Rezko: "I Did Nothing Wrong With Obama"

Before he was convicted on multiple political corruption charges, long-time friend and political supporter of Sen. Barack Obama Tony Rezko told the federal judge presiding over his trial in a letter that he did nothing wrong with Obama or Gov. Rod Blagojevich. "I am simply an honest, humble immigrant who believes in the American dream," Rezko said as he pleaded with her to release him from jail on bond. He added that he was under pressure by federal prosecutors to give information on his relationship with Blagojevich and Obama. A Sun-Times story notes that Rezko has never provided an interview to federal prosecutors or proffered a statement to them. All communications have taken place between his lawyers and the office of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

Since he was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois by President George W. Bush, Patrick Fitzgerald has studied Illinois government upside and down and concluded it is a thoroughly corrupt cesspool. He has sent dozens of political movers-and-shakers to prison in recent years, including Gov. George Ryan, a Republican, and his top associates and top aides to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley a Democrat. He even moonlighted as a special counsel in D.C., winning a conviction against Scooter Libby in the Valerie Plame matter. Not even the Democratic Speaker of the Illinois House, Michael Madigan, doubts that the man at the top of the food chain, Gov. Blagojevich, is his next target. That's why he is circulating a memo to his fellow Democrats making a case for the impeachment of Blagojevich and mocking his one-time campaign theme of "reform and change." Sound familiar?

There are some in the liberal blogosphere who are determined to personally attack me and others at every turn for examining the record of Obama. Of course, you must be a racist if you dare criticize a man of color. This is the same crowd who mocked my posts against Bart Peterson's mismanagement of our city and about the lies you were being told about the health of the late-Julia Carson. Unlike the lady who hopped a bus to an Obama concert in Ohio a few months ago and is still under the influence of the intoxicating fumes she inhaled too much of and who is now unable to discern anything approaching objectivity when it comes to Obama, I am someone who actually spent many years working in Illinois politics. I've sat in on private meetings with Illinois' legislative leaders and the state's governor during the 1980s. I had the opportunity to observe first-hand just how corrupt the place called Illinois is. I know too much about the organization which produced Blagojevich, Daley and Obama. I know too much about what one has to do rise to the top of that organization. A lot has changed since I left Springfield in 1990, but the political corruption has only grown more corrupt there by all accounts. Prosecutor Fitzgerald's successful prosecution of Tony Rezko only served as a confirmation of this understanding. The same people who were running around in the 1980s peddling their corrupt influence are still surrounding Illinois' top political leaders.

Go ahead and believe your fantasies about what Obama represents as told through the rose-colored lens of his backers if you want, but if you are a person who does a little bit more homework on the people you elect to office, this is one place you can visit to search for that answer.