Rezko has ties to presidential candidate Barack Obama. The senator says he had no indication of any problems with Rezko when he accepted thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from him.

So Obama tells ABC News he had no indication of Rezko’s mounting problems when he accepted over $180,000 from the notorious kickback artist.  But in April 2007 he stated that is was “possible” his state Senate office received complaints from Rezko’s tenants.  Quote from Chicago Tribune:

"Obama said in the interview that he was unaware of the scope of properties owned by Rezmar or the problems surrounding them. He said none of the affected residents personally sought his help and that aides at his state Senate district office did not recall any inquiries. Still, he said it was “possible” that during his tenure in the legislature that a constituent may have written or called his office “saying, ‘We’re in a building, and we’re unhappy with the service here.’”Such problems, he said, would normally be brought to the attention of an alderman or the city’s Housing Department. “Had I known that there were buildings that were in deteriorating or poor condition, that certainly would have given me pause. But I didn’t know, Obama said".

Notice that Allison Davis, Obama’s former boss and partner of New Kenwood, LLC, was heavily involved both in the suppression of Markowski’s reservations and in the deal Rezmar struck with City Hall.  Also notice that Obama wrote a letter on behalf of New Kenwood, LLC, the same year rumors of Rezko’s problems were circulating in City Hall and in Chicago’s various political circles.  This is also same year in which Obama performed legal work for Rezko at the law firm at which Davis was his former boss.  If Obama’s constituents did not inform him of the crime and squalor surrounding Rezko’s underfinanced tenement empire, I am sure Allison Davis described the situation when she asked Obama to advocate for New Kenwood, LLC, on state Senate stationary in 1998.Rezko’s tenants were without heat in 1997; rumors on Rezko’s legal and financial woes were circulating in 1998; Obama performs legal and political work for Rezko and Davis in 1998; foreclosed buildings in Obama’s state Senate district were literally crumbling in 2001; Rezko holds fundraisers for Obama in 2003; Rezko serves as a campaign finance chair of Obama’s US Senate bid in 2003 and 2004: no wonder why columnists of the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune find Obama’s equivocations on the possibility of his awareness of Rezko’s problems at the time when Rezko was coordinating lavish fundraisers for the Senator unconvincing.

Maybe Rezko will get a presidential pardon when Obama becomes president.

-- Modified on 6/29/2008 5:48:19 PM