Will the Chicago Machine corruption story break wide open in 2010?
If you think Chicago crook and long-time Obama buddy Antoin Rezko is serving out his jail sentence, think again.
Antoin “Tony” Rezko is a forgotten man. During the presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton tried to make Barack Obama’s connection with Rezko an issue.
On June 4, 2008, Rezko was convicted in federal court on 16 charges of corruption. For a day or so, he was big news.
After that, a national media that ignored Obama’s connections with the corrupt Chicago political machine lost all interest in Rezko. After all, there was an “historic” election to influence, and anything that made Obama’s shady past the subject of a national conversation had to be squelched.
Today, those who remember Rezko assume he’s serving out his sentence. Wrong.
“Tony” is one of a dozen high-profile convicted criminals associated with The Machine who await sentencing. He voluntarily entered jail before being sentenced. His sentencing has been postponed several times. So what’s up? Is he afraid to be on the street? If he’s talking, what is he telling U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald from his cell?
When Obama ran for the U.S. Senate, his campaign funding committee consisted of Rezko, Allison Davis, and Valerie Jarrett.
In 1993, Allison Davis hired an attorney fresh out of Harvard for the Chicago law firm he formed to represent land developers. Obama worked there until he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004. Meanwhile, Davis became a developer himself.
On May 30, 2009, the Chicago Sun Times reported:
Mayor Daley’s nephew Robert Vanecko and ally Allison S. Davis are at the center of [a federal] grand jury probe on how they snared city employee investments.
When asked recently about the status of the grand jury investigation, a prominent Chicago media source who follows The Machine indicated that “As far as we know, the investigation goes on.”
Valerie Jarrett, now Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President, once worked in the Office of the Mayor of Chicago. Michelle Obama worked for her there.
When Jarrett was CEO of Habitat Co., her property management company was responsible for the Grove Parc Plaza, a subsidized housing complex in S. Chicago. Here’s an aerial photo of part of the complex. It’s not in Haiti.
U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s next big trial will be of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. Blago likes to talk. But will he sing?
And will 2010 be the year the Chicago Machine corruption story finally breaks wide open? Stay tuned.