Obama’s Helpful Hand in Blago-Rezko ‘Pay-to-Play’ Scheme
The president-elect sponsored a measure in the Illinois senate that made Rezko's kickback plot a lot easier to carry out.
Against the backdrop of Chicago’s Wacker Drive, Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren stood and analyzed Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s most recent “pay-to-play” scheme, the auctioning of President-elect Barack Obama’s seat in the U.S. Senate.
Absent from the analysis of Governor Blagojevich’s role as auctioneer was the governor’s involvement in an earlier scandal. That earlier story went generally untouched by the media — outside of Chicago — because it had a direct bearing on the character of then-presidential candidate and media darling Barack Obama.
Now, numerous journalists have been captured before the camera’s lens wondering why U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald “prematurely” had Blago arrested and didn’t build a stronger case.
None of them is suggesting the obvious — that perhaps Fitzgerald had to compel a media frenzy to avoid being transferred or even fired by the new administration for his involvement in the earlier case that has ties to the president-elect. (After all, it is only the most partisan Democrats that believe only Alberto Gonzales fires non-compliant U.S. attorneys.)
To understand Fitzgerald’s potential problem with the Obama administration, you need to go back to the original “pay-for-play” scheme that caused Blago and wife, Patty, to come under the eye of the federal prosecutor. You also need to confront Barack Obama’s role in that scheme.
If you don’t remember Antonin (Tony) Rezko, here’s the Cliff Notes version: If you wanted to build or expand a medical facility in Illinois, you had to cut a deal with Tony. He was the guy with contacts on the state board whose approval you needed. To put it bluntly, he was the guy you paid off to pay off the other guys so you could get the required permits.
Originally, the board was made up of fifteen members. Now, in Chicago, where bribery has become a cultural art form, bribing half of fifteen means you need eight guys in your pocket. That’s a heavy overhead cost. What if you could reduce your overhead by about forty percent? Just think how much more money you could make.
Page 1 of 2 Next ->
Abraham H. Miller is an emeritus professor of political science and a former head of the Intelligence Studies Section of the International Studies Association.
 |
 |
 |
Podcasts |  PJM Home |
Pajamas Media appreciates your comments that abide by the following guidelines:
1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is contained in a necessary quote or is relevant to the comment.
2. Stay on topic.
3. Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.
4. Threats are treated seriously and reported to law enforcement.
5. Spam and advertising are not permitted in the comments area.
The clause regarding "hate speech" has been deleted because readers criticized it as being too loosely defined. We agreed.
These guidelines are very general and cannot cover every possible situation. Please don't assume that Pajamas Media management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment. We reserve the right to filter or delete comments or to deny posting privileges entirely at our discretion. If you feel your comment was filtered inappropriately, please email us at story@pajamasmedia.com.
16 Comments
1. Pajamas Media » Obama’s Helpful Hand in Blago-Rezko ‘Pay-to-Play … | kozmom:[...] details: Pajamas Media » Obama’s Helpful Hand in Blago-Rezko ‘Pay-to-Play … [...]
Dec 16, 2008 - 4:52 am 2. Jim:Meh! It’s all for naught… The MSM is and will be in the bag for Obama, and there’s nothing we American citizens can do to stop it. Heck, we can’t even stop the bailouts. But we sure do get to participate in taxation. Taxation without representation is tyranny. Didn’t we have a revolution a while back against such a situation?
Dec 16, 2008 - 5:55 am 3. rwg:My oh my. Let Rezko sing. The media would ignore him but how soon until Obama writes a reprieve?
Dec 16, 2008 - 6:29 am 4. joe buzz:Quite surprised that someone has not asked the “office of the President Elect” who it was that put Ms. Jarrett’s name in the pot? This obviously does not suggest wrongdoing but would suggest who was interfacing with the earnest Gov.
Dec 16, 2008 - 6:35 am 5. Kathryn (Reagan Conservative Petition):Like any messiah can do, Obama found himself innocent of any wrongdoing in his self-investigation.
Sure wish there were some courageous and articulate Republicans that could bring this to light in the national media:
Dec 16, 2008 - 9:17 am 6. jim:http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/we-demand-true-conservative-leadership.html
tHE ONLY THING WE GET TO DO IS SEND OUR CHILDREN TO DIE IN WARS AND PAY TAXES. oNLY WHITES ARE RACIST AND ONLY BLACKS ARE POOR.
Dec 16, 2008 - 10:16 am 7. dexter:Hope Fitzgerald has a remote car starter !
Dec 16, 2008 - 10:22 am 8. savage24:The Massiah can do no wrong ! We are in for a very bad fours years.
Dec 16, 2008 - 10:34 am 9. seven:Rezco is singing like a robin in the spring
It looks like Blagojevich needs to sing to the extent of Obama getting an indictment.
Notice how Obama is surrounded by dirty banks or bankers.
Auchi indicted for fraud PNB
Pritzker Her bank cost the FDIC 400 million in the first sub prime failure
Mutual which has the personal loan discrepancy (kickback carried on personal paper)Rezco ranch behind the Obama mansion.
Giannoulias bankrolled Michael “Jaws” Giorango, (state treasurer)
4 shady banks or bank deals.
Dec 16, 2008 - 11:31 am 10. CHKlaver:Thanks for providing the more specific and direct link of Blago – Rezko -Obama.
If anything comes of this it will be hopefully the press’s critical eye toward Obama during his term. Perhaps the hopium cloud is dissipating after all.
Dec 16, 2008 - 3:47 pm 11. Jack:It doesn’t matter, he won the election already. Besides, he’s too smart to get involved with this stuff. You don’t dedicate your life to public service then willingly get into bed with these low lifes. He’s head and shoulders above all of them. How do you think he was able to win, the country has had 2 full years to check him out and they decided overwhelmingly to elect him. This will be a wonderful 8 years for our nation. Finally, we have a smart person back in the White House, and not some clueless shitkicker from Texas.
Dec 16, 2008 - 5:04 pm 12. Phantasmagoria:First they say on Fox that Republicans probably won’t go for a connect between Blagojevich; then Fox goes ahead and does it themselves? >/
And I guess McCain’s connections didn’t matter then? If this was a deal breaker to any of you, have a look at Keating 5, G. Gordon Liddy, Rick Renzi and the Dineh scandal. If scandals are all that’s needed to convince you, then you’d better take a good look at who would be in place if him.
He’s certainly no lesser of 2 evils.
Dec 16, 2008 - 6:45 pm 13. Louie:This is some real old time, hard ball, first class political reporting. Someone in the MSM will eventually pick up on it, and when they do I hope they give the originating reporter due credit. Keep up the great journalistic work!
Dec 17, 2008 - 6:23 pm 14. kevin c:abe-your article shows much of what the demonrat party of chicago is like. Now id suggest one more thing flying completely off the radar. Look into the sale of the Chicago Cubs and there very valuable piece of real estate called Wrigley Field. the Cubbies have been for sale for just over 2 years now. The franchise and ballpark together are said to be worth about $1billion. and the Chicago Tribune co. owns the team. Trib owner Sam Zell put the team up for sale late in 2006 and they just recently took bids for the first time. Something stinks with this one. Seems to me the ballpark and getting tax abatements have been a holdup on the sale. just curious here-is Blago or any of the other pols holding up the baseball teams sale until they “pay to play”?
Dec 18, 2008 - 11:49 am 15. bostonben:kevin, patty b was caught on tape saying bleep that bleeping cubs chit if they don’t pay, or something close to that.
Dec 19, 2008 - 8:32 pm 16. Getreal:This article is pointless, just firing blanks, Valerie Jarret was appointed to obama’s cabinet not even considered to fill the senate seat. How can you even start to make a case that because obama proposed a legislation to make the board 9 members, he started the pay to play scheme. Politics is a business period end of story, if you want things to get done, it cost money to get them done.
Dec 20, 2008 - 2:43 pm