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March 13, 2008

Tony Rezko's Dew Drop Inn

Thomas Lifson
There is a certain type of business promoter who solicits money from wealthy overseas private investors, and proves his bona fides and influence in America by displaying access to powerful politicians. The big time promoters have lavish offices displaying signed and personally inscribed pictures, showing the occupant shaking hands with the recognizably powerful. I know of wealthy foreigners induced to send millions of dollars to such people, not always ending happily for the investor.

If you are a promoter who is also a real estate developer, someone looking for backing to make money off some form of project zoned, taxed, subsidized, or regulated by state and local governments, you want state and local officials. And you want  the lesser lights in the flesh, to shake hands and look the investor (or mark, as the case may be) in the eye. That is how you prove that you have the official on your side. And if you can summon said office-holder to a social occasion, all the more impressive.

All of which adds some context for understanding the information about State Senator Obama's  "dropping in" relationship with Tony Rezko gathered by Rezko Watch.  
James Bone and Dominic Kennedy of the Times Online (UK) wrote February 27, 2008, that when Iraqi-British billionaire businessman Nadhmi Auchi visited the United States in 2004, "Pictures show him meeting Obama ally Emil Jones, president of the Illinois state senate." And, although now, Auchi and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) "say they have no memory of meeting," Bone and Kennedy wrote that "a source says the two may have had a brief encounter at the Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago" where Auchi's "visit was being honoured with a dinner there" which was attended by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich"-and Sen. Obama "dropped in."

Such an innocent phrase "dropped in". It's so coincidental, accidental almost.

Rezko Watch points to another recent news item fromChristopher Drew and Mike McIntire in the New York Times

While it is not clear what Mr. Rezko got from the relationship, he liked to display his alliances with politicians, including Mr. Obama.

In one instance, when he was running for the Senate, Mr. Obama stopped by to shake hands while Mr. Rezko, an immigrant from Syria, was entertaining Middle Eastern bankers considering an investment in one of his projects." [....]


While Mr. Obama was running for the Senate, Mr. Rezko was also raising money for a huge development in the South Loop of Chicago, often playing host to dinners in a private room at the Four Seasons Hotel here.

Former Rezko associates said that Governor Blagojevich attended one of the dinners, and that at Mr. Rezko's request, Mr. Obama dropped in at one for Middle Eastern bankers in early 2004, just as he was starting to pull ahead in the Senate primary. The visits, Mr. Rezko's partners said, helped impress foreign guests.

Exactly. Obama's "dropping in" helps close the sale. Functionally, he is in business with Rezko. But that is obvious anyway. This was part of a money-generating scheme that fed his campaign coffers with contributions -- back when he was a state official and a six figure donor/bundler was a big deal for him.

He was after all part of the Chicago Democrat political machine. And he made his peace with Tony Rezko and his friends, and their expectations of something in return.

The character of the foreign investor tells you something about the promoter. Rezko's last foreign moneybags turns out to be Nadhmi Auchi, a man with very dubious ties. 

There are two good sites for following Rezko news and analysis, Rezkorama and the aforementioned Rezko Watch. Even if the mainstream media downplay it, the word from the trial will get out, as Patrick Fitzgerald turns over the Rezko rock.

Hat tip: Astute Blogger

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