The Capitol Fax Blog » Obamarama - More Rezko revelations *** Updated x1 ***

Obamarama - More Rezko revelations *** Updated x1 ***

Monday, Jun 18, 2007

* This Obama profile from the AP follows the standard formula, which was concocted months ago. Liberal state Senate voting record, ability to work with Republican colleages in Springfield, quotes from his poker-playing buddies, questions about his experience, comments from Sen. Donne Trotter, who also ran against Bobby Rush when Obama tried to move up. You may not want to bother even reading it because it’s all rehash. You’d think the AP’s “top” national political reporter could come up with something new. You’d be wrong.

* But this Sun-Times story does move the ball forward, and may cause Obama more headaches…

During his 12 years in politics, Sen. Barack Obama has received nearly three times more campaign cash from indicted businessman Tony Rezko and his associates than he has publicly acknowledged, the Chicago Sun-Times has found.

Obama has collected at least $168,308 from Rezko and his circle. Obama also has taken in an unknown amount of money from people who attended fund-raising events hosted by Rezko since the mid-1990s.

Go read the whole thing. Now that the NY Times has jumped on the Rezko story, dutifully followed by the AP and the cable nets, any new Rezko revelation could create problems.

*** UPDATE *** This statement by Barack Obama, distancing himself from the D-Punjab hit piece on Hillary Clinton, has no credibility…

“It was a screw-up on the part of our research team,” Obama told editors and reporters with The Des Moines Register, according to the paper’s Web site. “It wasn’t anything I had seen or my senior staff had seen.”

More…

“That particular quote was a joke, I think, that Hillary Clinton made to an Indian-American audience,” Obama told the Register. “The research team thought it would be clever to put that at the top.”

Obama continued, “I thought it was stupid and caustic and not only didn’t reflect my view of the complicated issue of outsourcing … it also didn’t reflect the fact that I have longstanding support and friendships within the Indian-American community.”

Sorry, but there’s just no way that D-Punjab memo went out without “senior staff” seeing it and approving it. No way. The research director isn’t “senior staff”?

Also, all campaigns, large and small, have protocols for this sort of stuff. If something is distributed to bigtime reporters, then the communications director has to see it first. That’s his/her “constituency.” And from what I’m told, there was no breach of protocol here.

Either Obama isn’t telling the truth, or someone on his staff isn’t coming forward with the whole story.

- posted by Rich Miller

11 Comments

- Cassandra - Monday, Jun 18, 07 @ 10:07 am:
I don’t think any of the candidates are pure when it comes to fundraising and other financial boondoggles.

I’m not going to vote for Obama and I think Rezko is a total sleaze but I doubt this is going to
get have much traction when voters go to the polls either at the primary or general level.
The sums involved are minuscule when you consider
what it costs to run a contested Senate campaign or a presidential campaign.

Note to Obama: take a course in the pitfalls of of campiagn fundraising.

- VanillaMan - Monday, Jun 18, 07 @ 10:16 am:
We expect to be lied to. The question is at what level are we willing to be lied to by the Senator. If he wants us to consider him trustworthy and honest - a different politician - then Mr. Obama needed to have been far more open about his Chicago connections than he was.

You get a chance to get your story out. Obama has been planning this for years. His books and speeches have been all crafted for maximum effect. After two books and two years, you no longer get a chance to present yourself regarding your lifestory. As these new revelations come out, it is completely normal for voters to begin asking, “OK, what else is there he is not saying?” If Obama didn’t want us to look into his Chicago connections, he needed to have told us all about them in the way he wanted to present them to us months and months ago.

What he now has is keen interest in revealing the “real” Senator. He has to start hoping that events turn interest away. With each new story about Mr. Obama’s dealings, he will look less presidential and less like the guy he claimed.

Once a politician allows his lifestory to have empty unaccounted-for events in it, that politician allows others to fill in that vaccum to his detriment.

I’m certain the Clintons will love helping the press fill in the blanks in the Senator’s lifestory. Chicago’s political world is too juicy to ignor.

- Captain America - Monday, Jun 18, 07 @ 10:52 am:
I fully admit I am an Obama partisan - I like Clinton

But it seems to me that the Sun-Times is beating a dead horse with these so-called Rezco revelations. I believe that the only Obama-Rezco transction that even created an appearance of possible minor impropriety was the Hyde Park home transaction.

No questiona about it Rezco is a sleazy character. But there is no evidence that Barack Obama compromised himself or his official responsibilities by accepting donations from Tony Rezco.

It probably would be difficult to find many important Democratic candidates or a rising stars in the Illinois Democratic Party who did not accept campaign donations from Rezco and other Rezco Associates during the last decade or two. I know Rezco gave money to Republicans too.

Tony Rezco, Stu Levine and others of similar ilk are cancers on our body politic. Nonetheless, it is is unafir to blame Barack Obama for the vagaries of local corruption and the failures of local politicians because HE HASN’T DONE ANYTHING WRONG!!!

It is absurd for any Republican to find Obama’s lack of administrative and foreign policy experience troubling given the well-known foreign policy ignorance and incredible administrative failures of the current occupant of the White House. Almost any resposible leader could have performed better than Bush has done.It’s not easy to establish a record so bad to qualify for consideration as the worst President in American history.

None of our leading candidates for President are angels - undoubtedly they have all accepted substantial political donations from some sleazy character who has been indicted or convicted or will be in the future.

- amy - Monday, Jun 18, 07 @ 11:57 am:
remember that bit on the Conrad Black trial that
the jury can convict on “avoidance” ? Obama
seems to avoid things….missing votes half
the time on choice issues, missing a key
Safe Neighborhoods vote, not telling us the
whole Rezko story. It is oh so convenient to
get your story out in full books, to arrange
big meetings where you can give long, long
speeches, to then whine about debates and how
you can only talk for a few minutes. and no,
the experience level on foreign policy of the
current president is not the standard. the
standard is the experience of the other Democratic
candidates.

- irishpirate - Monday, Jun 18, 07 @ 12:51 pm:
For the sake of Steve Rhodes, The Beachwood Reporter, health I hope these Obama “revelations” stop soon.

Steve may just keel over from glee.

Rezko is a scumbag. Obama NEVER should have gotten near him. That being said the real estate deal on the mansion was bad judgement, not criminal behavior.

Up until recently Obama doesn’t seem to have shown much relative interest in money or real estate.

This is a guy who graduated from Harvard Law School and went into a law firm largely dealing with “public interest” cases. He could have gotten MILLIONS working for other law firms.

It seems to me he is taking advantage of his celebrity by writing books and making some money. I mean that as an observation and not a criticism.

Obama is not perfect, but if you think Hillary Clinton is the answer to the problems of the Democratic Party or the American Republic you are asking the wrong #@#@#@#@ question.

- Little Egypt - Monday, Jun 18, 07 @ 1:20 pm:
I said a while back this whole Rezko thing was going to come back and bite Obama in the butt. I believe that Hillary’s people are watching this and just waiting to use this as ammunition at an appropriate time against Obama. His people are clueless if they think they can deflect any mention of Rezko. No candidate is perfect but there are candidates who are perfect at campaigning, organizing, and raising money. That would be Hillary. That does not necessarily make me happy, but I do think that’s what will happen.

- Anonymous - Monday, Jun 18, 07 @ 4:42 pm:
new poll: Clinton 33 Obama 21. Something is bringing down his number. I would say that crappy music video.

- Captain America - Monday, Jun 18, 07 @ 9:45 pm:
One can assume that the paucity of commnents on these latest revelations suggests that there is no story here - nothing politically interesting or noteworthy.

Everything that can be said about Obama and Rezco has been said and repeated ad nauseum.

Rich - suggest you advise your colleagues that this story has no legs. The series should be spiked!

- JUICY - Monday, Jun 18, 07 @ 11:18 pm:
Rich,

Anyone who knows of George Jewell knows that he is the most expensive caterer on the North Shore. I really adamantly doubt that the fundraiser cost Obama a mere $2000 and no more. With a guest list of 100 to 150 and valet service, the man is blatantly lying his -ss off. This is a full blown big fundraiser. Let us also add the OPEN BAR - very pricey. Has anyone had an OPEN BAR at a wedding lately with George Jewell? Rich call George Jewell yourself and ask him his prices. You’ll be totally shocked 312-829-3663. Chris Fusco and Tim Novak should be given awards. They are really on to something with this fundraiser. The campaign has no lists of guests? BS. A good fundraiser keeps every single name and then some. Team Obama is full of it and Novak and Fusco know it. Maybe they should FOI request the receipts for the valet service and catering so I can apologize to all the Obamma supporters. Perhaps Fusco and Novak should just file a complaint with the FEC if they can’t get any information from the Obamarama camp. Maybe Hillary’s people want to do it. I think there’s a FEC campaign finance violation here. Anyone who think’s that there is absolutely nothing here is totally delusional and an Obama campaign supporter. If I’m wrong I’ll apologize.

- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Jun 19, 07 @ 7:01 am:
CA, they’re still debating it on yesterday’s thread.

Pingback Gray Lady being very unladylike « Illinois Reason - Saturday, Jun 23, 07 @ 1:12 am:
[…] Saturday, June 23rd, 2007 in Media by robnesvacil A week ago the New York Times (reg. req.) ran a story rehashing a bunch of dirt that we Illinoisans all already knew about Sen. Barack Obama, chiefly noting his ties to indicted businessman and bipartisan political gadfly Tony Rezko. Fair enough. Such stories have been circulating Illinois media for years so it’s little wonder the NYT would pick it up and run with it as they begin focusing on the presidential candidates. As Rich Miller pointed out, the Gray Lady didn’t reveal much new info but the article was interesting in that the rest of the national media often follow in the NYT’s footsteps, and according to Mr. Miller they did. […]

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