Friday, November 07, 2008

The Fate of Patrick Fitzgerald: Is Obama a Target?

Tom Roeser in the The Chicago Daily Observer reports:
Obama helped Rezko’s company get more than $43 million in government funding to rehab 15 buildings “for the poor.” Many had code violations; hundreds of apartments were vacant; taxpayers have been stuck with millions of dollars in unpaid loans; at least a dozen times, the city of Chicago had to sue Rezko for failure to heat the buildings.

And that’s not all. What might interest Fitzgerald is that Obama teamed with Rezko in a cushy deal to improve his own living conditions. With money from his autobiography which through media hype became a best-seller, Obama then a U.S. senator paid less than the asking price for the home. He wanted to acquire a lot next door for a garden.

Then Rezko’s wife…who was earning only $30,000 in salary…paid the full price for the lot next door and Obama bought part of the lot from her for $104,000-a transaction Obama later apologized for as “a boneheaded mistake,” acknowledging people might think he benefited from this gift from Rezko. The U.S. Senate’s ethics violations take such benefits seriously as we’ve learned from the case of Alaska’s Ted Stevens, found guilty of seven felonious counts of accepting gifts without reporting them. Rumor is consummate digger Fitzgerald is finding further business dealings between Obama and Rezko.
The Chicago Machine wants Fitzgerald gone.