Federal authorities also allege the governor and Harris schemed with others including convicted real estate developer Antoin “Tony” Rezko to obtain financial benefits for himself, his family and others, including his campaign committee, Friends of Blagojevich.
Reports from the Chicago Tribune last week said federal authorities were investigating the governor and were secretly taping his conversations with the help of his former congressional chief of staff, John Wyem.
Source: CNN
This could get interesting before its all said and done!
Obama works to distance himself from Ill. governor
Though Barack Obama isn’t accused of anything, the charges against his home-state governor concerning Obama’s own Senate seat no less are an unwelcome distraction. And the ultimate fallout is unclear.
The president-elect was blunt and brief in addressing the case on Tuesday: “I had no contact with the governor or his office, and so I was not aware of what was happening” concerning any possible dealing about Blagojevich’s appointment of a successor.
His statement that he didn’t have contact with Blagojevich about the Senate seat seems to conflict with that of top adviser David Axelrod, who told Fox News Chicago on Nov. 23: “I know he’s talked to the governor, and there are a whole range of names, many of which have surfaced, and I think he has a fondness for a lot of them.”
Obama’s circle of major Illinois political allies and supporters is largely separate from Blagojevich’s, with two major exceptions. Both Obama and Blagojevich got extensive money and support from Chicago businessman Antoin “Tony” Rezko, who is now under federal indictment. And Obama is close to Illinois Senate President Emil Jones, who has been the governor’s staunchest legislative ally.
At least one top aide to Obama, Michael Strautmanis, previously worked for Blagojevich.
SOURCE: Yahoo News
MORE:
The federal corruption allegations against Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich cast an embarrassing glare on the world of Chicago politics he shares with President-elect Barack Obama, even though the two Democrats aren’t close and there is no suggestion Mr. Obama did anything inappropriate.
The case will keep the public spotlight on some episodes Mr. Obama thought he had put behind him, including his ties to Antoin Rezko, a convicted Chicago real-estate developer who was accused in a Federal Bureau of Investigation affidavit Tuesday of scheming with Mr. Blagojevich. Mr. Rezko raised campaign funds for both men, and was one of Mr. Obama’s earliest supporters as he was climbing the political ladder in Illinois.
The matter also highlights ties between the disgraced Democratic governor and some members of Mr. Obama’s inner circle. His top campaign strategist, David Axelrod — who will move to the White House for a senior adviser’s job — lists Mr. Blagojevich on his firm’s Web site as one of his clients, when the politician was a candidate for Congress.
SOURCE: WSJ
Link: OBama/Rezko Land Deal Papers Subpoenaed
People who wrote about Obama’s associations were told that the people that Obama chose to hang around with in the past do not matter. Well, at least one of the people that Barack Obama hung around with DOES matter.
Tony Rezco, the convicted felon, is one of Obama’s associations. And now papers about a sweetheart land deal that Rezco and Obama engaged in have been subpoenaed.
If or when this case gets to the Grand Jury there will be alot of people named and will be called to witness! If David Axelrod didn’t lie then Obama did when he said that he had no contact with the governor or his office! Which one do you think lied? I think Antoin “Tony” Rezko could be spilling his beans to work a deal on his own crime!
LINKS:
(1) Obama works to distance himself from Ill. governor
