As many of you are aware the Obama transition team has become unwittingly involved in the Illinois Governor scandal. This stunning revelation of corruption has once again thrust Obama, and Tony Rezko into the headlines in a most unflattering light. It appears to be clear that Governor Blagojevich is an extremely corrupt individual, the day of, and the day after this broke everyone wanted to know, what, if anything, did Barack Hussein Obama have to do with this. Barack finally came out today and said:
“No representatives of mine, engaged in any deal making with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich over who would fill the state’s U.S. Senate vacancy.â€
That all seems forthright enough. And to be 100% honest, I personally believe Pres. Elect Obama knew nothing of what was transpiring there. But the questions on everyone’s mind are, what did Barack know, when did he know it, and if he knew anything why didn’t he say anything?
Does anyone think this will be a tarnish on Baracks presidency? It is after all his home state, his senate seat, and another person who happens to have had campaign donations from the ever mysterious Tony Rezko.
I for one say yes, it will be a tarnish. It was an oversight on his part not to be more aware of what was happening right under his nose with his own senate seat.
OK, this I don’t get….YOU are the guys that wanted Obama elected and the VERY FIRST chance you get, you ATTACK him just like Jubal and others would. Strange bunch of PRETEND liberals you are!
No, this is awful. Obama is busy working on his transition, he resigned the Senate seat and his obligation to Illinois. Please be reasonable here. Obama is doing exactly what he should be doing, working on his transition to President.
It was not “right under his nose” because it is not up to him to appoint his replacement. Obama is not one to micro manage or to get involved where he is not needed. All this blame goes to Governor Blagojevich.
“But the questions on everyone’s mind are, what did Barack know, when did he know it, and if he knew anything why didn’t he say anything?”
Wow, call up Larry Elder this afternoon. The other day he was asking “If this had happened to a President-elect Bush, the media would be asking “what did he know and when did he know it?”
To know that a liberal uttered this will probably blow Larry’s mind.
Mr. Perez, you have quickly become my least favorite poster on this blog. Your headlines look interesting then your writings fire in all directions. Your style would seem more appropriate on OJ.
BTW, it might be a generational thing, but the “Teflon Man” is Ronald Reagan!
From the Chicago Sun Times:
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.
Barack Obama has been avoiding all contact with Gov. Rod Blagojevich for months. Blagojevich was not invited to the Democratic convention and Obama never called him to ask for help or offer any perks. Apparently Obama knew that Blagojevich was a sleazy character and wanted to have nothing at all to do with him. As we go forward, this decision to completely avoid the Illinois governor will keep him from being tarred by the ongoing scandal in which Blagojevich tried to sell Obama’s Senate seat. In contrast, Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. did have some contact with Blagojevich, which pretty much ends any chance Jackson may once have had at getting the seat.