Who the heck is Rezko?

[ProudToBeLiberal]

i heard the name for the first time in the CNN debate...

[AlCzervik]

1. here you go, have a blast.

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=tony+rezko&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

[ProudToBeLiberal]

9. uh oh, this gonna become huge!

shit, why oh why did Senator Obama attacked Hillary on the Wal-Mart thing. The attacked opened it up for Senator Clinton to mention the Rezko scandal.

[AlCzervik]

10. lots of stuff there to keep you busy for awhile, get some advil and beer and a scorecard.

[JackBeck]

14. It's all calculated imho.

All camps know what is at stake and have already prepared their candidates to respond appropriately.

What I'd find more interesting is how the candidates would respond to BCCI and the information that Sibel has uncovered.

[madrchsod]

2. yes have fun......

the trial is starting in a couple of weeks...

[sunonmars]

3. Dont worry you'll find out in the next few days

now its going to be all over the news now Hillary dropped Obama in the brown stuff.

[grantcart]

5. straight into the santorum lol

[emilyg]

17. He did start first.

[Captain_Nemo]

4. Obama's friend of 19 years.

[EFerrari]

6. He's Obama's Norman Hsu.

Clinton Backs Away From Fugitive Donor With Daly City Ties


http://www.nbc11.com/news/14007073/detail.html

Face it,we need public funding for campaigns. This isn't about Obama. It's about how campaigns are big business more than they are about the populace choosing anything.

[sunonmars]

7. except Obama's ties back 19 years

bit harder to fleck off

[EFerrari]

11. Oh, please. I refuse to dive into the Clinton sewer of cronies.

This is a really dumb road to go down if one is a Clinton supporter.

[aquart]

20. Go there.

Our sewer has had roto rooter.

You really think you're going to get away with "sewer" and not one link?

[EFerrari]

25. You bet. You spend your spare time in the muck

helping your candidate dig herself in deeper. I've never seen such an obviously self destructive move.

Have fun. Take a towel.

[aquart]

28. And yet, no links.

I feel...fear...

[ProudToBeLiberal]

12. reading the news article, I was thinking the same thing, but

I remember that Barack responded by saying that he only associated with Rezko for only 5 years. He just got caught in a blatant untruth...

I think this is going to become bigger than the whole Norman Hsu Scandal.

[EFerrari]

13. It will if the Clintons have anything to do with it.

Because it's so much more important than the issues and also, right up their mudflinging alley.

Unfortunately for them, a lot of people have big fat files on their cronies. Advantage, Obama.

[aquart]

31. Not so far, however.

It's okay. We can wait.

[aquart]

23. He was still in school when Rezko contacted him.

How long ago was that?

[MagsDem]

24. Actually he said 5 hrs of legal work

Brings back memories of GW Bush and his pretending he barely knew Ken Lay. Obama told a blantant lie about his association with Rezko during the debate, and that is going to come back to haunt him big time.

[aquart]

29. "5 hours of work" and the guy helps him buy a house???

Musta been some work.

[MagsDem]

32. Obama was lying

He's been friends and associated with the guy for nearly 20 yrs. I swear, I just don't understand how people can get up in front of millions and millions of people and tell such complete blatant lies. It's completely disgusting. This is not a gray issue open to interpretation -- he just flat out lied.

[aquart]

34. And you just realized he can do that with complete sincerity.

Did you read the quotes they have from him on the house deal? Alberto Gonzales couldn't have done better.

[MagsDem]

35. I have not read those quotes....

But nothing would surprise me after I heard him tell that whopper tonight. I really don't care for him for many, many reasons. He's right up there with the likes of Joe Liebermann to me, so I haven't spent much time digging into stuff, although I do know enough about it to know he's had a very long association with the guy he claimed tonight to barely know. I basically think he is a complete wuss, spineless, and not very progressive, so wouldn't want to vote for him even without the Rezko stuff.

[aquart]

37. I didn't know a thing about it until last week.

I took his supporters at their word on his virtuous saintliness...which is not a recommendation for the presidency IMHO.

The Chicago Tribune did some reasonable articles on Obama. I read exactly two. But I see him very differently now. I don't necessarily hate him for ruthless ambition. Actually, that makes me LESS nervous if he's the candidate. But careless corruption is something else. If he's gonna do it, he needs to be better at it.

Or he could have just bought a cheaper house.

[aquart]

38. Here's the links:

<http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-0611010273nov01,1,2716725.story>

<http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-070403obama-ballot,0,1843097.story>

[papau]

8. It is a multi year story which with together with O's wife getting a 160% raise when he won Senate

seat are the things the GOP will slime him with in the fall if nominated - as we know, it is how things look - not how they are - that our GOP friends push.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama

Source confirmed Obama is the UN-NAMED "political candidate" referred to in document which outlines case against Rezko

January 19, 2008
BY DAVE MCKINNEY, NATASHA KORECKI, CHRIS FUSCO AND TIM NOVAK Staff Reporters

For the first time, Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama has surfaced in the federal corrupton case against his longtime campaign fund-raiser, Tony Rezko, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

RELATED STORIES
Q&A: With Obama Presidential Campaign Special Section: Barack Obama
FROM THE SUN-TIMES ARCHIVE

* Barack Obama and his slumlord patron
* Why didn't City Hall stop him?
* Obama's letters for Rezko
* Rezko cash triple what Obama says
* Obama: I didn't know about Rezko problems
* Obama ducks the questions
* City should have cut off Rezko: aldermen

The allegations against Rezko that involve Obama are contained in one paragraph of a 78-page document filed last month in which prosecutors outline their corruption and fraud case against Rezko, who was also a key money man for Gov. Blagojevich and other politicians.

Rezko is set to go to trial Feb. 25. The revelation that Obama�s name could come up in court........ is a political headache he doesn�t need as he heads into a round of primaries that are likely to determine his party�s nomination for president.

Obama is not named in the Dec. 21 court document. But a source familiar with the case confirmed that Obama is the unnamed �political candidate� referred to in a section of the document that accuses Rezko of orchestrating a scheme in which a firm hired to handle state teacher pension investments first had to pay $250,000 in �sham� finder�s fees. From that money, $10,000 was donated to Obama�s successful run for the Senate in the name of a Rezko business associate, according to the court filing and the source.

*Rezko, who was part of Obama�s senatorial finance committee, also is accused of directing �at least one other individual� to donate money to Obama and then reimbursing that individual � in possible violation of federal election law.

A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald declined to comment.



Obama campaign aides said Friday he was unaware Rezko was behind the contributions cited in last month�s court filing or that the document referred to the senator.
�We have no way of knowing he is the politician named here,� spokesman Bill Burton said, �but we returned this money months ago for other reasons.�




Obama donated more than $44,000 in Rezko-linked contributions to charity last year, including the $10,000 donation mentioned in the court filing. Hmmmmmmmmmm?




That money was donated to Obama by Joseph Aramanda, a Glenview businessman and Rezko associate who, sources have said, is the �Individual D� prosecutors say received the $250,000 in finder�s fees demanded by Rezko. Individual D did nothing to earn those fees, according to prosecutors.

The $10,000 contribution to Obama was given in Aramanda�s name on March 5, 2004, records show. While Obama�s camp has said the senator did not know Aramanda, Obama�s office hired Aramanda�s son as an intern in 2005, at Rezko�s urging.

Repeated attempts to reach Aramanda, who was involved in pizza franchises Rezko owned, were unsuccessful. He has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
A longstanding relationship

*************************************************In Tonights Debate Among The Three Leading Candidates************************************************


************************************Some KEY Points That Obam "Neglected" To Mention When Questioned About His Dealings WITH A Chicago SLUMLORD!!!!!!!********************


*Rezko is one of Obama�s earliest political patrons. Long known as a prolific fund-raiser, the Syrian-born businessman helped raise money for Obama�s political campaigns beginning in 1995, when Obama was running for the Illinois Senate.




*In 13 years in politics, Obama has gotten at least $168,000 in campaign donations from Rezko, his family and business associates. The Sun-Times reported that figure last June. Obama�s �best estimate� seven months earlier had been that Rezko had raised no more than $60,000 for him.




*When Obama ran for the U.S. Senate, Rezko held a June 27, 2003, cocktail party in Rezko�s Wilmette mansion, picking up the tab for the lavish event. Obama�s campaign staff has said it has no records to show who attended that party, or how much it cost.




*Obama�s relationship with Rezko dates to 1990, when Obama, then a Harvard law student, interviewed for a job with Rezko�s development company, Rezmar Corp. Obama turned down the job, instead going to work for a small Chicago law firm � Davis Miner Barnhill

************************************************Davis Miner Barnhill Law Firm***********************

"THAT" Law Firm did work on more than a dozen low-income housing projects i.e., (SLUM RENTAL PROPERTIES),Rezmar rehabbed with government funds.



*Eleven Rezmar buildings were in the state Senate district Obama represented between 1996 and 2004. Many of the buildings ended up in foreclosure, with tenants living in squalid conditions, the Sun-Times reported last year. TENANTS LIVING IN SQUALID CONDITIONS)

In one instance, Rezko�s company left tenants without heat for five weeks.

Obama said he was unaware of problems with the buildings and minimized the legal work he'd done.???????????????

Obama�s relationship with Rezko grew closer in June 2005, when Obama and Rezko�s wife bought adjoining real estate parcels from a doctor in the South Side Kenwood neighborhood. Obama paid $1.65 million for the doctor�s mansion, while Rezko�s wife paid $625,000 for the vacant lot next door.


Obama�s purchase price was $300,000 below the asking price; Rezko�s wife paid full price.???????????????????????????? $300,000 BELOW THE ASKING PRICE AND THE REZKOS' WIFE PAID FULL PRICE....????

Six months later, Obama paid Rita Rezko $104,500 for one-sixth of the vacant lot, which he bought to expand his yard. In November 2006, he expressed regret about the transaction. ?????????????

�It was a mistake to have been engaged with him at all in this or any other personal business dealing that would allow him, or anyone else,� Obama said, �to believe that he had done me a favor.�

[EFerrari]

16. Thank goodness the GOP has no "multi year" stories to slime Hillary with.

:shrug:

[aquart]

30. Clearly, YOU don't.

[aquart]

19. Not exactly.

You missed the valuation of the one-sixth of the lot. That's where the hair starts to stand up on the back of your neck. Roughly one year after house and lot were purchased on the same day by two different buyers, Obama and Mrs. Rezko, Obama had the one-sixth of Mrs. Rezko's lot valued. The valuation was $40,500. If you times it by six, the value of the lot was $243,000. Did land values drop like a stone in one year? Because Mrs. Rezko paid $625,000 for that lot. I don't know what "full price" means in this context. $382,000 over market value is a very "full price" indeed.

It is only in the context of the lot valuation that Obama's house purchase, one year earlier, begins to look...odd. He paid $300,000 LESS. Mrs. Rezko seems to have paid $382,000 MORE.

The things friends do for friends.

[ChiciB1]

21. And We Are Democrats Talking... Wait For The Repukes... And On

both Clinton AND Obama!

[ProSense]

15. More

here

[ProudToBeLiberal]

18. thanks, seems like he wasn't directly involved

but what disturbs me is that he bought some land from Rezko after he was indicted. This kind of complicates the picture...

[aquart]

22. NO! That is NOT the problem. You're being misdirected.

It is completely irrelevant WHEN the deal was done.

It's not the time. It's the math. On the same day, Mr. Obama bought a house for $300,000 LESS while Mrs. Rezko bought the adjoining lot for $382,000 MORE than it would be valued roughly a year later.

That's the red flag that caused the media to smell a scandal.

[ProudToBeLiberal]

26. ahhh so it's the money rather than the timeline? nt

[aquart]

27. Yep.

I gave the details of the house and lot sales to a California relative without location or names. Asked him what he thought. He said, "Sounds like the Dukester." That's Duke Cunningham, his former congressman, currently a prison inmate.

Trying telling the details to someone you know. See what they say.

[ProudToBeLiberal]

33. guys the Rezko news is spreading like wildfire...uh oh

I just checked google, and there is over 4000 articles that mention Rezko when they talk about the CNN debate. Damn

[aquart]

36. Remember: they haven't found any indictable evidence.

Which means he can put himself on a par with Clinton if he chooses. The Republicans were never able to indict on Whitewater, but they still claimed it was dirty. They claimed a lot of things were dirty but they never had any evidence. So Obama can cleanse himself to the public by insisting it's an identical persecution. Oh, and I'm sure he'll add, more in sorrow than in anger, that having gone thru it themselves, the Clintons should know better.

And he and his supporters will nod their heads sagely.

So Rezko, smelly as it is, is still a two-edged sword without an indictment.