Illinois Corruption:
http://therealbarackobama.wordpress.com/2008/12/09/speculation-whos-who-in-the-blago-complaint/
Speculation: Who’s Who in the Blago Complaint BlagoGate?
Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Sen. Barack Obama, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley
A RBO regular is combing through the 70-plus page federal criminal corruption complaint against Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, that was revealed today by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s office.
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* Senate Candidate 1, whom Obama’s team wanted appointed and whom Blagojevich was disinclined to appoint without a gift, is Obama confidante and advisor Valerie Jarrett. Jarret withdrew from considering for the seat, maybe partly because she didn’t want to be involved in the coming Blagojevich indictment and scandal (if Rod had appointed her before this all broke, lord knows how bad that’d look for Barry and company).
* Senate Candidate 2, the one whom Chicago Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed shilled for on Blago’s behalf (in order to piss off Obama), is Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. Hey, her dad is the Speaker of the Illinois House. The Illinois House would be the ones who would have to impeach Blago or pass legislation necessitating a special election if they don’t want Rod to still appoint his own candidate.
* Senate Candidate 5, rumored to be Jesse Jackson, Jr., is actually probably Illinois state legislator Emil Jones. This is the one Obama didn’t want appointed, and Blago repeatedly threatened to pick him instead of Jarrett.
* Senate Candidate 6, a rich person Blago wanted to appoint to the Senate in exchange for millions of dollars in donations, is probably J.B. Pritzker. Pritzker is a Hillary donor, a wealthy Chicago businessman, and the brother of Obama finance advisor Penny Pritzker.
Update 1: Ben Smith at The Politico reports that a “Democratic source confirms that SEIU President Andy Stern is the ‘SEIU official’ referred to in the federal complaint against Rod Blagojevich. …
Another Democratic source tells me that Stern was been in Chicago November 3 meeting with Blagojevich, a discussion thought to have included talk about the Senate seat — though that meeting isn’t mentioned in the complaint
THanks for the inspiration to Phoenix11
Merry Fitzmas
The 12 ways to a Merry Fitzmas
Posted on Saturday, December 13, 2008 3:08:27 PM by Phoenix11
Let’s run down the list, shall we...
1. Allison Davis, Obama’s boss at his law firm, was a player in the extortion attempt in the Board Games case. Davis also partnered with Rezko and received taxpayer subsidies to
rehab apartments and homes, getting deal after deal from Mayor Daley. Daley, Davis, Rezko, Blago, and Obama have all worked together to obtain government funding for said “housing development”. In exchange, the slumlords have financed Blago and Obama’s political careers.
2. Two politicians specifically received donations from the kickback schemes. You guessed it. Blago and Obama. From the first pay-off, 20K was funneled through the pizza businesses to Obama.
3. Rezko was a major player in a scheme to obtain millions of dollars by shaking down firms doing business before two boards that Stuart Levine served on, the Teachers Retirement System and the Hospital Facilities Planning Board. Blago, his campaign manager, Obama, along with others, got Levine re-appointed to the Hospital Facilities Planning Board.
4. John Rogers, the head of an investment firm that ended up with major money from the pension funds, was a member of Obama’s finance committee for his Senate and Presidential run. Others on the finance committee for the Senate run: Tony and Rita Rezko, Allison Davis, and Mike Cherry.
5. After Rezko’s indictment, Obama donated all of the $11.5K that Rezko gave in campaign contributions. Ha, funny thing is, it turned out to be close to 250K.
6. Massuda was one of several members of the Health Facilities Planning Board appointed by Blago to serve after he won legislative approval to overhaul its membership. Who signed off on the legislative approval? You guessed it, Obama.
7. Mayor Daley, endorsed Obama for President. So, “in the spirit of reciprocation”, Obama endorsed Daley and his running mates despite various City Hall corruption scandals. Oh yeah, Daley’s brother also got a job as an Obama advisor.
8. Alexi Giannoulias became state treasurer after Obama vouched for him. In return, Giannoulias agreed to raise money for Obama’s Presidential run. While Alexi was overseeing Broadway Bank’s loans, the bank made more than $12 million in loans to Michael Giorango, now convicted bookmaker and prostitution ring promoter. Alexi held a fundraiser for Obama in Sept. 2007, a fact that Obama tried to keep hidden. Alexi also served on Obama’s finance committee (Presidential).
9. Valerie Jarrett, met Michelle Obama while Michelle worked for Mayor Daley. In 2006, Jarrett was given a high-ranking job by the University of Chicago, Michelle’s employer, to be chair of the Medical Center Board and the newly created Executive Committee of that board.
10. Robert Blackwell Jr. paid Obama an $8,000-a-month retainer for “legal advice” for a technology firm he owned. As a “thank you”, Obama wrote a letter so that another company Blackwell owned could receive a state grant.
11. After Blago was elected governor, the TPS board was stacked so that favored investment firms were able to invest parts of the retirement fund’s $30 billion in assets. The “Co-Schemers”, including William Cellini, then demanded kickbacks and worked to funnel money to Blago and Obama’s political careers.
12. The “Co-Schemers” then reduced the size of the HFP board from 15 to 9 members, stacking it with 5 so that they had the majority. In 2004, the HFP board approved the building of a new hospital, though state analysts said it was not needed. Barack Obama was the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services and was in on the correspondence for the TPS and HFP boards. The reason the hospital was not built? Fitzgerald. The builder of the hospital paid bribes to those who made the construction of the hospital possible. Kiferbaum pleaded guilty and is now singing like Rezko.