In politics, enemies need to be watched. However, it’s friends who can really cause trouble.
Failed Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani learned this the hard way. His one-time pal, Bernard Kerik, kept making the wrong kind of headlines, and Giuliani suffered a kind of guilt by association.
Sen. Barack Obama, a leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, now finds himself in the same boat.
Hint: Click in map to explore connectionsStory continues below interactive map 
He has had to fend off persistent questions about one of his longtime contributors, Antoin “Tony” Rezko, a Chicago real estate developer and restaurant chain owner. Though Obama has been not been charged with wrongdoing, he remains on the defensive.
Rezko was indicted in 2006 on extortion charges unrelated to his dealings with Obama.
On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Amy St. Eve ruled Rezko was a flight risk. She ordered him jailed as he awaits a trial set to begin Feb. 25.
Allegedly, Rezko had received about $3.5 million from Nadhmi Auchi, an associate. Federal authorities argued it would finance an escape.
The Rezko indictment has proven to be a headache not just for Obama. Rezko was a leading contributor to Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, and several other Illinois politicians. He also contributed to the presidential campaign of George W. Bush.
Obama was at Harvard Law School in the early 1990s when a Rezko associate offered him a job. Obama turned down that job and returned to Chicago in 1992 to lead a voter-registration drive.
The next year, he took a position in a law firm then known as Davis Miner Barnhill & Galland. The firm did work for Rezko, who was developing housing projects.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Rezko became one of “Obama’s earliest political patrons.” He helped raise money for Obama’s 1995 Illinois Senate campaign. Rezko also was a key fundraiser for Obama’s 2004 campaign for the U.S. Senate.
In all, Rezko, his family and associates contributed at least $168,000 to Obama campaigns over the years, the paper reported. In the wake of the indictment, Obama has given most of this money to charity.
Obama has also faced scrutiny for a 2005 real estate deal that involved Rezko’s wife, Rita Rezko. Obama paid $1.65 million for a Chicago mansion, $300,000 below the original asking price.
Rita Rezko bought an adjoining lot for $625,000. She then sold one-sixth of the lot to Obama for $104,500.
In 2006, Obama said he should not have gotten involved in the deal.
“It was mistake to have been engaged with (Rezko) at all in this or any other personal business dealing that would allow him, or anyone else, to believe that he had done me a favor,” Obama said.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, another Democratic presidential candidate, interjected the Obama-Rezko connection into the campaign last week.
“You were practicing law and representing your contributor, Rezko, in his slum-landlord business in inner-city Chicago,” Clinton charged during a debate.
Obama responded by saying he was an associate at the law firm (Davis Miner Barnhill & Galland) that worked with Rezko on a project connected to a church group. He did “about five hours” of work on the project, the senator said.
Later in the week, the Today show’s Matt Lauer showed Clinton an undated photo that showed Rezko standing between her and her husband, Bill Clinton.
“I don’t know the man, I wouldn’t know him if he walked into the door,” Sen. Clinton said. “I don’t have a 17-year-relationship with him.”
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6 Comments
#1. B Merry 01.30.2008
I cannot get the map to open in Blogger. Suggestions?
#2. John Decker 01.30.2008
B Merry,
When putting the code in Blogger - first click on the Edit HTML tab at the top when you are composing a post.
Paste the code in the window - you will probably need to reduce the size of the width and height of the applet so it fits your blog’s layout.
Looking at your blog, I think 400 x 400 would work. Try changing muckMapWidth and muckMapHeight to 400.
muckMapWidth=”400″; muckMapHeight=”400″
That should do it.
/john
#3. B Merry 01.31.2008
Nope. Should have said that I had already done that. Guess I’ll just do a photo save and redirect to this page .. unless you have other ideas?
#4. John Decker 01.31.2008
I was able to get it to work on blogspot here:
http://mucketymuck.blogspot.com/2008/01/muckmapwidth600-muckmapheight600.html
maybe this will help?
#5. B Merry 01.31.2008
Thanks. I think the problem was that it wouldn’t show up when I saved it to review so I assumed it wasn’t working. Had to save in 400 x 400.
#6. Gary Gromet 01.31.2008
You are missing from your story on Rezko his 2005 Federal indictment for defrauding GE Credit of $10 million.
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