Newsweek continues their biased Obama coverage.Here's a gem of a quote:
There is no evidence that Obama gave any political favors to Rezko.
Really.Here's something from the
Better Government Association website:
On June 13, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), while serving as an Illinois state senator in 1998, "did a political favor" for Chicago Democratic fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko by writing letters to state and local government officials in support of a Chicago housing project proposed by Rezko's company, New Kenwood LLC. The Sun-Times asserted that the "letters appear to contradict a statement last December from Obama, who told the Chicago Tribune that, in all the years he's known Rezko, 'I've never done any favors for him.' '' In reporting on this story, however, several media outlets omitted statements included in the Sun-Times article that challenge the paper's assertion that Obama performed a "favor" for Rezko -- specifically, Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton's claim that "I don't know that anyone specifically asked him to write this letter," and Rezko's attorney's claim that Rezko "never spoke with, nor sought a letter from, Senator Obama in connection with that project."
In October 2006, Rezko was indicted on charges that he "used his influence as one of Gov. Rod Blagojevich's closest advisers and fundraisers to seek millions of dollars in kickbacks and campaign donations from firms seeking state business," according to the Chicago Tribune.
From the June 13 Sun-Times article, headlined "Obama's letters for Rezko":
As a state senator, Barack Obama wrote letters to city and state officials supporting his political patron Tony Rezko's successful bid to get more than $14 million from taxpayers to build apartments for senior citizens.
The deal included $855,000 in development fees for Rezko and his partner, Allison S. Davis, Obama's former boss, according to records from the project, which was four blocks outside Obama's state Senate district.
Obama's letters, written nearly nine years ago, for the first time show the Democratic presidential hopeful did a political favor for Rezko -- a longtime friend, campaign fund-raiser and client of the law firm where Obama worked -- who was indicted last fall on federal charges that accuse him of demanding kickbacks from companies seeking state business under Gov. Blagojevich.
The letters appear to contradict a statement last December from Obama, who told the Chicago Tribune that, in all the years he's known Rezko, "I've never done any favors for him.''
The Sun-Times, however, went on to quote Burton claiming that he did not "know that anyone specifically asked him to write this letter," and Rezko attorney Joseph Duffy saying that Rezko had not asked Obama to write the letters -- undermining the article's claim that the letters constituted "a political favor":
Newsweek's really doing an amazing job on this story.
