Quote:
Originally Posted by forseti-6
Now the way I understand it with Rezko is (and don't quote me on the correct order of this, I'm doing this off the top of my head)...
#1 Rezko gave Obama a deal on his house $300K below market value.
#2 Obama turned to Rezko for political expediency
#3 Obama fought for a lot of funding to get Rezko contracts on housing projects in Chicago.
#4 Rezko goes to jail for fraud and bribery.
For someone who follows politics a lot, I can't say I totally understand all the details.
|
#1 Rezko did not give Obama a deal. Obama paid the owner (no relation to Rezko) 1.65 million, which was 300,000 below the asking price (not the value) (~18%). However, the house was on the market for months and Obama's offer was the highest one. The seller has said that Obama's paid a fair price. The seller also sold an adjacent vacant lot to Rezko and the seller made it a condition of both bids that they close on the same day. Later Obama purchased a strip of the vacant land from Rezko for $104,500 which was $60,000 more then the assessed value. That is definitely not a deal.
#2 Rezko donated a total of about $4,000 to his campaign and threw a single fund raiser for im.
#3 No evidence of this has ever surfaced nor of any favors done by Obama for Rezko
#4 this it true, but the bribery and fraud was related to other politicians not Obama.
From what I can tell the Rezko/Obama relation is really this: They owned land next to each other, Obama overpaid for a small strip of land, They both served on the board of a non-profit together, Rezko donated to Obama's campaigns a few times and held a single fund raiser for him.
Even when all the complexities are explained there still doesn't appear to be anything wrong it.