Barack Obama and the Rezko Connection

This is old news to those who have researched Barack Obama’s “real” life story. I am writing this post for those who just haven’t had time to learn more about the “real” Barack Obama and his Chicago connections.

Antoin “Tony” Rezko was a Chicago “businessman” and land speculator. He was convicted on several counts of fraud and bribery in 2008. This conviction included sixteen counts of fraud, money laundering, and aiding and abetting bribery.

When Rezko needed state money for his projects, he would sometimes go to Barack Obama for help securing funds through various state programs. Obama claims he was just helping fund good community development projects. He said that he knew nothing about Rezko’s legal problems even though all he had to do was read the Chicago Sun-Times and their articles on Rezko.

Obama helped Rezko and his partner Allison Davis, former Obama law-firm boss, secure about $14.6 million in state funds for low-income housing projects. Rezko and Davis also collected around $855,000 in “development fees.” Obama wrote letters to Chicago city and Illinois state officials supporting Rezko, his “political patron” in this particular effort to get taxpayer money to “build apartments for low-income senior citizens.

Obama denies ever helping Rezko, but he did co-sponsor various state Senate bills aimed at subsidizing “creators” of low-income housing. In 1997, 2001, 2003, and 2004, Obama co-sponsored bills subsidizing developers like Rezko when they built or rented out low-income housing. Obama was a friend and benefactor of developers under the guise of helping the poor.

Also involved in the Rezko development tale is Obama’s current Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett. Ms. Jarrett was the chief executive of the firm that managed one of the large Chicago low-income housing slums Grove Parc Plaza. Allison Davis developed that project in Obama’s old state Senate district…the same Allison Davis who Obama worked for as a lawyer.

On a personal note, Rezko helped Obama buy a $1.65 million house in the upscale community of Hyde Park on the Southside of Chicago. This deal also included a parcel of adjoining land that Rezko’s wife bought to help close the overall transaction.

For all his trouble, Barack Obama received financial backing from Rezko and other developers. In 2007 and 2008, Obama identified over $250,000 in campaign contributions to various Obama campaigns as coming from Rezko or close associates. It’s only how Chicago politics works!

Read more about this in David Freddoso’s book “The Case Against Barack Obama” and Jerome R. Corsi’s book “The Obama Nation.”