Marathon Pundit: Obama can't shake Tony Rezko

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Obama can't shake Tony Rezko

On ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulous," the former Clinton staffer asked Obama why he had a "blind spot" for indicted Democratic political insider Tony Rezko.

From Lynn Sweet's Chicago Sun-Times column:

Obama: "Well, you know, I think that, you know, we had bought a house for the first time and, you know, we were trying to figure out how to set the whole thing up and, you know, this is somebody that I had known for some time. It was an aboveboard legal transaction. I paid more than the price of the property that I purchased and so the assumption was that this was all aboveboard."

Well said, except that this was not the first time Obama went through the process of buying a residence. Obama and his wife bought a condominium in Hyde Park before purchasing their mansion in Kenwood. Perhaps Obama was making a distinction between buying a condo and a stand-alone home. But Obama was not the first-time residential purchaser he portrayed in the interview.

Obama tried to polish his ethics credentials on the show, stating "I'm very proud of my ethics record. I mean, I was famous in Springfield for not letting lobbyists even buy me lunch."

More from Sweet:

However, Obama had a healthy appetite for money from lobbyists and political action committees while a state senator. Just looking at one of his state senate campaign cycles, in 2001-2002, Obama's state war chest accepted donations from, among other sources, the Manufacturers PAC; the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association; the Illinois Education Association; the Illinois Hospital Association, and the Credit Union PAC. A good place to check out Obama's campaign contribution record as a state senator is www.ilcampaign.org.

Obama also used lobbyists and PACs to help him raise money for his U.S. Senate run and his Hopefund. Obama experienced a conversion once he decided to run for the White House, changing his policy and declining to take money from currently registered federal lobbyists and PACs. He does take contributions from lobbyists with state clients and from individuals with government affairs jobs.