The Payoff? Rezko Fixed It To Get Obama Staffers on Illinois Governor's Payroll

I haven't covered the Rezko story because better bloggers than I were doing a good job with it.

And.

Because I didn't see the payoff. Yes, there is that strip of adjacent property sold for less-than-market value, but last I heard Obama paid $104,000 for that, which seems... well, an awful lot for a strip of land to make your property a bit bigger. Sure, it seems to have been under-priced, but it's not like he got $100,000 investing in cattle futures.

But.

Here is the payoff. We saw this earlier with John McCain, alas, and the Reform Institute. Those running political campaigns cannot actually afford to keep their staffers on payroll year round for several years. It's really only in the year before the election -- sometimes only the nine months before an election -- they officially go on the campaign payroll.

So, what do they do in the meantime? They have to draw a salary. They don't go into Aliens-style hypersleep every three of four years.

Well, that's where friends can help. One can keep one's campaign staff adequately fed and sheltered through those non-election years if only one has some buddies willing to keep the nucleus (or even more than the nucleus) of your permanent campaign staff on their payroll through those lean years.

And, as it turns out, Barack Hussein Obama just does happen to have bosom chums in the corrupt Chicago political machine.

For example, shady extoritionist and political fixer Tony Rezko, currently on trial for a welter of violations. Seems Dirty Tony was such a mensch for Obama that he he found cushy positions for Obama's permanent War Council in the governor's administration.

Well, that's what friends are for, the song goes.

So keep on smiling...
shining...
knowing you can always count on me, for sure...
that's what friends are for.

For me, there's finally a real hint of actual corruption on Obama's part here, beyond "mere" unsavory associations and strange offers of discounted pricey Chicago property.

We might have found the quid. Now we just need to find the quo.

posted by Ace at 02:39 PM

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