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Obama’s Connection to Corruption?

Monday, June 9, 2008 Source: USA
Posted in Commentary | Tagged Commentary

Barack Obama has finally dragged himself across the finish line for the Democratic presidential nomination, with Hillary Clinton wrapped tightly around his ankles. It is amazing that Senator Obama beat back the corrupt Clinton machine to claim his historic victory.

Unfortunately, there are signs that Obama has a whiff of Clintonism about him. Now that Barack Obama is the presumptive nominee, let’s review what we’ve learned so far about his ethical record.

• In echoes of Whitewater, Obama was involved in a questionable real estate deal with Antoin “Tony” Rezko, a political fundraiser who was just convicted Wednesday on fraud and money laundering charges. (Rezko now faces up to 20 years in prison.) The long and the short of it is that Obama approached Rezko with the idea to simultaneously purchase adjoining lots in Southside Chicago. Rezko obliged. Obama obtained his lot for a reduced price. Rezko later sold a portion of his property to Obama (at a highly inflated price). All of this took place while Rezko was the subject of corruption investigations.
• Obama was indirectly referenced in court documents involving the Illinois senator’s “bagman,” Antoin “Tony” Rezko and his suspicious relationship with corrupt Iraqi businessman Nadhmi Auchi. Rezko, a key fundraiser for Obama, allegedly received a $3.5 million payout from Auchi’s company.
• Obama was subsequently forced to give to charity $150,000 in Rezko-tainted donations.
• According to the New York Times, “Less than two months after ascending to the United States Senate, Barack Obama bought more than $50,000 worth of stock in two speculative companies which had as major investors some of his biggest political donors. One of the companies was a biotech concern that was starting to develop a drug to treat avian flu. In March 2005, two weeks after buying about $5,000 of its shares, Mr. Obama took the lead in a legislative push for more federal spending to battle the disease.”
• Obama either never kept or he destroyed documents from his days as an Illinois State Senator, leaving no paper trail of his work there. When questioned about it by the press, Obama couldn’t get his story straight. A Judicial Watch investigation continues.

It was also disturbing to see that Obama is drawing from a stable of Clintonites to advise him on important matters. Eric Holder, a former top Clinton Justice Department official, was named this week to Obama’s vice-presidential search team. Holder has quite the record, to put it charitably, and it includes pushing along the corrupt Marc Rich pardon in the final days of the Clinton administration. Also on the search committee is Jim Johnson, who is associated with the Fannie Mae accounting scandal (a scandal that makes Enron seem like tiddlywinks.)

To get a feel for how the mainstream liberal media will treat questions about Obama’s ethical judgment, note the lack of media interest in the conviction of Obama’s political godfather and real estate partner, Rezko.

But you can be sure Judicial Watch will continue investigating both Senator Obama and Senator McCain (see our FEC complaint concerning McCain here), and I will be sure to report our findings to you in this space. (Of course, we’ll never take our eyes off of Hillary, who will remain a power here in Washington no matter the outcome of the November election.)

Tom Fitton
President

Judicial Watch is a non-partisan, educational foundation organized under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue code. Judicial Watch is dedicated to fighting government and judicial corruption and promoting a return to ethics and morality in our nation’s public life. To make a tax-deductible contribution in support of our efforts, click here.