The headline of a June 18, 2007 Chicago Sun-Times story read "Rezko cash triple what Obama says." But that was in a local newspaper, albeit a big one, at a time when few people outside of Illinois had heard of allegedly crooked political insider Tony Rezko.
But when ABC News.com has this headline, "$100K Worth of Obama Contributions Still Linked to Rezko?" on its home page, it's a big problem for Barack Obama. While not quite a household name, not many folks who follow politics can say they haven't hear of Tony Rezko.
On Wednesday the presidential hopeful told Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America, "We have returned any money that we know was associated to Mr. Rezko."
But how hard was the campaign staff of the Chicago Democrat looking for Rezko-connected campaign contributions?
That's difficult to say, but clearly, ABC News looked harder.
The Obama campaign says it has given away more than $85,000 in Rezko-linked contributions since Rezko was indicted on federal fraud and extortion charges in the fall of 2006.
An ABCNews.com review, however, has identified an additional $100,000 in contributions made to Obama from Rezko's associates that have not been returned, including $19,500 in contributions from Rezko's wife and employees of Rezko's business enterprises. The ABCNews.com review includes individuals who have been linked to Rezko in news reports, court documents and public records.
Other news organizations have reviewed Obama's campaign finance records and have also found Rezko-linked contributions that are more than double what the campaign has publicly acknowledged. The Chicago Sun-Times, which published its review last June, found that "Obama has collected at least $168,308 from Rezko and his circle," and earlier this week the Los Angeles Times reported that it had found that Rezko and his associates had given "Obama more than $200,000 in donations since 1995."
Looking at ABC News' second list, one name jumps out, that of Allison Davis. He's the former name partner of Obama's samllish law firm, which is now known as Miner Barnhill & Galland. After leaving the firm, which had performed legal work for Rezko, Davis went into business with with the political insider, and remain partners with Rezko "in a technical sense."
Obama can hardly claim not to know Davis. After all, Davis was once one of his bosses.
Davis' contributions go back to 1999, when he contributed $1,000 to Obama's state Senate campaign fund, a large amount for a legislative race even in Chicago, and definitely something Obama would've noticed when the check arrived.
On June 30, 2007, two weeks after Obama donated some Rezko-tied cash to charity, Davis made a $2,300 contribution to his former employee's campaign fund.
Obama will still probably win the South Carolina Primary on Saturday, but in my opinion, he is in some serious trouble after that.
Last summer, Chicago radio-talker Roe Conn of WLS-AM remarked, after an instance of Obama donating some Rezko-tied funds to charity, "That the test of Obama's presidential hopes will be--can he survive Tony Rezko?" Those may have not been the exact words, but that was his sentiment.
I believe the anwswer to that question is "No."
Related posts:
Ill. corruption watch: Obama donates Rezko associate's contribution to charity
Obama donates more Rezko tainted donations to charity
Obama gives up donation from man with Rezko ties
Obama ditching more Rezko linked cash, but what about Hillary and IPA?
Rezko cash three times what Obama claims
Obama once again donates Rezko linked funds to charity
Obama-Rezko flashback: Future senator's ex-boss a Rezko biz partner
The real story of an Obama Chicago fundraising event
Scroll down for more recent Rezko-Obama posts.
Thanks for the link:
Pajamas Media
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