Marathon Pundit: The never ending Rezko scandals

Saturday, November 01, 2008

The never ending Rezko scandals

Barack Obama's first political sponsor was Antoin "Tony" Rezko. The convicted felon is now incarcerated--it's irony time, folks--less than a mile from where "Obamapolooza" will take place on election night.

Rezko is locked up, but the investigations continue.

On Chicago's Northwest Side, Rezko and his longtime business partner, Dan Mahru, along with Ali Ata (a former aide to Governor Rod Blagojevich who pleaded guilty in April to lying to the FBI), wanted to construct some townhomes. But Mayor Richard M. Daley didn't want the homes to be built.

The Chicago Sun-Times has more:

Rezko and his partners paid $7.9 million for the vacant land in September 2001. Eleven months later, they sold it to Home Depot for $12.5 million — a 40 percent profit.

The sale infuriated neighbors who didn't want a busy store on the corner where an envelope factory had operated for decades.

Now, the deal is under federal investigation, a source familiar with the probe said. "There's a further case against Tony Rezko. It involves this property,'' the source said.

The sale came up earlier this year at the corruption trial of Rezko, a high-flying businessman and political fund-raiser who was found guilty of fraud charges and is now talking with federal prosecutors. The Addison-Kimball development involved several Rezko associates — including William F. Cellini, who was indicted last week on corruption charges.

But Alderman Dick Mell, the father-in-law of Blagojevich, didn't want the Home Depot built in his ward. But redistricting pushed the site out of Mell's ward, and then Daley became chairman of Blago's 2002 election campaign.

Another Chicago coincidence.

Giving further evidence of the bizarre nature of Illinois politics, after winning the election, Blago and Mell had a falling out and went months without speaking to each other. Their relationship has improved to "estranged."

Blagojevich is by all accounts under federal investigation, and it's possible his real estate agent wife--Mell's daughter, as you know--could be facing her own legal troubles. Which could make Mell family reunions a tense affair.

Things will be tense in Chicago, Cook County, and Springfield as long as US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is investigating crooked pols. Will he stay in Chicago?

The Wall Street Journal had this to say on Friday:

Along with John McCain, Mr. Obama explicitly pledged he wouldn't dismiss Mr. Fitzgerald. But does that mean the prosecutor won't be "promoted" out of Chicago? And while we're at it, will Mr. Obama rule out a pardon for Tony Rezko? Clarifying both points could keep the wheels of justice turning against corruption.