Pal #3

Another of Obama's buddies: Tony Rezko.

He's a political fundraiser, real estate developer and restaurateur in Chicago. He was one of Barack's first major financial contributors. Starting in 2003, he was one of the people on Obama's U.S. Senate campaign finance committee. He threw an early fundraiser for Obama which was instrumental in providing Obama with seed money for his first U.S. Senate race. Over $250,000 in Obama's campaign funds was identified as coming from Rezko or his close associates.

Obama bought a house in Chicago for $1.65 million in 2005. Rezko's wife bought the adjoining lot for $625K the same day. Rezko later sold Obama a 10 foot strip of land for $104,500, which was a big favor for Obama, because it made Rezko's land less attractive for development. A couple of years later, as a return favor, Barack supported a low income senior citizen development project that ultimately netted Rezko $14 million in taxpayer funds, including an $885,000 fee for Rezko and his partner.

What's Rezko doing now, after making deals with Obama and raising $$ for his campaigns? He's in federal prison. Rezko and several others were indicted on federal charges in October 2006, for using their connections to the state boards to demand kickbacks from businesses that wanted to do business with the state. Rezko was found guilty of 16 of the 24 charges filed against him.

How many convicted felons have you done business with?