Posted on 12/19/2008 12:25:19 AM PST by hoosiermama
Edited on 02/09/2012 7:04:21 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
Amazing. A Google search of Valerie Jarrett and “corruption” provides enough reading for an entire winter.
Chicago Crime link:
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Blago’s Still Got Game
http://blogs.chicagoreader.com/politics/2009/01/22/blagos-still-got-game/
Obama - Rezko - Auchi - Saddam Hussein?
FROM:
http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2008/03/obama-—rezko-.html
.....One wonders if public sentiment would change (Yes, “CHANGE!”) if it could be shown that Barack “CHANGE” Obama’s strong opposition to the War in Iraq was based on financial ties to a Saddam Hussein arms dealer?
Obama buys a house in a land deal with Tony Rezko’s wife, whose income at the time was $35k/year. In the days before the papers were signed, Rezko gets a loan from Auchi. Auchi and Rezko are pizza and real estate partners — you know, little ol’ harmless “Tony” Rezko, the small time Chicago operator.
Then mysteriously last month, Rezko goes to jail for breaking a bail agreement because he gets another $3.5 million loan from Auchi, the man who became the 279th richest man in the world partially by making arms deals with Saddam Hussein.
No, not a discredited urban legend about Obama’s connections to terrorists, but this time a viable direct connect? RealClearPolitics.com’s Jack Kelly comes thisclose to connecting the poisonous dots between Obama and Nahdmi Auchi:
A British citizen of Iraqi descent, Mr. Auchi, 70, is a billionaire, the 279th richest man in the world, according to a Forbes magazine survey last year.
A great deal of Mr. Auchi’s money was made doing business with the regime of Saddam Hussein, much of it under the table. In 1987, Mr. Auchi helped French and Italian firms win a huge oil pipeline contract in Iraq, chiefly by paying off Iraqi officials, according to testimony given by an Italian banker to prosecutors in Milan. In 2003, he was convicted for his role in what was then the largest scandal in French history, involving payoffs from executives of the oil company now known as Total to political figures in Spain, Germany and Africa.
Kelly tells more:
Mr. Auchi was a leading supplier of arms to Saddam’s regime. A former Belgian ambassador to Luxembourg charged that a bank in Luxembourg owned principally by Mr. Auchi laundered funds — including oil for food money — for Saddam and other Islamic dictators.
FROM:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass-29-jan29,0,128860.column
....snip....
His name is Frank Calabrese, the former Chicago Outfit Chinatown crew boss, convicted of racketeering conspiracy involving seven murders in the FBI’s historic Operation Family Secrets case of 18 unsolved hits. Six other bodies were attributed to Calabrese at his sentencing.
....snip.....
During the Family Secrets trial, the connection between Chicago politics and the Outfit came up often. In one bit of testimony in 2007, Mayor Richard Daley’s friend Fred Bruno Barbara, the trucking boss and Rush Street investor, was identified by Nick Calabrese as a willing driver for mob boss Angelo “The Hook” LaPietra on bombing runs.
,,,snip....
Daley got so angry when asked about Barbara that he turned purple and shrieked. The governor of Illinois could have called him “cuckoo.”
For generations, the Outfit has formed the base of the iron triangle that runs things, and no understanding of politics in Illinois is complete without them.
Was Obama's Iraq War Opposition Based upon a Relationship to Saddam's Arms Dealer?
That is the theory being floated by conservative blog Illinois Review, and frankly one I've heard speculated about before... but does that speculation hold water?
The theory goes like this:
Barack Obama has had questionable dealings (including the purchase of his home) with Tony Rezko, who is on trial on corruption charges, and who may have directed kickbacks to Obama.
Rezko has had numerous business deals with Nahdmi Auchi, who once sold arms to Saddam Hussein and had other dealings with the Hussein regime.
Rezko and Auchi also had business dealings with Aiham Alsammarae, a fugitive from Iraqi justice who allegedly stole $650 million from the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity, who is now apparently living in Chicago, despite having been convicted and sentence to 14 years in prison in Iraq. . .
Insiders’ housing projects targeted
Subpoenas probe deals by Obama ex-boss and Daley pal Davis, plus Rezko, Cellini
FROM:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2176560/posts
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1407352,CST-NWS-davis01.article
A federal grand jury has subpoenaed records on dozens of low-income housing projects built over the last 30 years by indicted businessman William F. Cellini, convicted political fund-raiser Tony Rezko and City Hall insider Allison S. Davis.
...snip...
has built or managed thousands of apartments paid for by the state agency. Among them: Lake Shore Plaza, 445 E. Ohio, which is the only Cellini project specifically mentioned in the subpoena.
....snip...
n all, Rezko got more than a dozen deals from IHDA, often with the help of Davis’ law firm, Davis Miner Barnhill, a small firm that specialized in helping developers get government funding for low-income housing.
Obama was a lawyer with the Davis firm. The president has said he did six hours of legal work in 1995 on one of the deals now under scrutiny by the grand jury, helping Rezko and his business partners — Bishop Arthur Brazier and the Rev. Leon Finney — turn an abandoned nursing home in Hyde Park into low-income apartments.
Six years later, Rezko’s company stopped paying the mortgage. IHDA foreclosed on the property in 2001, as Rezko’s low-income housing empire began to collapse, falling into physical and financial ruin.
...snip...
Among those was a senior citizen building he and Rezko built at 4801 S. Cottage Grove, just outside the Illinois Senate district Obama then represented. Though the project was outside his district, Obama wrote letters in 1998 to IHDA and city officials, urging them to give Davis and Rezko government funding for the project. Obama has said he didn’t remember writing the letters, which he has called “form letters’’ sent out by a staff member
Rezko attorney ‘owns’ Obama mansion
Lawyer at firm where Democrat worked receives tax bill
Posted: December 25, 2008
By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
William Miceli
An attorney for convicted fundraiser Tony Rezko is listed as the owner and taxpayer for Barack Obama’s Chicago mansion, according to records obtained by WND.
William Miceli is a lawyer at the Chicago law firm Miner, Barnhill & Galland, which also formerly employed Obama.
Rest here
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=84101
4 posted on Monday, February 02, 2009 1:59:07 AM by STARWISE
Ooh-Ah, trying to keep all the CHicago Crime things together....In the Chicago style stole your post. Feel free to add any thing else or connect any ‘dots’ you find on the thread.
Uncovers $183,000 in Additional Contributions to Friends of Blagojevich from Johnston horse racing interests
New figures demonstrate more than half of all horse racing contributions from 2002-2007 came directly from Johnston-owned/affiliated interests
Falls Church, Virginia - Today the National Legal and Policy Center publicly released an in-depth analysis of financial contributions made to Friends of Blagojevich from Balmoral and Maywood race track owner John Johnston and other Johnston-owned/affiliated interests.
...snip....
According to the latest analysis which was sent to the House Impeachment Committee last Thursday afternoon, Johnston-owned/affiliated interests contributed more than $343,000 to Governor Blagojevich’s campaign committee from 2002-2007. The new analysis uncovered several significant and large contributions from Johnston businesses or affiliates that heretofore had not been factored into official news accounts, including contributions from Coast to Coast Food Services Ltd. ($60,000), Racing Research ($15,000), the Egyptian Trotting Association ($45,000), and Associates Racing Association, Inc. ($40,000). All businesses are either registered to Johnston family members, share addresses with known Johnston businesses such as the Balmoral and Maywood racetracks, or include officers who also serve as officers or board members of other Johnston-owned/affiliated interests.
...snip....
That conversation coupled with the new revelations of large blocks of contributions of $100,000 or more to Friends of Blagojevich from several different Johnston-owned/affiliated accounts suggest that Mr. Johnston may have chosen to make large contributions from several different entities in order to obfuscate the original source of the contributions, cobble together larger aggregate amounts that were more acceptable to Governor Blagojevich in exchange for the Governor’s support of legislation or perhaps both.
Illinois election records reveal for instance that between May 21, 2002 and June 3, 2002, $100,000 in contributions were made to Friends of Blagojevich from Johnston interests with $85,000 received by Friends of Blagojevich on one day – May 21st. Thirteen days later, Illinois election records record an additional contribution of $15,000 from Racing Research registered to William H. Johnston Jr. at 8600 W. North Ave. in Melrose Park – the same address as the Maywood Park racetrack.
On June 27, 2006, Illinois election records reveal seven different contributions from Johnston interests to Friends of Blagojevich totaling $135,000. The contributions came almost exactly one month after Governor Blagojevich signed HB-1918 on May 26, 2008 which amended the Horse Racing Act to establish the original Horse Racing Equity Trust Fund. That legislation provided for the horse racing industry to receive 3% of the adjusted gross revenues from four riverboat casinos in Illinois.
...snip...
Copies of the NLPC letter and an analysis of horse racing and Johnston contributions can be found at www.nlpc.org.
Have you read Evelyn Pringle’s investigative reporting on Operation Board Games?
http://therealbarackobama.wordpress.com/2008/10/01/evelyn-pringles-operation-board-games-and-curtain-time-for-obama/
ANother dot to connect:
The Obama-Auchi Connection: First Hawaiian Bank avoids subprime lending, makes record profit
VIA:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2176988/posts
Interestingly, First Hawaiian’s ownership structure leads back to Nadhmi Auchi, a former Iraqi Baathist official of Saddam Hussein’s government, who more recently financed business ventures with now-convicted-felon and Chicago political ‘fixer’ Tony Rezko creating a condition of “longstanding indebtedness” of Rezko to Auchi’s holding company. Rezko funded the political campaigns of impeached Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and President Barack Obama. Rezko also assisted Obama in the purchase of his Chicago mansion.
...snip...
“Founded in 1858, First Hawaiian is a unit of BancWest Corp., which is a wholly owned subsidiary of BNP Paribas, France’s largest bank by market value.....”
To put the pieces together, here are a selection of articles on Barack Obama, Rod Blagojevich, Tony Rezko, and Nadhmi Auchi, once described as BNP Paribas’ largest private shareholder:
(Links at site)
Obama’s Iraqi Oil-for-Food Connection
Iraqi Billionaire threatens reporters investigating Obama-Rezko affair
Lehman Bros: Obama’s Rezko-Auchi Conflict of Interest
Obama’s Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac connection
Mansion ‘mistake’ piles the pressure on Barack Obama
Chicago....HI style...Moving soon to a neighborhood near you!
Kenoi Fundraiser payout? Gotti lawyer on Pali murder case (Democrat Mayor helped mob killer)
VIA:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2176808/posts
Update Jan 31: Hear Malu Motta tapes — “Like, he did them like nothin’, know what I mean?”
The Advertiser Jan 29 reports on the opening of the Pali shooter trial:
Ethan “Malu” Motta of Hilo will be represented by Charles Carnesi, whose clients include accused Gambino crime family scion John “Junior” Gotti, in a racketeering and murder trial....Where the money is coming from to pay Carnesi’s fees and expenses — estimated by some court observers to be potentially in the hundreds of thousands of dollars — is not known....
Well, here is a guess....
Admitted Pali Golf Course shooter Ethan “Malu” Motta apparently had a lot of friends in Hilo—including politicians. Nine months after the January 7, 2004 O`ahu murders, hundreds of Motta’s friends gathered at Hilo’s Nani Mau Gardens to raise funds to help pay his legal fees. Billy Kenoi spoke at the event. Stacey Higa says he was given tickets. One source indicates “700 to 1,000 people” were there. The $100 tickets for the October 30, 2004 “Gathering at the Garden” invite supporters “to share this beautiful evening with family, friends and dignitaries in support of a very special man we love dearly.” A ticket obtained by Hawai`i Free Press, says the event was “Hosted by Billy K. Live & Direct.”
Wait until the casinos start going up. Obama is a Black Crow now you know :P
****ARTICLE CANNOT BE POSTED ON FREE REPUBLIC .. ONLY LINK***
Chicago style a bad fit for Obama
http://www.freep.com/article/20090203/OPINION05/902030320
Thought you might appreciate this research thread on Chicago Crime....Trying to keep it all in one place so the dots are easier to connect.
Friday, February 06, 2009
~~~Watching for what IL and Chicago get in stimmy $$$
FROM
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0206edit2feb06,0,4849605.story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
... and skirting ‘scrootens’
###
“We are looking at it, yes, we are,” Daley said. “We brought the Law Department, the Purchasing Department. We have brought all the agencies together. . . . It’s very complicated.”
Wow. Controversial and complicated. But that doesn’t explain why these public plans to spend public money have to remain hidden from, um, the public. So the Tribune’s Dan Mihalopoulos had the temerity to inquire, “Why not be more transparent?”
This foreign concept, transparency, evidently amused the mayor. “Read some of your newspapers,” he said. “Heh, heh.”
Here we sit, surrounded by piles of newspapers, reading and reading to learn whatever it is the mayor divines. Our guess is that he doesn’t want anybody to “scrooten”—that’s a Daley term of art—his list of projects.
Isn’t pinstripe patronage just another term for pay-to-play?
Monday, February 09, 2009
There it is .. BHO acknowledged it years ago. Welcome to your new world, America.
~~~~~~
In Chicago politics, pinstripe patronage refers to a political payback system where instead of rewarding voter loyalty with city jobs, significant campaign contributors receive government contracts.
It’s a by-product of the age of big media. Obama learned about pinstripe patronage as an attorney at Davis Miner Barnhill & Galland, as a July 21, 2008 article by Ryan Lizza in The New Yorker, entitled “Making It: How Chicago shaped Obama,” documents.
E. J. Dionne, Jr., of the Washington Post, wrote about this transition in a 1999 column after Daley was reëlected. Dionne wrote about a young Barack Obama, who artfully explained how the new pinstripe patronage worked:
a politician rewards the law firms, developers, and brokerage houses with contracts, and in return they pay for the new ad campaigns necessary for reëlection. “They do well, and you get a $5 million to $10 million war chest,” Obama told Dionne.
It was a classic Obamaism: superficially critical of some unseemly aspect of the political process without necessarily forswearing the practice itself.
Obama was learning that one of the greatest skills a politician can possess is candor about the dirty work it takes to get and stay elected.
At the time, Obama was growing closer to Tony Rezko, who eventually turned pinstripe patronage into an extremely lucrative way of life.
Despite the element of corruption indigenous to the pinstripe patronage that became part of executing Daley’s Plan for Transformation, back in 1999 Obama glossed over the approach, seemingly endorsing it.
Shortly after becoming a state senator in 1997, Obama told the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin that his experience working with the development industry had reinforced his belief in subsidizing private developers of affordable housing.
“That’s an example of a smart policy,” the paper quoted Obama as saying. “The developers were thinking in market terms and operating under the rules of the marketplace; but at the same time, we had government supporting and subsidizing those efforts.”
Daley releases a few details about stimulus plans
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2181892/posts
*Repair or reconstruct 15 miles of public transit lines
*Retrofit and improve more than 200 schools for the 21st century
*Resurface more than 150 miles of arterial city streets
*Retrofit more than 200 miles of city street lights
*Install or repair 75 miles of sewer and water mains
*Install solar panels in more than 200 city facilities
*Repair a substantial number of bridges and viaducts
*Expand broadband access to over 22,000 homes, including
*10,000 Chicago Housing Authority units
*Enhance technology at our schools and healthcare system
*Weatherize thousands of homes to improve energy efficiency
*Train workers for the new economy, including nurses and health care professionals
*Improve education … by providing tutoring or remediation services, special education programs and continued training for teachers
*Provide additional Head Start and early Head Start programs for children
*Provide meals to children and seniors Provide new funding for police
Trying to keep the CHicago stuff all in one place....If you find anything else please feel free to add it and/or ping me to it.
The Chicago Way: The Mayor Daley Machine & Chicago Politics From The Inside
The Chicago Way: The Mayor Daley Machine & Chicago Politics From The Inside
Dan Zanoza, Executive Director of RFFM.org, interviews Carl Segvich, a Republican Committeeman in the 11th Ward—the ancestral home base of Mayor Richard M. Daley. Segvich discusses what it’s like to be a member of the GOP in the city of Chicago, Chicago-style politics, the Chicago way and “pay to play”. It is an insightful look into one-party, big city liberal politics which sould be an eye-opener for those wanting to learn more about President Barack Obama’s political roots.
Biography:
Carl Segvich is currently serving his first four-year term as Republican Committeeman of Chicago’s 11th Ward. After running for delegate for Jack Kemp to the 1988 Republican National Convention, Segvich didn’t run for public office again until 2003 when he ran for the Chicago City Council – Alderman of the 11th Ward. In 2004, he ran the first time for Committeeman. In 2006, he ran against Mayor Daley’s brother John Daley for 11th District Cook County Commissioner. Segvich continued to increase his vote percentages from the people when he ran for Alderman in 2007. In February 2008, Segvich won and became the 11th Ward’s Republican Committeeman.
Segvich was born and raised in Bridgeport where he still resides. He spends much time as an activist for several conservative causes including defending the unborn, immigration law, capitalism, school vouchers, freedom of religion, respect of marriage and respect of law by prosecuting corrupt politicians.
A former lector and church board member, Segvich is a Roman Catholic and a member of the Knights of Columbus.
Segvich worked in the health field at Mercy Hospital, 1995 - 2001. Segvich has worked voluntarily and as paid staff on several political campaigns. He ran and completed six Chicago marathons, 1994-1999.
Volunteer: 1993, Segvich traveled to Bosnia as Member of the Croatian Youth International Corps, counseled and assisted war orphans to shelter during Bosnian War.
Education: Studied political science at Richard J. Daley Community College of Chicago. B.A., Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1985
Carl Segvich — In His Own Words
Q. Mr. Segvich, you have lived in Chicago your entire life. In fact, you live in the 11th Ward, the ancestral home base of Mayor Richard M. Daley. How did you get involved in politics?
A. At the prodding of a local activist in the neighborhood, I recall conducting a poll in front of a grocery store for Richard M. Daley who was running for state senator. It was the 1970’s and I was an unwitting 15 year-old. I had no idea at the time I was helping a spoiled young man who would go on to be an extreme leftist, stunningly selling out his Catholic religion and country by being the most responsible for foisting on us, a conman as President in 2009.
I would go on to learn better. I entered college as a democrat, studied political science and sociology and became a republican. It was the mid 1980s and President Reagan was becoming an American hero, and aldermen actually debated in Chicago.
In 1988 I decided to run for the Republican National Convention as a Jack Kemp delegate. In Mr. Kemp I saw a man who knew how to tackle urban problems and who could continue President Reagan’s successful policies for America.
So my political interest was sparked by Chicago city council debates, Jack Kemp, President Reagan and honest professors at University of Illinois. Today Bill Ayers teaches there.
I love politics. It’s very interesting to study human behavior as it relates to politics.
The biggest phenomenon that keeps me interested is this: Professed Christians and conservatives painfully and ironically continue to vote for liberal democrats such as Daley, Carol Mosely Braun, Durbin and Blagojevich. I’m interested in stirring them to their untapped courage. I’m interested in fighting the forces of money and clout, for the sake of justice.
Q. As you very well know, Chicago is dominated by the Democratic Machine, but you are a Republican. In general terms, can you talk about some of the challenges you have met as a member of the GOP living in the heart of Democratic Machine country?
A. It’s painful to watch conservatives vote for liberals, because of the false illusion that they “have to”. It’s difficult to get employment (public or private) when you stand for truth. One is not “accepted” if he doesn’t go along to get along. I’ve had many folks tell me, “Carl, you say things that others won’t say” or “You say what everybody else is thinking, but is afraid to say”. This makes me sad because I do not consider myself an extraordinarily brave person; I just say what is on my mind; it’s that easy. So what is so brave about speaking one’s mind? Nothing. The opposite is true: Something is rotten when people don’t speak their mind, especially here in America. Money and power corrupts.
The greatest challenge is fighting for others when they won’t fight for themselves. The world is upside down. You see, this is so important: There are large numbers of people throughout Chicago, not just the 11th Ward, who are Republicans, but just don’t know it or won’t show it. The Daley Liberal Democrat Political mafia has demoralized a huge segment of our society. This machine makes you think you must not be honest, and you have to be crooked and pay fealty to the Daleys. As if that isn’t enough, pop culture led by secular media says it’s mean to be Republican and cool to be Democrat.
So, it’s quite challenging to fight a machine that tells society you “have to” and media that says it’s “cool”.
Q. Recently, you ran for 11th Ward Republican Committeeman and won. What are some of your duties as a Committeeman of the 11th Ward?
A. I’m responsible for gauging the people’s opinions on government and politics, and answering with candidates who will be accountable. I’m responsible for recruiting and campaigning for Republican candidates in all offices, from city council to state representative to President of our U.S. of A. It’s my duty—along with our precinct captains—to knock on every door and encourage our American patriotic neighbors to vote wisely. It’s my responsibility to organize a political apparatus that will promote the conservative Republican Party, which in turn will promote the greater general welfare of all people and provide for ourselves a better representative government.
Perhaps most importantly, I am responsible for appointing 125 Republican election judges. An election judge is there to protect the very foundation of our republic: honest and fair elections of integrity. Unfortunately, fairer honest elections will take more time to re-introduce to an utterly corrupt Chicago.
I am also responsible for filling vacancies on the ballot. (That too was recently corrupted as my powers were violated by the “machine”) I’m also responsible for our Ward’s weighted vote to fill Republican offices when they become vacant.
It’s been noted that: The office of Committeeman is the most powerful office in America. While the President is the most powerful man in the world, the committeeman’s office is more powerful because of grass-root politics. It determines whose names will appear on the ballot for public office and, what the philosophy and platform will be of the party and candidates. In other words, values and morals.
Right now Illinois is a 1-party state. My job is to make Republicans compete.
Q. During the last election, it was reported there were some election irregularities in your Ward. Can you elaborate about this for RFFM.org’s readers?
A. By “irregularities”, we mean illegal activities which occur regularly, election after election in Illinois and more so in Chicago. These “irregularities” must be stopped!
First of all, our election contests between Democrats and Republicans, are run by Democrats. Can we draw any clearer a picture of what is wrong in Chicago, America?! The entire thing is run by Democrats!! Government bureaucrats, whether they work for the state, county or city board of elections are card-carrying members of the Democrat Party. They are card-carrying, dues-paying members of unions which are undeniably, irrefutably and incontrovertibly tied to the Democrat Party. These partisans prepare for months ahead of time, the election process. They put up the booths. They troubleshoot problems on election day. They monitor. They are our “watchdogs”. They take the booths down. They count the votes. Enough said?
More with real estate/corruption: WOnder if Nancy P’s husband or Rahm E brother was involved?????
FROM
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/07/business/07properties.html?_r=3&pagewanted=1&emc=eta1
...
In 2007, Sam Zell, the billionaire Chicago investor, sold a portfolio of 573 properties he had assembled over three decades, Equity Office Properties Trust, to the Blackstone Group for $39 billion. It was the largest private equity deal in history, but Blackstone did not stop there: it immediately flipped hundreds of the buildings for $27 billion
...
investment banks that financed them. If the owners cannot make their loan payments, it could create a financial crisis for the pension funds, hedge funds and insurance companies that hold securities based on Equity Office mortgages.
The list of Equity Office buyers reads like a Who’s Who in American real estate. In Stamford, Conn., RFR Properties, a partnership headed by Michael Fuchs and Aby Rosen, who owns Manhattan landmarks like Lever House and the Seagram Building, spent $850 million to buy seven Equity Office buildings that analysts say are now worth less than their mortgages.
In Los Angeles, the founder of Maguire Properties, one of the largest commercial landlords in Southern California, was forced to step down last year as the company struggled with crushing debt from buying 24 Equity Office buildings.
And in New York, the real estate mogul Harry B. Macklowe lost seven Equity Office towers he bought from Blackstone, along with much of his empire, after he was unable to refinance the $7 billion in short-term, high-interest debt he used to buy them.
...
Mr. Zell, who became chairman and chief executive of the Tribune Company after selling Equity Office, amassed his supersize real estate portfolio over many years
...
Blackstone’s purchase of Equity Office in February 2007 began a series of other record-breaking deals in Stamford; San Francisco; Portland, Ore.; Orange County, Calif., and Chicago, as Blackstone quickly sold about 70 percent of the portfolio to 16 other companies. The company still owns 105 Equity Office properties.
...
STOLEN , it’s the Chicago way! Keeping it all in one place.
MR. BURRIS: Thank you all of the media very much. You all have been very kind to me and my staff and we really appreciate your professionalism.
This morning, I had a great meeting with Majority Leader Reid and Majority Whip Durbin. And in that meeting, we discussed quite a few things. But I had an important phone call before I went to that meeting, and that phone call was from my friend, President — Former President of the United States Jimmy Carter. And we chatted very briefly and he indicated to me to just tell everybody I said, “When you’re in the Senate, Roland, you will make a great senator.” And I said, “Thank you very much, Mr. President.”
And of course that gave me a little edge, even going in to meet with my good friend and fellow colleague Dick Durbin, who I’ve known for years. We’ve campaigned up and down Illinois for many, many years, and watching all those parades and stepped on each other’s toes and got pushed over by a few anxious people.
And, of course, I met Majority Leader Harry Reid for the first time. And he’s a very warm and charming gentleman. As a matter of fact, we have a lot in common. And we began to chat about that and about our families. And, of course, he was glad to hear, you know, about some of my upbringing and my family, my education and my experience. And most of all, Senator Reid was very glad to hear about my love for public service, my love for the 13 million people of the great state of Illinois.
And therefore, when we get these two matters — as you heard in his press conference — out of the way, the signature of my good friend, and I say my good friend — Secretary Jesse White — because we are friends, and of course my testimony before the impeachment committee tomorrow in Springfield, then we will proceed then to submit our documentation to the Senate.
And as you heard chairman — President (sic) Reid say, this will go to the Rules Committee, and they will then assess it and let me know what the outcome is.
So I’m very pleased this afternoon. I’m happy. My whole interest in this experience has been to “be prepared, Roland,” to represent my great state. And that is my love, that is my desire. And very shortly, I will have the opportunity to do that as the junior senator from the fifth-largest state in this great country of ours. Isn’t it great?
Thank you so very much.
Q Roland —
Q Just a quick question —
(Cross talk.)
MR. BURRIS: Yes — a couple of questions. A couple of questions. That’s all I can take.
Q Senator Reid and Senator Durbin did a 180-degree turnaround here, and went from totally opposing you to apparently supporting the idea of your filling this seat.
MR. BURRIS: And Jack, that you’d have to ask them, because all I know is when I sat down in that room with them, they were very — well, I’ve known Durbin for 30 years, but it was as if I’d known Senator Reid for 30 years. I mean, they were very warm, they were very charming. And so you have to ask them that question.
I don’t know what pressure they were under, but I guess they have to keep the integrity of the Senate. And they did not want to rush into anything and make a decision where they have to then be trying to reverse that, and that would even be worse than what this situation is that they were in before.
Yes, Lynn? Yes, Lynn? Lynn Sweet.
Q Thank you so much.
MR. BURRIS: Yes.
Q Towards that end, and I know one of the things they were interested in is your testimony tomorrow in the house impeachment committee.
MR. BURRIS: Yes.
Q And I think they do want to know what kind of contacts, if any, you had with Blagojevich. I’ve read the affidavit that you sent, but I have a question a little deeper.
I was under the impression that when — before Blagojevich’s arrest, that you did want to put yourself in play for an appointment. And if so — your affidavit said you had no contact with the governor — how were you putting yourself in play? Who were you talking to specifically?
MR. BURRIS: Oh, I was putting myself in play, Lynn, by friends from Illinois and across the nation saying, “Roland, what would you” — well, you know, “You want to be senator, or you ought to be senator,” you know, “What can we do?” My statement was, “Call the governor’s office, send an e-mail to the governor’s office, send in letters.” And they were doing that from all over the country.
And so I thought, you know, that that would raise some level of interest on behalf of my — (chuckles) — of my interest in the Senate seat.
And evidently it didn’t, because — (laughter) — because they didn’t even mention my name. I mean, I — I didn’t even show up anywhere. And I don’t know what they were doing with the names of the people calling in because one of my high-school classmates — by the way, I was in the class of ‘55, Lynn — and one of them called into the governor’s office, and she called back to my classmate in Centralia, my hometown, who had started this, and said, this lady said you’re the thousandth person to call in for Roland Burris. We know about Roland Burris. Somebody said that. (Laughs.)
Q Do you think that anyone, on your behalf, might have talked to — that — this wasn’t covered in the affidavit. Do you — I don’t think. Do you think anyone ever actually talked to the governor? Are you concerned that it might be with the wiretap? You know, the phone conversations that might surface —
MR. BURRIS: I have no knowledge of that, Lynn. And if they did, it’s — there was certainly no pay-to-play involved because I don’t have no money. (Laughter.)
Q Mr. Burris —
MR. BURRIS: Yeah, right here.
Q Mr. Burris?
MR. BURRIS: Yeah, I’ll be — yes, yes.
Oh, look — there’s a gentleman — excuse me — I just saw him. This gentleman is from Summerfield — Dick Barbour (sp), stand up. He’s from Summerfield, New Jersey. Dick, how many people did you e- mail across the country saying that Burris should be the senator?
DICK BARBOUR (SP): About a hundred. And I sent it to the press, including Chicago, New York, L.A. The press didn’t respond.
I’ve known Roland for 30 years.
MR. BURRIS: Thank you, Dick.
MR. BARBOUR (SP): Thirty years.
MR. BURRIS: Thanks, Dick. Thank you.
I’m sorry, go ahead.
MR. : We have time for one more question.
Q Mr. Burris?
MR. BURRIS: Yes.
Q One of the things that some Democratic officials have brought up as a deal to seat you would be a commitment from you not to run in 2010. Now, in your discussions with Mr. Reid and Durbin and their staff and the Democratic leadership, did you make any sort of commitment concerning the 2010 election? And specifically, did you make any commitment not to run for reelection?
MR. BURRIS: That is very interesting. I want to know where these — where this information come from. This wasn’t even on their radar screen. They hadn’t even brought it up. And I was getting these rumors about conditions. They weren’t talking any conditions. What Majority Leader Reid said at his press conference, that is exactly what took place. It didn’t come up.
Q So would you run for reelection in 2010?
MR. BURRIS: Well, now, let me get my Senate legs under me and get in and raise some money to pay for all this stuff we’ve been doing, and figure out that once we get in and get settled and learn where the — where the bathrooms are.
MR. : That was the last question.
Q So you haven’t made any commitment at all on that.
MR. BURRIS: I’m sorry?
Q You haven’t made any commitment at all.
MR. BURRIS: No, no, no. I have no commitment at this point.
Q Thank you very much. Thank you.
MR. : Thank you all very much.
MR. BURRIS: Thank you all, press. Thank you so much.
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