Obama MegaPost

Obamamamamama

So I originally was going to write a long, smokingly-angry post about Obama. I wasn't at all happy with our designated 'Change' candidate at the time, and the media seemed to be glossing over his many potential pitfalls.

But then the LSATs dominated my life, and it got put on the back burner, and something strange happened.

He got a lot better.

There's simply no way I, or any other rational being, can look at the last few weeks of Obama vs. Clinton and not think he's come off the better candidate. Clinton's endless series of smear jobs, clumsy attacks, and tone-deaf rhetoric make her look bad, and the Democratic party look worse. Her complete lack of a coherent campaign strategy, hiring of Mark Penn, a bush-league Karl Rove, her total lack of control over her husband (who himself seems to want to sink this campaign with cheap racist shots or conflation of the WTC attacks with Iraq)... it's just pathetic.

So the longer it went on, the less urgently I felt the need to write about Obama.

The fact remains though, I should be honest with myself, and even if he's the best of three candidates, that doesn't make him a good person, or a good politician. So I'll go ahead and write up what I had, from a slightly less inflammatory perspective.

Follow the Money
The thing about Obama is that most of his supporters seem to think he's some kind of RFK crossed with Jesus, a messianic figure who brings goodness and light to everything he touches.

But of course, he is also a Chicago politician. You don't have to be a political scientist to know what that means: Follow the Money.

The most serious accusations against Obama all revolve around a man named Tony Rezko. Rezko was/is a major land developer in Chicago, with ties to all the most important of the local politicans, as well as a former governor.

He's also under indictment for bribery, corruption, extortion, etc.

Not to mention being a world-class slumlord.

Obama didn't escape Chicago politics without becoming very friendly with Mr. Rezko.

When Obama became president of the Harvard Law Review, Rezko interviewed him for a job working for one of Rezko's companies. Obama turned down the job, but instead accepted more indirect employment at the law firm representing a series of Rezko's not-for-profit partners in the series of transactions to build and rehab low income housing that are now the subject of federal indictment in Chicago which US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald described as "pay to play on steroids."

Obama was an attorney with a small Chicago law firm -- Davis Miner Barnhill & Galland -- that helped Rezmar get more than $43 million in government funding to rehab 15 of their 30 apartment buildings for the poor.

Resko got millions of dollars to build and rehab low income housing and according to the government, embezzled the money. The people in those houses had no heat, no water. They lived in squalor--many in Obama's State senate district. You could assume constituent complaints would have come in and Obama's law firm did the legal work for those government contracts and grants. Yet he denies knowing about it.

That is indeed audacious, Barack, but Hope isn't the word I'd use.

It gets worse, of course.

During this period, Rezko was mentoring him and raising money for him and hosting parties to introduce Obama to influential people.

When Obama ran for the U.S. Senate, Rezko held a June 27, 2003, cocktail party in Rezko’s Wilmette mansion, picking up the tab for the lavish event. Obama’s campaign staff has said it has no records to show who attended that party, or how much it cost.

As an aside, Obama told the press that the total amount raised by Rezko for him over his career was only about $60,000, when the amount given by Rezko has been reported at $162,000 and change, and if you count the money Rezko bundled for him it goes even higher.

After he was elected to the Senate and while he was anticipating a large sum of money from his soon to be best selling book, Obama found his dream home. There is an extensively detailed post over at MyDD explaining the timeline of this purchase and just how "insider" it was. It's a real eye opener. Read to the end past all the maps and statistics.

There was a slight hitch in that Obama could not quite afford the asking price for the house which was situated on a large lot. According to MyDD, Michelle Obama used her position on the Chicago Landmarks Commission to facilitate the subdivision of the lot.

Barack Obama, for his part, went to Rezko for "advice" about how to buy a house he cannot afford and "poof" Rezko's wife pays full price for a portion of the property and Obama gets a discount on the house. A while later, he bought back 1/6 of the lot from her for 1/6 of the price she paid for it. How is that different from an interest free loan equal to the amount paid for that 1/6 of the lot? According to MyDD, Obama pays for the landscaping of the Rezko lot and may have been using it to park his cars because his neighborhood does not allow on street parking, in which case how is this different from rent free occupancy of the land?

There's some dispute over the discount angle. But the fact remains, Obama is involved in shady land deals with a man who himself is, err, a shady land developer/scumbag landlord/political corruption figure.

Obama for his part has tried pretty hard to bury the story, but it's certainly suspicious.

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama expressed regret late Friday for his 2005 land purchase from now-indicted political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko in a deal that enlarged the senator's yard.

"I consider this a mistake on my part and I regret it," Obama told the Chicago Sun-Times in an exclusive and revealing question-and-answer exchange about the transaction.

In June 2005, Obama and Rezko purchased adjoining parcels in Kenwood. The state's junior senator paid $1.65 million for a Georgian revival mansion, while Rezko paid $625,000 for the adjacent, undeveloped lot. Both closed on their properties on the same day.

...

The transaction occurred at a time when it was widely known Tony Rezko was under investigation by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and as other Illinois politicians befriended by Rezko distanced themselves from him.

In the Sun-Times interview, Obama acknowledged approaching Rezko about the two properties being up for sale and that Rezko developed an immediate interest. Obama did not explain why he reached out to Rezko given the developer's growing problems.

So Obama approached a known criminal suspect and slumlord for help getting the house he wanted. He considers it a mistake.... NOW.

He's even returning Rezko's campaign money.

Well... SOME of it.

Obama and Rezko have been friends since 1990, and Obama said the Wilmette businessman raised as much as $60,000 for him during his political career. After Rezko's indictment, Obama donated $11,500 to charity--a total that represents what Rezko contributed to the senator's federal campaign fund.

Cute, huh? He returns anything with Rezko's name on the check's signature line, but keeps the rest he laundered through 'friends'.

Source: Chicago Sun-Times

Of course, ABC thinks the figure might go a lot higher than 60k.

The Obama campaign says it has given away more than $85,000 in Rezko-linked contributions since Rezko was indicted on federal fraud and extortion charges in the fall of 2006.

An ABCNews.com review, however, has identified an additional $100,000 in contributions made to Obama from Rezko's associates that have not been returned, including $19,500 in contributions from Rezko's wife and employees of Rezko's business enterprises. The ABCNews.com review includes individuals who have been linked to Rezko in news reports, court documents and public records.

...

The Chicago Sun-Times, which published its review last June, found that "Obama has collected at least $168,308 from Rezko and his circle," and earlier this week the Los Angeles Times reported that it had found that Rezko and his associates had given "Obama more than $200,000 in donations since 1995."

It's just like a cancer, isn't it? No matter how much they cut, there seems to be more to find.

Source: ABC News

That hardly looks good.

This looks worse of course.

Now comes the revelation: the Chicago Sun Times reported that Obama is mentioned in the federal criminal case against Rezko.

Obama is not named in the Dec. 21 court document. But a source familiar with the case confirmed that Obama is the unnamed “political candidate” referred to in a section of the document that accuses Rezko of orchestrating a scheme in which a firm hired to handle state teacher pension investments first had to pay $250,000 in “sham” finder’s fees. From that money, $10,000 was donated to Obama’s successful run for the Senate in the name of a Rezko business associate, according to the court filing and the source.

Rezko, who was part of Obama’s senatorial finance committee, also is accused of directing “at least one other individual” to donate money to Obama and then reimbursing that individual — in possible violation of federal election law.

That is from the infamous Tribune, of course, so take with a grain of salt. They're not the Post, or Fox, but still a bit seedy.

Source: Firedoglake

Rezko
Now, taking fairly obvious kickbacks and bribes is certainly bad enough. But what if you were taking them from a reprehensible son of a bitch?

Then you'd be taking them from Tony Rezko.

A review by the Los Angeles Times shows that Rezko, a businessman long active in Chicago politics, played a deeper role in Obama's political and financial biography than the candidate has acknowledged.

For example, Rezko, his employees and business associates -- such as his consultants, lawyers and their families -- have provided Obama more than $200,000 in donations since 1995, helping fuel his rapid ascent in Illinois and U.S. politics. Although Rezko is not Obama's largest bundler, he was there at the start and at critical moments along the way, helping support the candidate when few others were.

In addition to being a campaign benefactor, Rezko also surfaced when Obama and his wife purchased their house on Chicago's South Side in 2005. On the day the Obamas bought their house, Rezko's wife, Rita, bought an adjacent lot from the same sellers, part of which Obama later bought back.

Rita Rezko's purchase, at the $625,000 asking price, came just as the Obamas successfully bid in a slow market to buy the house for $300,000 below the asking price, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The Obamas secured their brick Georgian Revival-style home on June 15, 2005, for $1,650,000. Later, the Chicago Tribune reported, Rezko paid $14,000 to build a fence, required by city ordinance, along the new property line.

Obama says there was nothing improper in these transactions. The housing deal came after it was known that Rezko was under scrutiny by federal authorities.

...

"Everybody in this town knew that Tony Rezko was headed for trouble," said Jay Stewart of the Better Government Assn. in Chicago. "When he got indicted, there wasn't a single insider who was surprised. It was viewed as a long time coming. . . . Why would you be having anything to do with Tony Rezko, particularly if you're planning to run for president?"

...

"Everybody in this town knew that Tony Rezko was headed for trouble," said Jay Stewart of the Better Government Assn. in Chicago. "When he got indicted, there wasn't a single insider who was surprised. It was viewed as a long time coming. . . . Why would you be having anything to do with Tony Rezko, particularly if you're planning to run for president?"

...

The criminal case against Rezko appears to center in part on his efforts to provide contributions to Illinois Democratic Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich in exchange for appointments to state boards and commissions. The federal investigation, dubbed Operation Board Game, produced allegations that Rezko and others sought to squeeze kickbacks from firms doing business before state boards. One oversees public schoolteacher pension investments. Another authorizes permits for hospitals.

Just a few years ago, Rezko was hobnobbing with the emir of Qatar, squiring him to Springfield and Chicago. He sold to a British billionaire -- but still helps manage -- what would be the largest undeveloped swath of land left in downtown Chicago, 62 acres along the Chicago River. He even became partners in a planned power plant in Iraq.

Obama has said repeatedly that he did nothing in exchange for Rezko's early and consistent support.

But in 1998, then-state Sen. Obama wrote to state and city officials urging them to provide funding for New Kenwood LLC, a company formed by Rezko and Allison Davis. Obama wrote the letters, first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, on Illinois Senate stationery, saying: "This project will provide much needed housing for 4th Ward citizens."

Ahh, that wonderful needed housing. Without heat.

Source: The LA Times

It gets cooooold in Chicago in winter.

For more than five weeks during the brutal winter of 1997, tenants shivered without heat in a government-subsidized apartment building on Chicago's South Side.

It was just four years after the landlords -- Antoin "Tony'' Rezko and his partner Daniel Mahru -- had rehabbed the 31-unit building in Englewood with a loan from Chicago taxpayers.

Rezko and Mahru couldn't find money to get the heat back on.

But their company, Rezmar Corp., did come up with $1,000 to give to the political campaign fund of Barack Obama, the newly elected state senator whose district included the unheated building.

Obama has been friends with Rezko for 17 years. Rezko has been a political patron to Obama and many others, helping to raise millions of dollars for them through his own contributions and by hosting fund-raisers in his home.

Obama, who has worked as a lawyer and a legislator to improve living conditions for the poor, took campaign donations from Rezko even as Rezko's low-income housing empire was collapsing, leaving many African-American families in buildings riddled with problems -- including squalid living conditions, vacant apartments, lack of heat, squatters and drug dealers.

Ahh, good thing they had Barack Obama to watch out for them and secure that much needed housing, huh?

Rezko and Mahru had no construction experience when they created Rezmar in 1989 to rehabilitate apartments for the poor under the Daley administration. Between 1989 and 1998, Rezmar made deals to rehab 30 buildings, a total of 1,025 apartments. The last 15 buildings involved Davis Miner Barnhill & Galland during Obama's time with the firm.

Rezko and Mahru also managed the buildings, which were supposed to provide homes for poor people for 30 years. Every one of the projects ran into trouble:

• Seventeen buildings -- many beset with code violations, including a lack of heat -- ended up in foreclosure.

• Six buildings are currently boarded up.

• Hundreds of the apartments are vacant, in need of major repairs.

• Taxpayers have been stuck with millions in unpaid loans.

• At least a dozen times, the city of Chicago sued Rezmar for failure to heat buildings.

Yep. A very good thing Obama was there.

Who needs heat when you've got Hope?

Source: Chicago Sun-Times

Who needs a politican who'll stand up for you?

Barack Obama and Joann Larkins live less than a mile apart in Chicago's predominantly black South Side, but they inhabit very different worlds.

What connects her squalid flat and his colonnaded mansion is Antoin "Tony" Rezko, the former Obama donor and friend, who goes on trial for corruption next month - and was denounced as a "slum landlord" by Hillary Clinton in a dramatic and bitter exchange during last week's Democratic presidential debate.

Mr Obama’s past ties to the Syrian-born property developer, a well-known figure in Chicago politics for his financial largesse, have prompted new questions about the sound political judgement and clean ethics that he touts in his run for the White House.

...

Mrs Larkins, 51, lives just seven city blocks away, in a district where posters advertise "dirt cheap properties" and "foreclosure advice". She moved there almost a decade ago, taking a subsidised apartment with her 20-year-old daughter and one-year-old grandson in a building that had fallen into neglect when run by Mr Rezko.

The family boiled water on the stove and draped plastic sheeting across the windows in an effort to keep warm during the city's bitter winters, as the heating was not working. Rubbish piled up uncollected and repeated requests for basic repairs were ignored.

"It was a terrible place to live: there were a lot of drug dealers and people fighting and getting shot," Mrs Larkins, a widow who receives invalidity benefit, told The Sunday Telegraph.

"The owners never took any interest in the place; they just wanted the rent money. We had to call the city just to get the garbage collected."

The 44-apartment complex was one of 30 low-income housing projects run by Mr Rezko and his partners with funds from the city during the 1990s. By early this decade, many were boarded up as bills and mortgage payments went unpaid, but Mr Rezko moved into the fast-food business, while tenants like the Larkins struggled with the legacy of his management.

Mr Rezko was also one of the first to spot the skills of Mr Obama, offering the then Harvard law graduate a job in 1991 and becoming an early financial supporter of the new state legislator, whose inner-city constituency included 11 of his housing projects.

Although Mr Obama makes much of his roots as a community activist in Chicago's poorest districts, he has said he had "no inkling" that there were problems with Mr Rezko's operations. But the signs should have been easy to spot, according to John Bartlett, of the Chicago-based Metropolitan Tenants' Association.

"The problems with Rezko were far from hidden. They were so bad that the city has had to take him to court. Anyone who wanted to look into Rezko's activities could have learned about them," he said.

There's really not anything else to say. Great job, Senator Obama. Great job.

Source: The Telegraph

Back at Firedoglake:

Was it simply enough that Obama didn't make waves about the lack of heat and deplorable conditions in the Rezko buildings situated within Obama's state senate district? I don't know. But I was struck by a comment Obama made in the debate on of the debates to the effect of "you know how Illinois politics are" or some such. Followed later on by "Nobody's hands are perfectly clean in politics. That is true. I mean, there a distinction, though, between not taking PAC and federal lobbyist money and having that as a major way of driving your campaign and having some ancillary involvement."

At the time, I wondered to myself, "where did that come from?"

Where indeed. Favors like that are almost never free.

Source: Firedoglake

Poker
So Obama is fairly well wrapped up with Tony Rezko, aka a total scumbag. His wife appears to have abused her position on a city board to help land her own dream home.

Is that it?

Well, no, not exactly. Chicago politics means playing ball after all.

Or in this case, poker.

Add to that this golden oldie from the Chicago Tribune.

Nowhere was Obama's ability to navigate Springfield's subcultures on better display than at The Committee Meeting. That was the code name for Wednesday night poker games attended by about a dozen lawmakers and lobbyists. Obama was a regular, and his stingy betting became a running joke with those at the table.

--snip--

An exception to his disciplined routine was the poker game held inside the headquarters of the Illinois Manufacturers Association, the big business lobby whose legislative goals often were at odds with those of liberals like Obama.

Handed a cigar and cocktail on the way in, players left a few hundred dollars richer or poorer. Obama played liked he legislated, "slowly, deliberately, cautiously," recalled Jacobs.

So was involved in a goddamn cliche, the corrupt poker-game with lobbyists in a smoke-filled room.

Or maybe the room didn't have smoke. That part I can't confirm.

Still, does it look good for politicians to sneak off in the dead of night to 'gamble' with lobbyists?

I sure as hell don't think so.

This practice, in fact, has been seen before.

One of the things that came out about Abramoff et al. was that they would invite Congress critters to play poker and wine and dine in a hotel suite that the lobbyist paid for, and then let them win. It was a way of passing money to them without leaving a paper trail. The Chicago events were hosted at the HQ of a lobbying organization, I think it's fair to assume that the cocktails and Cohibas were provided by the hosts and the article makes a point of saying that he was a stingy better and a cautious player--directly suggesting that he seldom lost. And what kind of message are you sending joking about the game being a "Committee Meeting"?

Not a great message, that's for sure.

Source: Firedoglake

Michelle's Dirty Too
So, I mentioned that Barack Obama's wife, Michelle, was also involved in the dirty house deal, and seems to have used her position to help land it.

Just how involved?

Very.

Sitting on the Commission of Chicago Landmarks board, Michelle knew of a permit, waiting for review and approval to sell, for a designated Historical Georgian revival home built in 1910 with four fireplaces, glass-door bookcases fashioned from Honduran mahogany, and a 1,000-bottle wine cellar owned by a doctor in Kenwood. The Commission is supported not only by donations and taxes but also by charges for permits. It's a pretty extensive process, and they want a complete history of the house and property when a permit is requested. Once the Board approves a permit, the application goes to the city planning or zoning commission if more than a simple sale is involved.

The doctor who owned the Kenwood home wanted more than the Obamas could afford. As Barack has stated in numerous press interviews, buying the home would be a stretch. Barack contacted his patron Tony Rezko, despite knowing he was under investigation at the time, in order to see what could be done so the Obamas could afford their dream house. Sub-division was likely the agreed-on solution. In order to divide the lot, which the doctor purchased as one entity, he would have to:

-- Hire an approved architect and general contractor, who had been involved in renovations and sub-divisions in Kenwood previously
-- Have the lots surveyed and new plot plans drawn

-- Re-start the Landmark Commission permit approval process

-- Hold a public hearing (required).

-- Have the lots surveyed and new plot plans drawn

-- Re-start the Landmark Commission permit approval process

-- Hold a public hearing (required).

On page 51 of the Commission on Landmarks Ordinances, one finds a justification for the doctor agreeing to subdividing the land.

The applicant bears the burden of proof that the existing use of the property is economically infeasible and that the sale, rental or rehabilitation of the property is not possible, resulting the property not being capable of earning any reasonable economic return.

Pages 51 and 52 of the Landmark ordinances show how many proofs and other forms of extensive documentation are required in order to subdivide the land. Can any rational person believe the doctor would have been willing to go along with having his property sub-divided, and all the work and time involved, without compensation and assistance? Who paid for this?

Who indeed! Who could have arranged for a lot of under the table money to help the Obamas out? I wonder... do they know any shady figures with lots of cash?

All that needed to be done, in the name of the doctor, on the Kenwood property was completed by March 2005, and the house was finally listed. Michelle Obama resigned her seat on the Chicago Commission on Landmarks at the same time. Barack and Michelle closed on their new home in June of 2005, for $1.65 million dollars, $300,000 less than the asking price, and most likely using the proceeds of their Condo for a down payment, while taking out a mortgage for $1.32 million from Northern Trust. Tony Rezko's wife purchased the newly divided sub-plot for the full price of $625,000 and closed on the same day.

The City of Chicago requires parking permits, or people must rent space at parking garages for around $30 per diem. There is no overnight on-street parking. The Obamas had no yard to park on, and most likely parked on Rezko's property.

Mowed the grass on his property too. Nice of them.

Nice to see how seriously Michelle took her public responsibilities too. The very DAY she got her corrupt deal, she quit.

Lovely. Especially since she portrays her career arc as some kind of sainthood candidacy.

In 1996, she left the Public Allies to help create a student volunteer program at The University of Chicago. By the time of this interview, she was the Executive Director of Community Affairs for The University of Chicago Hospitals. This is how Michelle portrays her change of career:

She was devastated when her father died from MS complications. "That's when I started analyzing my life, sitting in a firm," she recalls, adding that in that same year she also lost one of her best friends from college to cancer. She soon left the firm to pursue a much lower-paying path in the public sector.

Yep. Nothing to see here. What charity.

2004 was a year flush with success for the Obamas: the autobiographical book sales increased; the DNC speech had been well received; Obama won his US Senate seat; and Michelle received a recent promotion to a $316,962-a-year position as Vice President at The University of Chicago Hospitals. Their income was over 1.67 million dollars, with anticipation of even greater gains ahead.

Yep. She's out there, healing the lepers.

Source: MyDD.com

So in conclusion, Obama's message and his motives don't mesh that well. He's clearly been a man out for power, property and influence from the get-go.

Pretty traditional for a major political figure, really.

Still, at the end of the day, if it's between a greedy, grasping Obama, a clumsy, inept Clinton, and St. John McCain, who says it's fine if we're in Iraq for another TEN THOUSAND YEARS... I'll take Obama.

Call me a cynic, but competence is what we need most now. If he can keep his graft to a few million here and there, the cost-savings over Bush, just from corrupt contractors and no-bid deals, will be enormous.

The deeper you dig, the scummier he looks. In a perfect world, Clinton would have run a sterling, clockwork perfect campaign. These allegations would have destroyed Obama, and a Clintonian juggernaut would have lead to the Republicans being crushed under her heel in the fall.

This isn't a perfect world. There is no excuse for running such an emotional, racist, scattershot campaign. This country is on the verge of complete economic and military collapse, and if McCain was to get the job, I'd sincerely recommend switching your money to Euros and asking the EU for asylum.

As sick as it is, being an asshole, like Obama certainly is, can't compare to the risks of McCain in the White House.