and Mr. Obama talked frequently about campaign developments during the Senate race, Mr. Rezko’s associates said. ... Several other Rezko associates who contributed to the Senate campaign were appointed to the state boards that Mr. Rezko is accused of influencing. Mr. Obama has not returned those donations ...

After The Chicago Tribune reported the transactions last November, Mr. Obama said he had acted ethically, though it had been a mistake to let Mr. Rezko do anything that could be seen as a favor.

The disclosure came four days before Michelle Obama was to appear as a special guest at a charity fashion show organized by Mrs. Rezko. Mrs. Obama attended, though others there said it seemed a bit awkward.

OBAMA IS SCUM. MORE PROOF HERE. And HERE and HERE.

Barack's "Special Interests" (and Fitz) may Swallow him whole

You might remember the name Patrick Fitzgerald as the man who prosecuted Scooter Libby, and also successfully prosecuted the "Blind Sheik" in the first World Trade Center bombing, but I'll bet many of you aren't aware that Fitz is also the prosecutor in the case against one Tony Rezko, whose wife appears to have been a big player in purchasing the $625,000 lot for His Holiness Barack Obama's mansion.

You also might not know that the Court in the Rezko case has ruled that Fitzgerald may make public records in the case which may implicate Barack Obama in the scheme:

Experiences (he's had a few): The Chicago Tribune reports that "Obama's name likely to come up at Rezko trial" (prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald):

The name of Democratic presidential front-runner Barack Obama is likely to brush up against the impending federal corruption trial of Antoin "Tony" Rezko as the result of a judge's ruling Monday.

U.S. District Court Judge Amy St. Eve, who is presiding over Rezko's trial, told prosecutors they could introduce evidence to support allegations that Rezko used straw men to make political contributions on his behalf.

Prosecutors have alleged that the money came from fees Rezko illegally siphoned from a state pension board. [Someone I know is researching the "coincidence" that during the three-plus months that Illinois State Sen. Barack Obama was appointed to the senate's pension committee -- just three months -- the senate prevented the consolidation of state pensions, which would have adversely affected Rezko's pensions schemes, that bilked millions from the state pensions. The bald facts are there, but my friend is still digging for details. - SusanUnPC]

There are new developments regarding the Obamas' home purchase ...

It was a sweetheart of a deal, that directly involved Tony Rezko, who was already under intense federal investigation, and Rezko's wife. As you'll see below, several newspapers are reporting Tony Rezko tried to get a state appointment for the real estate agent who did the home sale/purchase, and that an Iraqi/British billionaire involved with Rezko "lent millions of dollars to Barack Obama's fundraiser just weeks before an imprudent land deal that has returned to haunt the presidential contender." (By the way, City Nell's original article on February 4 here at NoQuarter -- "How to Buy a Mansion You Can't Afford" -- broke new ground on the story, and has been quoted widely across the 'net.)

"Obama as a State Senator: Does He 'Deserve a Promotion?'," the companion article to last night's ABC Nightline provides some background.

Big Media is staying as far away from this as it possibly can--although as mentioned above, Nightline did touch on it last night. But it may not be possible for even the elites to steer clear for much longer: the Democrats are about to nominate a Presidential nominee that is may be every bit as corrupt and sleazy as the Clintons--only this time there may be real proof. Don't be surprised to see the presumptive nominee in the Grand Jury box soon. And one need only look at the zeal with which Fitzgerald went after Scooter Libby--with the goal of getting at Cheney or Rove--to understand that Fitz is unlikely to merely look the other way for the new "Messiah". Here is more from the Times of London:

A British-Iraqi billionaire lent millions of dollars to Barack Obama's fundraiser just weeks before an imprudent land deal that has returned to haunt the presidential contender, an investigation by The Times discloses.

The money transfer raises the question of whether funds from Nadhmi Auchi, one of Britain’s wealthiest men, helped Mr Obama buy his mock Georgian mansion in Chicago.

A company related to Mr Auchi, who has a conviction for corruption in France, registered the loan to Mr Obama's bagman Antoin "Tony" Rezko on May 23 2005. Mr Auchi says the loan, through the Panamanian company Fintrade Services SA, was for $3.5 million.

Three weeks later, Mr Obama bought a house on the city's South Side while Mr Rezko's wife bought the garden plot next door from the same seller on the same day, June 15.

Mr Obama says he never used Mrs Rezko's still-empty lot, which could only be accessed through his property. But he admits he paid his gardener to mow the lawn.

Mrs Rezko, whose husband was widely known to be under investigation at the time, went on to sell a 10-foot strip of her property to Mr Obama seven months later so he could enjoy a bigger garden.

Mr Obama now admits his involvement in this land deal was a “boneheaded mistake”.

Mrs Rezko’s purchase and sale of the land to Mr Obama raises many unanswered questions.

It is unclear how Mrs Rezko could have afforded the downpayment of $125,000 and a $500,000 mortgage for the original $625,000 purchase of the garden plot at 5050 South Greenwood Ave.

In a sworn statement a year later, Mrs Rezko said she got by on a salary of $37,000 and had $35,000 assets. Mr Rezko told a court he had "no income, negative cash flow, no liquid assets, no unencumbered assets [and] is significantly in arrears on many of his obligations."

Mrs Rezko, whose husband goes on trial on unrelated corruption charges in Chicago on March 3, refused to answer questions about the case when she spoke by telephone to The Times.

Asked if she used money from her husband to buy the land next to Mr Obama's house, she said: "I can't answer these questions, I'm sorry."

Asked how long she and her husband had known Mr Auchi, she replied: "I will not be able to answer this question."

Mr Auchi's lawyer, asked whether the Fintrade Services loan was used to buy the land which became Mr Obama's garden, stated: "No, not as far as my client is aware."

McCain would be smart to use this for every drop of mileage he can get from this. (I'll believe that when I see it...) But I also wouldn't put it past the Clintons to sabotage Obama this year so she can take another shot at it in 4 years at a middle of the road McCain. Call me cynical, but I see that as at least as likely--if not more so--than Hillary's cooing sweet nothings into Obama's year for the entirety of the fall campaign.

If Hillary does not win the nomination this year--and unless she abandons her life's dream after getting so close to realizing it (unlikely...)--it is Hillary who would benefit the most from an Obama loss. I don't see him naming her VP--not with Michelle around. So her best chance is for Obama to lose. And I don't even want to hear it that she cares more about her party and country than her own ambitons. That dog is just not going to hunt around here.

The halo may disappear from "His Holiness" very soon now, and it could be a really target rich environment (figuratively speaking) this fall.

Works for me.

RELIAPUNDIT ADDS:

HERE'S CNN'S OBAMA-REZKO STORY, (ORIGINALLY AIRED JANUARY). I FOUND IT AT A HILLARY SUPPORTER'S YOUTUBE PAGE. THE FIRST HALF IS THE CNN REPORT. THE SECOND AN INFOMERCIAL FOR HILLARY'S SOCIALISTIC POLICIES.

WATCH IT. IT'S A GOOD REFRESHER. AND DEFINITELY STAY TUNED: REZKO'S TRIAL STARTS NEXT WEEK...

• REZKO IS A SLUMLORD CROOK IN DEEP WITH THE CHICAGO AND ILLINOIS DEMOCRAT PARTY MACHINE.

• WHICH MADE OBAMA, AND OWNS HIS ASS.

MORE HERE.

KENNEDY, OBAMA AND REZKO - OR: THE SLIMY AND CORRUPT DEMOCRAT MACHINE OF THE SOUTHSIDE OF CHICAGO RIDES AGAIN!

• THIS IS A LONG AND IMPORTANT LINK-FILLED POST WHICH EXPLORES THE PERENNIALLY CORRUPT CHICAGO DEALINGS OF OBAMA AND THE KENNEDY'S.
  

• RTWT.

• IT'S ESPECIALLY ENLIGHTENING GIVEN THE FACT THAT TEDDY AND VIRTUALLY ALL OF HIS CORRUPT CHAVEZ-EMBRACING CLAN HAS JUST ENDORSED OBAMA.

• IT EXPLAINS A LOT OF THE REASONS BEHIND THE ENDORSEMENT: DECADES OF CORRUPT CHICAGO MACHINE POLITICS - A MACHINE OF WHICH OBAMA IS JUST THE MOST RECENT "BENEFICIARY".

*************

The corruption of Chicago is ancient and legendary. AL CAPONE. RICHARD DALEY. Just two gigantic names that conjure up Chicago's storied and slimy past in organized crime and politics.

In 1960, Mayor Daley (a native of the southside who ran the city - and Cook County - like his private fiefdom and bequeathed it to his son, Richard junior - STOLE the election for JFK - as in KENNEDY. WIKI says it in a kinder and gentler way:

Democratic machine politics

Known for shrewd party politics, Daley was the prototypical "machine" politician, and his Chicago Democratic Machine, based on control of thousands of patronage positions, was instrumental in bringing a narrow 8,000 vote victory in Illinois for John F. Kennedy in 1960.

SLATE put it this way:

"The GOP's failure to prove fraud doesn't mean, of course, that the election was clean.

That question remains unsolved and unsolvable.

But what's typically left out of the legend is that multiple election boards saw no reason to overturn the results. Neither did state or federal judges. Neither did an Illinois special prosecutor in 1961. And neither have academic inquiries into the Illinois case (both a 1961 study by three University of Chicago professors and more recent research by political scientist Edmund Kallina concluded that whatever fraud existed wasn't substantial enough to alter the election).

On the other hand, some fraud clearly occurred in Cook County. At least three people were sent to jail for election-related crimes, and 677 others were indicted before being acquitted by Judge John M. Karns, a Daley crony.

That's a HUGE number of indictments to be thrown out by a croney - why it's nearly CLINTONIAN! The Encyclopedia Britanica puts it this way:

"Kennedy won the general election, narrowly defeating the Republican candidate, Vice President Richard M. Nixon, by a margin of less than 120,000 out of some 70,000,000 votes cast.

Many observers, then and since, believed vote fraud contributed to Kennedy's victory, especially in the critical state of Illinois, where Joe Kennedy enlisted the help of the ever-powerful Richard J. Daley, mayor of Chicago."

The southside was Richard Daley's birthplace and a key base. HERE'S MORE ABOUT THIS NEIGHBORGOOD (WIKI):

The South Side is a major part of the City of Chicago, which is located in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Much of it has evolved from the incorporation of independent townships, such as Hyde Park Township, that have been annexed by the city. Regions of the city, referred to as sides, are divided by the Chicago River and its branches.[1][2] The South Side of Chicago was originally defined as all of the city south of the Chicago River,[3][4] but it now excludes the Loop.[2] The South Side has a varied ethnic composition, and it has great disparity in income and other demographic measures.[5] The South Side covers 60% of the city's land area, with a higher ratio of single-family homes and larger sections zoned for industry than the rest of the city.[6][7]

Although it has endured a reputation as being poor and crime-infested, the reality is more varied, and it ranges from impoverished to working class to affluent.[8][9] Neighborhoods such as Armour Square, Back of the Yards, Bridgeport, Little Village and Pullman tend to be composed of more blue collar residents, while the Jackson Park Highlands District, Hyde Park, Mount Greenwood, Morgan Park and Beverly tend to have middle and upper class residents.[10]

Daley was also THE BOSS of Cook County - part of the ancient and corrupt local Democrat Party Machine. WIKI again:

The Cook County Democratic Organization was and is one of the most powerful political machines in American history. Commonly called the "Chicago machine", the organization dominated Chicago politics from the 1930s through the 1970s. It relied on a tight organizational structure of ward bosses and precinct captains to maintain discipline, as well as patronage and graft to reward supporters.

Before the 1930s, the Democratic Party in Chicago was divided along ethnic lines - the Irish, Polish, Italian, and other groups each controlled politics in their neighborhoods. Under the leadership of Anton Cermak, the party consolidated its ethnic bases into one large organization. With the organization behind, Cermak was able to win election as mayor of Chicago in 1931, an office he held until his assassination in 1933.

After Cermak's death, Patrick A. Nash and Edward J. Kelly took control of the machine. They were able to add African-Americans to the organization's fold, as they had been previously loyal to Republicans since the Civil War. Due to scandals and liberal policies on housing, Kelly lost favor with the machine.

Jacob Arvey assumed the chair of the organization after Nash's death in 1943 and Kelly's ouster in 1947. Arvey wanted to clean up the image of the machine, so he put reformers on the slate, such as Martin H. Kennelly for mayor, Paul Douglas for United States Senate, and Adlai Stevenson for governor of Illinois.

Worried about the power of the reform movement, the organization turned to Richard J. Daley, who brought the Cook County Democratic Organization to the height of its power and notoriety. Daley took the reins of the machine in 1955, and successfully put himself on the machine's slate for mayor. He won election fairly easily, and ruled the city and machine for the next twenty years.

The most famous example of the Chicago machine in action was in the 1960 presidential election.

Daley believed John F. Kennedy would be a tremendous help to Democratic candidates on the ticket, and so he used all the machine's power to turn out the vote for Kennedy.

Kennedy won Illinois by only 9,000 votes, yet won Cook County by 450,000 votes, with some Chicago precincts going to Kennedy by over 10 to 1 margins.

Illinois' 27 electoral votes helped give Kennedy the majority he needed.

Under the regular machine was an African-American "sub-machine" led by William L. Dawson.

In the predominantly African-American wards, Dawson was able to act as his own political boss, handing out patronage and punishing rivals just as Daley could in the larger machine.

However, Dawson's machine had to continually support the regular machine in order to retain its own clout. ...

... In recent years, investigations, indictments, and criminal convictions for hiring fraud and graft, including the federal conviction of the current Mayor Daley's patronage chief, have left little doubt that the machine, if it ever died, was reincarnated since its apparent collapse in the early 1980s

WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH OBAMA!?!?

SIMPLE:

THIS MACHINE MADE OBAMA WHO HE IS AND OWNS HIS ASS
THIS MACHINE MADE OBAMA WHO HE IS AND OWNS HIS ASS
THIS MACHINE MADE OBAMA WHO HE IS AND OWNS HIS ASS.
THIS MACHINE MADE OBAMA WHO HE IS AND OWNS HIS ASS. SALON:

When Barack Obama was 22 years old, just out of Columbia University, he took a $10,000-a-year job as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago.

It was a shrewd move for a young black man with an interest in politics.

Had he stayed in New York, "you would never have heard of him," says Lou Ransom, the Defender's current executive editor.

"He may have been a very good lawyer and maybe got elected to some office, but if he hadn't come to Chicago, he would not have had the kind of support to push him where he is now."

BY KIND OF SUPPORT HE MEANS THE MACHINE - OF WHICH TED KENNEDY (WHOSE FAMILY OWNED THE HUGE CHICAGO MART FROM 1945 TO 1988, AND WHO IS STILL TIED TO THE DALEY MACHINE) AND ANTOIN REZKO ARE BIG AND LONGTIME PLAYERS.

REZKO IS A KEY FIGURE IN THE EARLY AND SUSTAINED RISE OF OBAMA WITHIN THE CORRUPT CHICAGO MACHINE; CHICAGO TRIBUNE:

For years after Rezko befriended Obama in the early 1990s, he helped bankroll the politician's campaigns.

Then, after Obama's election to the U.S. Senate, Rezko engaged him in private financial deals to improve their adjoining South Side properties.

Those arrangements became a source of lingering controversy after the Tribune first reported them in November 2006.

... Both men declined to comment on their once-close friendship.

... On Capitol Hill, Obama once gave a summer internship to the son of a Rezko business associate on Rezko's recommendation. Earlier, as a state senator, Obama was one of several South Side political and community leaders who wrote state and city officials urging approval of public funding for a senior housing project involving Rezko.

...Obama was a community organizer in the Roseland neighborhood before leaving for Harvard Law School, and on the South Side he saw firsthand a critical need for affordable housing.

In 1991, after Obama became the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, Rezko offered him a job. While Obama declined, the two began a friendship that deepened as Obama launched his political career and Rezko became a key fundraiser.

The two men and their wives used to socialize, meeting for dinner, Obama has said.

After earning his degree, Obama returned to Chicago, ran a voter registration drive, began work on an autobiography and in 1993 went to work in a small but influential law firm now known as Miner, Barnhill & Galland.

The firm had long served non-profits engaged in affordable housing, and several initiatives involved Rezko's Rezmar Corp., according to a mid-1990s document from the firm that Obama attached to his state ethics reports.

In addition, one of the law firm's founding partners, Allison Davis, developed personal financial ties to Rezko. Davis later left the firm to become a for-profit developer, sometimes in deals with Rezko. Davis did not respond to interview requests.

Hillary is NOT exaggerating when she says longtime Obama FRIEND and BENEFACTOR is a crooked SLUMLORD; CHICAGO SUN-TIMES - (use this link and rtwt!!!):

For more than five weeks during the brutal winter of 1997, tenants shivered without heat in a government-subsidized apartment building on Chicago's South Side.

It was just four years after the landlords -- Antoin "Tony'' Rezko and his partner Daniel Mahru -- had rehabbed the 31-unit building in Englewood with a loan from Chicago taxpayers.

It was just four years after the landlords -- Antoin "Tony'' Rezko and his partner Daniel Mahru -- had rehabbed the 31-unit building in Englewood with a loan from Chicago taxpayers.

Rezko and Mahru couldn't find money to get the heat back on.

But their company, Rezmar Corp., did come up with $1,000 to give to the political campaign fund of Barack Obama, the newly elected state senator whose district included the unheated building.

Obama has been friends with Rezko for 17 years. Rezko has been a political patron to Obama and many others, helping to raise millions of dollars for them through his own contributions and by hosting fund-raisers in his home.

Obama, who has worked as a lawyer and a legislator to improve living conditions for the poor, took campaign donations from Rezko even as Rezko's low-income housing empire was collapsing, leaving many African-American families in buildings riddled with problems -- including squalid living conditions, vacant apartments, lack of heat, squatters and drug dealers.

... Obama's friendship with Rezko began with a telephone call.

It was 17 years ago. Obama had just become the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. Newspapers wrote about him. One story caught the eye of David Brint, a vice president of Rezmar, a new company that had become the Daley administration's favored developer of low-income housing.

"I just cold-called him," Brint said in an interview.

Brint said he wanted to know if Obama would come work for Rezmar, developing housing for the poor -- something Obama had expressed interest in, according to the story Brint had read.

Brint arranged for Obama to meet Rezko, but Obama didn't take the job.

Obama, who has a law degree from Harvard, subsequently returned to Chicago to lead a voter-registration drive in 1992.

The next year, Obama joined Davis Miner Barnhill & Galland, a 12-lawyer firm that specialized in helping develop low-income housing.

The firm's top partner, Allison S. Davis, was, and is, a member of the Chicago Plan Commission, appointed by Mayor Daley. Davis was also a friend of Rezko. Davis and Rezko would eventually go into business together, developing homes.

Another firm partner, Judson Miner, ran the city Law Department under Mayor Harold Washington [who took over Chicago and the machine for two-terms - ed], one of Obama's political idols.

Asked what Rezko cases Obama worked on, Miner told the Sun-Times, "We'll put together a list of the cases he worked on involving Rezko/Rezmar in the next day or two.''

That was March 13. He never provided the information.

... Obama had been at the firm for two years when he began his political career, running to replace state Sen. Alice Palmer.

Rezko became Obama's political patron. Obama got his first campaign contributions on July 31, 1995: $300 from a Loop lawyer, a $5,000 loan from a car dealer, and $2,000 from two food companies owned by Rezko.

Around that time, Rezmar began developing low-income apartments in partnerships with the Chicago Urban League and two other not-for-profit community groups, both founded and run by Bishop Arthur Brazier, pastor of the Apostolic Church of God and a powerful ally of the mayor -- the Woodlawn Preservation and Investment Corp., known as WPIC, and the Fund for Community Redevelopment and Revitalization.

All three community groups were clients of the Davis law firm. Davis himself was treasurer of WPIC when it went into business with Rezmar.

Why go into business with Rezmar? "We thought they were successful,'' Davis said, noting that little development was taking place in Woodlawn.

At the time, Rezmar had been in business for six years and had become one of City Hall's favored developers of low-income housing, managing 600 apartments in 15 buildings it rehabbed with government funding. Teaming now with community development groups, Rezmar rehabbed another 15 buildings, with 400 apartments, between 1995 and 1998. Each deal involved a mix of public and private financing -- loans from the city or state, federal low-income-housing tax credits and bank loans.

By the time Rezmar started working with those community groups, at least two of its earlier buildings were falling into disrepair -- including the Englewood apartment building at 7000 S. Sangamon where the tenants were without heat for five weeks.

The tenants there had no heat from Dec. 27, 1996, until at least Feb. 3, 1997, when the city of Chicago sued to turn the heat on. The case was settled later that month with a $100 fine.

It was during that time that the area's new state senator, Barack Obama, got a $1,000 campaign donation from Rezmar. The date: Jan. 14, 1997.

Obama works on Rezmar deals

Obama spent the next eight years serving in the Illinois Senate and continued to work for the Davis law firm.

Through its partnerships, Rezmar remained a client of the firm, according to ethics statements Obama filed while a state senator.

Davis said he didn't remember Obama working on the Rezmar projects.

"I don't recall Barack having any involvement in real estate transactions,'' Davis said. "Barack was a litigator. His area of focus was litigation, class-action suits.''

But Obama did legal work on real estate deals while at Davis' firm, according to biographical information he submitted to the Sun-Times in 1998.

Obama specialized "in civil rights litigation, real estate financing, acquisition, construction and/or redevelopment of low-and moderate income housing,'' according to his "biographical sketch."

And he did legal work on Rezko's deals, according to an e-mail his presidential campaign staff sent the Sun-Times on Feb. 16, in response to earlier inquiries.

The staff didn't specify which Rezmar projects Obama worked on, or his role. But it drew a distinction between working for Rezko and working on projects involving his company.

"Senator Obama did not directly represent Mr. Rezko or his firms. He did represent on a very limited basis ventures in which Mr. Rezko's entities participated along with others,'' according to the e-mail from Obama's staff.

Obama buys Rezko land

Over the years, Rezko, Mahru, their wives and businesses have given more than $50,000 to Obama's campaign funds, records show.

And Rezko has helped raise millions more.

Rezko was among the people Obama appointed to serve on his U.S. Senate campaign finance committee, the Sun-Times reported in 2003. The committee raised more than $14 million, according to Federal Election Commission records, helping send Obama to Washington in 2004.

As a U.S. senator, Obama grew closer to Rezko.

• THE OBAMA-REZKO RELATIONSHIP SPEAKS VOLUMES - ABOUT OBAMA.

• AND IT EXPLAINS WHY AND HOW OBAMA ROSE SO QUICKLY THROUGH CITY AND THEN STATE POLITICS AND INTO THE SENATE.

• AND IT EXPLAINS WHY TED KENNEDY IS SO ENTHUSIASTICALLY SUPPORTING HIM

• IT'S NOT JUST CLINTON-FATIGUE, OR CLINTON HATRED.

• IT'S THE OL'TIME CORRUPT, ELECTION-STEALING, PATRONAGE JOB-GIVING CHICAGO DEMOCRAT PARTY MACHINE FEELING YOUNG AGAIN - FEELING WELL-OILED, AND EAGER TO GET CONTROL OF THE WHITE HOUSE SO THEY CAN:

1. GET CONTROL OF FEDERAL PATRONAGE,
2. GET CONTROL OF THE POWER TO INCREASE FEDERAL UNION WAGES,
3. AND - AS TEDDY BELLOWED SO LOUDLY DURING HIS ENDORSEMENT SPEECH -
4. GET THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO CREATE THE GREAT-GRANDMOTHER OF ALL FEDERAL TEAT-SUCKING PATRONAGE PROGRAMS OF ALL TIMES: NATIONAL HEALTHCARE.

Can you imagine what will happen if PRESIDENT OBAMA signs a nationalized healthcare plan bill passed by HARRY REID and NANCY PELOSI!?!?

It'll probably be run by a Kennedy and a Daley - for their benefit and the benefit of and their SEIU/AFSCME cronies.

We must stop them.

SLEAZY CHICAGO MACHINE CROOK - WITH CLOSE TIES TO OBAMA - GETS DEMOCRAT NOMINATION FOR US SENATE

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES:

When Alexi Giannoulias was an undergraduate at the University of Chicago in the mid-1990s, one of the guys he would play pick-up basketball games with in Hyde Park was Barack Obama, who taught at the U. of C. law school.

Now Giannoulias is the Illinois state treasurer and Obama is the presumptive Democratic nominee. Obama has been "like a mentor to me," Giannoulias told me. He will be one of the parade of Chicagoans who will speak at the Democratic convention Monday night, when Obama's family and friends tell the story of Obama's life.

... "I want people throughout the country to know the Barack Obama I know," said Giannoulias. Giannoulias --who won a tough primary with Obama's endorsement -- is a surrogate -- stumping in half dozen states; a major fund-raiser, on Obama's National Finance Committee, which means collecting at least $250,000 and a primary day basketball buddy.

HERE'S THE SPEECH HE GAVE - ON MONDAY NIGHT JUST BEFORE MICHELLE SPOKE:



THE REAL BARACK OBAMA HAD A GREAT POST ON THE REAL ALEXI - IN AUGUST 2008:

The Chicago Tribune’s Rick Pearson informs us that Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, a “longtime loyalist” of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), will have a plum speaking spot at the DNC convention’s opening night in Denver.

Obama endorsed Giannoulias, a banking heir, for state treasurer and Giannoulias defeated the slated Democratic candidate. Obama has said Giannoulias provided help with Chicago’s Greek Community and Obama used the Giannoulias family’s bank for his Senate campaign fund.

Well, there’s a bit more to the Obama-Giannoulias back story.

On June 15, 2008, RezkoWatch posted the following article, “Coincidence or not? Obama, Rezko, Giannoulias”. Judge for yourself.

In 2006, when Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias was running for office, his good friend Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) not only vouched for him but also appeared in a campaign commercial in support of his campaign.

When Giannoulias visited Chicago’s SouthtownStar editorial board last week, he said that he had “met several times” with convicted political fixer Antoin “Tony” Rezko as a “banking customer,” Kristen McQueary reported June 15, 2008.

Before being elected state treasurer, Giannoulias was vice president of his family’s North Side bank, Broadway Bank. Rezko was a client. In addition to at least one loan secured through the bank, Rezko held a checking account there. Rezko is accused of writing nine bad checks from the account totaling more than $400,000 to Las Vegas casinos, Nevada authorities revealed last month.

Wouldn’t you know it? Rezko liked to gamble, just like his pal Christopher Kelly, who faces federal charges in a separate case alleging he hid gambling debts and cheated the IRS. Both men were close advisers to [Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich].

Giannoulias could not, and would not, elaborate on his specific financial dealings with Rezko because as a banker, that information is private, Giannoulias said. “I would love to, but I can’t,” Giannoulias said.

As for Rezko’s bounced checks, Giannoulias said they simply show “the bank did the right thing.” In other words, the bank didn’t help Rezko by covering the losses. Giannoulias said he oversaw the loan portfolio of the bank anyway and would not have been aware of Rezko’s bad check-writing habits.

Giannoulias told McQueary “Rezko never asked him or Broadway Bank to help with the gambling debts; Rezko wasn’t steered to Broadway Bank by Barack Obama, a mutual friend; and Rezko had no personal connection to Giannoulias, other than as a bank customer.”

“Where else will Rezko’s taint spill over?” McQueary asked.

As a P.S. to the June 15, 2008, article, RW asked: Would it surprise anyone to know that Obama’s close friend Alexi Giannoulias was tossed under the Obama bus more than two years ago—and Giannoulias still runs the Obama endorsement on his official website?

Well, here’s a taste for America of politics done the “Chicago Way”.

P.S. Illinois Gov. Blagojevich is NOT scheduled to speak at the convention although his possible opponents are.

THIS GUYS IS AS SLIMY AS THEY COME.

THE GOP COMMERCIAL IS NOT OVER THE TOP - AND IT FAILS AT ONLY ONE THING: TYING ALEXI TO BARACK:

AND DON'T FORGET: HE HAS CLOSE TIES TO THE SEIU, TOO:





THE GOP COULDN'T ASK FOR A BETTER OPPONENT.

KIRK WILL WIN IN A LANDSLIDE!

Tony Rezko's mysterious investor and Barack H. Obama

Steve Rhodes of the Beachwood Reporter provides an excellent overview of "Barack Obama's Auchi Problem."

Who is Nadhmi Auchi? He's a controversial Iraqi-born billionaire who reportedly dealt with Saddam Hussein's regime prior to the Gulf War and whose bank trafficked most of the funds involved in the massive UN Oil-for-food scandal. Convicted of fraud in France in 2003, his request to enter the U.S. in 2005 was denied.

But someone with pull at the State Department was able to secure a visa for him in 2006. The executive summary:

Tony Rezko pimped out Barack Obama to impress Nadhmi Auchi, a bad operator who found the political culture in Chicago and Illinois amenable to his kind of investment acumen. The only problem was that Rezko's deal was in trouble, and Rezko himself was caught up in, among other scandals, a minority-contracting scam with the Dalely administration. At the same time, Rezko was wheeling and dealing with the Blagojevich administration and everyone in the political universe knew he was under federal investigation for it but Obama asked for his help buying a $1.6 million mansion and appeared at a couple of events to help Rezko impress Auchi and others.

Now Obama's memory is faulty because there's that pesky question of judgement, as well as the stain on his meticulously burnished image as a beacon of hope and reform because his relationship with both Rezko and the Machine and politics-as-usual is deeper than he's ever cared to admit. Have I missed anything? Does that make sense now? Do you get the feeling there's still more to the story that we don't know about?

Via RezkoWatch, Rick Moran notes that during a March 14, 2008 with the Chicago Sun-Times, Barack Obama denied helping Auchi enter the country but doesn't know whether his staff assisted the controversial billionaire.

Q: Did you ever help Auchi enter the country?
A: No.
Q: Or your office?
A: Not that I know of.

Moran goes on to explain the shady ties.

Obama himself has been extraordinarily vague about any possible meetings, saying that while he very well may have met Auchi, he doesn’t recall it... [There are serious questions about] the source of money that Rezko used to buy a side lot to Obama’s mansion at a time when he told a court he was flat broke and heavily in debt.

[A] holding company belonging to Auchi... loaned Mr. Rezko $3.5 million dollars just three weeks before Obama and Rezko closed the sale on the property simultaneously –a stipulation by the previous owners that both the lot and house be sold at the same time– thus allowing Obama to purchase his dream house.

...Auchi has a reputation in Great Britain of collecting politicians “the way that other people collect stamps.”

Let's recap.

So Auchi – friend of Saddam, international fraudster, and business partner to one of Chicago’s premiere fixers– gave Rezko the money that allowed Obama to purchase his house. Without the loan, Rezko would not have been able to afford the $125,000 downpayment on the lot and Obama would not have been able to meet the terms set by the sellers.

Did Auchi know that part of that money would be used to help Obama purchase his house? Did Obama know where Rezko’s money came from?

Good questions all. And, thus far, conclusive answers have not been forthcoming.

But if Obama's campaign is truly about "judgment", his associations with extremely shady characters like Rezko and Auchi -- involving possible quid pro quo dealings -- do not speak well for him.

THE OBAMA-REZKO SCANDAL DEEPENS AND WIDENS

Obama is a product of the corrupt Chicago Machine. One of the key players in this corrupt machine is Tony Rezko - a Syrian real estate developer/slumlord who gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to the machine and to Obama's law firm and to Obama's various campaign fuinds - and was VERY connected to the governor of Illinois.

We've covered it previously HERE.

NOW, THERE"S NEW NEWS:

1. There real estate agent who sold Obama the house he now lives in - for more than a million bucks - was a pal of Rezko, someone he'd been pressuring the guv to put on the state real estate board. (MORE HERE.)
2. Rezko had access to the governor because he was a huge contributor. Rezko had access to the CLOUT LISTS - the lists of people that were connected to contributors with clout. This amounted to nothing more than patronage lists for the corrupt machine. (MORE HERE AND HERE.)
3. And there's a long Arab money trail which leads righ to Rezko and Obama. Very troubling.
4. In this face of all these charges we've had lame excuses by Obama: he's called himself "boneheaded" for making the house deal with Rezko, and he's trickled out a few other details. Like the fact that he had gone on a tour of WITH homes with Rezko - not something you do with a casual acquaintance.
5. The Rezko trial will begin the day before the Texas and Ohio primary - perhaps too late to save Hillary.
   
6. (Several conversations with Obama was reportedly taped by an FBI mole while they were gathering evidence for this case. It will be interesting to see if these conversations are made public during the trial.)
   

I hope the truth comes out BEFORE it's too late for America.

America deserves to know the whole truth and nothing but the truth about Obama.

Otherwise we might not only elect an unabashed socialist and dove appeaser, but a major league crook.

*******UPDATE: THE IRAQI CONNECTION: WHY REZKO WAS NOT ALLOWED ON ON BAIL:

Political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko should remain behind bars because there is still a danger that he will flee to avoid his upcoming fraud trial, federal prosecutors told an appeals court Friday.

The 52-year-old real estate developer and fast-food magnate is a naturalized U.S. citizen but has retained his Syrian nationality, prosecutors said in a 22-page brief filed with the appeals court.

Rezko, who has been a major fundraiser for Sen. Barack Obama and Gov. Rod Blagojevich, is asking the appeals court to free him from the Metropolitan Correctional Center where he has been held since Jan. 28.

He is due to start trial March 3 on charges that he schemed with millionaire attorney Stuart Levine to shake down companies seeking business or regulatory approval from a pair of powerful state boards.

Rezko had been free on $2 million bond. But U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve ordered him jailed after it was disclosed that he received a $3.5 million loan from London-based Iraqi billionaire Nadhmi Auchi.

She said his access to overseas money made him a flight risk.

WHO ELSE GOT A LOAN? ANOTHER CROOKED FUNDRAISER FOR THE GOVERNOR'S DEMOCRAT MACHINE.

WHO IS THIS IRAQI???? HERE: WIKI:

Auchi has been convicted of fraud in France. Several US political fundraisers are currently on trial for corruption in connection with loans received from Auchi. Auchi is currently barred from entering the US by the state department as an undesirable alien.[2]

REZKO + AUCHI + OBAMA + BLAGOJEVICH CHICAGO/ILLINOIS DEMOCRAT MACHINE = CROOKED SCUM

OBAMA'S CORRUPT DEALINGS WITH CHICAGO DEVELOPER REZKO

WE BLOGGED THIS TWO YEARS AGO. NO ONE WAS INTERESTED THEN.

BUT NOW... NOW THAT OBAMA LOOKS LIKE THE NOMINEE, MAYBE PEOPLE WILL TAKE NOTICE:

OMABAMGATE CONTINUED: THE REZKO LAND DEAL (12/17/06)

WASH POST/VIA MALKIN:

In June 2005, in what Obama now describes as a "boneheaded" mistake, Obama and Rezko's wife bought adjacent properties on Chicago's South Side, closing the deals on the same day.

Seven months later, wanting a bigger yard for his $1.65 million house, Obama bought a slice of the Rezko property for $104,500.

"Bonehead deal"?! From the smartest man in the democrat party!? YEAH, RIGHT! Obama's a crook. (The photo on the left shows Rezko and his mouthpiece leaving court after pleading not guilty to a recent indictment. Rezko is on the right.)

WE FOLLOWED UP WITH THIS, 9 MONTHS AGO - IN APRIL 2007:

OBAMA: A CORRUPT CROOK IN DEEP WITH A CORRUPT CHICAGO REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES (VIA PAJAMAS MEDIA):

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama said Monday he accepted campaign contributions from Antoin "Tony'' Rezko without knowing that Rezko was a slumlord with problem buildings in the state Senate district Obama represented at the time.

"Should I have known these buildings were in a state of disrepair? My answer would be that it wasn't brought to my attention,'' Obama, who's seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, said at a South Side campaign stop.

His comments came in response to a Chicago Sun-Times report that he had done previously undisclosed legal work between 1995 and 1998 on a series of troubled low-income-housing deals involving Rezmar Corp., owned by the indicted businessman.

Obama worked for a small Chicago law firm -- Davis Miner Barnhill & Galland -- between 1993 and 2004. The firm worked on deals that got $43 million in government funds for 15 apartment buildings Rezmar rehabilitated with not-for-profit community groups. Four of the buildings ended up being foreclosed on.

OBAMA IS OBVIOUSLY LYING.

REZKO AND OBAMA ARE VERY CLOSE: REZKO HELPED OBAMA BUY HIS MANSION - JUST A FEW YEARS AGO. WITHOUT REZKO, OBAMA COULD NOT HAVE BOUGHT HIS HOME.

AND WE MUSTN'T EVER FORGET THIS CHAPTER IN HIS LIFE, WHICH REVEALS THAT HE HAS NO CHARACTER:

After graduating from Harvard Law, the then utterly unknown Obama was contacted by a bright aggressive NYC literary agent who thought - because of Obama's mixed heritage and modest background - BHO Jr might have an interesting story to tell. They signed a contract. After much work, the agent sold Obama Jr's book. It was Obama Jr's first.

After Obama Jr's pretty and pretty well-received convention speech in 2004 - (and before he was elected to the Senate) - he broke this contract with this agent, (the one who picked him up out of nowhere and got him his first book deal), in order to sign with a bigger agent, (to whom he was introduced by perjurer Bill Clinton).

Instead of being loyal to the agent who helped put him on the map, he dumped her the first chance he got, and jumped on to the roster of a bigger bigshot - who didn't have to break a sweat in order to sell Obama Jr's SECOND book! (Barack Hussein Obama Jr. eventually agreed to a settlement for breaking his contract with his first agent.)

OBAMA: NOTHING BUT A SMOOTH-TALKING LEFT-WING CROOK.

WHICH IS WHY HE'S THE PERFECT STANDARD-BEARER FOR THE DEMOCRAT PARTY!

(AND WHY THESE REVELATIONS DON'T SEEM TO BOTHER ANY DEMS!)

The state senator who couldn't keep his constituents from the cold

"Senator Obama does not remember having conversations with Tony Rezko about properties that he owned" — Obama’s campaign staff, April 2007 (Chicago Sun-Times)

For more than five weeks during the brutal winter of 1997, tenants shivered without heat in a government-subsidized apartment building on Chicago's South Side... It was just four years after the landlords -- Antoin "Tony'' Rezko and his partner Daniel Mahru -- had rehabbed the 31-unit building in Englewood with a loan from Chicago taxpayers.

How cold was it?

During January and early February, temperatures routinely dipped to around ten degrees below zero.

But Rezko and his partner couldn't rustle up enough money to get the Englewood building's heat turned back on.

However their company, Rezmar Corp., did manage to find $1,000, which it promptly gave to the campaign fund of State Senator Barack Obama. The young politican had recently been elected the representative for the district that included the Englewood apartment complex.

The South Sangamon apartment building finally had its heat turned on in February 1997, but only after the city of Chicago sued, eventually collecting a $100 fine from Rezmar. There is apparently no evidence that the young state senator prompted Chicago's lawsuits against Rezko's various companies.

But the tenants there had no heat from Dec. 27, 1996, until at least Feb. 3, 1997, when the city of Chicago sued. It was during this exact period that the district's new state senator -- Barack Obama -- received a $1,000 donation from Rezmar. The date was Jan. 14, 1997.

The South Sangamon building was one of 30 low-income projects—containing a total of 1,025 apartments—that Rezko took on between 1989 and 1998. In all, Rezmar Corp. collected more than $100 million by arranging “public-private partnerships” with the city, the state and federal governments, and in bank loans to rehab South Side buildings intended as low-income housing. Neither Rezko nor his partner had any construction experience when they created Rezmar, but they became experts at working Chicago’s political system to acquire taxpayer subsidies for their redevelopment schemes...

...Not surprisingly, every one of the projects ran into financial difficulties within six years.

Eleven of Rezko's buildings were in Obama's district (and all were in close proximity to the district). The results of Rezko's housing experiment?

• Seventeen buildings -- many beset with code violations, including a lack of heat -- ended up in foreclosure.
• Six buildings are currently boarded up.
• Hundreds of the apartments are vacant, in need of major repairs.
• Taxpayers have been stuck with millions in unpaid loans.
• At least a dozen times, the city of Chicago sued Rezmar for failure to heat buildings.

Did State Senator Obama ever complain to anyone -- government officials, Rezmar or Rezko -- about the conditions of Rezmar's buildings? There appears to be no documented evidence that Obama stood up for his constituents against Rezko.

But he did find time to write letters for Rezko; these requests were only recently discovered...

Click for the rest [Doug Ross @ Journal].

Rezko tells Obama and governor to look after him

And it doesn't take much of an ear to hear the "or else"

The last thing Sen. Barack Obama and Gov. Rod Blagojevich needed was that letter written by convicted Illinois influence peddler Tony Rezko promising he'd never rat out his pals. The imprisoned political fixer insisted that federal prosecutors are squeezing him, according to an exclusive Tribune report written by federal courts reporter Jeff Coen for Thursday's paper.

"They are pressuring me to tell them the 'wrong' things that I supposedly know about Governor Blagojevich and Senator Obama," the fundraiser (and Obama's personal real estate fairy) wrote in a letter to U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve. "I have never been a party to any wrongdoing that involved the Governor or the Senator," Rezko argued. "I will never fabricate lies about anyone else for selfish purposes. I will take whatever comes my way, but I will never hurt innocent people."

Amen, Tony. But those who say nothing don't brag. They shut up. Yet those who promise to say nothing, and promise it loudly, often have much to say later, in a calm and rational voice, meekly from the witness box.

I've seen a few lately, a convicted Outfit hit man who killed at least a dozen people and testified against Chicago mob bosses, and, in an unrelated case, a convicted political apparatchik of the GOP who talked like Joe Pesci in the movies until he broke, blubbered and helped put former Gov. George Ryan in prison.

They all want the same thing-to make sure their loved ones are well cared for on the outside. It could be that Rezko, who mentioned his sons in the letter, cares more about them and his wife, Rita, than he does about his political buddies. Hence, the implied threat to the senator and the governor. That could be a problem for both Obama and Blagojevich, but mostly, I think, for Blagojevich, if Rezko-convicted of more than a dozen corruption counts-begins to squeak.

Democrat Obama-whose campaign reiterated he's never done wrong with Rezko-is on the verge of assuming the presidency, about to defeat a Republican Party that has forgotten what it believes. Republicans were blinded and seduced by crooked GOP lobbyists like Jack Abramoff and overspent on Illinois Republican boss-hog-style deals. There was a national conservative silence when phrases such as "big government conservatism" were bandied about without ridicule. So the road was paved for Obama.

Obama's supporters don't know exactly what Obama believes in, but they seem not to care. He's on the way up and out of the wetlands of Chicago politics, reborn unto his national and mythic reform narrative, discovered by joyous national media and embraced, much as the iconic child was discovered and embraced when found in the reed basket floating on the River Potomac.

Obama doesn't need to remind the national media that he walked the Chicago Way, that his feet actually touched the soiled political ground. Rezko's recent conviction and the letter are such reminders. But Blagojevich is the member of Rezko's posse who is federally vulnerable. An unofficial Patty Watch has sprung up among reporters speculating that Blagojevich's wife, Patty, may be the first in the family with federal issues, as the FBI is investigating her own real estate dealings with Rezko and others.

Source


Posted by John Ray. For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. For a daily survey of Australian politics, see AUSTRALIAN POLITICS Also, don't forget your roundup of Obama news and commentary at OBAMA WATCH

OBAMA: PALSY-WALSY WITH A PREDATORY SLUMLORD

OBAMA-REZKO-GROVE PARC: DETAILS WITH LINKS HERE.

EXCERPT:

For more than five weeks during the brutally cold winter of 1997, tenants suffered without any heat in a government-subsidized apartment building. The 31-unit building in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood had been "rehabbed" just four years prior at taxpayer expense, no less.
...
All of these buildings were in -- or just blocks away -- from a single state senator's district. A district belonging to a young, up-and-coming politician named Barack Obama.

... During the winter or the scores of subsequent code violations, did state senator Obama ever lift a finger to protect his constituents from "predatory slumlords" like Rezmar?

The answer appears to be a resounding "No".

RTWT.

BOTTOM-LINE: OBAMA IS A CORRUPT, LYING POLITICIAN. BUT HE SURE DOES TALK PRETTY!

VOTE ACCORDINGLY.

NOTE: THIS IS FROM A 2007 SUN-TIMES ARTICLE (WHICH WE LINKED TO BEFORE) REVIEWING THE HISTORY OF OBAMA-REZKO CONNECTION:

Obama's friendship with Rezko began with a telephone call.

It was 17 years ago. Obama had just become the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. Newspapers wrote about him. One story caught the eye of David Brint, a vice president of Rezmar, a new company that had become the Daley administration's favored developer of low-income housing.

"I just cold-called him," Brint said in an interview.

Brint said he wanted to know if Obama would come work for Rezmar, developing housing for the poor -- something Obama had expressed interest in, according to the story Brint had read. Brint arranged for Obama to meet Rezko, but Obama didn't take the job.

Obama, who has a law degree from Harvard, subsequently returned to Chicago to lead a voter-registration drive in 1992.

The next year, Obama joined Davis Miner Barnhill & Galland, a 12-lawyer firm that specialized in helping develop low-income housing. The firm's top partner, Allison S. Davis, was, and is, a member of the Chicago Plan Commission, appointed by Mayor Daley. Davis was also a friend of Rezko. Davis and Rezko would eventually go into business together, developing homes.

Another firm partner, Judson Miner, ran the city Law Department under Mayor Harold Washington, one of Obama's political idols.

Asked what Rezko cases Obama worked on, Miner told the Sun-Times, "We'll put together a list of the cases he worked on involving Rezko/Rezmar in the next day or two.''

That was March 13. He never provided the information.

• THEY'VE GOT SOMETHING TO HIDE.
• SOMETHING THE GOP HAD BETTER GET THEIR HANDS ON.
• IF THEY DON'T ALREADY...
  

REPEAT BOTTOM-LINE: OBAMA IS A CORRUPT, LYING POLITICIAN. BUT HE SURE DOES TALK PRETTY!

VOTE ACCORDINGLY.

OBAMA SECRETLY TAPED BY FBI MOLE INVESTIGATING REZKO

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES:

FBI PROBE | Real estate broker convicted of fraud becomes a mole for feds to nail Rezko

For the first time, the FBI "mole" who's expected to be a key prosecution witness against indicted developer and political fund-raiser Tony Rezko is talking.

In an exclusive interview with the Sun-Times, John Thomas said his life became frantic as he amassed hundreds of hours of recorded conversations for federal investigators while trying to maintain the real estate business he built on pluck and hustle.

"Now," Thomas said, "all I want is a little bit of peace."

Thomas wouldn't discuss details of his work for the FBI.

But sources said that, for more than two years when he was giving information to agents, Thomas provided a fly-on-the-wall look inside Rezko's real estate operations and his desperate attempts to keep his projects afloat.

Sources said Thomas also logged frequent visits to Rezko from Gov. Blagojevich and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). Blagojevich and Obama were among the many politicians for whom Rezko raised campaign cash. Neither has been charged with any wrongdoing.

"Neither has been charged with any wrongdoing." NOT YET.... but maybe the Feds will flip Rezko and he will become a state's witness.

BTW: WTF WAS THOMAS DOING MEETING WITH US SENATOR OBAMA AND GOVERNOR BLAGOJEIVCH!?!?!

REMINDER: REZKO WAS INDICTED FOR SOLICITING KICKBACKS FROM FIRMS DOING BUSINESS WITH THE STATE UNDER HIS FREIND BLAGOJEVICH.

REZKO TO THE RESCUE: JURY REACHES VERDICTS ON 23 OF 24 COUNTS...

VIA REZKORAMA:

NBC5: Rezko Jury Close To Verdict, Deadlocked On 1 Count

CHICAGO -- The jury in the trial an Antoin 'Tony' Rezko is close to reaching a verdict, but passed a note to the presiding judge saying they are deadlocked on one count.

NBC5's Phil Rogers reported that the jury went home for the day Monday afternoon. The jury has been deliberating for 10 days.

It was unclear if the jurors reached verdicts on the other counts, which include seven counts of mail fraud, eight counts of wire fraud, one count of attempted extortion, six counts of aiding and abetting bribery, and two counts of money laundering.

St. Eve gave a standard instruction to the jury that they should not hesitate to change their minds, Rogers reported, and then they were sent back for more deliberations.

Judge Amy St. Eve told jurors to return to deliberations, NBC5's Carol Marin reported.

Rezko returned to the court around 2:15 p.m. Monday, after the note was sent, but left around 2:30 p.m.

The note seemed to suggest the jury had reached verdicts on 23 of the 24 counts against Rezko, but it didn't say that specifically.

Jurors began their deliberations May 13 and are considering more than nine weeks of testimony.

The 52-year-old Rezko is accused of scheming with the government's star witness to get kickbacks from companies wanting state contracts. Rezko has pleaded not guilty, and defense attorneys said the government didn't prove its case.

Last week, authorities in Nevada announced that Rezko is wanted in Las Vegas on allegations that he rang up hundreds of thousands of dollars in casino debts. His attorney has declined to comment on the Las Vegas cases.

IF THERE'S A CONVICTION TOMORROW, THEN WILL HILLARY STAY IN!? I HOPE SO...

STAY TUNED.

BTW:

• MUCH HAS BEEN MADE OF OBAMA'S TIES TO LEFTISTS LIKE AYERS AND WRIGHT AND PFLEGER.
• BUT HIS TIES TO THE INCREDIBLY CORRUPT CHICAGO MACHINE AND THE COOK COUNTY MACHINE AND THE ILLINOIS COMBINE) ARE JUST AS AWFUL.
• (LINK FIXED) MORE ON COOK COUNTY'S STAGGERING CORRUPTION HERE.

WRITTEN PROOF OBAMA LIED ABOUT REZKO

SUN-TIMES:

As a state senator, he went to bat for now-indicted developer's deal

As a state senator, Barack Obama wrote letters to city and state officials supporting his political patron Tony Rezko's successful bid to get more than $14 million from taxpayers to build apartments for senior citizens. The deal included $855,000 in development fees for Rezko and his partner, Allison S. Davis, Obama's former boss, according to records from the project, which was four blocks outside Obama's state Senate district.

Obama's letters, written nearly nine years ago, for the first time show the Democratic presidential hopeful did a political favor for Rezko -- a longtime friend, campaign fund-raiser and client of the law firm where Obama worked -- who was indicted last fall on federal charges that accuse him of demanding kickbacks from companies seeking state business under Gov. Blagojevich.

The letters appear to contradict a statement last December from Obama, who told the Chicago Tribune that, in all the years he's known Rezko, "I've never done any favors for him.''

"APPEAR TO CONTRADICT"!!?!?

SHIT. THEY PROVE HE EFFIN LIED.

• THIS CORRUPT PIECE OF CRAP REZKO WAS OBAMA'S MOST IMPORTANT, BIGGEST AND OLDEST POLITICAL SUPPORTER.
• OBAMA'S INTERVENTION DIRECTLY HELPED REZKO.
• END OF STORY.

VOTE ACCORDINGLY.

Aerial photos of Obama's stunning State Senatorial experience

I don't hear much about Barack Obama's experience. So I decided to do a flyover of the neighborhood where Obama served as a state senator. Specifically, the apartment complexes rehabbed and managed by his biggest backers. Folks like convicted felon and (17-year friend of Barack's) Tony Rezko. And top campaign officials like Valerie Jarrett and Allison Davis.

Here's just one of the partially uninhabitable properties called Grove Parc Plaza Apartments, a 1000-unit complex. Quoting from the Boston Globe:


Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to Obama’s presidential campaign and a member of his finance committee. Jarrett is the chief executive of Habitat Co., which managed Grove Parc Plaza from 2001 until this [past] winter and co-managed an even larger subsidized complex in Chicago that was seized by the federal government in 2006, after city inspectors found widespread problems.


Allison Davis, a major fund-raiser for Obama’s US Senate campaign and a former lead partner at Obama’s former law firm. Davis, a developer, was involved in the creation of Grove Parc and has used government subsidies to rehabilitate more than 1,500 units in Chicago, including a North Side building cited by city inspectors last year after chronic plumbing failures resulted in raw sewage spilling into several apartments.



Antoin “Tony” Rezko, perhaps the most important fund-raiser for Obama’s early political campaigns and a friend who helped the Obamas buy a home in 2005. Rezko’s company used subsidies to rehabilitate more than 1,000 apartments, mostly in and around Obama’s district, then refused to manage the units, leaving the buildings to decay to the point where many no longer were habitable.

Campaign finance records show that six prominent developers - including Jarrett, Davis, and Rezko - collectively contributed more than $175,000 to Obama’s campaigns over the last decade and raised hundreds of thousands more from other donors. Rezko alone raised at least $200,000, by Obama’s own accounting. (This number now exceeds $500,000).



One of those contributors, Cecil Butler, controlled Lawndale Restoration, the largest subsidized complex in Chicago, which was seized by the government in 2006 after city inspectors found more than 1,800 code violations.

* * *
Obama [rewarded his backers with] legislative action as a state senator. In 2001, Obama sponsored a successful bill that increased state subsidies for private developers. The law let developers designated by the state raise up to $26 million a year by selling tax credits to Illinois residents. For each $1 in credits purchased, the buyer was allowed to decrease his taxable income by 50 cents.

The developers gave Obama their financial support. Jarrett, Davis, and Rezko all served on Obama’s campaign finance committee when he won a seat in the US Senate in 2004.

“In the winter I can feel the cold air coming through the walls and the sockets,” said Anthony Frizzell, 57, who has lived for almost two decades in a Rezmar building on South Greenwood Avenue. “They didn’t insulate it or nothing.”

Sharee Jones, who lives in another former Rezko building one block away, said her apartment was rat-infested for years.

“You could hear them under the floor and in the walls, and they didn’t do nothing about it,” Jones said.

The problems came to public attention in a dramatic way in 2004, after a sport utility vehicle driven by a suburban woman trying to buy drugs struck one of the buildings, causing it to collapse. City inspectors arrived in the ensuing glare, finding a long list of code violations, leading city officials to urge the federal government to seize the complex.

In the midst of the uproar, a small group of Lawndale residents gathered to rally against the Democratic candidate for the US Senate, Barack Obama.

The organizers had a simple message: Cecil Butler had donated $3,000 to Obama’s campaign. Habitat had close ties to Obama and Obama had remained silent about Lawndale’s plight.

Paul Johnson, who helped to organize the protest, said Obama must have known about the problems.

“How didn’t he know?” said Johnson. “Of course he knew. He just didn’t care.”

“I’m not against Barack Obama,” said Willie J.R. Fleming, an organizer with the Coalition to Protect Public Housing and a former public housing resident. “What I am against is some of the people around him.”

Jamie Kalven, a longtime Chicago housing activist, put it this way: “I hope there is not much predictive value in his history and in his involvement with that community.”

Sorry, Jamie: there is; and we should all worry.

Source: Boston Globe: Grim proving ground for Obama's housing policy and Ten degrees below zero.

RELIAPUNDIT ADDS:

• THIS PROJECT WAS AS "SUCCESSFUL" AS LBJ'S GREAT SOCIETY."

• WHY DID THEY BOTH FAIL!?

• SIMPLE: SOCIALISM SUCKS. AND BIG GOVERNMENT SPENDING PROGRAMS ARE ALMOST ALWAYS CESSPOOLS OF CORRUPTION.

• OBAMA EPITOMIZES BOTH: SOCIALISM AND CORRUPTION.

• WHICH IS WHY HE'S THE PERFECT STANDARD BEARER FOR THE IDEOLOGY HE REPRESENTS.

VOTE ACCORDINGLY.