Obama Associates Now Include Convicted Felon

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Rezko and Obama….maybe not BFF’s but certainly not strangers:

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.

And today Mr. Rezko was convicted on 16 out of 24 charges including aiding and abetting bribery, money laundering, mail and wire fraud, and conspiracy to extort.

The jury convicted Rezko of wire and mail fraud, money laundering and aiding and abetting bribery. He was acquitted of attempted extortion

~~~

Testimony at the trial produced a series of stunning allegations of misconduct that went well beyond the scope of the criminal charges against Rezko.

Former state official Ali Ata told jurors he bought his post with bribes to Rezko and campaign contributions to Blagojevich. Ata was also one of several witnesses who said Rezko talked of a plot to kill the criminal probe against him by pulling strings with the Bush White House to get U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald fired.

The trial also provided ample fodder for cynics who see Illinois politicians as members of a cozy club motivated more by greed than altruism or ideology

~~~

Rezko befriended many Illinois politicians and was a major fundraiser for some, most prominently Blagojevich and Obama. The criminal charges against Rezko had nothing to do with his connection to Obama. But that link still proved a nagging headache for Obama during his Democratic presidential run, especially in the wake of Tribune revelations that tied Rezko to a 2005 real estate deal involving Obama’s South Side home.

Once again this shows why Obama is a poor choice for the Democrats to run as their nominee. He can give a speech but once it goes unscripted he tends to make gaffe after gaffe. He has little to no experience and no real ideas other then to “remake” the US of A. And over the months we have come to know associates of Obama including Wright, Pfleger, Meeks, Ayers and Dohrn. Racists and terrorists. Now we can add convicted felon to the list, a man who just so happened to raise 250 grand for his campaigns as he was engaging in this criminal activity.

The sentencing phase of his trial should get quite interesting. Rick Moran:

In short, while the governor and other top politicians in the state almost certainly should be worried about what Rezko might tell the prosecutor, no one can say for sure if Rezko would have anything of interest to spill about Barack Obama.

Time will tell.

More here.

UPDATE

Pretty good comparison going on around the blogosphere:

Obama on Tony Rezko:

“I’m saddened by today’s verdict. This isn’t the Tony Rezko I knew, but now he has been convicted by a jury on multiple charges that once again shine a spotlight on the need for reform. I encourage the General Assembly to take whatever steps are necessary to prevent these kinds of abuses in the future.”

Obama on Rev. Wright:

“I’ve known Rev. Wright for almost 20 years. The person that I saw yesterday was not the person I met 20 years ago. His comments were not only divisive and destructive, but I believe that they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate, and I believe that they do not portray accurately the perspective of the black church.”

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Does Hussein O have a friend that is not a racist, criminal or terrorists? So far none have shown up, including his loud mouth racist anti-american wife. No wonder the world is happy to see him ‘selected’ by the dhimmi’s. They know he’s too stupid to walk and chew gum at the same time and like they do Dimmy ‘Traitor’ Carter, they can take full advantage of him. Any enemy of the U.S. would be a fool not to support Hussein.

Out of all the pond scum at Obama’s feet, this little puddle is the least I worry about…

How would this compare with what McCain was censured for i.e. his actions with convicted felon Keating with whom he had multiple business dealings ?
Also Scrapiron why choose the insult “stupid” given to Obama ? After all he was the editor of the Harvard Law Review before his graduation from Harvard Law, while McCain finished damn near last in his class 894/899.

Of the Keatings Five, only two… John Glenn and John McCain were the only two exonerated, John Ryan. McCain accepted $112K in contributions over five years. The jet expenses were paid back a couple of years later. McCain admitted it all looked quite improper, and did not resist any penalties or punishment that could be imposed.

The 1991 report by the Senate Ethics Committee said McCain’s: “actions were not improper nor attended with gross negligence and did not reach the level of requiring institutional action against him.” And if my memory serves me correctly, the DNC was the majority party in the 102nd Congress.

The three Keatings Five Democrats involved – Alan Cranston, Dennis DeConcini, and Donald Riegle – didn’t fare so well. The Senate Ethics Committee determined in the same report that they “substantially and improperly interfered with the FHLBB in its investigation of Lincoln Savings.” All served out their terms, and none faced formal charges. But only Glenn and McCain ran again, and were re’elected.

How does this compare, you ask? McCain accepted contributions from Keatings and his associates. None were under investigation at that time.

By contrast, Rezko *was* under investigation, as “boneheaded” Obama admits he knew. Despite that, Obama still did questionable real estate deals for personal gain. To ice the cake, he used the same guy that he knew was under investigation as a fund raiser.

So you tell me how this compares…. McCain with no knowledge of investigation, jet expenses reimbursed, and cleared thru a Senate Ethics Committee. And Obama with full knowledge and not giving a flying fart what kind of man Rezko was, as long as it lined his political coffers. I’d say there’s a world of difference.

What a hoot… talking about lacking in originality sans written script.

Obama quote on Rezko from the Chicago Tribune today:

“This isn’t the Tony Rezko I knew….but now he has been convicted by a jury on multiple charges that once again shine a spotlight on the need for reform. I encourage the General Assembly to take whatever steps are necessary to prevent these kinds of abuses in the future.”

Obama quote on Wright from The Tribune’s blog, The Swamp:

“…the person I saw yesterday was not the person that I had come to know over 20 years.”

More from the same “divorce” days..

“Based on his remarks Tuesday, well, I may not know him as well as I thought either”

Poor boy… all his ol’ friends *suddenly* revealing their darker sides to him! What’s a gullible pol to do but take that impeccable judgment to the Oval Office?

Oh so Now His Real Estate Agent is Bad so He is Bad ….. What if His Landscaper Smoked Crack .. i Guess You will be reporting that he was responsible for that TOO ..

He was a little more than just his Real Estate Agent. This along with his racist Rev, terrorist friends from Chicago will be his downfall if the MSM actually reports on it. But highly doubt the MSM will report this on the Messiah Obama. He is their man and will do all that the can in thier power to preotect him from his associations and friends in the Chicago Machine

You sure picked a good name for yourself, Missy….

This isn’t simply knowing a sleazy real estate investor, known for his illegal kick backs, BTW. My eyebrows raise for two reasons:

1: Obama specifically wanted that vacant lot to close simultaneously with his own home purchase. This would be the only way he could expand his yard by doing a lot line adjustment with the new owners. He needed to know, and be able to bargain with, the new owners. So he calls Rezko as the simultaneous buyer…knowing very well the slum lord was under investigation. Rezko arranges the purchase under his wife’s name.

2: He then pays Rezko $104K for a piece of property that appraised for $40K. my my, that’s a hefty profit (or kickback?) there. It had to have been cash, since lenders don’t knowingly issue mortgages larger than properties’ appraisal values. In case you’re wondering, it’s called mortgage fraud. Even now, there’s many a lawsuit coming out of this subprime mess, dealing with those who arranged such deals for over inflated property prices. Paying cash avoids this problem.

Obama himself says:

“With respect to the purchase of my home, I am confident that everything was handled ethically and above board. But I regret that while I tried to pay close attention to the specific requirements of ethical conduct, I misgauged the appearance presented by my purchase of the additional land from Mr. Rezko,” Obama said.

“It was simply not good enough that I paid above the appraised value for the strip of land that he sold me. 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, to believe that he had done me a favor,” the senator said.

Well, oops! What else are we to believe if BHO overpays to the tune of $64K? That he’s that stupid on real estate? I don’t think so. What’s left is wondering just what he was paying Rezko back *for*.

The bottom line here is that Obama is a very poor judge of character. And, on top of that, fairly inattentive.

On Rezko: “This isn’t the Tony Rezko I knew.”

On Wright: “I’ve known Rev. Wright for almost 20 years. The person that I saw yesterday was not the person I met 20 years ago.”

Obama: From the pews, I did not hear Rev. Wright give those sermons that are attributed to him (paraphrasing Obama, in which he later amended that he heard parts of those sermons).

So, when a President Obama is in “talks without precondition” with the Iranians, he’ll be representing us. I’m not so sure we should be comfortable with that notion, but rather very uneasy with that prospect. What will he concede to gain additional “talks” or an agreement?