The state senator who couldn't keep his constituents from the cold

"Senator Obama does not remember having conversations with Tony Rezko about properties that he owned" — Obama’s campaign staff, April 2007 (Chicago Sun-Times)

For more than five weeks during the brutal winter of 1997, tenants shivered without heat in a government-subsidized apartment building on Chicago's South Side... It was just four years after the landlords -- Antoin "Tony'' Rezko and his partner Daniel Mahru -- had rehabbed the 31-unit building in Englewood with a loan from Chicago taxpayers.

How cold was it?

During January and early February, temperatures routinely dipped to around ten degrees below zero.

But Rezko and his partner couldn't rustle up enough money to get the Englewood building's heat turned back on.

Their company, Rezmar Corp., did manage to find $1,000, which it promptly gave to the campaign fund of State Senator Barack Obama. The young politican had recently been elected the representative for the district that included the Englewood apartment complex.

The South Sangamon apartment building finally had its heat turned on in February 1997, but only after the city of Chicago sued, eventually collecting a $100 fine from Rezmar. There appears to be no evidence that the young state senator had anything to do with the city's numerous lawsuits against Rezko's companies, even though the city was attempting to protect Obama's constituents.

The tenants there had no heat from Dec. 27, 1996, until at least Feb. 3, 1997, when the city of Chicago sued. It was during this exact period that the district's new state senator -- Barack Obama -- received a $1,000 donation from Rezmar. The date was Jan. 14, 1997.

The South Sangamon building was one of 30 low-income projects—containing a total of 1,025 apartments—that Rezko took on between 1989 and 1998. In all, Rezmar Corp. collected more than $100 million by arranging “public-private partnerships” with the city, the state and federal governments, and in bank loans to rehab South Side buildings intended as low-income housing. Neither Rezko nor his partner had any construction experience when they created Rezmar, but they became experts at working Chicago’s political system to acquire taxpayer subsidies for their redevelopment schemes...

...Not surprisingly, every one of the projects ran into financial difficulties within six years.

Eleven of Rezko's buildings were in Obama's district (and all were in close proximity to the district). The results of Rezko's housing experiment?

• Seventeen buildings -- many beset with code violations, including a lack of heat -- ended up in foreclosure.
• Six buildings are currently boarded up.
• Hundreds of the apartments are vacant, in need of major repairs.
• Taxpayers have been stuck with millions in unpaid loans.
• At least a dozen times, the city of Chicago sued Rezmar for failure to heat buildings.

Did State Senator Obama ever complain to anyone -- government officials, Rezmar or Rezko -- about the conditions of Rezmar's buildings? There is apparently no documented evidence that Obama stood up for his constituents.

Even Obama's campaign has implicitly confirmed this fact. In April of 2007, it released the statement: "Senator Obama does not remember having conversations with Tony Rezko about properties that he owned."

Staffers were obviously thinking about combating various money-for-favors implications. But they neglected to consider the other side of this statement. It demonstrates Obama never stood up for his constituents who were shivering in the cold or fighting off mice in their Rezko-rehabbed properties.

But Obama did find time to write letters for Rezko; these requests were only recently discovered.

For example, Obama wrote letters to city and state officials supporting Rezko's bid for $14 million in taxpayers' money for an elder-care facility.

The letters appear to contradict a statement last December from Obama, who told the Chicago Tribune that, in all the years he's known Rezko, "I've never done any favors for him.''

On Tuesday, Bill Burton, press secretary for Obama's presidential campaign, said the letters Obama wrote in support of the development weren't intended as a favor to Rezko or [partner Allison] Davis.

Not very believable, in my estimation.

Obama was able to assist Davis and Rezko in other ways:

Cullen Davis is the son of Allison Davis, who was Senator Obama's boss, when the former community activist got out of community activating and got a Harvard Law Degree and worked for the civil rights firm Davis [owns].

"In 2000 Davis asked the nonprofit Woods Fund of Chicago for a $1 million investment in a new development partnership, Neighborhood Rejuvenation Partners. Obama, a member of the board, voted in favor, helping Davis secure the investment... The following year, Davis assembled another partnership to create New Evergreen/Sedgwick, a $10.7 million renovation of five walk-up buildings in a gentrifying neighborhood. The project, a model of small-scale, mixed-income development, was subsidized by almost $6 million in state loans and federal tax credits."

Which the Boston Globe then goes on to describe the multiple levels of failure of the project, from both the financial angle and the viewpoint of the residents...

You may remember the Woods Fund. Obama served as a member of its board, along with unrepentant terrorists/Communists William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn.

Thus, Obama seemingly used every lever available to him to assist his patrons -- including convicted felon Tony Rezko and Allison Davis -- in their quest to enrich themselves at the expense of taxpayers and his constituents.

And, according to the Huffington Post in March of this year, the Obama campaign was forced to admit that it received significantly more money from Rezko than it had previously disclosed.

Rezko helped raise up to $250,000 for his various political races, Obama's campaign said. The campaign had previously put the figure at $150,000 but now says that amount was only for his 2004 Senate race...

And in interviews with two Chicago newspapers, the Democrat again said it was a mistake to involve Rezko in his purchase of a new home _ not just because Rezko was under federal investigation but because he was a contributor and political activist... Still, Obama said he did nothing unethical...

..."He never once asked me for any favors, or ever did any favors for me," the Illinois senator said in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times. "He never gave me any gifts or gave me any indication he was setting me up to ask for any favors in the future."

Obama's staff admitted that Rezko raised:

• About $160,000 for Obama's successful run for U.S. Senate in 2004
• Between $60,000 to $90,000 for his state Senate campaigns and a failed bid for Congress in 2000

* * *
Put in the simplest terms possible, state senator Obama couldn't even keep his constituents warm during the winter, presumably because he was too busy assisting his developer buddies with their various moneymaking schemes.

And, as both a "community organizer" and then a state senator, Obama couldn't even keep federally subsidized housing complexes like Grove Parc habitable.

You know, habitable is a pretty freaking low bar to set; and Obama couldn't even meet it for the downtrodden residents in his district.

Now: this is Obama's experience that ostensibly qualifies him for the presidency?

If it weren't so deadly serious, I'd think it was someone's idea of a sick joke.


Hat tip: Larwyn

Tony Rezko's investor and Barack Obama

Steve Rhodes of the Beachwood Reporter provides an excellent overview of "Barack Obama's Auchi Problem."

Who is Nadhmi Auchi? He's a controversial Iraqi-born billionaire who reportedly dealt with Saddam Hussein's regime prior to the Gulf War and whose bank trafficked most of the funds involved in the massive UN Oil-for-food scandal. Convicted of fraud in France in 2003, his request to enter the U.S. in 2005 was denied.

But someone with pull at the State Department was able to secure a visa for him in 2006. The executive summary:

Tony Rezko pimped out Barack Obama to impress Nadhmi Auchi, a bad operator who found the political culture in Chicago and Illinois amenable to his kind of investment acumen. The only problem was that Rezko's deal was in trouble, and Rezko himself was caught up in, among other scandals, a minority-contracting scam with the Dalely administration. At the same time, Rezko was wheeling and dealing with the Blagojevich administration and everyone in the political universe knew he was under federal investigation for it but Obama asked for his help buying a $1.6 million mansion and appeared at a couple of events to help Rezko impress Auchi and others.

Now Obama's memory is faulty because there's that pesky question of judgement, as well as the stain on his meticulously burnished image as a beacon of hope and reform because his relationship with both Rezko and the Machine and politics-as-usual is deeper than he's ever cared to admit. Have I missed anything? Does that make sense now? Do you get the feeling there's still more to the story that we don't know about?

Via RezkoWatch, Rick Moran notes that during a March 14, 2008 with the Chicago Sun-Times, Barack Obama denied helping Auchi enter the country but doesn't know whether his staff assisted the controversial billionaire.

Q: Did you ever help Auchi enter the country?
A: No.
Q: Or your office?
A: Not that I know of.

Moran goes on to explain the shady ties.

Obama himself has been extraordinarily vague about any possible meetings, saying that while he very well may have met Auchi, he doesn’t recall it... [There are serious questions about] the source of money that Rezko used to buy a side lot to Obama’s mansion at a time when he told a court he was flat broke and heavily in debt.

[A] holding company belonging to Auchi... loaned Mr. Rezko $3.5 million dollars just three weeks before Obama and Rezko closed the sale on the property simultaneously –a stipulation by the previous owners that both the lot and house be sold at the same time– thus allowing Obama to purchase his dream house.

...Auchi has a reputation in Great Britain of collecting politicians “the way that other people collect stamps.”

Let's recap.

So Auchi – friend of Saddam, international fraudster, and business partner to one of Chicago’s premiere fixers– gave Rezko the money that allowed Obama to purchase his house. Without the loan, Rezko would not have been able to afford the $125,000 downpayment on the lot and Obama would not have been able to meet the terms set by the sellers.

Did Auchi know that part of that money would be used to help Obama purchase his house? Did Obama know where Rezko’s money came from?

Good questions all. And, thus far, conclusive answers have not been forthcoming.

But if Obama's campaign is truly about "judgment", his associations with extremely shady characters like Rezko and Auchi -- involving possible quid pro quo dealings -- do not speak well for him.

FBI asking questions on Rezko-Obama land deal

Update on 12/9/08: Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was just arrested. Governor Rod (I think that's what he prefers to be called) and Barack Obama were both beneficiaries of convicted felon Tony Rezko's largess. More to come, I'm sure.

MarketWatch reports that (via The Washington Times) FBI investigators are asking questions about the Rezko-Obama land deal.

A former Illinois real estate specialist says FBI agents have questioned him about a Chicago property that had been bought by convicted felon Tony Rezko's wife and later sold to the couple's next-door neighbor, Sen. Barack Obama.

The real estate specialist, Kenneth J. Conner, said bank officials replaced an appraisal review he prepared on the property and FBI agents were investigating in late 2007 whether the Rezko-Obama deal was proper.

“Agents and I talked about payoff, bribe, kickback for a long time, though it took them only a short number of minutes of talking with me while looking at the appraisal to acknowledge what they already seemed to know: The Rezko lot was grossly overvalued,” Mr. Conner told The Washington Times Monday.

“Rezko paid the asking price on the same day Obama paid $300,000 less than the asking price to the same seller for his adjacent mansion,” he said. “This begs the question of payoff, bribe, kickback.”

...Chicago real estate developer Tony Rezko was convicted June 16 on felony counts of fraud, money laundering, and aiding and abetting a bribery scheme involving kickbacks from companies wanting to do business with the state... Conner said his appraisal of the Rezko property, held in Rita Malki Rezko's name, was replaced with a higher one and he was fired when he questioned the document.

...According to his complaint, Mr. Conner reviewed the appraisal of the Rezko property by another firm, Adams Appraisal, which had set the value at $625,000. The complaint said he told his bosses the property had been overvalued by at least $125,000 and that a “reasonable and fair evaluation” should have been no greater than $500,000.

Mr. Conner said the removal of his appraisal “seemed understood as a crime with respect to the subpoena” of the Rezko property and the FDIC audit.

Aerial photos of the buildings developed by Rezko, Valerie Jarrett and other friends of Obama will give you a new perspective on the meaning of "change".

Obama's Rose Law Firm Files

I've got my own suspicions, but judge for yourself.

Barack Obama has made some strange decisions regarding secrecy and records. His state legislative records are missing and may have been thrown out, there are questions about his answers to his application to the state bar (keep in mind the DSCC demanded George Allen release his in 2006), and he released a one-page letter from his doctor summarizing his medical history (contrasted with McCain allowing reporters to examine nearly 1,200 pages of health records). He and his former law firm say Obama only did a few hours of work for nonprofit firms connected to convicted donor Tony Rezko, but no records have been released to confirm that.

Obama won't disclose his clients but the ones we know about, like Rezko, are as harsh an indictment of the candidate's judgment as you can imagine.

The backstory on Rezko and Obama:

In 1993 Obama found employment with the Chicago law firm Davis Miner Barnhill, which represented developers who built low-income housing with government funds. In 1995 one of the firm's clients -- the Woodlawn Preservation and Investment Corporation (WPIC) -- partnered with Rezmar Corporation in a project to convert an abandoned nursing home into low-income apartments. Obama was instrumental in helping Rezmar Corporation and WPIC strike their deal. Rezmar Corporation would also partner with WPIC clients in four later deals.

When Obama announced in 1995 that he was running for an Illinois Senate seat (which would be up for grabs in 1996), two of Tony Rezko’s companies donated a total of $2,000 to Obama’s campaign. Over the course of the entire primary season, Rezko raised between $10,000 and $15,000 of the roughly $100,000 Obama collected overall. Obama won the November 1996 election, and the district he represented included 11 of Rezko's 30 low-income housing projects.

Rezko served on the campaign committee for Obama’s failed congressional run against U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush in 2000, raising between $50,000 and $75,000 of the estimated $600,000 Obama collected for that race... In 2001 Rezko’s Rezmar Corporation stopped making its mortgage payments on the old nursing home it had converted into apartments, and the state of Illinois foreclosed on the building, which was located in Obama's Senate district.

In January 2008, the Washington Post reported:

Obama has denied doing any legal work directly for Rezko or his companies. During Monday night's debate, he said that he had done "about five hours worth of work" on a joint real estate development project involving Rezko and a Chicago church group...

...Obama's former supervisor at the law firm, William Miceli, said that the firm represented a non-profit group called the Woodlawn Preservation and Investment Corporation which redeveloped a run-down property on Chicago's South Side jointly with Rezko. He described Clinton's assertion that Obama represented Rezko in a slum landlord business as "categorically untrue."

Given that Obama's firm represented "developers who built low-income housing with government funds" -- like Rezko -- it's easy to imagine that the great community organizer was more entwined with sleaze than macrame dipped in manure. And that's precisely why he's hiding those records.


Linked by: Curmudgeonly Skeptical. Thanks!

Obama, Rezko, Blagojevich: Illinois Governor Arrested

Moments ago The Wall Street Journal reported that Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was just arrested for (allegedly) offering to sell the Senate seat vacated by President-Elect Obama (download the complaint (PDF)). Blagojevich and his chief of staff were each charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and solicitation of bribery. And there's quite a history:

Corruption in the Blagojevich administration has been the focus of a federal investigation involving an alleged $7 million scheme aimed at squeezing kickbacks out of companies seeking business from the state. Federal prosecutors have acknowledged they're also investigating "serious allegations of endemic hiring fraud" under Mr. Blagojevich.

Political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko who raised money for the campaigns of both Messrs. Blagojevich and Obama is awaiting sentencing after being convicted of fraud and other charges. Mr. Blagojevich's chief fundraiser, Christopher G. Kelly, is due to stand trial early next year on charges of obstructing the Internal Revenue Service.

Methinks the investigations aren't done yet. In November MarketWatch reported that (via The Washington Times) FBI investigators were asking questions about the Rezko-Obama land deal.

A former Illinois real estate specialist says FBI agents have questioned him about a Chicago property that had been bought by convicted felon Tony Rezko's wife and later sold to the couple's next-door neighbor, Sen. Barack Obama.

The real estate specialist, Kenneth J. Conner, said bank officials replaced an appraisal review he prepared on the property and FBI agents were investigating in late 2007 whether the Rezko-Obama deal was proper.

“Agents and I talked about payoff, bribe, kickback for a long time, though it took them only a short number of minutes of talking with me while looking at the appraisal to acknowledge what they already seemed to know: The Rezko lot was grossly overvalued,” Mr. Conner told The Washington Times Monday.

“Rezko paid the asking price on the same day Obama paid $300,000 less than the asking price to the same seller for his adjacent mansion,” he said. “This begs the question of payoff, bribe, kickback.”

...Chicago real estate developer Tony Rezko was convicted June 16 on felony counts of fraud, money laundering, and aiding and abetting a bribery scheme involving kickbacks from companies wanting to do business with the state... Conner said his appraisal of the Rezko property, held in Rita Malki Rezko's name, was replaced with a higher one and he was fired when he questioned the document.

...According to his complaint, Mr. Conner reviewed the appraisal of the Rezko property by another firm, Adams Appraisal, which had set the value at $625,000. The complaint said he told his bosses the property had been overvalued by at least $125,000 and that a “reasonable and fair evaluation” should have been no greater than $500,000.

Mr. Conner said the removal of his appraisal “seemed understood as a crime with respect to the subpoena” of the Rezko property and the FDIC audit.

Aerial photos of the buildings developed by Rezko, Valerie Jarrett and other friends of Obama will give you a new perspective on the meaning of "change".

Aren't the drones glad they voted for a member of the squeaky clean Chicago political establishment to orchestrate trillions in bailouts?

I mean, what could possibly go wrong with that?

After they're done with us, we'll all be hoping for a change.

Update: Gateway Pundit: "Blagojevich Arrest Shakes Obama Presidency to Its Core."

Update II: Jammie Wearing Fool: Obama throws Axelrod under the bus in record time.

CNN somehow forgot to mention the Governor's a Democrat.

Who is Valerie Jarrett, senior White House adviser to Barack Obama?

This week President-Elect Obama named Valerie Jarrett his senior White House adviser. Who is Ms. Jarrett?

Certainly she is a long-time friend of and fundraiser for Barack Obama. But her ties to failed and fraudulent real estate deals in Chicago are of the most concern.


Earlier this year The Boston Globe reported on the stunning failures of Jarrett's companies. "Jarrett is the chief executive of Habitat Co., which managed Grove Parc Plaza from 2001 until this [past] winter and co-managed an even larger subsidized complex in Chicago that was seized by the federal government in 2006, after city inspectors found widespread problems."


Problems including the fact that many of the approximately one thousand housing units were "uninhabitable" and were condemned by federal authorities. Grove Parc Plaza, one of the largest residential housing complexes in Barack Obama's state senatorial district, has been at the center of a variety of scandals.


This week a non-partisan watchdog group -- Judicial Watch -- announced that it had secured documents linking Jarrett to a variety of real estate scandals including failed housing developments operated by Obama fundraiser Tony Rezko.


"Valerie Jarrett served as a board member for several organizations that provided funding and support for Chicago housing projects operated by real estate developers and Obama financial backers Rezko and Allison Davis. (Davis is also Obama's former boss.)...


... Jarrett was a member of the Board of Directors for the Woodlawn Preservation and Investment Corporation along with several Davis and Rezko associates, as well as the Fund for Community Redevelopment and Revitalization, an organization that worked with Rezko and Davis.


...(According to press reports, housing projects operated by Davis and Rezko have been substandard and beset with code violations. The Chicago Sun Times reported that one Rezko-managed housing project was "riddled with problems -- including squalid living conditions...lack of heat, squatters and drug dealers.")


...As Chief Executive Officer of the Habitat Company Jarrett also managed a controversial housing project located in Obama's former state senate district called Grove Parc Plaza. According to the Boston Globe the housing complex was considered "uninhabitable by unfixed problems, such as collapsed roofs and fire damage..."


All subsidized by the taxpayers, mind you, and aided and abetted by the likes of Jarrett and Obama. The Boston Globe explained the troubling quid pro quo between Jarrett, Rezko and Obama:


"Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to Obama’s presidential campaign and a member of his finance committee. Jarrett is the chief executive of Habitat Co., which managed Grove Parc Plaza from 2001 until this [past] winter and co-managed an even larger subsidized complex in Chicago that was seized by the federal government in 2006, after city inspectors found widespread problems...


Allison Davis, a major fund-raiser for Obama’s US Senate campaign and a former lead partner at Obama’s former law firm. Davis, a developer, was involved in the creation of Grove Parc and has used government subsidies to rehabilitate more than 1,500 units in Chicago, including a North Side building cited by city inspectors last year after chronic plumbing failures resulted in raw sewage spilling into several apartments...



Antoin “Tony” Rezko, perhaps the most important fund-raiser for Obama’s early political campaigns and a friend who helped the Obamas buy a home in 2005. Rezko’s company used subsidies to rehabilitate more than 1,000 apartments, mostly in and around Obama’s district, then refused to manage the units, leaving the buildings to decay to the point where many no longer were habitable...

Campaign finance records show that six prominent developers - including Jarrett, Davis, and Rezko - collectively contributed more than $175,000 to Obama’s campaigns over the last decade and raised hundreds of thousands more from other donors. Rezko alone raised at least $200,000, by Obama’s own accounting. (This number now exceeds $500,000)...



One of those contributors, Cecil Butler, controlled Lawndale Restoration, the largest subsidized complex in Chicago, which was seized by the government in 2006 after city inspectors found more than 1,800 code violations...


...Obama [rewarded his backers with] legislative action as a state senator. In 2001, Obama sponsored a successful bill that increased state subsidies for private developers. The law let developers designated by the state raise up to $26 million a year by selling tax credits to Illinois residents. For each $1 in credits purchased, the buyer was allowed to decrease his taxable income by 50 cents...


The developers gave Obama their financial support. Jarrett, Davis, and Rezko all served on Obama’s campaign finance committee when he won a seat in the US Senate in 2004...


These are the kinds of heartwarming success stories that Obama and Jarrrett left in their wake in Chicago. I shudder to think what they could do to the entire country. And I sincerely hope I'm wrong.

Source: Boston Globe: Grim proving ground for Obama's housing policy and Ten degrees below zero.

Hat tips: Gateway Pundit and Larwyn. Linked by: The invaluable American Thinker. Thanks!

The Illustrated Valerie Jarrett Primer

Senior White House Adviser Valerie Jarrett is in the news this week with word that she, along with Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, were subpoenaed in the corruption trial of ex-Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. Blago, as he's fondly known in the world of D-list celebrities, is alleged to have put the vacant Obama Senate seat up for sale. But who is Ms. Jarrett? The few legacy media profiles that exist are short on details and long on bluster.

Certainly she is a long-time friend of and fundraiser for Barack Obama. But her ties to failed and fraudulent real estate deals in Chicago are of the most concern, especially given the recent allegations of illegal deal-making surrounding Senate candidates Sestak and Romanoff.


In 2008 The Boston Globe reported on the stunning failures of Jarrett's companies. "Jarrett is the chief executive of Habitat Co., which managed Grove Parc Plaza from 2001 until this [past] winter and co-managed an even larger subsidized complex in Chicago that was seized by the federal government in 2006, after city inspectors found widespread problems."


Problems including the fact that many of the approximately one thousand housing units were "uninhabitable" and were condemned by federal authorities. Grove Parc Plaza, one of the largest residential housing complexes in Barack Obama's state senatorial district, has been at the center of a variety of scandals.


A few months after the Globe's report, a non-partisan watchdog group -- Judicial Watch -- announced that it had secured documents linking Jarrett to a variety of real estate scandals including failed housing developments operated by Obama fundraiser Tony Rezko.


"Valerie Jarrett served as a board member for several organizations that provided funding and support for Chicago housing projects operated by real estate developers and Obama financial backers Rezko and Allison Davis. (Davis is also Obama's former boss.)...


... Jarrett was a member of the Board of Directors for the Woodlawn Preservation and Investment Corporation along with several Davis and Rezko associates, as well as the Fund for Community Redevelopment and Revitalization, an organization that worked with Rezko and Davis.


...(According to press reports, housing projects operated by Davis and Rezko have been substandard and beset with code violations. The Chicago Sun Times reported that one Rezko-managed housing project was "riddled with problems -- including squalid living conditions...lack of heat, squatters and drug dealers.")


...As Chief Executive Officer of the Habitat Company Jarrett also managed a controversial housing project located in Obama's former state senate district called Grove Parc Plaza. According to the Boston Globe the housing complex was considered "uninhabitable by unfixed problems, such as collapsed roofs and fire damage..."


All were subsidized by the taxpayers, mind you, and aided and abetted by the likes of Jarrett and Obama. The Boston Globe explained the troubling quid pro quo between Jarrett, Rezko and Obama:


"Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to Obama’s presidential campaign and a member of his finance committee. Jarrett is the chief executive of Habitat Co., which managed Grove Parc Plaza from 2001 until this [past] winter and co-managed an even larger subsidized complex in Chicago that was seized by the federal government in 2006, after city inspectors found widespread problems...


Allison Davis, a major fund-raiser for Obama’s US Senate campaign and a former lead partner at Obama’s former law firm. Davis, a developer, was involved in the creation of Grove Parc and has used government subsidies to rehabilitate more than 1,500 units in Chicago, including a North Side building cited by city inspectors last year after chronic plumbing failures resulted in raw sewage spilling into several apartments...



Antoin “Tony” Rezko, perhaps the most important fund-raiser for Obama’s early political campaigns and a friend who helped the Obamas buy a home in 2005. Rezko’s company used subsidies to rehabilitate more than 1,000 apartments, mostly in and around Obama’s district, then refused to manage the units, leaving the buildings to decay to the point where many no longer were habitable...

Campaign finance records show that six prominent developers - including Jarrett, Davis, and Rezko - collectively contributed more than $175,000 to Obama’s campaigns over the last decade and raised hundreds of thousands more from other donors. Rezko alone raised at least $200,000, by Obama’s own accounting. (This number now exceeds $500,000)...



One of those contributors, Cecil Butler, controlled Lawndale Restoration, the largest subsidized complex in Chicago, which was seized by the government in 2006 after city inspectors found more than 1,800 code violations...


...Obama [rewarded his backers with] legislative action as a state senator. In 2001, Obama sponsored a successful bill that increased state subsidies for private developers. The law let developers designated by the state raise up to $26 million a year by selling tax credits to Illinois residents. For each $1 in credits purchased, the buyer was allowed to decrease his taxable income by 50 cents...


The developers gave Obama their financial support. Jarrett, Davis, and Rezko all served on Obama’s campaign finance committee when he won a seat in the US Senate in 2004...


These are the kinds of heartwarming success stories that Obama and Jarrrett left in their wake in Chicago. Just after the election of 2008, I wrote of the pair, "I shudder to think what they could do to the entire country. And I sincerely hope I'm wrong."

Well, it appears I was right -- and it's only been 18 months. Are you scared and angry enough yet to vote in November?


Sources: Boston Globe: Grim proving ground for Obama's housing policy and Ten degrees below zero.
Hat tips: Gateway Pundit and Larwyn.