Rezko problem may continue to dog Obama
Tony Rezko, now convicted whined to a judge that the feds had leaned on him to get to Obama. That of course is patently false except in a narrow sense of tying up loose ends. But as The Chicago Tribune’s John Kass writes the mere accusation could spell trouble for Obama down the line.
“The last thing Sen. Barack Obama and Gov. Rod Blagojevich needed was that letter written by convicted Illinois influence peddler Tony Rezko promising he’d never rat out his pals.
The imprisoned political fixer insisted that federal prosecutors are squeezing him, according to an exclusive Tribune report written by federal courts reporter Jeff Coen for Thursday’s paper.
“They are pressuring me to tell them the ‘wrong’ things that I supposedly know about Governor Blagojevich and Senator Obama,” the fundraiser (and Obama’s personal real estate fairy) wrote in a letter to U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve.
“I have never been a party to any wrongdoing that involved the Governor or the Senator,” Rezko argued. “I will never fabricate lies about anyone else for selfish purposes. I will take whatever comes my way, but I will never hurt innocent people.”
Amen, Tony. But those who say nothing don’t brag. They shut up.
Yet those who promise to say nothing, and promise it loudly, often have much to say later, in a calm and rational voice, meekly from the witness box.
I’ve seen a few lately, a convicted Outfit hit man who killed at least a dozen people and testified against Chicago mob bosses, and, in an unrelated case, a convicted political apparatchik of the GOP who talked like Joe Pesci in the movies until he broke, blubbered and helped put former Gov. George Ryan in prison.
They all want the same thing—to make sure their loved ones are well cared for on the outside. It could be that Rezko, who mentioned his sons in the letter, cares more about them and his wife, Rita, than he does about his political buddies. Hence, the implied threat to the senator and the governor. That could be a problem for both Obama and Blagojevich, but mostly, I think, for Blagojevich, if Rezko—convicted of more than a dozen corruption counts—begins to squeak.”
While the trial didn’t uncover wrong doing by Obama, didn’t mean that no hint of impropriety took place. In fact it wasn’t even in the scope of the trial to find that out beyond a shadow of a doubt. Rezko was on trial, not Obama.
Nevertheless it doesn’t mean that Rezko couldn’t find a way to “help himself out” down the line by some after trial information he hitherto had kept silent.
*crossposted at Macsmind.com*
