Local
Scandal brings Rezko back into public spotlight
By: Bill Myers
Examiner Staff Writer
December 10, 2008
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Rezko, a convicted fixer for Blagojevich, entered the national political spotlight last year when it emerged that he had helped broker a sweetheart real estate deal for Barack Obama’s stately home on Chicago’s South Side.
Rezko’s name is prominent in charging documents filed in the Blagojevich case Monday.
Relying on the public record from his trial and statements Rezko made in a furious attempt to shave his upcoming sentence, prosecutors describe Rezko as Blagojevich’s key crony, shaking down high-dollar donors and making sure the governor’s fundraising mill ran at full speed.
Rezko was one of Obama’s earliest supporters. He donated $2,000 to Obama’s campaign for the Illinois Senate in the mid-1990s. When Obama decided to run for the U.S. Senate, Rezko was one of his first fundraisers. A few months after winning that Senate election, Obama and Rezko’s wife each bought a home on the South Side. Obama paid about $300,000 below the asking price, while Rezko’s wife paid full price. The Obamas would buy a strip of the Rezkos’ adjoining property for about $105,000 in 2006, just a few months before Tony Rezko was indicted on corruption charges related to his work for Blagojevich.
Obama would later call the Rezko deal “boneheaded” and return some $10,000 in donations that his old friend had given him.
