Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Who is Tony Rezko, and what does he have to do with Barack Obama?
For those of you who have paid no attention to Tony Rezko, his criminal trial, and the links to Barack Obama (a group that includes me, actually), the Times of London has a FAQ on the micro-scandal. Main point:
The Obamas bought a mock Georgian mansion in Chicago in June 2005, after he was elected to the US Senate. Mr Rezko’s wife, Rita, bought the adjacent garden [British for "yard," in case you are a Yank. - ed.] on the same day from the same seller. The sellers say that Mr Obama and Mr Rezko toured the property together before the transaction. At the time, it was already known that Mr Rezko was under criminal investigation. Mrs Rezko paid the full asking price of $625,000 (£315,000) for the garden. The Obamas paid $1.65 million for the house – $300,000 below asking price. The garden could be accessed only through the Obamas’ property, and Mr Obama’s gardener mowed the lawn. In January 2006, Mrs Rezko sold a 10ft strip of her garden to the Obamas for $104,500 and a fence was erected between the two lots. Mrs Rezko has since sold the remainder of the garden to a lawyer for her husband’s business.
In other words, Rezko effectively subsidized the purchase of Barack Obama's home and yard to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars, the actual amount depending on whether you believe the yard and the house would have been bifurcated and sold separately without cooperation between the buyers.
Note to the Obamas: Real estate records are forever. It is a lot easier to hide the ball in the cattle futures pit.
6 Comments:
By 
, at
Tue Mar 04, 11:24:00 PM:
The Rezko-Obama story has been discussed ad nauseum in the Chicago papers for months. Why hasn't it gotten more play? Because the Illinois political machine includes both parties - what tars one candidate will inevitably come back to hit others in his own and the other party and the pressure to ignore it has been intense. Rezko is connected to Obama, Blagojevich and Daley, as well as the central players in the Republican party here. The reality is that Obama, like everyone who rises to power here, did so with the help of some of the most corrupt political organizations in the country, and he won't emerge from this as the squeaky clean candidate that he is portrayed to be.
By , at
Wed Mar 05, 11:59:00 AM:
I don't think the Obama-Rezko connection, in and of itself, is a deal killer for his nomination or election.
When you look back at the dirty water surrounding the Clintons' in Arkansas; Whitewater land deals, Madison Guarantee S & L, cattle futures, etc., The Rose Law Firm, there was a real, consistent pattern of sleaze.
If Obama's relationshipe with Rezko is the ONLY suspicious money deal in his life, frankly, he looks pretty clean to me.
He has already admitted it was "a dumb thing to do".
In Ohio, John Glenn was always heavily connected to Paul Tipps. Outside of Ohio, who knows who Paul Tipps is, anyways. But he was once the State Democratic Party Chairman, and a pretty sleazy wheeler-dealer, too.
And John McCain has the cross of Frank Keating to bear.
-David
By 
Purple Avenger, at
Wed Mar 05, 07:37:00 PM:
If Obama's relationshipe with Rezko is the ONLY suspicious money deal in his life
Ummm....he was a pol who came up out of Chicago. The Rezko thing is likely to turn out to be one of his more minor indiscretions.
You're hoping like he was the only (relatively) honest guy in Tamany Hall. Bad bet.
By , at
Wed Mar 05, 09:04:00 PM:
Here's my take away. the real estate developer Rezko finds out Obama is looking to purchase a home. Rezko recommends the home in question. They tour the home together and find out that the owners want to sell the home and the lot together, which Obama can't afford. Obama can only afford $1,650,000. Rezko says, "No problem. I can make money on selling the side lot, you can buy the house". What's the big deal?
The owners have recently issued a statement that all bids were coming in to low for the home anyway.
By , at
Wed Mar 05, 10:30:00 PM:
Anonymous 9:04, I don't think you understand the deal. Obama and Rezko (actually Rezko's wife), who was a contributor to Obama's campaigns and a former client of Obama's (although apparently not in a material way) bought the adjoining properties on the same day. Rezko paid the full asking price for the lot, Obama paid $300K below the asking price for the house. Rezko later sold a piece of the lot back to Obama. No matter how you look at it, it's hard to avoid the fact that Rezko absorbed a portion of the overall price for the property on Obama's behalf. Oddly, Rezko had no money at the time for the deal. Coincidentally, he was lent $3.5 million a few weeks before the real estate deal by Nadhmi Auchi, British-Iraqui billionaire business partner who was implicated in the Oil for Food Scandal, but never prosecuted. As an aside, I worked on some of Rezko's real estate deals as an attorney (on the other side). Nothing I read about this comes as a surprise.
By , at
Tue Apr 01, 10:04:00 PM:
It is interesting that The London Times made a connection to a money trail from Rezko to Auchi to the Oil for Food Scandal of which Saddam was the architect...and I'd like to know why The London Times knows far more than the American public about Tony Rezko.
