The AP reminds us that the Blagojevich situation is about more than selling Obama's Senate seat:
Rezko already has told prosecutors his version of what they say was a plot to stack the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board and ram through a major expansion program for Mercy Hospital in return for a major contribution to Blagojevich's campaign fund. It's one of many allegations they have investigated of job and favor trading for campaign contributions.
The board, which has life and death power over millions of dollars in hospital expansions, approved the Mercy plan, but it was later killed in a civil lawsuit.
"Rezko has admitted that he manipulated the Mercy vote based on Mercy's agreement to make a contribution to Blagojevich, which agreement he states was communicated to Blagojevich," prosecutors say in the affidavit filed in the governor's case.
We keep reminding Newsalert readers about the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board. Evelyn
Pringle reports:
US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald does not make a habit of destroying pubic officials by listing them in indictments for no reason and the only two political candidates identified as receiving campaign money from Operation Board Games kickback schemes are Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and the US Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama.
Instead of referring to Board Games as the “Rezko” case, before long the media will likely be calling it the “Blagojevich” case. However, because the governor did not become the presidential candidate, when the scandal is recorded in the history books it will be the “Barack Obama” case.
Curtain Time Part II will show that Obama was the inside guy in the Illinois senate as far as setting up the Health Facilities Planning Board to extort contributions from companies in exchange for the approval of applications to build medial facilities.
Obama was chairman of the Senate Health & Human Services Committee in January 2003. A few articles in the media have mentioned that Obama sat on a committee that reviewed matters related to the Planning Board in conjunction with the Governor’s staff but none have discussed his integral part in getting the bill passed
A review of senate records from January 2003 to August 2003, shows Obama played a major role as chairman of that committee, in pushing through Senate Bill 1332, that led to the “Illinois Health Facilities Planning Act,” which reduced the number of members on the Board from 15 to 9, making the votes much easier to rig.
Democratic Senator Susan Garrett sponsored the bill in the senate, and the chief co-sponsor was Republican Senator Dale Righter. These two senators were also on the Human Services Committee with Obama.
The bill was filed with the senate secretary on February 20, 2003, and assigned to Human Services Committee for review on February 27. Less than a month later, as chairman, Obama sent word that the bill should be passed on March 13, 2003.
On May 31, 2003, the House and Senate passed the bill and the only senator listed in the “yes” votes mentioned in the Board Games indictments is Obama.
Blagojevich made the effective date June 27, 2003, and the co-schemers already had the people lined up to stack the Board and rig the votes with full approval from Obama.
Remember,Evelyn Pringle wrote this on May 14, 2008.Obama and Blagojevich are part of the same Chicago,political network.Tony Rezko being one of the key links between Obama and Blagojevich.As we've predicted before,you'll be hearing a lot more about Obama and the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Act.
