Rezko Trial:Obama's Ex-Boss Allison Davis' Name Comes Up in Court

The name of Allison S. Davis (who happens to be Obama's ex-boss) came up in court today at the Tony Rezko trial.The Chicago Tribune reports:

Prosecutors are playing a series of wiretaps this morning that highlight the vindictive streak of their star witness, Stuart Levine, in the trial of Antoin "Tony" Rezko.

Levine not only used his insider position on a state pension board to extract kickbacks, he also used it to toy with Chicago financier Tom Rosenberg. There was bad blood between Levine and Rosenberg, a principle in an equity management firm that had done $1 billion worth of business with Levine's board, the Teachers' Retirement System, or TRS.

Levine thought Rosenberg had stiffed him on promised kickbacks from an earlier pension deal. So when Rosenberg sought new business from TRS, Levine worked behind the scenes to get in his way. And Levine said he had the full backing of Rezko in all this.

On one wiretap, Levine explains to a TRS official why he wanted to play hardball with Rosenberg.

"It's just like the [expletive deleted] Arabs, they only understand brute force," Levine said.

In another recorded call, Levine and Republican political insider William Cellini joke about Rosenberg's plight and how they think they have caught the financier in a lie as he tries to get his troubled investment deal back on track.

Rosenberg, they believed, dispatched developer Allison Davis to Rezko to make a peace offering on Rosenberg's behalf. Davis and Rezko had once been partners in South Side real estate ventures. Davis allegedly told Rezko that Rosenberg wanted to help out with fundraising for Rezko's close friend, Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The move allegedly was designed to sway Rezko into helping out with Rosenberg's pension deal.

On the wiretap, Cellini said he questioned Rosenberg about the Davis entreaty, and Rosenberg flatly denied he had anything to do with it.

Rosenberg, Cellini said, claimed he had nothing but disdain for Rezko. "I don't want anything to do with that guy," Cellini quoted Rosenberg as saying.

Rosenberg then said he considered Rezko and fellow Blagojevich fundraiser Christopher Kelly the two most likely members of the governor's inner circle to end up in prison someday, Cellini added. "If they're not under investigation now, they're being monitored in every way," Cellini quoted Rosenberg as saying.

Obama sure has some interesting people in his background.