Chicago Tribune: "By dancing with Rezko, Obama impeaches his own judgment, and raises questions"

[bidenista]

John Kass, who has long been on a crusade against city corruption in the Chicago Tribune, thinks the upcoming trial of Rezko might have some implications for Obama's campaign. He also highlights Republican involvement in Chicago sleaze:

'Operation Board Games' besmirches both parties

John Kass
February 10, 2008

...There are a few who don't consider Obama('s nomination) to be inevitable. They'll be paying close attention to the upcoming federal political corruption trial in Chicago of Obama's personal real estate fairy, indicted political fixer Tony Rezko.

You'll be hearing a lot more about "Operation Board Games," but don't make the mistake of thinking that it's all about Democrats. It involves Republicans too.

Rezko is a pal of the Democratic Gov. Rod "The Unreformer" Blagojevich. Rezko became involved in the questionable purchase of Obama's home, while under federal investigation. Every politician in Illinois—except for Obama—figured Rezko to be leprous with federal subpoenas. By dancing with Rezko, Obama impeaches his own judgment, and raises questions as to whether he has the presidential stuff.

Rezko stands accused of using his Illinois political connections to extort kickbacks and political money from investment firms seeking billions of dollars worth of state business in the investing of state pension funds.

More: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-080109kass-column,1,2161619.column

[ElsewheresDaughter]

1. absolutely!!!

[mutant80]

24. uh-oh

We better get this sh*t out in the open before
convention day.
This kind of thing is what finished off Giulliani.
O must be experiencing a private little implosion.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

26. QUESTIONABLE SCANDALS - THE REZKO PRIMAR

Seeing as Bidenista has started a second thread on this,
I will post rebuttal/excerpts from Arch Pundit's Rezko Primar again.

THE REZKO PRIMAR BY ARCH PUNDIT

The best synopsis of the Obama Rezko relationship was done by the Trib on January 23rd:

Both men declined to comment on their once-close friendship. Obama has been accused of no wrongdoing involving Rezko and has insisted that he never used his office to benefit Rezko.

Thus far, there is little in the public record to suggest otherwise, and the few exceptions that have come to light appear minor. 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.

But when Rezko pushed for passage in Springfield of a major gambling measure, Obama vocally opposed it.

Obama publicly apologized for his 2005 property deal with Rezko, calling it “boneheaded” because Rezko was widely reported to be under grand jury investigation at the time. And Obama has given to charities $85,000 in Rezko-linked campaign contributions, including $40,035 last weekend following a published report suggesting that Rezko funneled a $10,000 donation to Obama through a business associate. Aides to Obama say the senator had no knowledge of any such scheme.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-obama-rezko-clinton-080122,0,5430503.story

Rezko is tied to nearly every major politician in Illinois over the last couple decades going back to Jim Edgar under whom he received his first state contract. Rezko’s reputation as a slumlord largely got started after Obama was not practicing law full time and was largely dealt with by the City of Chicago and not state government entities.


FOR A FULL OVER VIEW SEE THE ARCH PUNDIT'S PRIMAR ON REZKO
http://archpundit.com/blog/2008/01/24/the-rezko-primer/

[NJSecularist]

2. Here comes the dumptruck

beep, beep, beep, beep, beep

[MADem]

12. ......

:rofl:

[Yael]

3. When does the thread limit start again?

[indimuse]

43. Truth threads ALLOWED!

<<<snip>>>

Obama Revealed in Rezko Corruption Investigation (Wizbang Blue)If you aren't familiar with Obama's other ties with Rezko not to worry, ... and a concurrent three

years for fraud; he was paroled after three years" from ...
wizbangblue.com/2008/01/19/obama-revealed-in-rezko-corruption-investigation.php - 54k -


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/taylor-marsh/obamas-faustian-bargain-_b_82863.html


BLITZER: I'm going to go to Suzanne Malveaux in a second, but I just want to give you a chance, Senator Obama, if you want to respond. Senator Clinton made a

serious allegation that you worked for a slumlord. And I wonder if you want to respond.


OBAMA: I'm happy to respond. Here's what happened: I was an associate at a law firm that represented a church group that had partnered with this individual to do a

project and I did about five hours worth of work on this joint project. That's what she's referring to.

--Democratic presidential debate sponsored by CNN and the Congressional Black Caucus Institute on January 21, 2008


This individual? Interesting that now Rezko is facing a federal trial on February 25th, Mr. Obama cannot speak his name. It's also interesting that Obama got smacked

with Rezko only after he slapped Clinton with WalMart, even though he's got his own problems on that regard. As recently as April 2007, Obama chose to back an

anti-union candidate in a run-off election against a labor-backed candidate for the Third Ward. And never mind that Antoin "Tony" Rezko and Barack Obama are deeply

linked throughout his political career and have been friends since 1990.


Mr. Obama has portrayed Mr. Rezko as a one-time fund-raiser whom he had occasionally seen socially. But interviews with more than a dozen political and business

associates suggest that the two men were closer than the senator has indicated.

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.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4355200

Captain_Nemo (917 posts) Sat Feb-02-08 06:53 PM
Original message
Obama, cheney's energy bill, Rezmar (Rezko), Iraq nuclear power plant. Lend me your ear and brain.
Obama voted for Cheney's energy bill - a giveaway to oil companies. Hillary voted no.

Rezko has a company called Rezmar. They are partnered with a British firm to build an Nuclear power plant in Iraq. Just asking...how come the MSM hasn't asked

him about this. further, how come the obama supporters haven't?

http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?storyid=10211...

MENAFN - 31/07/2005

(MENAFN) Rezmar Corp., a real estate development company entered into a joint venture with a British firm in a $150-million deal to build a power plant in Iraq.

The contract, signed with Iraq's ministry of electricity, calls for joint venture to supply power to Iraq for 10 years, according to a spokesman for Chicago-based Rezmar.

The 250-megawatt power plant is slated to be one of three power plants under construction at the same time. A Brazilian firm and an Iraqi company are building the

other two.

The Rezmar joint venture will be based in Jordan. Construction is slated to begin this fall.

[Blue State Bandit]

(Yawn)

[cloud75]

15. nice photoshop. n/t

[Blue State Bandit]

37. BLEEP!!!!

wrong answer!

[Nailzberg]

4. I have a lot of doubts about John Kass

He's no Royko, that's for sure.

[mopinko]

27. he is not fit to lick royko's boots, let alone fill his space.

john kass is a bushbot asslicker, and i am more than a little tired of this poster and it's insistence on posting opinion as news.
get this straight DU- the chicago tribune is a republican rag, and has been since the day it was founded. at one time they had the integrity to keep their bias to a minimum in their news stories, but since the days of st ronnie, they no longer bother. their op-ed pages are rife with the kind of writers who could make rush limbaugh blush.
john kass is a columnist. those with a brain here know the difference, clinton supporters not so much.

[MadBadger]

5. You're A Rezko Spam Artist.

[rodeodance]

32. and you are a Hillary slimer.

[ursi]

6. Chicago Trib is a conservative paper

[golddigger]

23. Yep, and they endorsed Obama...lol

:rofl:

[mopinko]

28. and john mc cain.

they endorsed obama for the democratic nomination.

[rodeodance]

33. but they also told him to come clear on the Reszo issue.

[jackson_dem]

35. They love Obama

They endorsed him when he ran for the House, when he ran for the Senate, wrote an editorial asking Obama to run for president, and recently endorsed Obama for president. I wonder what this right-wing rag likes so much about Obama?

[golddigger]

38. I've been trying to fiqure that one out too...n/t

:shrug:

[realFedUp]

7. Aside from the Chicago newspapers...I am not seeing this stuff

discussed by any of the political pundits.

Love your candidate, but know the facts.

[MADem]

18. Well, Chicago papers have the most complete coverage, but they aren't the only ones covering it.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections08/barackobama/story/0,,2252385,00.html

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/02/01/rezko/

The first article deals with how the GOP will approach the matter, the second is a pretty thorough, down-in-the-weeds SALON analysis.

Other papers crib off of the work of the Chicago papers, too.

[realFedUp]

30. The LA Times also did a couple days piece on it but not on TV

at least, not from Steph or Russert who
find it easier to keep talking about
the Clintons who we know more than enough
about.

Thanks for those links. The Trib does
have a long series on Obama that everyone
should read...even those who think he
walks on water.

[jackson_dem]

36. That's because the msm is on Obama's side...until he wins the nomination

[IndieLeft]

8. Non Story! Quit wasting our time with this.

[shayes51]

20. Nobody makes any of us click on a post.

[golddigger]

39. You must have a lot of time to waste by clicking and replying...n/t

:evilgrin:

[Danger Mouse]

9. spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam...

[thevoiceofreason]

10. That's right

The FBI has had this shit for 3-4 years and didn't pull Obama aside and say "you're dirty." This stuff is "just coming out." I call bullshit. But you know what? We'll see. Let's bet a steak dinner.

[BlackVelvet04]

11. There's that judgment word....

what kind of judgment is it to be so greedy for a house that you get in bed with a thug to get it?

[DB1]

13. If your sig line means you supported Joe Biden, then maybe........

you should actually support Obama instead of tearing him down. I see Obbama appointing Joe as Sec Of State or else a great VP choice. What do you think?

[Vinca]

14. If this story had any legs, the Clintons would be beating it to death

from early morning until late at night. Or are they just holding off because of the uranium mine deal and what's his face with the cash in the Caymans?

[Seeker30]

22. Why? So you can call them racists again?

[Vinca]

42. For the record, you are a liar. I have never called the Clintons racists. nt

[Egnever]

25. They cant afford to bring this sort of issue into the campaign

They are literally drowning in this kind of shit. If they start harping on it people start looking at them again and that is definitely something they don't want.

[blm]

16. Better check out THIS link.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/1/31/21045/9822/688/446786

Now THIS is alarming.

[dcindian]

17. What do you find so vile about Hillary..?

Do you have to hate spam another democrat in order to feel good about voting for her? I'm just not getting this....

[Garbo 2004]

19. Chicago Tribune endorsed Obama.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0127edit1jan27,0,847324.story

[golddigger]

21. But, but, but, it's a conservative newspaper...Lmao!

:rofl:

[rodeodance]

31. they also told him to come clear on the Resco issue.

[BlueJazz]

29. I always thought there was something Sleasy about Osama

[rodeodance]

34. Thanks

[in_cog_ni_to]

40. K & R! Sunlight is the best disinfectant! Better disinfect before the GE!

K & R!

[Straight Shooter]

41. Just a reminder for the doubters, trials reveal more than investigations by reporters.

Receive a subpoena duces tecum and produce those documents and next thing you know, it hits the fan. Transactions sooner or later necessitate a paper trail. I don't care how big or how fine-toothed the comb was that the Chicago papers used to scour through Obama's records, the prosecution is going to be using a mighty powerful microscope in their search for dirt.