There is an old proverb: Lay down with dogs — wake up with fleas. Right now the case of Tony Rezko is biting the Obama campaign and to scratch it will open up old wounds.
Rezko is a Syrian immigrant who rose to power inside Chicago, becoming a well-known "slumlord" and a player in Illinois politics. He was convicted in June of 16 counts of corruption. According to the charges, Rezko ripped off $6 million from the state of Illinois through kickbacks while working for the administration of current Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Rezko was also one of Obama's earliest supporters.
In 1995, when Obama ran for a seat in the Illinois Senate, Rezko, through two of his companies, donated thousands of dollars to the Obama campaign. Ironically, Obama won the election in a district that included 11 of Rezko's 30 low-income housing projects.
In 2003, Rezko held a lavish fundraiser at his Wilmette, Ill., mansion for Obama's Senate election. In fact, Rezko raised big dollars for Obama.
Still, Rezko and Obama had more than just a political relationship. In 2005, when Rezko was under federal investigation for influence peddling, Obama and Rezko's wife, Rita, bought adjacent pieces of property from a Chicago doctor.
The doctor sold one parcel to Obama for $1.65 million, $300,000 below the market price, while Rezko's wife paid full price, $625,000, for an adjacent vacant lot. Curiously, Mrs. Rezko made a $125,000 down payment and obtained a $500,000 mortgage when financial records shown at the Rezko trial noted that she had a salary of only $37,000 and assets of $35,000. The court records also show her husband had few assets at the time.
Obama claims that in buying his house in 2005, he also got a low mortgage rate from Northern Trust bank because another bank made a competitive bid for his loan. The only problem is the Obama campaign refuses to identify the other bank or show any proof of a competitive loan offer.
Six months later, Obama purchased a 10-foot wide strip of the Rezko property, paying Rezko's wife $104,500. According to Obama, the 10-foot strip was for a bigger yard. Still, the deal also rendered the Rezko parcel too small to build on, thereby increasing the value of Obama's property.
So the house (or mansion) that Obama built allegedly has some interesting foundations. Of course, the mainstream media is nowhere to be seen covering this explosive combination. Still, the old axiom of dogs and fleas proves true. One does not have to look far to find an infestation inside Obama's house.
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