Time for the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate Rezko?

[itsrobert]

Every hint of foul play needs to be investigated.

[MADem]

1. No, he's under indictment already for fraud and corruption.

He has till the beginning of FEB to take a plea deal. Otherwise, he goes to trial at the end of FEB.

Now THAT would be a COURT TEE VEE get--if they still had COURT TEE VEE, that is...

[itsrobert]

2. Oh, that's Bush's excuse

"It's an on going investigation and we can't comment on it right now"

Look for Obama Campaign to start using that pretty soon.

[MADem]

3. The guy IS going to trial. Big day is in FEB--he either pleads or off he goes.

A federal judge denied a request to delay they the fraud trial of businessman Antoin "Tony" Rezko, a one-time key Obama fundraiser and friend while the now-presidential candidate was in the Illinois state senate and during his U.S. Senate run. Rezko was also an adviser to and fundraiser for Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

The AP: "Rezko has pleaded not guilty to charges that he joined with another major political fundraiser, businessman-attorney Stuart Levine, to shake down money management companies wanting to invest state pension funds. Rezko is charged in a separate case with defrauding the General Electric Capital Corp. out of $10 million."

The Chicago Tribune: Rezko "is accused of using his influence with state officials to extort kickbacks from firms seeking to do business with the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board and the state's Teachers Retirement System Board. Stuart Levine, a member of both state boards who pleaded guilty to taking part in the kickback scheme, is expected to be the key government witness against Rezko."

The defense had asked for a delay because there are 1.5 million documents to sort through. The judge said they have enough time to prepare.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/01/08/558943.aspx

[madrchsod]

6. Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich......

this is the guy that`s going down....how many people he drags with him is what everyone here in illinois is waiting for. we are not going to shed a tear when blago goes,he`s one of the worse governors in a long line in illinois that has been thrown in jail. republican or democrat makes no difference. i really do not believe obama would even consider running for president if he knew that anything he did would land him with an indictment. for one he`s a lawyer and second he`s had outside lawyers go over all his dealings about rezko and nothing illegal or unethical was found.

but if i am wrong then we will have a special election and if the republicans can find a moderate then illinois will elect a republican senator. that`s the way it works here in illinois

[MADem]

7. No one's suggesting he'll be indicted. At all.

It's just the stink of guilt by association, is all.

The pathetic attempts to attach the guy to Clinton (the "two wrongs" strategy) actually makes it worse. Neither Clinton took a DIME from the guy--and they took a lot of money from all sorts of folks. It's gotta make you wonder if they didn't want to get too close to the fellow, for whatever reason. It could also mean they just got lucky. Or perhaps Rezko felt the Clintons were not sufficiently supportive of issues of import to him....

[Skidmore]

4. How about they investigate Hsu?

[MADem]

8. They have. He's in jail.

And don't go there, unless you want to bring up some troubling blowback.

See, Hsu donated to Obama, too... AND he introduced Obama to his TOP donor, a guy who is now a key member of Obama's finance committee--Mark Gorenberg. The same Mark Gorenberg who had deep pockets for Kerry.

Follow the money!

[madrchsod]

5. you are kidding right? rezko is`t a senator

and since the trial has`t started yet it`s going to be awhile before obama is put into federal prison on corruption charges...

[MADem]

9. Obama isn't going to be indicted for anything to do with that guy.

Unless something heretofore unknown is revealed, and that's very unlikely. It's just that he associated with the guy for almost two decades--that's the 'icky' part of it all. If Rezko takes the plea deal it will help Obama. If he doesn't, it will hurt him.