Source: http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/843582,obama031408a.article
March 14, 2008
Barack Obama discusses his relationship with Tony Rezko with a group of Sun-Times reporters and editors Friday.
(John H. Kim/Sun-Times)
In an extensive 80-minute interview with the Sun-Times, White House hopeful Barack Obama laid out just how close he and indicted Chicago businessman Tony Rezko grew personally and financially.
Rezko could have donated as much as $250,000 to Obama's campaigns over the years -- much more than the $60,000 to $70,000 Obama's campaign initially estimated, Obama said.
"Rezko was not my largest fund-raiser but a significant fund-raiser" on his campaign for U.S. Senate, Obama. (Click to listen to the full interview.)
Obama estimated a total of $170,000 was raised by Rezko, he said. Could it be more than $170,000, Obama was asked. When pushed, he said it could be as high as $250,000.
“It’s hard for me to know precisely,” Obama said. “I may not know who are friends of his.”
Obama said he would talk to Rezko daily during some of his political campaigns. Obama and his wife Michelle had 'two or three dinners' with indicted businessman Tony Rezko and his wife over the years and made one day trip to the Rezkos' home in Lake Geneva.
Obama agreed to meet with Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune reporters after many months of refusing to answer all the questions about the extent of his friendship with Rezko and the amount of money Rezko raised for him over the years.
Rezko is standing trial on unrelated charges that he used his influence to control jobs and appointments to state boards in Gov. Blagojevich’s administration and that Rezko got kickbacks. Obama is not implicated in the indictment.
Obama denied he got any discount on the purchase of his Hyde Park home after Rezko toured the house with him and agreed to buy the adjoining lot that was for sale at the time. When Rezko told Obama he woud like to purchase the next-door lot, Obama told him that would be fine, he said.
“Having somebody that I knew, who was a friend of mine, developing the lot would be great,” Obama said. “Tony agreed to pay for the erection of a fence.”
Obama said even though “there were some noises” about Rezko having potential legal problems, he went ahead with the transaction, which he now thinks is a mistake.
An even more serious lapse was his later argreement to purchase a five-foot strip of land from Rezko after Rezko's legal problems became more public, he said.
"The larger problem is me purchasing the strip of land," Obama said. "At that point it was clearer he was going to have significant legal problems. For me to enter into a business transaction with him was . . . a boneheaded move."
All along the way, red flags should have been going up but were not because he had known and trusted Rezko so long, Obama conceded.
“He never once asked me for any favors, or ever did any favors for me,” Obama said. “He never gave me any gifts or gave me any indication he was setting me up to ask for any favors in the future.”
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