Webloggin » More Ties Between Barack Obama and Indicted Fundraiser Revealed

The players are well known.

Antoin “Tony” Rezko: Longtime friend of Barack Obama. Currently under federal indictment for demanding kickbacks from companies seeking state business under the administration of newly reelected Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

Barack Obama: Unites States Senator from Illinois – Democrat. Currently running for the President of the United States while simultaneously running away from his connections to the troubled political fundraiser.

The Chicago Sun Times has released another in a series of investigative reports that once again ties Senator Barack Obama to federally indicted political fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko. The Sun Times report reveals that Obama had a 17 year long relationship with Rezko including some “undisclosed” legal work that Barack Obama did for Rezko while employed by Chicago law firm — Davis Miner Barnhill & Galland — between 1993 and 2004.

The legal work is important because it was done on behalf of Rezko’s land development company Rezmar Corp in relation to a deal with the Daley administration to rehab 30 buildings in various rundown Chicago neighbors. In all Rezko’s company received more than $100 million dollars in loans in a scam that resulted in millions of dollars of lost taxpayer revenue and earned Rezko the label of slumlord. The firm that Obama worked for helped Rezko’s company with deals that got $43 million in government funds for the non-profit venture. Of the 30 buildings that Rezko was rehabbing for the poor 6 are boarded up, 17 went into foreclosure with an 18th pending and the rest are mostly empty and in disrepair.

Eleven of those buildings were in the Illinois Senate district that Obama represented between 1997 and 2004. The city repeatedly sued Rezmar for various violations such as no heat and slum like conditions at the time. Yet for his part, Barack Obama, the man who wants to be President of the United States, is playing the part of clueless servant of the people.

“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.

[snip]

Obama, a friend of Rezko for 17 years, said he often got complaints as a state senator about housing problems. But, he said, “As far as I can tell, we were never contacted by Rezko tenants.”

Obama got more than $50,000 in campaign contributions from Rezko, Rezko’s family, his businesses and business associates between 1995 and 2004, records show.

“Mr. Rezko gave me campaign contributions,” Obama said. “While I was a state senator, he had buildings in my district that apparently were not managed properly. I had no knowledge of that at the time.”

Obama said he did just five hours of legal work on Rezmar projects. – Chicago Sun Times

This prompts the question, if Barack Obama had no idea about Rezko’s troubles then why do these reports keep leaking out in bits and pieces? Someone who doesn’t have something to hide would probably defer to full disclosure.

The following list is what we know to date thanks to the various reports in the Chicago Sun Times and the Chicago Tribune.

While Obama was president of the Harvard Law Review, Rezko’s firm offered Obama a job.
When Obama first ran for the Illinois Senate in 1996, Rezko was among his first political donors.
When Obama ran for the U.S. Senate, Rezko was a major fundraiser. (In total Rezko raised over $60,000 for Obama during his political career)
On the same day that Obama purchased a stately South Side mansion for $1.65 million in 2005, Rezko’s wife, Rita, closed on a $625,000 vacant lot next door.
In January 2006, Obama paid Rezko $104,500 to purchase part of the vacant lot to expand his own yard. The transaction occurred at a time when it was widely known Tony Rezko was under investigation by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and as other Illinois politicians befriended by Rezko distanced themselves from him. Obama paid an estimated $300,000 less than the asking price; essentially a gift.
The Sun-Times reported that Rezko donated to Obama at the same time residents were without heat at one of the troubled properties operated by Rezko’s firm, Rezmar Corp. The firm received taxpayer help to rehab 30 buildings, including 11 in Obama’s state legislative district on the South Side. Obama reportedly did 5 hours of legal work for Rezko’s company related to the Rezmar’s deals.

On January 5th I wrote and article titled Barack Obama Is The Last Person Who Should Lecture Us on Ethics. This was in response to an op-ed that Barack Obama wrote in the Washington Posts that stated “Americans put their faith in Democrats because they want us to restore their faith in government — and that means more than window dressing when it comes to ethics reform.”

I think that time has passed. Perhaps the Senator should remove the window dressing himself. The last thing this country needs is a President defending himself from scandals of a corrupt businessman at a time when we really need someone to lead us into the future and defend us from the perils of the world.

Related: Captains Quarters discusses Obama-Hillary fight to woo black voters.

Update: You will notice that the Sun Times reports that Obama received “more than $50,000 in campaign contributions” from Rezco while I report over $60,000 in contributions using a November article from the Sun Times as a source, “Obama on Rezko deal: It was a mistake“. I attribute the disparity to a political sleight of hand where records that are being used today only count the funds that Obama kept. Senator Obama had returned around $11,000 in contributions after one of the Sun Times exposes. Thus he can claim the smaller figure, a fact that in my mind further reflects the corruption in government and the various attempts to misinform the public. Perhaps all reports of contributions should be followed by an asterisk (*) that reflects given versus returned after news stories blow up in politicians faces.