Barack Obama

Testimony: Like Obama, Rod Blagojevich Made Boneheaded Deal With Tony Rezko

By Michael Scherer | @michaelscherer | July 2, 2010 | +

We now know the story of Barack Obama and the convicted bad guy Tony Rezko, who had a habit for showering money on politicians and seeking favor. A few months after Obama became a U.S. Senator, he bought a house. At the same time, Rezko’s wife bought the land next to Obama’s house, and then later sold a piece of that land to Obama at the appraised value. As Obama observed in 2006, “There’s no doubt that this was a mistake on my part. ‘Boneheaded’ would be accurate.”

According to testimony in the ongoing trail of former Illinois Rod Blagojevich, President Obama was not the only bonehead. From yesterday’s testimony, via the Chicago Sun-Times Blago Blog:

Prosecution witness Robert Williams, Rezmar Chief Financial Office, read off the list of contractors who did work on the Blagojevich family’s Ravenswood Manor home. The main contractor and the subcontractors all were companies tied to Rezko. The total amount to be paid to the various subcontractors at that time in January of 2004: $39,966.68.

Williams previously said Rezko asked him to pay $40,000 to Patti Blagojevich during the same time frame. Though the money purported to be commission for the sale of a condo unit, Williams said he wasn’t aware of any work Patti Blagojevich did to earn the commission.

Related Topics: rod blagojevich, tony rezko, Barack Obama, White House

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  • http://twitter.com/michaelscherer Michael Scherer

    Correction: In the initial version of this post, I said that Obama had purchased the land at an apparent discount. The land was purchased at the appraised value, and I have fixed the post accordingly.

  • pneogy

    Do you really believe that the comparison of the actions of Obama and Blagojevich implied by your title is a fair one?

  • Alex Vallas

    This has become typical of the media today. Imply wrongdoing to discredit the president. Cover Sarah Palin positively as though she has PhDs from Harvard, MIT and Oxford and her every word matters. The major problem with most reporters today is they have neither the educational background or experience to go beyond direct reporting, but they all try to analyze or expose some big happening so they an gain fame. Reporters who graduate from college with a degree in journalism and then get hired by some major network are not qualified to go beyond reporting the facts (no analysis or personal opinions). To be good, they would need experience working in the areas the are covering, i.e. Sandy Gupta on Medicine.

  • spob

    But Michael, you really don’t delve into the issue with the purchase. The owner wanted to unload both of the lots. So he gave a package deal for both–and all of the discount went to the part the Obamas purchased. What should have happened is that the price should have been allocated based on the percentages that each property contributed to the whole. That didn’t happen. Thus, Obama wound up paying less than he otherwise would have paid for the house (had the total purchase price been allocated to each lot). That was either a gift to him from Rezko or income to Obama. And probably not a gift under IRS rules, since Obama was not a natural object of Rezko’s bounty, and accepting a gift would have violated Senate ethics rules.

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