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.
Enter Barack Obama, state senator and chairman of the senate’s Health and Human Services Committee. Obama successfully introduced legislation to cut the size of the board down to nine members. Now you only have to bribe five members. But Obama’s legislation didn’t just cut the size of the board; it put appointment power directly in the hands of Governor Rod Blagojevich. And Governor “Blago” (as we Chicagoans love to call him) quickly appointed a number of Rezko’s cronies to the board.
One Democratic stalwart without flinching said to me, “Obama did that because he believed in more efficient government.” And Mrs. Rezko closed on the adjoining property next to the Obama mansion on the same day as the Obamas closed on their house, which netted the Obama’s a $300,000 discount on their purchase, because Mrs. Rezko believed the Obamas would be good for the neighborhood. I understand that thoroughly. In a neighborhood with unrepentant terrorists like Bill Ayers, you need some people with integrity to keep up property values.
After his conviction on sixteen of twenty-four counts of the federal fraud indictment and a revocation of his bail, Rezko, according to Chicago observers, was meeting in the federal holding pen with Fitzgerald and singing like the first robin of spring.
Veteran Chicago journalists were on 24/7 Patty watch, thinking that Mrs. Blago was at least going to be the refrain in Rezko’s song and Blago himself was going to be the entire first stanza. But if Rezko could sing about Blago, would Blago be cooing about Obama? Or maybe a duet would be in the works?
Federal prosecutors do get transferred and even fired for prosecuting the party in power. Ask Carole Lam who successfully prosecuted Congressman Randy Cunningham and found herself looking for work as a result. So Fitzgerald was probably looking at being replaced by a more compliant prosecutor who would know how to cut a deal and keep the song birds silent.
If Obama could be connected to the “pay-for-play” scheme for building medical facilities, both Rezko and Blago had a reduced jail time card to play. And just as the latest Blago scandal broke, Rezko, whose lawyers were screaming for a quick sentencing hearing, has had a postponement. And in a rare display of coordinated silence, neither the Rezko defense team nor the talkative Fitzgerald is commenting on the delay.
So, Blago’s newer and bigger indictment keeps Fitzgerald in the game. There is now no way the Obama administration is going to be able to transfer or fire Fitzgerald and keep alive the “change” mantra. Too bad the eight federal prosecutors that Alberto (I don’t recall) Gonzales fired couldn’t drop a high profile case in front of the media.
As for how contagious Chicago corruption is, it now appears that Rahm Emanuel, despite denials, has been engaged in conversations with Blago over the president-elect’s replacement. That in itself is not illegal. But if Blago told Emanuel that he wanted money or a cushy union-related job for Obama confidant Valerie Jarrett’s appointment to the vacated senate seat, and Emanuel didn’t report it, that is a problem for the administration.
It’s a long way to spring, but who says song birds can’t sing in the winter.
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Abraham H. Miller is an emeritus professor of political science and a former head of the Intelligence Studies Section of the International Studies Association.
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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