Handy Guide to how the Clinton Machine is lying about the Rezko "Connection"

The Obamas submitted three bids: $1.3 million on Jan. 15, 2005; $1.5 million on Jan. 21; and $1.65 million on Jan. 23, according to a copy of the sale contract shown to Bloomberg News. Obama received more than $1.2 million in book royalties and a book advance in 2005, the year he was sworn in to the U.S. Senate, his financial disclosure statement shows.

The e-mail between Wondisford and the campaign adviser also says that the sellers had ``stipulated that the closing dates for the two properties were to be the same.'' In January 2006, Rita Rezko sold the Obamas one-sixth of the lot, for $104,500, to expand their yard. She later sold the rest of the land to Michael Sreenan, who said by e-mail yesterday that he bought it in late December 2006 for $575,000.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aR8NLIoQEDc4&refer=politics

We've been hearing for weeks from the national punditry that Barack Obama hasn't been fully vetted by the media. I think that's mostly wrong, and I angrily told that to a national reporter who called me last week.

(snip)

At the Tribune's request, Cook County Circuit Court Chief Judge Timothy Evans produced a list of all 260 civil and criminal cases in which the firm filed appearances, and the Tribune separately examined 1990s lawsuits that Rezmar Corp. listed in applications for government grants. The paper also examined files from the Illinois Housing Development Authority and the city housing department, as well as the hundreds of clients Obama listed in the unusually frank ethics disclosure reports he filed as a state senator from December 1995 through April 2004.

(snip)

A Tribune review of land and court documents and law firm files as well as correspondence and other records related to Obama's eight years as an Illinois state lawmaker supports his contention that he did not directly represent Rezko's development firm. Instead, the records show, he represented non-profit community groups that partnered with Rezko's firm.
This was actually to be expected. The clintons' tactics have always been attack their opponents and question their motives. Attack is almost their first instinct whenever challenged. one doesn't get the sense that they actually think about the ramifications of what they are using. but that's another point.

(snip)

Obama has been accused of no wrongdoing involving Rezko and has insisted that he never used his office to benefit Rezko.

Thus far, there is little in the public record to suggest otherwise, and the few exceptions that have come to light appear minor. On Capitol Hill, Obama once gave a summer internship to the son of a Rezko business associate on Rezko's recommendation. Earlier, as a state senator, Obama was one of several South Side political and community leaders who wrote state and city officials urging approval of public funding for a senior housing project involving Rezko.

But when Rezko pushed for passage in Springfield of a major gambling measure, Obama vocally opposed it.

(snip)

It's easy to forget today, but in the years before 2005, Rezko enjoyed a reputation in Illinois as an up-and-coming, even enlightened entrepreneur with a strong interest in the risky low-income and affordable housing markets that relied on tax credits and other government assistance. He also was a reliable source of campaign cash for an array of politicians from both parties.

The fact that Rezko was also a minority in a city where minorities have rarely gained power without coalescing in a broad coalition (commonly called the blacks, browns and white liberals) explains some of obama's connection to him. But the identification of young political talent has long been a favorite of chicago's big players, and rezko was clearly eager to be one of those.

(snip)

After earning his degree, Obama returned to Chicago, ran a voter registration drive, began work on an autobiography and in 1993 went to work in a small but influential law firm now known as Miner, Barnhill & Galland.

The firm had long served non-profits engaged in affordable housing, and several initiatives involved Rezko's Rezmar Corp., according to a mid-1990s document from the firm that Obama attached to his state ethics reports.

In addition, one of the law firm's founding partners, Allison Davis, developed personal financial ties to Rezko. Davis later left the firm to become a for-profit developer, sometimes in deals with Rezko.

Affordable housing is a huge issue in the chicagoland area, especially as the chicago housing authority was proceeding with its plans to tear down huge public housing complexes. mayor daley choose to allow private developers to replace the public housing stock, using vouchers instead of administering huge housing complexes. In effect, Daley was trying to rid chicago of the homeless and the poor, to distribute them throughout the region, or encourage them to move south.

Obama was one of the many black elected officials who actively worked to replenish affordable housing stock. Rezmar was one of the players involved (and perhaps the main player in Obama's state senate district).

(snip)

Law firm partner Judson Miner said that, over several years, Obama did a total of five to seven hours of billable work on Rezmar-linked projects. He mainly filed incorporation papers for the non-profit groups under the supervision of more senior attorneys, Miner said.

(snip)

But for the national types to claim that Obama's past is mostly unknown is just a total crock. All they have to do is comb through the Tribune and CS-T's archives, or try the Google. A lot of very hard work has already been done, and is still being done today. Too many reporters based in DC, or NY, or LA think that all there is to know is in their own publications.

The problem with trumpeting the Rezko story is that it is small potatoes in the scheme of a presidential election. Sure, hillary hates slumlords, but what has she done about affordable housing? She likes to tout her experience and claims she's changed the world, but then attacks Barack for his work in this area and his willingness to join other Democrats to take away wedge issues from Republicans.

None of this is to excuse the crimes that Rezko has committed. He has used his position for ill, and elicited bribes, from what I can tell. But no one has found (yet) anything that connects Obama to illegal, unethical or immoral behavior.

Links:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-obama-rezko-clinton-080122,0,5430503.story?page=2&coll=chi_tab01_layout
http://dpandrews.mydd.com/story/2008/1/23/101437/409

As Hsu raised more than $800,000 for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign, the couple praised him at star-studded events and showered him with thank-you notes. Hsu often wore a bomber jacket that bore the presidential seal, a gift from the former president, he told associates.

Documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times show how Hsu's business associates traded on his connections — going so far as to claim that former President Clinton was a Hsu client — to lure investors into a scheme that took in tens of millions of dollars nationwide.

A marketing brochure distributed by an Orange County firm to attract investors to Hsu's business claimed the 56-year-old Hong Kong native's "extensive political investment community includes former President Bill Clinton, who continues to invest to this day."

(snip)

Hsu invited business associates to fundraisers, where they rubbed shoulders with celebrities and Democratic Party luminaries. Their word of mouth helped establish Hsu's bona fides with potential investors.
But the brochure and the lawsuit filed in October by Gregory and Joyce Adams lay out for the first time how Hsu's network pitched the deals that allegedly turned his Clinton ties into gold.

Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign has donated to charity or to the U.S. Treasury the $23,000 that came directly from Hsu and has refunded more than $800,000 in contributions linked to him — including $6,900 from Cornish and his wife.
Adams was not among the donors, Tidus said.

Hsu remains in the San Mateo County Jail, awaiting sentencing on the 1992 theft charge.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-na-hsu3dec03,1,2497294,full.story?coll=la-headlines-business&ctrack=1&cset=true