Marathon Pundit: Tony Rezko: Just somebody Obama knew?

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Tony Rezko: Just somebody Obama knew?

Granted I'm more partisan than most mainstream media columnists and I don't have an editor to answer to, but the Chicago Sun-Times' Mark Brown has hopped on the Marathon Pundit bandwagon regarding Obama and Rezko.

I posted an entry on January 15 titled Obama: Answer Rezko questions now--yourself.

Brown writes today that in regards to the "Tony Rezko hot potato" Obama needs to get a handle on it soon or "his campaign for the presidency is going to be badly burned."

And the senator's dismissal that Rezko is just "somebody I knew," according to Brown "is such an understatement that it borders on a falsehood."

More from his column:

This is somebody who spotted Obama's raw talent and offered him a job while he was still in law school, somebody who gave him one of his very first campaign donations for his first political race. This is somebody for whom Obama and his law firm performed legal work, not a great deal of it by Obama personally perhaps, but enough to know how the man made his money and that he was one of the major developers of low-income housing in his state legislative district.

This is somebody who was one of the key fund-raisers for Obama's U.S. Senate campaign, somebody who came through with big money at a crucial juncture in a difficult primary contest.

And let's not forget this is somebody who bought the piece of real estate adjoining Obama's home, then sold the senator part of it, in a strange transaction about which key details have never been disclosed -- owing in part to the curious refusal of the real estate agents and prior owners to discuss it.

I'd like to add that Rezko sponsored a key early fundraiser for Obama in the summer of 2003, perhaps the "crucial juncture" Brown was referring to, when the future "rock star" was a decided underdog in the race for an open U.S. Senate seat. Blair Hull was the favorite, but he later imploded because of a spousal abuse charge. Dan Hynes, the Illinois state comptroller was also in the race, he enjoyed far-greater name recognition than Obama.

That fundraiser was held in Rezko's Wilmette mansion, pictured above.

Just somebody Obama knew?

From a June, 2007 Chicago Sun-Times article:

"This was discussed a lot. They wanted to have a good showing," said a source familiar with the fund-raiser, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"Tony was one of the biggest fund-raisers."

At the time of the party, the state was in the process of foreclosing on a low-income apartment building Rezko's company rehabbed in Obama's state Senate district -- a rehab project on which Obama's law firm worked. Rezko had also abandoned many other low-income apartments, leaving numerous vacant units in need of major repairs.